Uniforms for the Medical staff on a HMS ship

jchilds wrote:
The Jayne's books list the RMN department colors as :

Command/Flag - White
Admin - Grey/Silver
Tactical - Red
Engineering - Orange
Astrogation - Blue
Communication - Yellow/Gold
Logistics - Brown
Flight Ops - Purple
Medical - Light Green

OK - given that, here is an off-topic question. Obviously, the Captain whould wear white. What would the XO wear - White or Grey/Silver?

white.

job title is "second in command"

most bridge officers would wear white I would expect (probably not Comms or helm but Tac/ECM likely would as tac is supposed to be the surest route to ship command)

Theemile wrote:

jchilds wrote:
The Jayne's books list the RMN department colors as :

Command/Flag - White
Admin - Grey/Silver
Tactical - Red
Engineering - Orange
Astrogation - Blue
Communication - Yellow/Gold
Logistics - Brown
Flight Ops - Purple
Medical - Light Green

OK - given that, here is an off-topic question. Obviously, the Captain whould wear white. What would the XO wear - White or Grey/Silver?

White, because the XO is second in the line of command. I suspect Admin encompasses non-logistics administrative personnel - HR and other paperwork-filing types. IIRC, every Captain in the RMN has a yeoman and certainly old wallers with crew totals exceeding 5,000 require enough people to do things not covered by the other departments to merit the additional category.

Dauntless wrote:white.

job title is "second in command"

most bridge officers would wear white I would expect (probably not Comms or helm but Tac/ECM likely would as tac is supposed to be the surest route to ship command)

The whole point of the colours is for quick and easy differentation in urgent situations. Want everyone to look pretty and identical? That's what dress uniforms and ceremonies are for.

The XO and CO would be the only white-wearers(flag officer as occasional thirds), because everyone is supposed to take orders from them. That's not a small issue on a ship with over 5,000 crew, as some of the RMN's non-pod SDs still in commission carry, however frivolous it might seem aboard a 90-man Roland where everyone knows each other, their families and dogs.

There is also another distinction between the Captain and the XO, in the headgear which are respectively white and black.

jchilds wrote:Medical - Light Green

Cool, I was guessing green for medical as it seems to be the most common color for that branch in modern day militaries.

For the Manticore Army and / or Marines, is the branch color for the tankers pink? I'm hoping it is, because that would be cool. Its the traditional branch color for Armor in the German army. Yes, Rommel wore pink .

munroburton wrote:
The XO and CO would be the only white-wearers(flag officer as occasional thirds), because everyone is supposed to take orders from them. That's not a small issue on a ship with over 5,000 crew, as some of the RMN's non-pod SDs still in commission carry, however frivolous it might seem aboard a 90-man Roland where everyone knows each other, their families and dogs.

There is also another distinction between the Captain and the XO, in the headgear which are respectively white and black.

Wouldn't the flag chief of staff also wear white?

I wouldn't be surprised if all the staff officers wore white. They aren't part of the ship's departments designated by the colours.

I could also see the 4 line department heads wearing white if their place in the chain of command trumps their department association. That one could be argued either way - if you lose the Captain and XO both, the doodoo is deep enough that the crew is going to be happy that _somebody_ is giving orders without fussing too much about the color of their suit.

Theemile wrote:

munroburton wrote:
The XO and CO would be the only white-wearers(flag officer as occasional thirds), because everyone is supposed to take orders from them. That's not a small issue on a ship with over 5,000 crew, as some of the RMN's non-pod SDs still in commission carry, however frivolous it might seem aboard a 90-man Roland where everyone knows each other, their families and dogs.

There is also another distinction between the Captain and the XO, in the headgear which are respectively white and black.

Wouldn't the flag chief of staff also wear white?

Louis R wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if all the staff officers wore white. They aren't part of the ship's departments designated by the colours.

Not unless they are senior in the chain of command they won't. The flag LT isn't anyone I want people turning to to make critical decisions in a crisis.

Actually, the department colors seem to be for enlisted and NCOs only. The text in House of Steel about the uniforms and skinsuits is more or less identical to the earlier Jayne's material that had the quoted color list, except that officer's skinsuits are no longer color coded in any way.

jchilds wrote:Actually, the department colors seem to be for enlisted and NCOs only. The text in House of Steel about the uniforms and skinsuits is more or less identical to the earlier Jayne's material that had the quoted color list, except that officer's skinsuits are no longer color coded in any way.

Yep, I was wrong. HoS says:

Officer’s skinsuits are solid white and display collar and cuff insignia in black similar to the service dress uniform. The helmet is marked with both rank insignia and a name stenciled across the top.

Enlisted and non-commissioned officer skinsuits are white with arms, legs and chest color coded by department. Name and rate insignia are displayed on the helmet as on the officers, and the arms display rating and specialist insignia in white or black contrasted against the departmental color.

So every officer is in white, regardless of their position as a CO, newly minted ensign or on staff duty. Only enlisted personnel get colour coded.

Not that it matters, since we know they're all in white, but:

No staff officer is in the chain of command. If any of them are making critical decisions, it's going to be on the level of evacuating survivors from a powerless hulk. I can't see every officer in a ship's complement being disabled or out of contact in any other situation, and as long of one of them is around s/he succeeds to command.

And don't judge all flag lieutenants by Carson Clinkscales. Commodores have to pick theirs on future promise; more senior officers get to go with proven competence. So your average Flag Lieutenant will be no worse than any other Lieutenant in a crisis, and likely somewhat better.

kzt wrote:

Louis R wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if all the staff officers wore white. They aren't part of the ship's departments designated by the colours.

Not unless they are senior in the chain of command they won't. The flag LT isn't anyone I want people turning to to make critical decisions in a crisis.