BuShips:CO Manual/Roster Building
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Pre-commissioning: Hull Selection and Roster Building
Before a new ship can launch, it needs a crew. Probably the best way to find members for a new ship is to recruit new members from your local area. However, it may also be possible to contact members who are currently stationed aboard one of the holding chapters, such as HMSS Greenwich and find out if they are interested in moving to your chapter during its commissioning. Your fleet commanding officer can help you get in touch with the commanding officers of the holding chapters in order to assist you in finding possible members in your local geographic area.
One suggestion about picking a hull size: don't aim for the largest hull that you have the personnel to staff. Crew members who join your ship initially may decide to transfer ships (or branches). If you have only the minimum number of crew or officers for your current ship, even the loss of one crew member or officer can put your ship in danger of a downgrade or decommission. Just because you have the people now, doesn't mean you will six months from now. Be sure to pick a hull that gives you a little wiggle room, you can always upgrade to a larger hull at a later date.
Crew Minimums
Each hull size, Pinnace through LAC Carrier, have requirements placed on the crew size, number of officers, and rank/training requirements for the command triad. When building a roster for a ship, those requirements, specified fully in Admiralty Orders 1510-02 and 1511-02 need to be adhered to. For convenience, those requirements are summarized below.
| Hull Size | Minimum CO Rank | Minimum Crew Composition | Maximum Crew Size | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naval | RMMM | RMACS | Naval | RMMM | RMACS | ||
| Pinnace | N/A | O-1 | N/A | N/A | 2 (1 Officer) | 5 | |
| Light Assault Craft (LAC)* | Courier (CA) | Tug Fort |
O-3 | C-17 | C-11 O-3 |
3 (2 or 1 Officer)* | 25 |
| Destroyer (DD) | Light Freighter (LF) | Terminus (ATC) | O-4 | C-17 | C-13 | 6 (2 Officers) | 357 |
| Light Cruiser (CL) | Medium Freighter (MF) | N/A | O-5 | C-17 | N/A | 8 (3 Officers) | 350 |
| Heavy Cruiser (CA) | Heavy Freighter (HF) | N/A | O-6A | C-17 | N/A | 10 (3 Officers) | 535 |
| Battlecruiser (BC) | N/A | N/A | O-6A | N/A | N/A | 12 (4 Officers) | 1516 |
| Battlecruiser-Pod (BC-P) | N/A | N/A | O-6A | N/A | N/A | 12 (3 Officers) | 600 |
| Dreadnought (DN) | N/A | N/A | O-6A | N/A | N/A | 16 (5 Officers) | 2566 |
| Superdreadnought (SD) | Passenger Liner (PL) | N/A | O-6A | C-17 | N/A | 20 (5 Officers) | 4308 |
| Superdreadnaught-Pods (SD-P) | N/A | N/A | O-6A | N/A | N/A | 20 (5 Officers) | 4592 |
| LAC Carrier (CLAC) | N/A | N/A | O-6A | N/A | N/A | 15 (5 Officers) | 3000 |
Notes
- Marine and Flag Officers who are embarked on the Chapter DO NOT count towards the officer complement, but DO count towards minimum crew size
- Midshipmen count as enlisted personnel
- Army personnel do not count toward minimum crew size, nor do Army officers count toward the officer complement. They can, however, count for purposes of ship events and are eligible for any unit award the ship receives.
- Any number of Civilian members may be aboard the ship. However, how many count toward the minimum crew size is limited by Admiralty Order 1803-01. Additionally, high-ranking civilians (C-12 and above) do not count as part of the chapter's officer complement.
- The minimum rank for the Executive Officer is one grade below the minimum rank for the Commanding Officer. For example, the minimum rank for the CO of a Destroyer is O-4, so the minimum rank for the XO is O-3. Like the CO, the XO must also be qualified for this minimum rank before being placed as the XO of the ship.
- The minimum rank for the Bosun of a ship is E-7 regardless of hull size.
- *LAC Crews don't need an XO, and only require one officer, the CO, if the LAC is attached to a group or assigned to a fleet with a COLAC
- The maximum rank for naval COs and XOs is O-6B. The maximum rank for naval Bosuns is E-10.
Officer Complement
As your chapter grows in size, you may have additional officers past the minimum so long as you don’t have more than 20% of your crew being officers. This means if you have a Superdreadnought with 100 total members, up to 20 may be officers. However, for commissioning purposes, BuShips can ONLY brevet the required minimum. The rest will have to meet requirements set forth by Admiralty Order 1507-04, and be promoted accordingly. If there are personnel who are already officers, there is no need to brevet or promote when upgrading to a larger chapter.