How much does the ship’s CO tell the crew

[Random_Axe]

I’m banking on the RL experience of some of our users.
In my campaign our PCs are on Sullust and have been posted on a Sullustan Space Defense Force Attack Carrier as fighter pilots. Think Battlestar Sullust-ica.
So the Ship is going on a routine atmospheric maneuver, but its Top Secret purpose for the maneuver is to surreptitiously perform a detailed terrain scan of a region on Sullust (for instance, the Great Lakes) which area has been of great interest to the PCs because the Imperials have an illicit base operating there and they’ve been dying to get more information about this Imperial operation.

My question is, does the rest of the crew outside of the command staff know exactly where they are going to be performing the atmospheric maneuver? The ship will be on alert, and the pilots will be on stand-by, but how much briefing do the ship’s section chiefs get on the precise location of the action? Does the general rank-and-file crew on a real warship or aircraft carrier know exactly where they are when they go on “routine maneuvers”? Specifically will the PCs themselves learn from the CAG that they are going to be very close to the “Great Lakes” area? Or is that something that is held secret by the commanders?

[MrNexx]

I'm not Navy, but I grew up an Army brat...

Something like that will be on a need-to-know basis. The crew will know that they are doing this routine atmospheric maneuver. About the only people who know about the Top Secret Scan will be the CO, the XO, and the people directly involved in the scan. The person DOING the scan might not even know exactly what it is they're looking for... it will be "Do this scan at this point, then dump the data to my pad." They might even use a droid and then wipe its memory when its done.
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[garhkal]

As a navy bub i can answer that well..
The general crew would get something like a 1MC (ships intercomms all decks) "Morning crew, Admiral Blib blib has tasked us with doing a routine atmspheric maneuver in the AHSHSHSA region. This should take no less than 9 hrs, all decks set zebra, send manned and ready reports to the bridge".

And at MOST the XO, CDO, OOD, Ops officer and maybe the Flight / sensor officers will be brought in on the TS portion of the mission.
Xo - Executive officer, think VP
CDO - Command duty officer, basically someone representing the ship as the CO if the CO is not on the ship (99% of the time only when in port)
OOD - Officer of the Day/deck. The person in general charge of running things, whether at sea (space) or when docked in port. When at sea the OOD is always on the bridge, and controls the bridge crew. In port, generally he stands on the main gang plank for crew coming in.
Ops officer - Operations dept head. In charge generally, of CIC (Combat information center), the hub of sensor data and often the control center for weapons.
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[Mamatried]

I think most of what I was to say have been said.

Think that every crew member knows where they are , that they are on a mission, that their job is so and so.
The gunner knows what to target, but doesn't need to know why
etc etc

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

The crew in Haldeman's Forever War didn't know squat. It was always need-to-know.

[Zarn]

Also, if there's a compliment of Marines on board, you should make sure they've got enough crayons to eat so that they can be confined to quarters with no hassle during an evolution like that.

[MrNexx]

[Random_Axe]

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

One of the big dramatic frictions in TLJ is that Admiral Holdo doesn't tell Poe (and I assume a lot of people) her plan to evade the Imperials. This is why Poe commits mutiny.

[CRMcNeill]

There was a TNG episode once that showed this exact thing from the POV of a group of noon crewmen (possibly Ensigns or Cadets on their first cruise). Each worked in different departments, so each got to see different aspects of what was actually going on, which led them to an (incorrect) theory as to what was actually going on.

The point is, the captain may keep things compartmentalized, but there will always be some crew who are either briefed in or close enough to catch the edges of it, and thus relaying it to the shipboard grapevine.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[MrNexx]

[Sutehp]

[garhkal]