USS CIRCE Ship's Book: Difference between revisions

There are four senior line officers on the USS CIRCE.  They are the CO, XO, OPS and CIC, and they represent the shipboard chain of command.

The commanding officer (CO) is ultimately responsible and accountable to his superiors for the ship.  During primary and intermediate training cycles, the CO reports to the Type Command. During this period, the operations and logistics groups concentrate on maintaining combat readiness, keeping systems up-to-date, and for training of personnel, as well as ongoing projects (sciences). During the operational phase (where the ship has mission orders), the CO is responsible for his ship's role in the mission.

The executive officer (XO, Exec) is responsible above all else for the day-to-day operation of the ship.  The XO is also the professional development officer and assists department heads in facilitating training of all line officers.  The XO designs and administers all watch officer exams, certifications and qualifying exams as they relate to shipboard operations and command.  The XO is also responsible for the ship's routine and for keeping crew discipline.  All department heads report to the XO.  Regardless of his rank, he is senior to all naval officers who are part of the ship's permanent complement.

The operations manager (OPS/2O) is the senior member of the shipboard operations group which consists of three departments: operations, combat systems (tactical), and navigation/astrogation. In this capacity, the operations manager also allocates ship's resources and coordinates interdepartmental projects, including those which involve engineering or sciences.  OPS also has a permanent place in the senior officer watch rotation.