Roddenberry's Star Trek was " above all, a critique of Robert Heinlein"

[gellfex]

@MikeTheBard

Except when you factor in that the Enterprise is the elite flagship for all of Starfleet. Even a lower bridge officer position there carries more esteem than being captain of a rank and file ship. It makes perfect sense that the second officer would hold onto that assignment- Especially if he’s gambling on it leading to his getting Picard’s job one day.

In my naval reading that’s not the way it works. You don’t move from executive officer to command of a capital ship, you learn command by skippering smaller ships and getting promoted to larger ships.

@Wanderfound

There’s also the point that “XO refusing command out of loyalty to his captain”, realistic or not, is a long-established cliché of the naval military fiction genre (Aubrey/Maturin, Hornblower, etc) that heavily influenced Star Trek.

Care to cite the instance? I’ve read each series several times and don’t recall a 1st officer turning down command. Both Bush and Pullings were thrilled to get their own commands. And it was considered a compliment to the captain to promote his protege’s.