Duty Shift

A duty shift is the portion of the day that various scheduled personnel aboard a starship or space station were on duty. Officers were expected to report on time for their duty shifts and those that failed to do so, without a good excuse, could face penalties such as being placed on report.

In Star Fleet, days are typically divided into thirds, resulting in three eight-hour duty shifts. Commanders of some vessels and outposts prefer a more flexible four-shift rotation in which officers are on duty for six hours a day instead of the regular eight, though this can cause issues when crew transfer aboard from ships with more regular shift rotations.

Shift Type

Day Shift (Alpha Shift/Alpha Watch)

The day shift or day watch is the first duty period which theoretically happens during whatever would be considered day in space. It takes its roots from day shifts currently in use in military and other jobs. The day shift would presumably be followed by the night watch, which was a time of limited activity.

Usually this would be the time when the senior officers were on duty, though senior officers throughout all the series were often at work beyond the boundaries of their shifts.

Swing Shift (Beta Shift/Beta Watch)

The swing shift is a duty shift that is after the day shift, but before the night shift.

Night Shift (Gamma Shift/Gamma Watch)

The night shift is a duty period that occurs during the hours in which an officer would otherwise be sleeping. It is usually relegated to the junior officers, as most people are not fond of the night shift. Aboard starships and space stations, however, there is technically no such thing as "night" or "day". The night shift is preceded by the swing shift.