4 Watch Officers, with 3 and 4 being split between Nav and Bosun. 4 hour watches.

1WO and 2WO did 2 x 4 hour watch shifts per day <---Commissioned officers from line stream
Navigator (Oberstuermann) and Bosun 1 x 4 hour watch shift per day <---Yes, SNCOs, not commissioned officers, aka 3WO and 4WO
Lookouts came mainly from Seaman stream doing 1 x 4 hour watch shift per day

As confirmed in the first two reference books I just laid my hands on:
U-boats by Miller, David
U-boat Crewman Of WWII by Williamson, Gordon

He's an Oberleutnant (Ing.), an engineering officer, and the Leitender Ingenieur (leading engineer) on the boat. An Oblt z. See would be a line officer, one who was in the chain of command. While the LI might be the second most important officer on a u-boat (after the kommandant) in a practical sense because his duties were so vital and all-encompassing in technical matters, he would never be in line for a command regardless of his rank. He might actually have the same rank as the kommandant, nevertheless a lower-ranking 1WO would be next in line of command if the kommandant were killed or incapacitated.

Engineering officers had a cogwheel (?) insignia on their uniforms, rather than a star, to indicate their specialty and distinguish them from line officers.

http://www.uboat.net/men/uniforms/images/vadming.jpg http://www.uboat.net/men/uniforms/images/ingoff.jpg

In some instances, particularly later in the war, the LI was higher in rank than the Commander, and certainly higher in rank than the 1WO.

The LI would never be considered for Commanding because he chose the Engineering officer stream rather than the Line officer stream. Much like the Doctor who chose the Medical officer stream (after it was created later in the war).

The Obersteuermann was the Chief Navigator and Quartermaster for the boat and usually (in real life) the senior ranking NCO aboard (which sometimes also made him the oldest and most experienced man, even including the COs). The game does not reflect this, as the Navigation Officer is indeed treated like a commissioned officer and not a highranking enlisted man.

Very often he took the third watch. The 1WO had the first watch, and the 2WO the second. The commander of the boat did not take any particular watch, those duties belonged to his junior officers and the higher-ranking NCOs.

The guys who eat in the "officer's mess" in the movie are the commander , the chief engineer, the first watch officer, and the second watch officer, plus the "guest" - war correspondent Werner. The same space also doubled as living quarters for the LI, the 1WO, and the 2WO. The Obersteuermann would have eaten and slept in the senior NCO quarters which (on a Type VII) were located between the officer's mess and the hatch to the forward torpedo room.




In Das Boot the line officers were:

1. The Kommandant, "der Alte," "Herr Kaleun" - by rank a Kapitänleutnant, first in command
2. The First Watch Officer or 1WO/IWO, "Eins W O," the guy who came originally from Mexico and who seems to have bought into Nazi propaganda, and who gets "ordered" to play the "Tipperary song" during one of the officers' meals - an Oberleutnant zur See and second in command
3. The Second Watch Officer, who jokes (in the subtitles) that the 1WO could crack nuts in his backside and gives the fake "alarm" that sends the boat into its first practice crash dive - a Leutnant zur See and third in command

The LI or "chief" was also a commissioned officer, by rank an Oberleutnant (Ing.), in practice the guy most likely to be deferred to by the commander due to his technical expertise, but not actually in the line of command. He usually sits next to the commander at meals in the officer's mess. He's the one who tears up looking at pictures of his wife and who the commander tries to get off the ship (along with Werner, the writer) in Vigo.

Werner, the war correspondent, was a Leutnant but as an observer and "guest on board" would have had no real authority regardless of rank.

The scene early in the film where the officers are eating and the 1WO excuses himself to go to the bridge for his watch presumably shows the boat's "midday" meal, since the First Watch would have taken its second turn of the day beginning at 1200 hours. In the extended version the Obersteuermann is then shown reporting to the commander after the end of his turn on the bridge, which makes sense since he would have been in charge of the Third Watch which would have been coming off duty when the First Watch went up.

Edit: I do think there may be one instance in the film where the commander addresses his 1WO as "nummer eins" - but the 1WO definitely refers to the Bootsmann as "nummer eins" when he asks him where the medic is after the LI informs him he's got crabs crawling around in his eyebrows. The Bootsmann as "nummer eins" would be the NCO responsible for seeing to the day-to-day routine and discipline of the rest of the enlisted men. This is the guy who gave Werner the tour of the boat when they first put out to sea, and who is seen supervising the torpedo maintenance in the scene where Werner gets the oily rag thrown in his face. The Obersteuermann is a completely different guy.

'Der Alte' ('The Elder' or 'The Old Man') holds the rank of Kapitanleutnant, hence of course "Herr Kaleun"

Only two men are referred to as "Watch Officers". The 1WO ('the nazi') is an Oberleutnant, just like the LI. The 2WO ('the jokester') is a Leutnant, just like Werner. The Obersteurmann is Kriechbaum, the senior man to actually be given a name. His rank is Oberfanrich, which I originally thought of as the equivalent of an American Ensign, but apparently is the closest thing the KM had to an actual Warrant Officer. He does serve as 3WO, though he is never called that.

In SH3 the Oberfanriches are listed as officers.

I have to disagree. Being an Oberfähnrich would make him a midshipman, and on his way to being a commissioned officer - whereas in the book he is definitely listed among the enlisted men. Ullman, who as a Fähnrich actually is an officer candidate, is the only one listed as an "ensign" in the English translation.

Every source I've looked at indicates that navigation as a career track was an enlisted man's specialty, the Chief Navigator on a boat typically being a high-ranking NCO and not a commissioned officer or in line to become one (the occasional Volksoffizier notwithstanding).

Kriechbaum is Obersteuermann - not Oberfaehnrich.

Faehnrich (midshipman) is the lowest rank in an officers career - promoted to Oberfaehnrich (senior midshipman) - promoted to Leutnant (the first 'Officer' rank) - promoted to Oberleutnant...

Obersteuermann is the rank of a staff sergeant or master sergeant.

Thanks for the info. I kinda expected three commisioned officers as watch officers. :hmmm: Didn't know about the two NCO's sharing a watch.
Also obersteuermann sounds like an officer to me and in the Gibraltar scene in the movie the kaleun takes only the obersteuermann with him to the bridge.
But I guess this would make sense in real life as he would probably be older and more experienced then the two watch officers. Well, it's all clear to me now. :salute:
Maybe I should watch the movie again.

Obersteuermann is a job, not a rank. What is his rank?

Fair enough. I thought that was what he was. Looks like I was wrong. Again. :sunny:

I don't know that Kriechbaum's rank is ever specifically indicated in the movie, unless it's possible to determine what it was from looking at what's shown of him in uniform with visible insignia. He would most likely be a high-ranking NCO. Given what I've read it seems like once an enlisted man was put on a particular track with regard to specialty training, he was more likely to be thought of in terms of his position within that specialty than anything else.

The senior NCOs on a uboat (this is taken from Mulligan's Neither Sharks Nor Wolves and mirrors what I've found elsewhere) in terms of official "rank" would most likely be "Oberfeldwebel, officially designated (but rarely called) Unteroffiziere mit Portepee (literally "non-commissioned officers with sword-knot") who performed the functions equivalent to those of warrant officers, a category gradually dropped by the German navy by 1936."

These guys would have been enlisted men, ranking above all the other enlisted men on board, but not COs and not eligible for a CO rank (altho as I noted before, there were some Volksoffiziere - "people's officers" - men who rose through the ranks of enlisted men and for one reason or another eventually received a commission). But the job description would become the individual's primary designation, rather than his rank, which although recognized in terms of his authority on board overall is less likely to factor in to what he's called in the everyday language of the service. For instance, nobody ever addresses Kriechbaum as "Herr Oberfeldwebel" or whatever his actual rank was. He's "Herr Obersteuermann," and as der Alte's very pointed use of the term on one occasion illustrates, that designation alone is more than enough to indicate his place in the scheme of things.

And I don't think it's surprising that, in a situation where technical expertise in one field or another was of such vital importance, a crewman's special training and experience in his field would take precedence in everyday parlance over everything else.

The senior NCOs who made up this group aboard the typical boat would consist of, at the very least, the Obersteuermann (chief navigator), a Bootsmann or Oberbootsmann (the "nummer eins" I referred to earlier, responsible for crew discipline), a Diesel Obermaschinist and an Elektro Obermaschinist (directly subordinate to the LI and responsible for the diesel engines and electric motors/batteries respectively).

In Das Boot, these would be Kriechbaum, Lamprecht (or Lumprecht - anyway, the guy who gives Werner the tour of the boat), Johann, and the one other guy who I don't think is ever named. But I assume he is the guy you see sitting in the background, framed between Werner and the 2WO, sitting in the senior NCOs' quarters and facing the o-messe, gaily singing along with the Tipperary song. Like the other three who are named, as a senior NCO he would have eaten and slept in that compartment. There's also a scene when they are frantically engaged in damage control (may have been at Gibraltar) where the LI is working on something, I think in the diesel room, and there's a close-up of him ordering another man who has just appeared on the scene to go check the batteries (?) and I'm pretty sure he addresses him as "E-Maschinist." A bit later I think we see this same guy either performing or supervising the work on the batteries, before the LI arrives to go down to look for himself. I'm pretty sure this guy would be the Elektro Obermaschinist since the upkeep and repair of the batteries would have been among his primary duties on board.

In conclusion, I have seen Das Boot way too many times.

In a lot of RL stuff I've read about the uboat service, it becomes clear that - especially in critical situations - a person's ability and experience were usually valued far more than his actual rank. A sharp pair of eyes on the bridge, or a skilled pair of hands on the controls, were more valuable than any number of pips and stripes on a uniform. And a successful commander's success often depended on his ability to see the strengths and weaknesses of each crewman and proceed accordingly.

In the movie - despite a few tense moments - it seems clear that the commander values Kriechbaum a great deal. When he tells his senior men his plan for getting past Gibraltar, the Obersteuermann is the only one he makes a point of looking to for a response. It may have been that all he wanted was something that would provide some additional sense of assurance to the rest of the crew, even if Kriechbaum knew better; nevertheless that's who he went to for it.

In the book der Alte's regard for the man is even more obvious - the navigator is a veteran member of the crew, and one whose skill (particularly when it comes to dead reckoning) the commander makes particular mention of on at least one occasion. He may very well have spent far more hours at sea with Kriechbaum than with anyone else besides the LI, and maybe more than with anyone else from among the non-technical crew. Kriechbaum would also be an old hand at standing watch on the bridge, and may have done more of it than any of the junior COs aboard. That's definitely the guy you want on the bridge when you're trying to slip past "half the English fleet" in the Straits of Gibraltar.

And regarding "Obersteuermann":

ober = upper, over, above
Steuer = rudder
Mann = man

So the word literally means something along the lines of "upper rudder man," or "the guy in charge of steering the boat." Hence Obersteuermann = Chief Navigator. :D

For what it's worth, a table comparing ranks among the different branches of the Wehrmacht can be found here:

http://www.feldgrau.com/ranks.html

For the Kriegsmarine we have:

Seamen (Matrosen)
Matrose
Matrosengefreiter
Matrosenobergefreiter
Matrosenhauptgefreiter
Matrosenstabsgefreiter

NCOs (Unteroffiziere)
Maat
Obermaat
Feldwebel
Stabsfeldwebel
Oberfeldwebel
Stabsoberfeldwebel

(Midshipmen)
Fähnrich zur See
Oberfähnrich zur See

COs (Offiziere)
Leutnant zur See
Oberleutnant zur See
Kapitänleutnant
Korvettenkapitän
Fregattenkapitän
Kapitän zur See
(...and so on, the rest were unlikely to be found on a frontboot)

The table at the link shows the rank of Fähnrich zur See falling between the NCO ranks of Obermaat and Feldwebel; Oberfähnrich zur See falls in between the NCO ranks of Oberfeldwebel and Stabsoberfeldwebel. This would correlate reasonably well to the position of midshipmen in the modern US Navy, which seems to be somewhere between a Warrant Officer and a Chief Warrant Officer.

It's when you start talking about the division of the crew into Seemänner (Seaman's Division) and Techniker (Technical Division) that it really gets confusing, because that's where you get into the issue of crewmen being referred to primarily with regard to their job or specialty and the most commonly used appellation may include some reference to their rank but may not.

On a fun note I just came across the term Tampen-johnnies which apparently means "rope jockeys" and which I swear I can remember the bosun using at some point in the movie when he's addressing the men under his supervision.

There are no direct equivalents to Fähnrich and Oberfähnrich in any non-German based armed force. They are strictly neither ensigns or midshipmen in the US or UK sense. They can be, however, considered a subset of midshipman for the purpose of easy explanation.

Progression was (generally, although with exception) thus:

Officer recruit
Seekadet (upon successful completion of physical fitness test and four months sail training)
Fähnrich (upon successful completion of a 9-12 month sea cruise aboard, usually, a cruiser). A Fähnrich would generally assume the role of 2WO
Oberfähnrich (upon successful completion of weapons training and subsequent satifactory performance onboard a warship for six months)
Leutnant z. S. (after three years of trade practice)

The Oberfähnrich requirements were different for Engineering stream and Medical stream.

FWIW there's been a lot posted here over the last five years regarding crew ranks, roles and responsibilities; I know I've posted a fair bit (U-boat crews are a speciality of mine thanks to much research when developing SH3Cmdr).

Thanks. I actually was specifically asking Mittelwaechter, since he seemed to think I was confusing the two.