Originally Posted by frau kaleun
(Post 1479784)
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.
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