Give the Chief engineer the passive ability to get a little bit more out of the engines with experience. Say a knot or two more speed (at flank speed) and 5% greater fuel efficiency, including the Electrical engines.
A good Engineer will be able to tune the engines and keep them in peak working condition allowing for such things to happen. Anyone who has tuned a car by hand should know that this sort of thing would be possible.
Also the passive ability to keep the engines just that little bit more quiet at silent running say 2-3%. A good engineer would know exactly where the engine needs to be oiled, rags to be tied to stop two parts knocking into each other and how to keep his own noises to a minimum as he moves around the engine room making tweaks here and there.
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"If all else fails immortality can be obtained by through spectacular error"
John Kenneth Galbroith
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