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).
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