Originally Posted by Shadriss
Entirely almost correct. And just to set the stage for my reply, understand I currently serve as a US Navy Submariner... sonar specifically.
The Skipper is trained in how the gear IN GENERAL operates. The Navy has ratings for a reason - they are tech specialists. You could not go to the Skipper, and ask him to help make repairs to the UQN-1 Fathometer, cause he would look right back at you and say, "That's YOUR job." The unspoken side to that is, "...and I have NO IDEA how to even troubleshoot that thing."
Your contention that officers begin getting trained on the gear from their butterbar days (Ensign, for you non-military types) is sort of correct. They ARE placed in positions of authority. As an example, my Division Officer on board is a LTJG... and for the Sonar Division, that's almost over qualified. Usually, we GET an Ensign.
When we get a new one assigned, we tell him straight up that he has exactly two jobs: attend meetings and sign paperwork where we tell him to. He has NO CLUE how sonar works. In fact, many of them refer to reading a modern sonar passive broadband display as "reading the matrix".
Now, all that said, that's today. In WWII, the system was slightly different. With the systems being simpler, it wouldn't be nearly as much of a stretch to say that the Skipper, the XO, or the ENG might be able to operate the systems... but not anywhere as proficiently as the men trained to do it. So much less so, in fact, that it doesn't even bear thinking on.
Now, I can see where someone who hasn't had to operate a submarine in single-stick mode (Dive Planes, Rudder, and Fairwater Planes from a single control station) would think that doing so in a SIM would be neat... I tell you as someone who had to do it for qualifications that there is no way on EARTH I would consider doing so routinely. Just keeping the boat on course by itself is challenge enough - remember that there is set and drift, currents, fronts, and eddies to take into account. Now add to that keeping on depth (which at PD is a nightmare in single stick...) and you can see that this just isnt a good idea.
So really... no. Just... no. As a sonarman underway, I'm more than content to allow the guys who are trained to do that job do it. I'll stay in my sonar shack and track contacts. As for the skipper... what good is it to be the king if you do all the work anyhow?
STS1/SS
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