Maneuvering boards are going to be used in situations where you have big ships changing position while moving in formation. Doesn't happen too much outside of naval fleet exercises.
I'm not too surprised that the people you showed the 5090 had never seen one. I can't really think of a reason why they'd need to use one.
Just find an Officer in the German or French Navy and ask them what they call the drawing tool the deck officers use when changing relative ship positions while the fleet is underway.
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