Russian ship/sub commhttp:and structures - how does it work?

Kazuaki Shimazaki II · 03-11-06, 12:24 PM

Not quite DW, but I don't think it is that much more off-topic than some others, and I think we have the talent here to answer this - (Kapitain I'm looking mostly at you but someone else may know something as well).

I've been looking through the Kursk crew and billet lists in their myriad translations, going so far as to Babelfish a Russian version - and I'm still puzzled as to how the command structure all works.

1) Who is senior: a "deputy" or an "assistant" chief of the Division Engineering Service?
2) Normally the meaning of "acting" is clear, but how can someone really be "acting" in a Navy that will allow 23 year old Senior Lieutenant Ivanov-Pavlov to become torpedo/mine officer (BCU-3) of an Atomic Submerged Missile Cruiser of the 1st Rank, supposedly a Captain 2nd Rank's billet (Truscott, which sounds about right). (This kind of thing makes sense according to Suvorov's principle that ranks in Russian armed forces are little more than time-of-faultless-service indicators and quite young officers can be made into senior officers - but then when are you "acting" and when are you just young.)
3) What is Repnikov's job? His position is alternately translated as "second-in-command" or "assistant commanding officer." K-219 also had a guy, Kapitanets, called a "Commander's Deputy" which I suspect is translated from exactly the same Russian. He's not the XO, so what does he do?

Actually, there are many more mysteries in that list, but let's start with these. Please and thank you.

03-11-06, 12:24 PM	#1
Kazuaki Shimazaki II Ace of the Deep Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1,140 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	Russian ship/sub commhttp:and structures - how does it work? Not quite DW, but I don't think it is that much more off-topic than some others, and I think we have the talent here to answer this - (Kapitain I'm looking mostly at you but someone else may know something as well). I've been looking through the Kursk crew and billet lists in their myriad translations, going so far as to Babelfish a Russian version - and I'm still puzzled as to how the command structure all works. 1) Who is senior: a "deputy" or an "assistant" chief of the Division Engineering Service? 2) Normally the meaning of "acting" is clear, but how can someone really be "acting" in a Navy that will allow 23 year old Senior Lieutenant Ivanov-Pavlov to become torpedo/mine officer (BCU-3) of an Atomic Submerged Missile Cruiser of the 1st Rank, supposedly a Captain 2nd Rank's billet (Truscott, which sounds about right). (This kind of thing makes sense according to Suvorov's principle that ranks in Russian armed forces are little more than time-of-faultless-service indicators and quite young officers can be made into senior officers - but then when are you "acting" and when are you just young.) 3) What is Repnikov's job? His position is alternately translated as "second-in-command" or "assistant commanding officer." K-219 also had a guy, Kapitanets, called a "Commander's Deputy" which I suspect is translated from exactly the same Russian. He's not the XO, so what does he do? Actually, there are many more mysteries in that list, but let's start with these. Please and thank you.