Officers -> Radioman

[desirableroasted]

Originally Posted by Tessa

It's interesting reading through other threads about how people prefer to play historically but then disregard the helmsman/radiomen qualifications because they don't get any advantage out of them. I always give the naviagor the helmsman qualification as his top one to help keep track of him, and that it a major part of his profession.

But they are historically inaccurate, as far as I can tell.

On all U-boats/merchants/warships, there is, at any time, a "watch officer" or "officer of the deck" , a line officer who is responsible for the vessel's navigation, course keeping, weapons control, etc. Basically, the captain's stand-in. You can't be a line officer without knowing every aspect of the boat (except engineering, though even there a line officer knows a lot, just as an engineering officer knows a lot about topside work).

So I assume all of my officers, having made it out of the naval academy, can navigate. And so "navigator" is a role that a qualified officer plays.

I do divide my officers into the "line" track and the "engineering" track. Line officers can pick up Watch, Guns, Flak, Torps, and Repair, while engineering officers can pick up Machinery, Torps, and Repair.

As for helming... that's a petty officer's role. That's just moving the rudder, increasing speed and whatnot.

And radioman... again, you don't have a radio "officer". It's a petty officer specialty.