I have always been interested in the process people like you had to go through to become a qualified OOD.
For a 24 year old man, that is a huge responsibility! And a lot to know...
One of my favorite stories involve Admiral Nimitz when he was Captain of the
USS Augusta, and as the ship was docking (no tugs) he relieved the young OOD so he could bring the ship in himself. He came in far too fast, and only an emergency All Back saved them from smashing into the dock.
After they were safely tied up and everyone exhaled, he turned abruptly to the young OOD he had relieved and said sternly: “Lieutenant...what did I do wrong there?” The young Lieutenant gulped, and identified the key mistake of approaching too fast, followed by a couple of less egregious errors.
Captain Nimitz looked steadily at him and said “That’s right. Don’t forget it.”
LOL, you can bet that young Lieutenant never did!
Our CO never let a boring watch go by that was not an opportunity to hammer some piece of vital information into our heads. He was a great man, and I would place him right alongside Chester Nimitz.
It was probably twenty years after I left active duty before I could not reconstruct from memory the layout of our engine rooms and locate the ballast, fuel, lub oil, and fresh water tanks. Even now after 46 years I am surprised at the stream of consciousness I can relate about the many evolutions of our ship.