On the tin can I was on, Quartermaster 2, lead navigator, we had a couple of deck apes who took the helm when we were involved in close maneuvers...refueling, etc.
We QMs mostly stood helm watch when at sea...we were busy manning our navigation/piloting stations in close stuff.
Mostly we use deck seamen for helmsmen now, but sometimes QM’s. Between the combining of the QM and SM ratings and reduced manning, we don’t have as many QM’s any more. Transiting the Strait of Malacca, they should have been at a “modified sea and anchor detail”, and probably should have been operating under restricted maneuvering doctrine. Splitting the SCC when the CO did was a fatal mistake.