Stupid question but...

[Tryryke]

What is it that the sailors say as confirmation of orders? I can't make out the last word after "Aye aye herr..."

[The cursed Jäger]

Aye aye Herr Kaleu. Kaleu stands for Kapitänleutnant.

[Tryryke]

Ah, thanks.

[EmotionallyBroken]

Originally posted by The cursed Jäger:

Aye aye Herr Kaleu. Kaleu stands for Kapitänleutnant.

I thought it was actually a word 😂

[rclark92672]

It is a word. It's a legitimate German slang contraction. Think of it as the German equivalent of 'Skipper.'

[Β ο Ν ε Σ]

Skipper of most subs and smaller ships have rank of Leutnant (Lieutenant in USN) which is O-3 (officer 3rd) and equivalent to a Captain (O-3) in the US Army or Air Force. But since they are also the chief executive on the boat, they are the Captains of the boat as opposed to holding the rank of Captain in the Navy, which is an O-6. So they mashed together the functional job "captain" with the sailor's rank "lieutenant" and call them Cap-Lieu. An actual Captain (O-6) in the Navy is equivalent to a Colonel in the Army, and would be charged with command of a much larger element - Battleship, Carrier or Brigade of Marines (over 1000 men and their hardware.)

Rank in military generally tries to be proportional to the level of responsibility given an individual officer. More troops, more hardware, means more rank. A company commander O-3 is usually in charge of about 100 men divided into platoons and subsequently teams.

Personal aside, when I was in the Army as a Captain (O-3) I worked at a Navy hospital for a few years. Took full advantage of being a "phone" Captain to any navy folks I called to get things done since they took me as an O-6 Army Lieutenants (O-1 or O-2) could also get "promoted" to O-3 that way.

[Red_Seven_]

Originally posted by Ω BoNeS Ω:

Skipper of most subs and smaller ships have rank of Leutnant (Lieutenant in USN) which is O-3 (officer 3rd) and equivalent to a Captain (O-3) in the US Army or Air Force.

Leutnant and Oberleutnant (zur See) were the O-1 and O-2 ranks. Kapitänleutnant was the actual O-3 rank in the Kriegsmarine (and even in todays Bundesmarine).

The origin is ofc a mashup of 'Kapitän' and 'Leutnant' but it rose from the actual meaning of Leutnant/Lieutenant which is deputy or proxy in this case. So a Kapitänleutnant is the proxy of a 'real' Kapitän executing the actual tasks of that ranks function as you described it.