Ah! Ok, that makes sense. At first, I was all PO'd because I was using him to fill in a
torp mount and he couldn't do it anymore after being classed. So he's got a useful and
bright future ahead of him!

You're talking about Seaman 2nd Class? Yes, the stats never display correctly for a
seaman. Don't worry, he will still provide repair and restore (a decent amount of each)
and boost everyone else's skills when he grows up.

Remember, for a Seaman, you don't want more than ONE. (Since they boost everyone else, it
works best if you have as many "everyone else" as you can get.) You also won't see much
of a boost out of them until much later. (after level 60 and loaded down with vets).

But seaman ability isn't capped, so an endgame seaman is amazing. My boosted level 120
seaman with 280 vets doesn't do anything for my gunners, since they're already skill
capped, but he adds a lot of overheat time and he enables my lvl 78 fighter pilots to take
on level 100 fighter pilots and win every time!

Classing up sailors boosts their primary stats (engineer increases engy stat, rep rep stat
etc). Secondary stats are lowered so that you can't just use one class of sailor for
everything.