Hi and welcome to NF! =)

With the radio man you can manage your "buddy list" (adding contacts) and join a squadron or fleet. If you like to create your own squadron or fleet you have to level him up to 26 and above. Usually you only need one radio man in the whole game. (Class him into whatever nationality you prefer and afterwards to a radio man)

That was the easy part. =P

New sailors:

You can roll new sailors where the "(Ability) GROWTH PER LEVEL" is maxed at +12 (+15 for potential). The base "Ability" is not that important. If you roll a new sailor you would like to have a real good growth on the focused stat, e.g. "+12 repair" for a repairer. Unfortunately to roll a new one with "+12 GROWTH" is kinda rare. You will need some time and luck to get a full crew with those growths. 

Navyfield offers a shop where you can buy so called "ELITE SAILORS" having a +13/+16 GROWTH on the focused stat, e.g. ELITE REPAIR SAILOR with +13 GROWTH on repair.

Please keep in mind that a "final crew"* with ELITE SAILORS or +12/+15 sailors doesn´t mean that you get auto-wins. ;)

Final crew*: I recommend that you look up what ship you like to have at the very end (Game Info-->Ship Tree) and look for a guide.

E.g.: Royal Navy ; Battleship Queen Victoria (QV)

You will need 1 BO, 2 gunner, 1 scout at least. There are captains telling you to get 6/7/8 Engineers and 4/3/2 Repairer. (I try to go with 7 engineers and 3 repairer)....read the guides and make your own decision.

There are many beginner guides for almost every single nationality (not for Italy at the moment because it is a newly released nation). Just look them up.

I hope that I didn´t make that many mistakes =P

Have fun and see you in battle^^

The number you see such as +27 etc is because as you class and start specializing your sailors, they increase in these statistical growth.

For example (USN), a +12 repair sailor when classed to a support sailor (level 12) will increase to +20 in repair.  Once classed to an actual repair sailor  (level 26) it will show +25.  Even though it might be +25, the sailor is referred to by the original growth rate of 12.

If you want to know the specifics of what to look for in a new sailor feel free to continue asking.

and to be honest, there are people who do nothing but sit there all day with no lives rolling and rolling and rolling to get 12s, or 13s or such in order to make sailors just to sell off for in game profit.

your leadership skill is for your BO, and a few other sailors will use that skill so you'll want that as high as possible for them (Sonar & Planesman are the two primary examples of this, as it's the governing skill in their use as crew on a Submarine.  Sonar, you can use on a FF/DD/CL to detect a submarine in the battles in which they are found).

average skill is a 10, you often want to go with 11s wherever you can find them.  and different nations have different characteristics which determine what you want to look for typically in your gunners, how many engineers/repairmen/etc to use.

you probably won't need any more than 6-8 sailors to start off with.  it's when you get into the higher level BBs and CVs that you need to have more sailors (10+)

and again,  it's more up to the player to choose what's best for him or herself, with the guides being there.. well as guides.  unless you really want to be "just like everybody else" and follow the cookie cutter method of setting your crew(s). 

of course, a lot of the so called best do tend to buy their way to the top via premium accounts, premium sailors, and so forth. nice if you have the money to spend, but doesn't exactly make them all "good" players at the game ;) 

Depending on the crew you are rolling for this is what is called the better stats to aim for

For BB crew:
Bridge Operator or BO for short - Base 14/15 Potential (Base 15 better option)
Repair sailor- Base 12 Repair (and look for Base 10/11 in Restore/Engine ability)
Restore Sailor - Base 12 Restore (and look for base 10/11 in Repair/Engine)
Engine sailor- Base 12 Engine (and look for Base 10/11 in Repair/Restore ability)
Main Gunners (my recommendation) Base 10/11 ACC base 12 RLD except the new Itaily nation better to go for Base 12 ACC and no less than Base 10 RLD
AA gunners - Base 10/11 Acc 12 Rld read nation forums as there are different ways to class each nations AA gunners)
Scout - base 12 fighter

For CV crew:
BO - Base 12 in either Repair or Restore (your choice)
Fighters - Base 12 Fighter (and look for Base 9/10/11 in Repair/Restore ability)
Dive Bombers/Torp bombers - Base 12 Bomber (Same as above for secondary stats)
Seaman - Base 15 Potential and 12 Fighter (Very rare)
Main Gunners/AA gunners - same as BB

For SS crew
BO - Same stats as CV BO (Do not put any experts/vets on this sailor as at high lvls weight is an issue run like 5-10 rookies only)
Sonar man - base 15 Potential and high stats in Repair/Restore/Engine
Plansman - Same as Sonarman
Torpedo man - Base 12 Torpedo
Depending on your choice of support choose the same as BB (Recommend always to use engies with an SS class ship)

This crew is very hard to roll unless you have many hours to spend and lots of points to use up

So if u have a hard time trying to roll this list ALWAYS go for the Base 12 in Primary stats and as for secondary no less than Base 9

Hope this helps


Bommer

The above list is pretty much accurate except when you look for a repairman, you can look for restore as a secondary statistic but engine ability is not needed. 

Do not use a restorer on a BB.  You could use one on the CV and in that case, look for a high stat in Restore and a high stat in Repair.  Once again the engine ability is not needed because it only applies on an engineer.  No other sailor contributes engine ability.

You know more than most people at your level. The +12 is VERY good and you should be happy about those. Potential for a Bridge Operator can be a +15 but +14 is pretty decent. for your BB crew you will need the following

BO +15/14

Gunners +11/11 <- minumum accuracy and reload if possible.

Repair x3/4 +12 <- Depends on nation stats, UK only need 3 repairs.

Engineer x4/5/6/7 <- Depends on if you want to AA, I don't AA on my UK BB's cause its not worth it.

Scout +12 x1 <- MUST! Vision is critical in this game. Have a scout.

Total: 14 sailors <- If you roll extra +12's like fighter or bomber, you can keep them and sell them at a later date for a little extra money. If you need more help, just ask! Lots of people on this game are very helpful and usually always willing to help.