It may be that the SDE effect is based on the lvl and the # of Rookies/experts/Vets that the seaman has.
Both of my seaman definitely affect SDE and have the cumlative effect where the sum is greater than the parts.

I have 2 seaman. One is lvl 61, the other is lvl 57. With only 1 sailor on board with the seaman, the lvl 61 adds 2 to SDE, the lvl 57 adds 1. I'll have to look and see the rookie/expert/vet numbers and post them for info purposes.

One way to check seaman effect on aircraft fueling would be to go into a mission room without the seaman and fuel 1 plane. Time it beginning when you head the Ready planes button and stop when the green Launch Icon comes up. Repeat the test with the seaman on board. A no change in time may not be definitive based on Lionel2 comment that he saw no change to SDE with his seaman when taking them on and off.

I have read the statement about enhancing reload speed in other threads so I suspect that might be true also. I read these threads on the old server before the last change.

The seaman definitely enhances some abilities and we have physical proof. Enhanced SDE and Enhanced Overheat speed.
I suspect there are other enhancements and only testing will show what they are. I also suspect, based on Lionel2s comment of no change, that there is some sort of relationship with seaman lvl and/or experts and vets. There is a relationship for all other sailors, a seaman should be no different. The higher the lvl, the more experts and vets, the better the sailor be he seaman, gunner, or pilot.

As for them saving lives....there may be something to that. I have a group of pilots that are way below the lvl of my CV4. I have a CV2 for lvling them and have the 1st seaman on board with a medic. It seems that I have less crew casualties. I don't really have a measurement, just a feeling. It may be just luck though. Interestingly, it sometimes seems that my TB and DB pilots do better then expected. Then again, I'm a better player then when I first started CVs. Perhaps that is part of the difference.

The NF manual says that a seaman enhances other sailors abilities. I am beginning to believe it's true as we have evidence. I suspect they enhance pilot abilites also. Why not?

Here are the basic stats of my seaman

lvl 57
12 potential
60 vets
289 experts
56 recruits
130% effeciency

lvl 61
+11 potential
40 vets
279 experts
117 recruits
99% effeciency

I have never placed too much interest in adding vets or experts to these sailors. The only time I have added vets has been during enhanced rolling for vets events.

The ability numbers of seaman are always low, so low as to be meaningless. However, my lvl 61 seaman has a +9 repair +10 restore growth number. My lvl 57 has a +9 repair +7 restore number. Remember that a Restorer sailor adds significantly to SDE. My 61 seaman has higher restore numbers and adds more to enhanced (and I mean cumlative effect) on SDE then the 57 sailor even though the 57 sailor is more effecient.

Theory: The ability #'s of a seaman, i.e. Accurracy, reload, Repair, restore, etc...point to where the seamans expertise lies.
Although they are small numbers, these are some sort of enhancement multiplier. In other words, a Seaman with high Fighter numbers and growth would tend to enhance the ability of fighters more then say a low reload/accuracy number and growth. He would not enhance the ability of gunners as well as those of fighters. The higher the number in the catagory, the more the enhancement in that catagory.

When first classing a seaman, ability numbers are "wiped" and very small numbers are the replacements. There are the "enhancement" multipliers. I don't know if 10 means 10% or 1% or what but I theorize that this is how they are used.

I'm sorry but a level 61 sailor does absolutely nothing. It is usually assumed that seamen help with abilities that are not capped. At high level that are not many, overheat, repair and plane ability, the last one is debatable.

Usually people claim that fighter attack is capped fighter defense is not. Whether that is true, who knows. As air combat is highly dependent on attack angle and movement, it is very difficult to test and make a fact based statement.
That leaves overheat and repair.

I have a lvl110 seaman with +12 in repair and fighter with 200+ vets I use on a jap CV. I once tested repair with and without him when he was lvl90. There was next to no effect so I would have been better off with a repairer. How its now I dont know, gunners above lvl110 still gain a lot of accuracy, maybe....

I planned to do another test it but I think I will find out that he is generally useless. Whether he helps with air combat? It's a question of belief. Anyway I'll keep him because he looks nice.

I tried replacing the rookie pilot on my BB1 (Alaska) with the lvl 61 and lvl57 1st seaman to see if there was an increase in speed as noted by others. 42 Knots is maximum.

I saw no increase in speed. Neither one helped. Both have the same engineering ability number which might indicate they have the same multiplier and thus about the same effect on engineering. The lack of speed differential might be due to the fact that both seaman are heavier then the rookie pilot and the extra weight canceled any speed gain.

The only thing that I know for sure that my seaman do is increase SDE in the way I described.

I guess I wasn't clear in my post. Sorry.

I tested each seaman individually. I didn't stack them. Each seaman did not add an extra knot.

In google searches I found this: (Dated 2009) The Theory is that the seaman impacts sailor stats
only at lvl up.




what i think is that the seaman increases the stats by following formula:
when any of the other sailors lvl up
(+stats of the sailor)+[(+stats of the seaman)*%vets &experts]

so an acc gunner with + 31 acc when he lvls and a seaman with say 50%vet/experts
(the % shown in the recruitment window) and +12 acc

gives the gunner +37acc at lvl up [31+(12*0.5)]

maybe the potential comes in here too so it gets realy complicated
then it would be something like :
(+stats of sailor)+{[(potential+stat)/2]*%vets&experts)

so the same example gives (seaman at 14pot)
31+{[(12+14)/2]*0.5} = 38.5




I found a posting where someone did testing and found that an IJN seamen spead up torpedo reloading time.
As to your comment where the seaman ability numbers add to the other crewnumbers is likely but the numbers are alway so small as to not be worth much except at low levels. I mean adding 10 a gunner with the ability of 100 is a 10% increase.
Adding 10 to a gunner with the ability of 1000 is a 1% increase. The number of vets and experts on the seaman has to make some sort of difference but that is a mystery.

Your comment about affecting repair and restore fits with my seamans ability to impact SDE. Strange that your seaman do not.

A simple explanation may be is that the seaman ability stats are just added to every sailor on board boosting every ability by the seaman stat. So a seaman with +10 accuracy +10 reload, etc would add +10 accuracy +10 reload, etc. to every sailor on board. If the seaman had 90% effeciency, then the +10 stats would be reduced by 10%. If effeciency greater then 100%, the stats would be increased by the increased percentage. This would mean that some seaman would be better in some areas then others depending on the initial roll for the seaman.

Founds this in Navyfield's FAQ about the game and it points to how the seaman abilities work.
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Fact Question:

Does a sailor's ability decrease when his class changes to Seaman?

Fact Answer:

His ability does not decrease. Rather, his unit ability switches to a percentage. When the Seaman's ability rises, the abilities of the other sailors also rise. This shift in ability is measured by a percentage increase or decrease.

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This does open up a few questions such as what is the effect of the seaman if the sailors abililties are capped? Does the seaman no longer have any effect or is there still a percentage boost putting the ability slighty above the cap.

Are the seaman ability percentages the true percentage increase in ability or is the decimial point elsewhere? I.E. is a 15 ability in a job a true 15% boost or is it a 1.5%. I'm inclined to believe it is the later based on the fact that some players see little change in crew performance when putting a seaman on board. A small percentage change would be hard to detect in some instances.

This also implies that the seaman boost depends on the ability numbers and that some seaman are better at some jobs then others. This would explain why when testing seaman, results from one player tests may be different then another players test.
Thus, one player may see an increase in certain aspects of ship performance, while another player may not see the same increase, but perhaps one different. A seaman with better enginnering abilities with poor torpedo abilities may enhance OH time and speed slightly but have no effect on torpedo reload speed.

Obviously seaman sailor efficiencey (rookies,Experts,Vets) will impact the percentage that other sailors ability rises. i.e if the ability is 15 (or 1.5) and the seaman is 200% effecient the the ablity should be 30 (or 3.0)

Suffice it to say that a seaman "boost" is something like adding experts except that it should effect the whole crew and not just one sailor. Depending on the seaman, it might be something like adding 1 additional expert to each sailor on the ship. The overall effect would be hard to see but in some cases it might be the "tipping" point to push a sailor to perform as if he is on the next lvl. (Something that some players seem to see)

I think this is a possible answer to how a seaman effects crew performance. It may not be THE answer, but it seems to fit the way seaman perform and it follows the NF explanation. The seaman boosts other sailors abilities by a percentage based on the percentage numbers shown by the seamans abilities.