When captains could take trusted officers to a new ship

How much freedom did captains have to select officers and ratings for particular roles?

They could request trusted personnel when reputation, vacancies, and operational need aligned, but they did not have an unrestricted right to displace an established ship's company.

A respected captain could request particular engineers, gunnery officers, or signal personnel, especially when commissioning a new ship or bringing one out of refit. Those transfers filled vacancies and provided a team that already worked together. An established ship's occupied posts were harder to displace, and wartime shortages encouraged the Navy to retain officers where they were. Successful fighting captains nevertheless had leverage to argue that keeping their team together would produce further victories. The alternative posting also mattered to anyone displaced: a hypothetical transfer to a Pacific-bound King George V was more attractive than joining Malaya shortly before she entered reserve. Philip Vian kept trusted people through difficult assignments while helping them move on to suitable promotions. Long repairs could also release entire specialist teams, as happened when much of Belfast's gunnery organization transferred to Hood.