Thanks for the in-depth research; I should have done similar.

Your experience mirrors mine, down to the cranking being a vacation.

As I alluded to elsewhere I ended up outside Engineering for a substantial part of my career. Amusingly towards the end of my career I was offered a leadership position in the Engineering Department (I was in the Aviation Department, and this was an LHA) due to my background and my reputation within weeks of transferring onboard. It was unheard of, and there were some interesting meetings in the CPO Mess and Wardroom that I was involved in for that, but I ended up not taking it because I simply didn't want the hours.