There's a quote from The Last Sentry[1] regarding this:
"On major combatant vessels, the political officer was third in command, following the captain and his starpom (short for stariy pomoshnik, or senior assistant), who was the equivalent of an executive officer in the U.S. Navy. The zampolit was required to qualify as an underway watch officer like any other officer on the ship and so had to have some operational competence."
I'm pretty sure that training and working with the regular crew would weaken the dedication to "The Party" over time.
There's a quote from The Last Sentry[1] regarding this:
"On major combatant vessels, the political officer was third in command, following the captain and his starpom (short for stariy pomoshnik, or senior assistant), who was the equivalent of an executive officer in the U.S. Navy. The zampolit was required to qualify as an underway watch officer like any other officer on the ship and so had to have some operational competence."
I'm pretty sure that training and working with the regular crew would weaken the dedication to "The Party" over time.
[1]: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=pThlAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PT15&o...