Ok I guess I gotta clear this up.
Excuse me. You are talking plain nonsense there.
In the follwing let me go through your text.
I AM saying it is a bug because there should be people there no matter what.
When going surfaced ("Ueberwassermarschfahrt"), the depth rudders ("Tiefenrudder") have absolutely no effect - so why?
When surfaced the "Rudergaenger" would be at their regular station, mostly maintenance.
And if not there somewhere in the room.
NOBODY who is not in service remains in the OPZ ("Zentrale") - the OPZ is no restroom.
Again: Under no circumstances anybody besides those who are IN SERVICE remains there.
If a crash dive is called you need people there and ready to respond IMMEDIATELY! Not just sitting in invisible land with their dicks in hand doing nothing.
Think please: What distance do you think somebody has to run to get to his station? 100 meters? Never!
That is trained as crash dive ("Alarmtauchen").
Even switching off the diesel (closing vents and all) takes longer than that.
You were on those Type IIs in peace time. Very different SOP (standard operating procedure) than in war time.
What do you think is the difference between post-war ("Maneuverfahrt") and wartime ("Ueberwassermarschfahrt in Bereitschaft")?
No differences in the procedures, that is exactly what maneuvers are trained for.
And no, I have not served in Type IIs, I have served in a modified XXIII and the later types.