Cannot Sign on Chief Mate as AB

Does anyone remember the CG question that you cannot sign on a chief mate unlimited as an AB, or the reasoning behind it?

You can only sign on someone on as AB if he has an AB endorsement.

As a practical matter a chief mate would also have an AB endorsement. But as a technicality, that cannot be assumed, and chief mate is not a substitute for AB, he must have an AB endorsement.

This is a bullshit USCG test “trick question” that I’ve seen a couple of times.

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Interesting. I always assumed the “any unlicensed deck rating, including AB,” on the Z-Card/MMC of an unlimited tonnage deck officer covered that.

If they have that they’re covered. I guess the point of the question is to make sure you check and don’t assume.