Just wondering....

Last night as I worked here at home doing some Christmas chores, I began wondering again about my father's LST and the steering problems it had. Consistent, unavoidable... and they never really did figure out the cause. I know many other LSTs had the same problems.. others never had steering problems. I'll most likely never know the cause BUT....

Can someone explain to me exactly what took place during a steering failure and how the system worked to man aft steering and use it?

I think I remember that someone speculated that there could have been a 'bubble' in the fluid that would cause the steering to fail... were there other reasons?

Once steering was lost, did the Helm report such to the Captain and he ordered aft steering manned?

How exactly did the switch from one to the other steering occur? How fast did you have to make it all happen? (On my father's LST, during invasions, Captain Tenney even began to station a couple of men down there... knowing the ship was prone to that problem and knowing that they hadn't found the cause yet!)

I've seen the aft steering area, those big 'wheels' that have to be turned a lot to make even a slight adjustment in course (from what I've been told). How many men did they station in aft steering when it had to be used? Were they normally from the black gang or deck force or both?

When turning those wheels, did the cable move the rudder and that's how the course is altered? (the direction of the rudder movement I'm guessing depends on which way the wheels are cranked)

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me... just trying to understand!