I've been advocating for full helm & speed control for some time now. Include a timer that would return the TG to its plotted course if no manual course adjustments are made within the specified time limit. For speed, give the helm officer simple descrete settings, such as All-stop, Ahead-slow, Ahead-Standard, Ahead-Full, and Ahead-Flank.
In a somewhat related issue, I'd also like to see all ship and field guns with the option to be man-able. In otherwords, guns that are currently auto-only would still be on auto when no-one was manning them, but would show up on the Ship and Field Gun choices in the hanger. A player spawning into them would take the gun out of auto-mode, allowing the player to direct and fire it instead. This would give fleets more offensive fire power, especially when the big guns are sunk or destroyed.