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NAVY and NAVIES. The navy of a See also:country was in its See also:original meaning the See also:total See also:body of its See also:shipping, whether used for See also:war, for oversea and See also:coasting See also:traffic, or for fishing—the total in fact of its See also:ships (See also:Lat. naves). By See also:custom, however, the word has come to be used only of that See also:part of the whole which is set aside for purposes of war and See also:police. Every navy consists of a material part (see See also:SHIP), i.e. the vessels, with their means of propulsion and their armament, and of a human organization, namely the crews of all ranks, by which the vessels are handled. Ships and men are combined in divisions, and are ruled by an See also:organ of the See also:government to which they belong (see See also:ADMIRALTY See also:ADMINISTRATION).See also:admiral, admiral. There is also the See also:rank of " admiral of the See also:fleet ": such an officer, if in command, would carry the See also:union See also:flag at the See also:main. All flag-See also:officers, commanders-in-See also:chief, are considered as responsible for the conduct of the fleet or See also:squadron under their command. They are See also:bound to keep them in perfect See also:condition for service; to exercise them frequently in forming orders of sailing and lines of See also:battle, and in performing all such evolutions as may occur in the presence of an enemy; to See also:direct the commanders of squadrons and divisions to inspect the See also:state of each ship under their command; to see that the established rules for See also:good See also:order, discipline and cleanliness are observed; and occasionally to inquire into these and other matters themselves. They are required to correspond with the secretary of the admiralty, and See also:report to him all their proceedings. Every flag-officer serving in a fleet, but not commanding it, is required to superintend all the ships of the squadron or See also:division placed under his orders—to see that their crews are properly disciplined, that all orders are punctually attended to, that the stores, provisions and See also:water are kept as See also:complete as circumstances will admit, that the See also:seamen and See also:marines are frequently exercised, and that every precaution is taken for preserving the See also:health of their crews. When at See also:sea, he is to take care that every ship in his division preserves her station in whatever See also:line or order of sailing the fleet may be formed; and in battle he is to observe attentively the conduct of every ship near him, whether of the squadron or division under his immediate command or not; and at the end of the battle he is to report it to the See also:commander-in-chief, in order that See also:commendation or censure may be passed, as ;he See also:case may appear to merit ; and he is empowered to send an officer to supersede any See also:captain who may misbehave in battle, or whose ship is evidently avoiding the engagement. If any flag-officer be killed in battle his flag is to be kept flying, and signals to be repeated, in the same manner as if he were still alive, until the battle shall be ended; but the See also:death of a flag-officer, or his being rendered incapable of attending to his See also:duty, is to be conveyed as expeditiously as possible to the commander-in-chief. The captain of the fleet is a temporary rank, where a commanderin-chief has ten or more ships of the line under his command; it may be compared with that of See also:adjutant-See also:general in the See also:army. He may either be a flag-officer or one of the See also:senior captains; in the former case, he takes his rank with the flag-officers of the fleet ; in the latter, he ranks next to the junior See also:rear-admiral, and is entitled to the pay and See also:allowance of a rear-admiral. All orders of the commander-inchief are issued through him, all returns of the fleet are made through him to the commander-in-chief, and he keeps a See also:journal of the proceedings of the fleet, which he transmits to the admiralty. He is appointed and can be removed from this situation only by the lords commissioners of the admiralty.
A See also:commodore is a temporary rank, and of two kinds—the one having a captain under him in the same ship, and the other without a captain. The former has the rank, pay and allowances of a rear-admiral, the latter the pay and allowances of a captain and See also:special allowance as the lords of the admiralty may direct. They both carry distinguishing pennants.
When a captain is appointed to command a ship of war he commissions the ship by hoisting his See also:pennant; and if fresh out of the See also:dock, and from the hands of the dockyard officers, he proceeds immediately to prepare her for sea, by demanding her stores, provisions, guns and See also:ammunition from the respective departments, according to her See also:establishment. He enters such See also:petty officers, leading seamen, able seamen, See also:ordinary seamen, artificers, stokers, firemen and boys as may be sent to him from the flag or receiving ship. If he be appointed to succeed the captain of a ship already in See also:commission, he passes a See also:receipt to the said captain for the ship's books, papers and stores, and becomes responsible for the whole of the remaining stores and provisions.
The duty of the captain of a ship, with regard to the several books and accounts, pay-books, entry, musters, discharges, &c., is regulated by various acts of See also:parliament ; but the state of the See also:internal discipline, the order, regularity, cleanliness and the health of the crews will depend mainly on himself and his officers. In all these respects the general printed orders for his guidance contained in the See also: And, for the See also:information of the ship's See also:company, he is directed to cause the articles of war, and abstracts of all acts of parliament for the encouragement of seamen, and all such orders and regulations for discipline as may be established, to be hung up in some public part of the ship, to which the men may at all times have See also:access. He is also to direct that they be read to the ship's company, all the officers being See also:present, once at least in every See also:month. He is desired to be particularly careful that the See also:chaplain have shown to him the See also:attention and respect due to his sacred See also:office by all the officers and men, and that divine service be performed every See also:Sunday. He is not authorized to inflict See also:summary See also:punishment on any commissioned or See also:warrant-officer, but he may See also:place them under See also:arrest, and suspend any officer who shall misbehave, until an opportunity shall offer of trying such officer by a See also:court-See also:martial. He is enjoined to be very careful not to suffer the inferior officers or men to be treated with See also:cruelty and oppression by their superiors. He is the authority who can order punishment to be inflicted, which he is never to do without sufficient cause, nor ever with greater severity PERSONNEL The personnel of the See also:British navy is composed of two different bodies of men, the seamen and the marines, each of which has its appropriate officers. The marines are the subject of a See also:separate See also:article. The officers of the navy are classed as follows in the order of their rank: flag-officers (see ADMIRAL), commodores, captains, See also:staff captains, commanders, staff commanders, lieutenants, navigating lieutenants, sub-lieutenants, chief gunners, chief boatswains, chief carpenters, gunners, boatswains, carpenters, midshipmen, See also:naval cadets. Flag-officers are divided into three ranks, viz. rear-admiral, See also:vice- than the offence may really deserve, nor until twenty-four See also:hours after the See also:crime has been committed, which must be specified in the warrant ordering the punishment. He may delegate this authority to a limited extent to certain officers. All the officers and the whole ship's company are to be present at every punishment, which must be inserted in the See also:log-See also:book, and an abstract sent to the admiralty every See also:quarter. The commander has the chief command in small vessels. In larger vessels he is chief of the staff to the captain and assists him in maintaining discipline, and in sailing and fighting the ship. The lieutenants take the See also:watch by turns, and are at such times entrusted, in the See also:absence of the captain, with the command of the ship. The one on duty is to inform the captain of all important occurrences which take place during his watch. He is to see that the whole of the duties of the ship are carried on with the same punctuality as if the captain himself were present. In the absence of the captain, the commander or senior executive officer is responsible for everything done on See also:board. The navigating officer receives his orders from the captain or the senior executive officer. He is entrusted, under the command of the captain, with the See also:charge of navigating the ship, bringing her to See also:anchor, ascertaining the See also:latitude and See also:longitude of her place at sea, See also:surveying harbours, and making such nautical remarks and observations as may be useful to See also:navigation in general. The warrant-officers of the navy may he compared with the non-commissioned officers of the army. They take rank as follows, viz. See also:gunner, See also:boatswain, See also:carpenter; and, compared with other officers, they take rank after sub-lieutenants and before midshipmen. The midshipmen are the See also:principal subordinate officers, but have no specific duties assigned to them. In the smaller vessels some of the senior ones are entrusted with the watch; they attend parties of men sent on See also:shore, pass the word of command on board, and see that the orders of their superiors are carried into effect; in See also:short, they are exercised in all the duties of their profession, so as, after five years' service as cadets and midshipmen, to qualify them to become lieutenants, and are then rated sub-lieutenants provided they have passed the requisite examination. The duties and relative positions of these officers remain practically unaffected by See also:recent changes; but a profcund modification was made in the constitution of the See also:corps of officers at the See also:close of 1902. Up to the end of that See also:year, officers who belonged to the " executive " See also:branch, i.e. from midshipmen to admiral, to the marines and the See also:engineers, had entered at different ages, had been trained in separate See also:schools, and had formed three co-operating but See also:independent lines. For reasons set forth in a memorandum by See also:Lord See also:Selborne (See also:December 16, 1902)—from the See also:desire to give a more scientific See also:character to naval See also:education, and to achieve complete unity among all classes of officers—it was decided to replace the triple by a single See also:system of entry, and to coalesce all classes of officers, apart from the purely See also:civil lines—surgeons and paymasters (formerly " pursers ")—into one. Lads were in future to be entered together, and at one training establishment at See also:Osborne in the Isle of See also:Wight, on the distinct under-See also:standing that it was to be at the discretion of the admiralty to assign them to executive, marine or engineer duties at a later See also:period. After two years' training at Osborne, and at the Naval See also:College at Dart-mouth, all alike were to go through the rank of See also:midshipman and to pass the same examination for See also:lieutenant. When in the intermediate position of sub-lieutenant, they were to be assigned to their respective branches as executive officer, marine or engineer. The engineers under this new system were to cease to be a civil branch, as they had been before, and become known as lieutenant, commander, captain or rear-admiral E. (Engineer). The See also:crew of a ship of war consists of leading seamen, able seamen, ordinary seamen, See also:engine-See also:room artificers, other artificers, leading stokers, stokers, See also:coal-trimmers, boys and marines. The artificers and stokers and the marines are always entered voluntarily, the latter in the same manner as soldiers, by enlisting into the corps, the former at some See also:rendezvous or on board particular ships. The See also:supply of boys for the navy, from whom the seamen class of men and petty officers is recruited, is also obtained by voluntary entry. See also:Merchant seamen are admitted into the royal naval reserve, receive an See also:annual See also:payment by way of See also:retainer, perform See also:drill on board His See also:Majesty's ships, and are engaged to serve in the navy in case of war or emergency. There are two schemes for forming reserves. The Royal Naval Reserve See also:scheme draws men from the See also:mercantile marine and fishing See also:population of the See also:United See also:Kingdom. The Royal Fleet Reserve scheme, introduced in 1901, while it gave a better system of training to the pensioners, was mainly designed to obtain the services in war of the men who had quitted the navy after the expiration of their twelve years' service. So far as other countries are concerned, the staff of officers does not differ materially from one navy to another. In all it consists of admirals, captains, lieutenants, midshipmen and cadets receiving their training in special schools. With the exception of the navy of the United States, all the important naval forces of the See also:world are raised by See also:conscription. The strength and general condition of navies at any given See also:time must be learnt from the See also:official publications of the various See also:powers, and from privately composed books founded on them. The yearly statements of the First Lord of the Admiralty in See also:Great See also:Britain, the Reports of the Secretary of the Navy in the United States, and the Reports of the See also:Budget Committees of the See also:French-Chamber contain masses of information. The Naval Annual, founded by Lord See also:Brassey in 1886, is the See also:model of publications which appear in nearly every country which possesses a navy. Mr F. T. Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships is a survey of the materiel of navies since 1898. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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