Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned officer ranks, the most senior of the non-commissioned officer (NCO) ranks, or in a separate category of their own. Warrant officer ranks are especially prominent in the militaries of Commonwealth nations and the United States.
The wardroom is the mess cabin or compartment on a warship or other military ship for commissioned naval officers above the rank of midshipman. Although the term typically applies to officers in a navy, it is also applicable to marine officers and coast guard officers in those nations that have such service branches. On larger vessels, such as aircraft carriers of the United States Navy, there may be more than one wardroom. It may also be used on stone frigates to refer to similar officer mess facilities at naval, marine, and coast guard installations ashore.
The mess is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the officers' mess, the chief petty officer mess, and the enlisted mess. In some civilian societies this military usage has been extended to the eating arrangements of other disciplined services such as fire fighting and police forces.
In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works and sometimes without. It thus encompassed ships with up to 30 guns in all. In the first half of the 18th century the main battery guns were 6-pounders, but by mid-century these were supplanted by 9-pounders. 28-gun sixth rates were classed as frigates, those smaller as 'post ships', indicating that they were still commanded by a full ('post') captain, as opposed to sloops of 18 guns and less under commanders.
Prize money refers in particular to naval prize money, usually arising in naval warfare, but also in other circumstances. It was a monetary reward paid in accordance with the prize law of a belligerent state to the crew of a ship belonging to the state, either a warship of its navy or a privateer vessel commissioned by the state. Prize money was most frequently awarded for the capture of enemy ships or of cargoes belonging to an enemy in time of war, either arrested in port at the outbreak of war or captured during the war in international waters or other waters not the territorial waters of a neutral state. Goods carried in neutral ships that are classed as contraband, being shipped to enemy-controlled territory and liable to be useful to it for making war, were also liable to be taken as prizes, but non-contraband goods belonging to neutrals were not. Claims for the award of prize money were usually heard in a prize court, which had to adjudicate the claim and condemn the prize before any distribution of cash or goods could be made to the captors.
Holland & Holland is a British gunmaker and clothing retailer based in London, England, which offers handmade sporting rifles and shotguns. The company holds two royal warrants.
The Fusiliers marins are specialized French security force trained for combat on land and coastal regions. The Fusiliers marins are in charge of providing protection for naval vessels and key French Navy sites on land.
Seafaring is a tradition that encompasses a variety of professions and ranks. Each of these roles carries unique responsibilities that are integral to the successful operation of a seafaring vessel. A ship's crew can generally be divided into four main categories: the deck department, the engineering department, the steward's department, and other. The reasoning behind this is that a ship's bridge, filled with sophisticated navigational equipment, requires skills differing from those used on deck operations – such as berthing, cargo and/or military devices – which in turn requires skills different from those used in a ship's engine room and propulsion, and so on.
The Japanese raiders in the Indian Ocean were those vessels used by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Second World War to pursue its war on Allied commerce in that theatre. Possessing a powerful fleet of warships, prior to the start of World War II, the IJN had strategically planned to fight a war of fleet actions, and as a consequence delegated few resources to raiding merchant vessels. Nevertheless, in 1940, two passenger-cargo vessels – Aikoku Maru and Hōkoku Maru – of the Osaka Shipping Line were requisitioned for conversion to armed merchant cruisers (AMC)s, in anticipation of the likely thrust southward by the Japanese. These vessels were subsequently used as merchant raiders attacking Allied commercial shipping along vital sea lanes of communication between Australia and the Middle East. Using their comprehensive armament and speed to their advantage, the raiders experienced a brief period of success. Japanese raiding in the Indian Ocean largely ceased by the end of 1942 after an action with a Dutch vessel, the Ondina and a Royal Indian Navy corvette, HMIS Bengal in which the Hōkoku Maru was sunk.
The Cocos Islands mutiny was a failed mutiny by Sri Lankan soldiers against British officers, on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands on 8 May 1942, during the Second World War.
'Warwick Camp' was originally the rifle ranges and a training area used by units of the Bermuda Garrison based elsewhere in the colony. Today, the Camp is the home of the Royal Bermuda Regiment.
Commander (Cdr) is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It is immediately junior to captain and immediately senior to the rank of lieutenant commander. Officers holding the junior rank of lieutenant commander are not considered to be commanders.
The master, or sailing master, is a historical rank for a naval officer trained in and responsible for the navigation of a sailing vessel.
Master's mate is an obsolete rating which was used by the Royal Navy, United States Navy and merchant services in both countries for a senior petty officer who assisted the master. Master's mates evolved into the modern rank of sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy, while in the merchant service they evolved into the numbered mates or officers.
The First Battle of Cárdenas was a naval action fought in May 1898 during the Spanish–American War. A force of three Spanish vessels attempted to lift the blockade of Cárdenas but were repulsed and sent back into harbor by two United States Navy warships.
Royal Navy ranks, rates, and uniforms of the 18th and 19th centuries were the original effort of the Royal Navy to create standardized rank and insignia system for use both at shore and at sea.
A mate is a deck naval officer aboard a merchant vessel, such as the chief mate, second mate, or third mate. Between 1800 and 1890 "mate" was also the naval rank now known as sub-lieutenant—master.
Artillery Memorial, Cape Town was erected in memory of the gunners who fought for South Africa during World War I. The memorial, which forms part of the Delville Wood Memorial, is located in the Company's Garden, Cape Town, and was strategically established to commemorate South Africa's artillery soldiers who fell in battle. Of those who volunteered to fight during the war, 5800 were white South African, amongst whom 15% were Dutch and 85% English. An estimated 2536 of these men were killed in the Deville Wood battle in Europe. The Artillery Memorial, an authentic cannon facing east towards the National Gallery, proudly honors South Africa's heavy artillerymen. Inscribed on it are the names of the officers, N.C.O.'s and men of the South African artillery who fell in the Great War (1914–1918).
Rear-Admiral Donat Henchy O'Brien was an officer of the Royal Navy. He was the son of a Royal Navy captain who claimed descent from an ancient Irish king. O'Brien served as a midshipman during the French Revolutionary Wars and commanded a troop-carrying vessel during the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland. He was afterwards appointed acting lieutenant and served as a master's mate on the frigate Hussar. While returning to England in 1804, the ship was wrecked on the Île de Sein and O'Brien and other crew were captured by the French. O'Brien was imprisoned in France but escaped in 1808 and reached a British vessel at Trieste. He later wrote a book about his experiences.
Richard Leake was an English naval officer and master-gunner of England.
