CHAPTER II..

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS ASSIGNED TO SPECIAL DUTIES.

Besides the ordinary duties incident to the career of an executive officer in the Navy, officers who are specially qualified, or who have special tastes for one branch of their profession, are given an opportunity and are even encouraged to devote themselves specially to it. At present there are four of these branches, and the number seems likely to increase. They are as follows:

1. Navigating officer.
2. Gunnery lieutenant.
3. Torpedo lieutenant.

4. Interpreter.

Officers choosing one of these branches have to go through a special course, or at least to pass a special examination. They are not exempted from their ordinary duties as executive officers, but they remain in the line of promotion, and they are given certain emoluments and privileges, mainly in the shape of extra pay and special service; in some cases, also, of more rapid promotion. A distinguishing mark is affixed to their names in the Navy List, and, in general, their extra effort receives full and substantial recognition.

The question of encouraging specialties in naval education and administration is one which has been much discussed, and about which opinions differ; but the full trial which the system has received in England, and its marked success, make it worthy of the most careful consideration. In a profession as varied and as many-sided as that of a naval officer, there is room for the indulgence of every taste, and use for every form of talent. Of course, the first object is to produce officers who can manage ships and fight ships. Seamanship, navigation, gunnery, and steam-engineering, in their broadest sense, form, if not the foundation, at least the essential superstructure, of naval education. Every officer must receive a certain training in these branches to fit him for his ordinary duties and enable him to meet extraordinary emergencies. But there are other duties incident to the naval profession, and useful alike in peace and in war, which call for a high order of special talent and a high degree of special acquisition. For some one or other of these duties or branches, all officers have sufficient time, while tastes and aptitudes vary; and it is to employ this spare time, and to utilize these particular aptitudes, that an opportunity is given in the English service to cultivate specialties. It has not been found that this system *The term "executive officer," as used in the English Navy, and as generally used in this report, refers to officers of the executive branch, or "line officers," as they are called in our own Navy.

The table given in the Appendix, Note A, shows the rate of extra pay in each case.

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injures the general efficiency of individuals who take advantage of it, while it adds incalculably to the strength and usefulness of the service as a whole. It gives the Admiralty men of high scientific training for every kind of work which needs such training; while the presence in the service of officers so trained tends to leaven the whole body and to raise the standard of professional knowledge.

It is upon this principle that the general system of education in the English Navy is largely based. The course of study and practice is uniform for all officers up to the final examination of sub-lieutenants. After that, every facility is given for the development of individual inclinations. Not only the four special branches mentioned above, in following which officers to some extent separate themselves from the line, but the great variety of voluntary elective courses for higher officers, at the College and on board of the Excellent, afford abundant opportunities. And the government, knowing well that special opportunities without special rewards form an imperfect incentive to most men's ambition, has held out many forms of direct, material compensation, in the shape of extra pay, prizes, medals, more rapid advancement, attractive lines of duty, and, by no means least, distinguishing marks on the Navy List.

1.-NAVIGATING OFFICERS.

Until recently the duties of navigation and pilotage were performed by a separate corps of officers, called navigating officers. Of these there still remain a large number in the several grades of staff-captain, staffcommander, navigating lieutenant, and navigating sub-lieutenant. Two of the old grades, navigating midshipman and navigating cadet, have ceased to exist, and the others will gradually pass away.

Formerly the duties of this corps were performed by officers called masters, of whom there were several grades. In 1863, and again in 1867, the corps of masters was reorganized, and its older members became the newly-established staff-captains and staff-commanders. Higher relative rank was given to the navigating officers, and their position was in every way improved; the cadets of the corps being educated with naval cadets in the Britannia, and passing subsequently through a special course of training.*

In 1872 the Admiralty decided to abolish gradually the separate corps of navigating officers, after its short-lived career, and to intrust their duties to line officers, as in the American service; except that certain officers are selected, who are to devote themselves during a certain period to this branch of the profession. Accordingly, the appointment of navigating cadets ceased, the last having been made in January, 1872. The new regulations which, somewhat modified, are now in force, provide that lieutenants under four years' standing, and sub-lieutenants, *Navy List, January, 1871, p. 375. Circ. No. 3, C, January 6, 1870, § 30.

may, on their own application, be appointed to navigating and pilotage duties. They pass the regular sub-lieutenants' examination at Greenwich, and a special examination at the Hydrographic Office on pilotage in general, and the navigation of the English Channel in particular. Before entering on their duties, they must have had one year's seaservice as watch officers. Within five years from their appointment to navigating duties they must pass through a short course in gunnery in the Excellent. They are called on to perform navigating duties while in the grades of lieutenant and commander. But, contrary to the practice in the case of the old navigating corps, they may also be required to act as watch and divisional officers, and they are eligible for promotion to the highest rank in the service, their seniority not being affected by their choice of navigating duties. An arrangement is also made by which the present navigating sub-lieutenants can be transferred, if they prefer, to the executive branch; and the Admiralty is also authorized to transfer to the executive branch a small number of navigating officers of the grades of staff-commander and navigating lieutenant, who have distinguished themselves by some special service.†

It has very recently (May 27, 1879) been decided to establish a course of instruction for navigating officers on board the flag-ship at Portsmouth. This course lasts two months, and is preliminary to the pilotage examination at Whitehall.

2.-GUNNERY AND TORPEDO OFFICERS.

Lieutenants who desire to devote themselves to these branches of the service receive permission to qualify, on their own application, when recommended by the captain under whom they are serving. Candidates who have not previously served one year at sea as lieutenants are appointed to a sea-going ship, to complete that period as watch officers. The special school for gunnery officers is the Excellent, and for torpedo officers, the Vernon, both stationed at Portsmouth.†

The total period of instruction for gunnery lieutenants, including a vacation of a month in July and September, is about twenty months, distributed as follows:

Theoretical course at Greenwich, 9 months; vacation, 1 month; torpedo instruction at Portsmouth, 2 months; practical gunnery course in Excellent, 6 months; attendance at Royal gun factories, carriage department, and laboratory, at Woolwich, 3 weeks; review and examination, 3 weeks; leave, 1 week; total, 19 months, 3 weeks.

If it is found during any part of the course that a lieutenant is not likely to prove efficient as a gunnery officer, his name is submitted to the Admiralty, with a view to his removal from the books of the Excellent.

*Regulations of 1879, § 239.

+ Course of instruction in gunnery ships, p. 17.

At the final examination in each course (theoretical and practical), two certificates are given, as follows:

First class.-First class in both theoretical and practical courses.
Second class.-First class in either course and second in the other.
Third class.-Second class in both courses.

The duties of gunnery officers are largely instructional, and they may perform watch and divisional duty with the other lieutenants of the ship in which they are serving. They receive extra pay according to the certificate given them at their passing examination. They are picked and selected men; and they may be said to be to the Navy what the engineers are to the Army-the scientific corps of the service.

3.-INTERPRETERS.

The examination for interpreters is held at the Royal Naval College, and is open to all officers below the rank of commander, on their own application.

The application states the language or languages chosen by the candidate, the choice being open between French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, and such others as may be designated by the Admiralty. The examination is oral and written, and of a searching character. The branches of the examination and the marks given for each are as follows:

Candidates are not qualified unless they obtain 50 per cent. in each subject, and 58 per cent. of the aggregate; 75 per cent. gives a first class, 58 per cent., a second-class certificate. Rejected candidates are re-examined six months later, but the second examination is always final. The names of officers who pass successfully are noted for employment as interpreters, in flag or senior officers' ships, each of which, on foreign stations, is allowed one officer who has qualified in the languages spoken within the limits of the command. Officers so employed act as interpreters in addition to their regular duties, and receive extra pay according to their certificate.

S. Ex. 51-2