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Midshipman
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A midshipman is a subordinate officer, an officer cadet, or alternatively a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the navies of several English-speaking countries.
During the days of sailing vessels, from the 17th through the 19th centuries, a midshipman was an apprentice officer. The word derives from the location of ship, amidships, where they were berthed. The midshipman used to serve seven years on the lower deck and was roughly equivalent to a present day petty officer in rank and position.
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Encyclopedia
A midshipman is a subordinate officer, an officer cadet, or alternatively a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the navies of several English-speaking countries.
During the days of sailing vessels, from the 17th through the 19th centuries, a midshipman was an apprentice officer. The word derives from the location of ship, amidships, where they were berthed. The midshipman used to serve seven years on the lower deck and was roughly equivalent to a present day petty officer in rank and position.
During the 19th century training of Naval officers in both the Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy changed toward formal schooling in a naval college as opposed to apprenticeship aboard ships. Today, a Midshipman is the term for an officer cadet in the U.S. Navy. In the modern Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy, and the Royal New Zealand Navy non-graduates join as Midshipman, while those with a university degree join as a Sub-Lieutenant.
The Midshipmen is also the name for sports teams fielded by the U.S. Naval Academy.
History
The rank of midshipman is one of the oldest ranks still in existence. The first published use of the term Midshipmen was in 1662, and from 1677 all candidates for commissioned rank in the Royal Navy required previous service as a midshipman. Midshipmen is an English term, the equivalent term in Spanish is guardia marina and, in Portuguese, is guarda-marinha. In French, the similar term garde marine was renamed in Republican France to aspirant, and again in 1814 élèves de la marine.
Apprentice Officers
At the height of the Age of Sail during the Napoleonic era (1793 - 1815), most midshipmen started their sailing career around the age of 11 or 12. The regulations in the Royal Navy demanded that no-one 'be rated as master's mate or midshipman who shall not have been three years at sea'.. There were several ways of getting around this requirement. Since most midshipmen were from the landed gentry or had family connections with sailing ships, they could use their standing to have their name placed on a ship's books. A notable example was Thomas Cochrane, whose uncle had him entered at the age of 5, and his name was carried on various ships until he was 18 and received his commission.
Another way was through the Royal Naval Academy, (renamed the Royal Naval College in 1806), in Portsmouth. This had been founded in 1729, for 40 students between 13 and 16 who would take 3 years to complete. After graduation, they would serve on a ship as a midshipman. The school was not popular because of an aversion to 'book learning' in the navy, and it tended to infringe on the officers' privileges in the matter of taking on servants.
Most boys served the appropriate time at sea. The other four years might be served in any lower rating, , either as a seaman or as a servant of one of the ship's officers. For example, a captain was entitled to 4 servants for every 100 men aboard, many of which were young men destined to become officers. In 1794, this system was changed and a new rating was created called 'Volunteer Class 1', young gentlemen intended for the sea service provided they are not under the age of eleven years and were paid £6.
Midshipmen in the Age of Sail came from a wide social background. The largest group was the sons of professional men, about 50 percent of officers. This group included the sons of naval officers, and there were notable sailing families through out the age of sail such as Saumarez, Hood and Parker. The family connection was an obvious advantage with the power of promotion these men held. The next largest group was from the landed gentry, about 27 percent of officers. The numbers were smaller, but similarly, their connections gave them excellent prospects for promotion, and they had a considerable influence on the Royal Navy. The rest were from commercial or working class backgrounds, and because of the advantages possessed by the gentry and professional sailors, their chances at promotion to lieutenant were slim.
Midshipman were expected to work on the ship, but were also expected to learn navigation and seamanship. The work consisted of tasks normally assigned to both seamen as well as other officers. They were expected to rig sails as a seaman, which they had learned previously as an able seaman or volunteer before being promoted to Midshipman. Midshipmen were expected to serve on watch, supervise a battery of guns under one one of the lieutenants, and command small boats. Midshipmen usually were instructed by the senior Master's Mate, who was often a passed midshipman, who taught them mathematics, navigation, and sailing lore. They were expected to keep detailed navigational logs which were shown to the captain to assess their progress.
Most midshipmen aspired to take the lieutenant examination at age 17 or 18, and the average age of a midshipman was between 15 and 22. Promotion to Lieutenant meant a prospective officer had to take a formal examination. The candidate was summoned before a board of three captains and questioned about seamanship, navigation and discipline. Here is an example of a question from around 1790:
An enemy is observed; give orders for clearing your ship, and make all the necessary preparations for engaging.
The actual exam questions varied quite considerably, depending mostly on individual captains. A prospective lieutenant was expected to produce proof of his service, journals kept while a midshipman, and certificates of his diligence and sobriety from his commanders. In seamanship he was expected to be able to splice ropes, reef a sail, work a ship in sailing and shift his tides. In navigation he had to keep a reckoning of the ship's way by plane sailing and on Mercator projection maps, by observing the sun or stars he should be able to determine course and position and understand the variation of the compass. Knowledge of discipline was such as qualified as the duty of an able seaman and midshipman.
Successful completion of the examination made the midshipman a 'Passed Midshipman'. From the 18th century until the second half of the 19th century, a midshipman in the Royal Navy who passed the lieutenant's examination did not automatically receive a promotion. Midshipmen with political connections were promoted first, while others would wait their turn on a roster. During a time of war, with a large number of ships and battle took its toll on officers, the wait might be a year or two. During a time of peace promotion might be delayed so long that arrived too late to be of any value to the midshipman. Originally, a master's mate was an experienced seaman, assistant to the master but not inline for promotion to Lieutenant. By the middle of the 18th century, he was more likely a passed midshipman waiting to receive his commission but paid at a higher rate. By the 19th century master's mate was commonly referred to as mate, but was not an official rank. In 1838 a Royal Commission, presided over by the Duke of Wellington, recommended the institution of the rank of mate as an official step between midshipman and lieutenant. In 1861 mate was abolished in favor of sub-lieutenant.
Cadet Officers
Between 1815 and 1860 naval officer education in the UK and the United States changed to adopt the naval college approach as opposed to the apprenticeship approach favored in the age of sail. By 1850 the term midshipman had evolved into its modern definition as an officer cadet at a Naval college. For example, midshipmen at the newly formed United States Naval Academy studied at the Academy for four years and trained aboard ships each summer. In the UK, the original Royal Naval College closed in 1836 and the only method for training midshipman was aboard ships. After studying a drop in qualified officers in the Navy, a 1856 commission decided to form a school to train midshipmen for the Royal Navy, called the The Royal Naval College. The school was officially founded in 1858 in Portsmouth when the wooden hulk HMS Britannia was selected as a training ship, and instruction of boys between 12 and 14 started January 1, 1859 . The Britannia was moved to Portland in 1862, and finally in 1863 to the present location of the school in Dartmouth.
As instruction was formalized to approximately 4 years in a college, the time spent at sea as midshipmen was steadily reduced as the age of entry increased from 12 in the middle of the 19th century to 18 in the middle of the 20th century. Midshipmen had to learn four to five times as much as his counterpart of a hundred years ago, with only half, or even less, time in which to do it.
Modern Usage
Royal Navy
In the Royal Navy a Midshipman is the second lowest rank of officer, above the rank of Cadet RN which is referred to in the Naval Discipline Act 1957 but no longer used. Although not commissioned, midshipmen are officers in the Royal Navy, and rank immediately below Second Lieutenants in the British Army and Pilot Officers in the Royal Air Force and above all enlisted and warrant ranks (although pre-1956 Royal Navy and Royal Marines Warrant Officers and Commissioned Officers from Warrant Rank were senior to Midshipmen). A midshipman's rank insignia, which have changed little since Napoleonic times, are a white patch of cloth with a gold button and a twist of white cord on each side of the coat collar.
Today those joining the Navy as graduates start as Sub-Lieutenants with non-graduates joining as Midshipmen. Until they have completed initial sea training, both midshipmen and sub-lieutenants at Britannia Royal Naval College do not use their substantive ranks, but use the non-substantive rank of Officer Cadet.
In Royal Navy slang, midshipmen are sometimes referred to as "snotties", and a somewhat dubious legend states that the three buttons formerly on the jacket cuffs of the midshipman were placed there to prevent him wiping his nose on his sleeve .
U.S. Navy and Marine Corps
In the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, a midshipman is classified as an officer of the line but only in a qualified sense. Midshipmen rank just below chief warrant officers. Students at the U.S. Naval Academy are appointed to the rank of Midshipman, United States Navy, while students in the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps(NROTC) are appointed as Midshipman, United States Naval Reserve. Students at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy are appointed as Midshipman, Merchant Marine Reserve, United States Naval Reserve.
Midshipmen at the Naval Academy and in Navy ROTC wear uniforms that comply with standards established for commissioned officers of the U.S. Navy, with shoulderboard and sleeve insignia varying by school year or officer rank as prescribed by Chapter 6 of Navy Uniform Regulations. Midshipmen wear gold fouled anchors as the primary insignia on caps and shoulderboards and plain anchors as collar insignia on service dress and full dress uniforms. Marine Option Midshipmen in Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps, who are in training to become officers in the U.S. Marine Corps, wear gold U.S. Marine enlisted globe and anchor insignia in place of the anchor insignia worn by other Midshipmen. Marine Option Midshipmen, although bound for commissioning in the U.S. Marine Corps, hold the rank of Midshipman, United States Naval Reserve.
Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy wear two distinctive uniforms not worn by any other personnel in the U.S. Navy: Full Dress Blue, a uniform with a double-breasted jacket with 18 buttons and a high collar piped in gold, and White Works, consisting of a white sailor's jumper and bell-bottom trousers fastened by a drawstring at the waist. Fourth Class Midshipmen at the Naval Academy wear a traditional sailor's white hat with a blue band at the top during their initial (Plebe Summer) training.
The student body at the United States Naval Academy is the Brigade of Midshipmen and the student body at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is the Regiment of Midshipmen. The Midshipmen is also the name for sports teams fielded by the U.S. Naval Academy.
Royal Australian Navy
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