Honours to a Captain boarding an RN Warship

[Gorgo]

Quick question: I have looked all over the Internet to find information about what happens when a ship's captain boards his own ship while at port. Naturally, a side party is there to pipe him aboard, but how is the captain verbally hailed when he boards the ship by the QMOW/BMOW. Is it by the ship's name as done in the USN or some other title, if at all?

A link to drill instructions would be appreciated if anyone knows of such a site.

Cheers!

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

Quick question: I have looked all over the Internet to find information about what happens when a ship's captain boards his own ship while at port. Naturally, a side party is there to pipe him aboard, but how is the captain verbally hailed when he boards the ship by the QMOW/BMOW. Is it by the ship's name as done in the USN or some other title, if at all?

A link to drill instructions would be appreciated if anyone knows of such a site.

Cheers!

Officer of the Day (OOD) and Quartermaster (QM) will pipe the side. QM will fall in aft side of brow facing forward while OOD will fall in forward side of brow facing aft.

They will come to attention, OOD will give the word of command, QM, PIPE THE SIDE! They should wait to the final moment before issuing the order as sometime the CO will wave off the pipe and indicate he does not want it piped.

QM will pipe the side while the OOD Salutes and the Commanding Officer (CO) will receive the side by briefly halting at the brow, returning the OOD's salute and then the CO will be escorted by the OOD to their cabin and receive a brief on the day's activities while enroute.

The other thing that happens is the 3rd Sub Pennant will be hauled down as soon as the CO embarks the Ship. The 3rd Sub is flown from the hours of sunrise to sunset to indicate when the CO is absent from the Ship.

Piping the Side is a funny thing, COs will generally tell the OOD when they plan on embarking but they will sometimes show up unexpectedly. The QM needs to always be maintaining a vigilant lookout for the Captain so as to alert the OOD if they show up unexpectedly. This is so the OOD knows to come to the Brow and pipe the side, or at the very minimum, greet the CO and brief them on what's happening onboard the Ship.

If the OOD is not at the Brow and the QM notes the CO approaching. They will give two short pipes in quick succession over the Ship's intercom to alert the OOD to come to the brow.

 

[Gorgo]

So the ship's name is never used, right?

 

[SupersonicMax]

Officer of the Day (OOD) and Quartermaster (QM) will pipe the side. QM will fall in aft side of brow facing forward while OOD will fall in forward side of brow facing aft.

They will come to attention, OOD will give the word of command, QM, PIPE THE SIDE! They should wait to the final moment before issuing the order as sometime the CO will wave off the pipe and indicate he does not want it piped.

QM will pipe the side while the OOD Salutes and the Commanding Officer (CO) will receive the side by briefly halting at the brow, returning the OOD's salute and then the CO will be escorted by the OOD to their cabin and receive a brief on the day's activities while enroute.

The other thing that happens is the 3rd Sub Pennant will be hauled down as soon as the CO embarks the Ship. The 3rd Sub is flown from the hours of sunrise to sunset to indicate when the CO is absent from the Ship.

Piping the Side is a funny thing, COs will generally tell the OOD when they plan on embarking but they will sometimes show up unexpectedly. The QM needs to always be maintaining a vigilant lookout for the Captain so as to alert the OOD if they show up unexpectedly. This is so the OOD knows to come to the Brow and pipe the side, or at the very minimum, greet the CO and brief them on what's happening onboard the Ship.

If the OOD is not at the Brow and the QM notes the CO approaching. They will give two short pipes in quick succession over the Ship's intercom to alert the OOD to come to the brow.

The CO can’t just get in without all the “fluff?”

 

[SeaKingTacco]

The CO can’t just get in without all the “fluff?”

Yes. The CO can wave off the fluff.

 

[Remius]

Yes. The CO can wave off the fluff.

Does the fluff have to be on standby in case he doesn’t? Or can that just be waved off as a standard unless asked for?

 

[FSTO]

So the ship's name is never used, right?

That’s an American thing

 

[FSTO]

Does the fluff have to be on standby in case he doesn’t? Or can that just be waved off as a standard unless asked for?

A lot of info can be given to the CO during that walk from the brow to their cabin. As OOD you’re either being visible about the ship or in the vicinity of the brow (there is a lot of action going on in the hanger and on the flight deck) during the time that the CO will normally arrive at the ship.

 

[Gorgo]

That’s an American thing

Thanks. Needed this information for a short story I'm working on.

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

The CO can’t just get in without all the “fluff?”

It's what we call looking smart.

If the QM/OOD can't even do something simple like greet the CO? How are they supposed to do more serious things like force protection or damage control?

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

A lot of info can be given to the CO during that walk from the brow to their cabin. As OOD you’re either being visible about the ship or in the vicinity of the brow (there is a lot of action going on in the hanger and on the flight deck) during the time that the CO will normally arrive at the ship.

Yep, also lets the CO know the OOD has things under control. I usually would speak to the CO for those 5 min and then would hear from him at the end of the day because he was confident everything was in order.

 

[Navy_Pete]

Yep, also lets the CO know the OOD has things under control. I usually would speak to the CO for those 5 min and then would hear from him at the end of the day because he was confident everything was in order.

Alternately sometimes your first indication would be the general announcment that the CO is onboard, sometimes immediately followed by 'OOD requested CO's cabin'. Those days went not so well.

For you story, a normal day alongside the OOD will be running around doing things, so the QM will do a quick 'two pips' pipe, which means the CO is on the way. Most days alongside home port the brow can be pretty hectic, so more than a few COs will take their time and/or stop to inspect something on the jetty so it's not a surprise when they come onboard.

 

[OldSolduer]

Yep, also lets the CO know the OOD has things under control. I usually would speak to the CO for those 5 min and then would hear from him at the end of the day because he was confident everything was in order.

Oh shiver me timbers arrggghh

I'm glad I was Army....

 

[Navy_Pete]

Trade off; hot meals, showers and the ship carried my stuff for me, and so far the real danger was the ship itself and/or the ocean. Plus, aside from a few ceremonial things, almost no actual drill.

 

[FSTO]

^^
Clean sheets and real cutlery was a deal breaker for me!

 

[MJP]

I'm glad I was Army....

Me too cause we never did silly things like BN wide pdes every morning falling in the officers and then the CO taking over just to dismiss us to go run or somefink.....

 

[PuckChaser]

You guys just don't say "Hey buds, welcome back" and carry on about your day?

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

Alternately sometimes your first indication would be the general announcment that the CO is onboard, sometimes immediately followed by 'OOD requested CO's cabin'. Those days went not so well.

For you story, a normal day alongside the OOD will be running around doing things, so the QM will do a quick 'two pips' pipe, which means the CO is on the way. Most days alongside home port the brow can be pretty hectic, so more than a few COs will take their time and/or stop to inspect something on the jetty so it's not a surprise when they come onboard.

My last CO waved off the side 90% of the time but we were always ready just in case.

 

[Grimey]

Trade off; hot meals, showers and the ship carried my stuff for me, and so far the real danger was the ship itself and/or the ocean. Plus, aside from a few ceremonial things, almost no actual drill.

I see you missed ’hot’ in front of ‘showers’. 280s were fun, weren’t they?

 

[Navy_Pete]

I see you missed ’hot’ in front of ‘showers’. 280s were fun, weren’t they?

I thought the hot water setup on 280s was bad, then I went to CPFs; that has to be the stupidest design on the planet. Can't believe we have an electric heater with a manual input (maybe a thyristor?) where a 16th of a turn will make the water go from cold to scalding (or steam). Also a system where the pipe schematic looks okay, but if you try and chase the pipe it looks like a scribble with some right angles. Between that, the freshwater pumps that frequently air lock, and the vacuum system that frequently doesn't, the hotel services take up a crazy amount of the MSED's time.

Still, only carried my stuff on and off the boat, and a cold shower is better than no shower, and having a rack to fall into for a few hours at a time was sweet.