Royal Navy warfare officers enjoy the opportunity of subspecializing in one of myriad roles required for maritime warfighting. Yet, before specializing as navigators, fighter controllers, aircrew (pilot or observer), or mine clearance diving officers, all will spend the earliest part of their careers as bridge watchkeepers. The military training pipeline has undergone significant changes in recent years with increasing civilian recognition and greater parity between the military and civilian officer of the watch (OOW) qualifications.
Britannia Royal Naval College
With family members having served in both the Royal Navy (RN) and the Royal Australian Navy, it had always been my aspiration to join the RN as a warfare officer. After a completing a degree in history from the University of Southampton and a brief stint in Whitehall as an intern, I marched onto the parade ground of Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) in Dartmouth, Devon, to begin training. The imposing college’s façade is adorned with the names of historic admirals and emblazoned across its entire length is a quote from King Charles II (1630–85) and included in the RN Fighting Instructions: “It is on the Navy under the good providence of God that our wealth, prosperity and peace depend.”
BRNC overlooks the River Dart and southwest approaches to the English Channel, and its location was chosen specifically because of its isolation from distractions cadets may have been exposed to in traditional RN dockyard cities. The college, as it stands today, was completed in 1905 to replace the two wooden hulks, HMS Britannia and Hindostan, used since 1863 as training ships. The college was used by the U.S. Navy from 1943 to facilitate Operation Overlord, with the country estate of Greenway farther upriver being used by the U.S. Coast Guard for the same purpose. The inextricable connection between the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy at BRNC remains today with the inclusion of a U.S. Navy exchange officer and echoing out of the “National Emblem” played by the band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines during the end-of-term passing out parade.
Initial Warfare Officer Pipeline
The process of bridge watchkeeping training starts with those basics taught to all RN officers, irrespective of branch, at BRNC. The primary focus of the 30-week training period is the militarization and subsequent marinization of aspiring officers. This ensures that all Royal Navy branches receive a basic understanding of paper chart navigation, meteorology, shiphandling, and ship stability. For warfare officers, this introduction is supplemented throughout the initial warfare officer (IWO) pipeline following commissioning.
While most branches disperse to varying training establishments across the country, warfare officers remain at BRNC for an additional term to complete the foundation of IWO. The course begins with an intense four-month academic phase, similar to civilian universities, which introduces students to an academic syllabus encompassing ship stability, shiphandling, sensors and communications, meteorology, and hydrography, along with the more military-focused modules of international relations and strategic studies. The academics phase runs parallel to training on paper chart navigation and rules of the road. IWO foundation culminates in examinations in all academic disciplines as well as an assessment conducted in a bridge simulator assessing basic officer-of-the-watch (OOW) and bridge-management skills. To pass, IWOs also must demonstrate at least 80 percent verbatim knowledge of the rules of the road (International Regulations for the Prevention of Collision at Sea, Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea).
Common Fleet Training
In traditional Royal Navy fashion, theoretical knowledge is subsequently added through at-sea task learning during Common Fleet Training (CFT), in which officers of all branches familiarize themselves with every department on board warships. Assessments are provided by a detailed boarding process overseen by the heads of the respective departments, with the captains having final approval over individuals’ progression to branch specific training. I had the privilege of joining HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer, fulfilling the role of fleet-ready escort, accompanying vessels of different nationalities through British waters.
This training is an opportunity to experience life in every department—aviation, medical, logistics, marine engineering, and weapon engineering—which could see young officers working in the galley in the forenoon and changing components on a gas turbine in the afternoon. Alongside task-book training, I was encouraged to put my previous academic experience into practice by delivering meteorological forecasts to the command team and assisting in diplomatic output delivery against the backdrop of Brexit’s post-referendum uncertainty. For young warfare officers, the three months of CFT provide an opportunity to further improve their understanding of the rules of the road, while serving as shipboard warfare officers in preparation for a 90-percent verbatim knowledge assessment on completion of CFT—a standard they must meet monthly for the remainder of their careers.
On completion of CFT, a period of shoreside tuition at the IWO Training Element, HMS Collingwood in Hampshire commences. IWO (Navigation) and IWO (Aviation/Warfare) introduces warfare officers to the Royal Navy’s electronic chart display system and more advanced navigation techniques such as celestial navigation, visual pilotage, and relative velocity, as well as the additional warfare responsibilities of an OOW prior to departing for Specialist Fleet Training (SFT).
Specialist Fleet Training
SFT is a demanding nine-months of sea training on various classes of ships across the fleet. The training is often split across two platforms so officers can gain the best instructional training opportunities from various platforms. Most officers undertaking SFT conduct a period on a “small ship,” such as an offshore patrol vessel within the Fishery Protection Squadron, or mine countermeasure vessels from one of two mine countermeasure squadrons. The remainder will be conducted on a larger ship, such as the antiair warfare destroyers, antisubmarine frigates, or aircraft carriers. Smaller vessels provide the greatest training benefit with more coastal navigation and dense shipping experience as opposed to larger ships, which provide task-group experience and longer ocean passages.
Conducting merchant navy liaison voyages (MNLVs) during training is an opportunity to share best practices between the Royal and Merchant Navy. Warfare officers frequently undertake MNLVs to demonstrate celestial navigation, alongside their merchant navy counterparts. In addition, experiencing busy shipping lanes from the bridge of a merchant vessel in the English Channel or on a Cross Channel Ferry provides useful training to warfare officers that cannot be obtained on a Royal Navy vessel.
During SFT training, OOWs must accrue at least 600 bridge watchkeeping hours and demonstrate celestial navigation competency; complete a task book on knowledge of navigational equipment, shiphandling, and general principles of navigation; demonstrate an ability to keep the ship navigationally safe in GPS denial; and conduct visual pilotage near land. I was lucky enough to experience the first half of my SFT in the South Atlantic on board HMS Clyde, a now decommissioned River-class patrol vessel. The Falkland Islands and South Georgia are navigationally challenging and demonstrated the reality of life at sea. While I was on board, Clyde responded to several safety of life at sea incidents and navigated through sea ice. A poignant moment was when my captain trusted me to conduct the visual pilotage into King Edward Point in South Georgia, where my grandfather had spent the early days of the conflict of 1982.
Following a period in the South Atlantic, I joined HMS Defender, another Type 45 destroyer, on a period of NATO operations and on accompaniment duties of Red Ensign Group vessels after the 2019 Iranian seizure of the UK-flagged tanker Stena Impero. The experience of daily security transits through the Strait of Hormuz proved useful in my later assessments and helped me put relative velocity knowledge into use by intercepting the merchant vessels assigned to us for their transit passage.
Final Assessment
After achieving the training objectives of SFT, candidates return to the Collingwood to conduct the final assessment before the award of the standards of training, certification, and watchkeeping qualification, which will allow them to maintain bridge watchkeeping duties on board one of Her Majesty’s warships. General navigation exams include shiphandling, meteorology, and the use of navigational instruments along with relative velocity exams, celestial navigation, tides, and a final 90-percent rules-of-the-road exam. While British merchant mariners complete oral boards overseen by Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency as their assessments for qualification, Royal Navy OOWs instead complete a week of watchkeeping in a bridge simulator comprising coastal, traffic separation scheme, night, and restricted-visibility simulator runs.
All simulator runs are completed in GPS denial and are observed from a control room complete with an RN specialist navigator acting as the captain and overseeing the individual’s ability to accomplish the mission and keep the ship safe. Each run focuses on complex situations with several emergencies injected as pass/fail elements. The ability to respond appropriately to a man overboard and steering gear and machinery breakdowns are essential skills.
The final simulator assessment of the IWO pipeline allows aspiring OOWs the opportunity to demonstrate the culmination of a two-and-a-half–year training pipeline in a challenging and highly controlled environment. The nature of the assessment instills confidence in OOWs as they proceed into the fleet for their first warship assignment. The training pipeline has undergone much transformation in recent years to align more closely with the OOWs’ civilian counterparts, and aspirations of greater equivalence remain with the view toward allowing Royal Navy officers to transition to the civilian maritime industry easily after leaving the service.
Interior: The author with a view of Cumberland Bay, South Georgia, which his grandfather helped liberate during the Falklands War.
Interior credit: Courtesy of the author