Passed midshipman
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A passed midshipman, sometimes called as "midshipman, passed", is a term used historically in the 19th century to describe a midshipman who had passed the lieutenant's exam and was eligible for promotion to lieutenant as soon as there was a vacancy in that grade.
Passed midshipman was never an official rank or rating in the Royal Navy, but was commonly used to describe midshipmen who had passed the lieutenant examination but were waiting on a roster to be commissioned. Between 1800 and 1815, due to a shortage of officers to command small craft, passed midshipmen were titled sub-lieutenant but this also was not an official rank.
Passed midshipmen awaiting promotion often elected to become master's mate, an experienced seaman role as assistant to the
By the first years of the 19th century, the prefix "master's" was dropped for passed midshipmen, to distinguish them from master's mates in the navigator's branch.
Passed midshipman was first used in 1819, and unlike the Royal Navy was an official rank of the
Footnotes
- ^ "Officer ranks in the Royal Navy". Royal Naval Museum through Web Archive. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b c d Walker 1938, p. 188
- ^ Lewis 1960, p. 146,197
- ^ a b Lewis 1939, p. 212,230
- ^ L. R. Hamersly & Co., ed. (1881). A Naval Encyclopædia. Philadelphia: L. R. Hamersly & Co. p. 496.
References
- Lewis, Michael (1939). England's Sea-Officers. London: George Allen & Unwin. OCLC 1084558.
- Lewis, Michael (1960). A Social History of the Navy. London: Ruskin House. OCLC 2832855.
- Walker, C.F. (1938). Young Gentlemen: The Story of Midshipmen from the XVIIth Century to the Present Day. London: Longmans, Green. OCLC 2936648.