Hullo, time for the Most Retarded Question Ever...

[themeletor]

Major brainfart over here, liek whoah. So, humor me if you please, and...

can a lieutenant have seniority aboard a ship yet still be younger than his junior officer(s)? not saying he's at the top of the ladder, just... a few rungs up. and fragmentationally (oh that is SO a word; shut up) younger than ... the rungs beneath him.

Ee?

Comments

[melusina]

The way I understand it, a midshipman is an officer who hasn't passed the lieutenant's exam. So if someone was very clever and able, he might pass it and become a lieutenant before other midshipman who were older, but having more difficulties with the exam. . .

[duckgirlie.livejournal.com]

Yes. Some midshipmen never pass the lieutenant's exam.

[daughtermestizo.livejournal.com]

Well it seems you have your answers, but just for a third opinion, yeah, it's possible. If you're good, you're good.

Or at least that's what I've learned from reading Hornblower and such. They're supposed to be historically accurate!

[captain-molly.livejournal.com]

I'd go with a yes on that one.

[ima-pseudonym.livejournal.com]

Horatio Hornblower did. *amused shrug*

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. The key is the date you became a lieutenant (or a captain), not how old you were. The British Navy was all about seniority. If you had more years than all the other lieuts, you were First, automatically.

So a 25 year old who'd passed his exams at 18 (the youngest most of them could manage it, since you needed to have been at sea 6 years before you could even try) could have seniority over a 30 year old didn't pass his until he was 24.

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

Oh, BTW, your copy of "Jack Absolute" arrived in the mail today. You'll have to come over and pick it up one of these days.

[pinkparisian.livejournal.com]

*appoints herself admiral Kumquat?*