Now " the Articles of War ". The ' Articles" were Law in a Warship, and were used in the RAN up until the mid 80's. I've had the " Articles of War " read to me during the infamous period back in the 60's when the pay structure for sailors was changed, to bring then into line with civilian practice. The Engineering branch suffered badly in the new wage scale, so much so that the fleet couldn't go to sea one day , when the ships in harbour had their Stokers walk off their ships and sit down on the triangle in Garden Island.
On the Vampire at that time, in Mackay, my mate and I came back on board after a good run ashore, to find that the Stokers had locked themselves in the Stokers mess, which was the most aft mess on the ship, 3 Quebec, by climbing out an escape hatch , locking the mess deck door, and back into the mess by the escape hatch. After the Skipper had defused the situation [ he was a decent bloke , no one wanted to do the wrong thing by him] All mess members were mustered on the forecastle and we had the Articles of War read to us. It was the first time that I encountered an old tradition, the second was ' Splice the mainbrace", a signal signed by' Elizabeth R ' at the conclusion of the Spithead review for Her Majesty's Silver Jubilee.
The Articles Of War 1757 | GUN PLOT