Thread: Tradition in the world Navies.

I'll start the ball rolling. From Gun Plot;

Naval Customs, Traditions & Terminology | GUN PLOT

Originally Posted by superquag

What is the most odd 'Tradition' in EVERY Navy ? -

How about Submarines ? - Every torpedo everywhere is the same diameter... 21 inches or 533mm

Research and Discuss...

Air dropped topedo's may be 22.5 inch

Mark 13. Mark 48. Tigerfish Mk24 and a cool new one are all at 21 inch
Mark 48 move at 30 knots- about 50kph. A Speedster Spearfish is a gas turbine engine beast driving a jet, speed of 80 knots 148 kph underwater!

A Mark 48 cost about USD$800,000 each! Spearfish cost would not be cheap That is one thing all Navys know we are great at $$$$$$$$$$$

Air warfare became a Navy pet- what is very clear that tradition is changing fast to Autonomous drone sub surface, surface and air based.
BBC yarn is interesting on the topic

One tradition all navy's share is our colours/flag. Morning 'Colours' is raising and evening 'Sunset' is lowering. My baby is the white ensign of course

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

Originally Posted by NavyDiver

Air dropped topedo's may be 22.5 inch

Mark 13. Mark 48. Tigerfish Mk24 and a cool new one are all at 21 inch
Mark 48 move at 30 knots- about 50kph. A Speedster Spearfish is a gas turbine engine beast driving a jet, speed of 80 knots 148 kph underwater!

A Mark 48 cost about USD$800,000 each! Spearfish cost would not be cheap That is one thing all Navys know we are great at $$$$$$$$$$$

Air warfare became a Navy pet- what is very clear that tradition is changing fast to Autonomous drone sub surface, surface and air based.
BBC yarn is interesting on the topic

One tradition all navy's share is our colours/flag. Morning 'Colours' is raising and evening 'Sunset' is lowering. My baby is the white ensign of course

Whilst on Vampire in 1969 we fired the last 21 inch deck fitted torpedo fitted to an RAN destroyer, just before the modernisation of Vampire . It was off Singapore, our target was HMS London. She carried out a gunnery attack on us, with her 4,5 inch guns firing what they called 'off shot' I think it was, their gunnery system was offset by a number of degrees , which meant the fall of shot landed in an area whereby the accuracy could be calculated. We fired one torpedo , and London sent the signal, " Congratulations Vampire , your torpedo travelled under our bow". No war head of course, and set to run deep. London's gunnery was spot on. Poor old Vamps nearly shook herself to pieces, she was going so fast. My mate and I , off watch, climbed into the spud stowage aft of the fwd funnel. to watch.

I can proudly say I served under both Ensigns, the Southern Cross and this one.

To me, the White Ensign, old or new, is the best of any navy.

Splicing the Mainbrace has always seemed a little peculiar to me....

And then there's "Kiss me, Hardy", although I can't say that one caught on...

Originally Posted by Tins

Splicing the Mainbrace has always seemed a little peculiar to me....

It comes from the days of sail. Sailors who climbed high into the rigging, to repair broken ropes, received an extra ration of rum.