Just to confuse the issue further, senior sailors in the Tiffie branch had the opportunity to sit for a " Charge ' certificate.Briefly, this certificate is awarded to Senior Marine Technical personnel who have acquired the practical and technical expertise dealing with the construction , operation and maintenance of machinery and equipment fitted in steam powered ships , [ in my case], to enable him to take charge of the Marine Engineering Dept. in the absence of a Marine Engineering Officer. Needless to say, a Tiffie could not become a Chief ERA without the charge certificate.
Having said that, when I joined the Patrol boat stream, on the old Attack class boat, Ardent, I joined as the "Charge" Tiff. and until I left the navy, from the Fremantle boat Woolongong, I answered to nothing else but Charge. I was responsible to the C.O. for the administration and efficient running of the engineering branch on the boat. It was a credit to the high calibre of sailors in the Patrol boat stream, that my job was made easy by the fact the sailors were a cut above the norm, IMO. Best time of my career, working out of Darwin, not so good out of Sydney, in Bass Strait, but we were doing an essential job.
