transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qualify?

[D/CDT]

Hi all, new here.

Current Fd cadet with CMT, phase 2.

I'm interested in working in the Royal Navy once I finish my cadetship and qualify as a 3rd mate, but not sure how easy it is to swap? What with things being run differently in the Royal Navy as opposed to Merchant. So whats the deal? anyone got any experience of this?

Cheers.

[kayak]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

Best advice would be to contact your local AFCO, they are much more likely to be able to tell you or at least find out for you.

[penfold]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

They may count it as a degree equivalent, which gets you more money at BRNC and potentially slightly faster promotion to Lt., but frankly the difference isn't much of an advantage. If you like managing and driving ships go MN, if you like managing people and saluting go RN(you don't get to do nearly as much watchkeeping as it's shared around and RN ships spend far more time alongside). The armed forces are going to be less pleasant employers for the next decade; the cupboard is bare and the fleet is going to be slashed by 10%+.

[dawg]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

Aye, depending on the specialisation, it's perhaps not the best time to take the Queen's shilling.
The RN is reportedly top heavy with officers (especially Lt.Cdrs), and a cull is in the offing.

Depends what seduces you... if it's the kudos of being able to say that you served, I would reflect on the fact that current/recent operations are suffering appalling degrees of mission creep, and I don't think I'm alone in feeling dismay for the young people who are losing their lives - lions led by donkeys yet again IMO.

Wait and see what picture the SDR paints for the future.

This is one for another thread really, but the RN may be set for a role more akin to that of the USCG in future.

[penfold]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

This is one for another thread really, but the RN may be set for a role more akin to that of the USCG in future.

Little bit of politics there!

[D/CDT]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

ok thanks for the replies.

well i orginally wanted to apply to the armed forces, and at the time i was 17 and my mum was against it. by the time i qualify i'll be 21/22 so can decide for myself.

mentioning coastguard is quite interesting, as i nearly applied to the RAF to work search and rescue, and would also be interested in working coastguard so this might not be such a bad thing!

anyway i've still got a while til i qualify so i thinking a bit far ahead, but cheers just wana know my options as my sponsor company don't offer me employment.

[dawg]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

This is one for another thread really, but the RN may be set for a role more akin to that of the USCG in future.

Little bit of politics there!

Ooh, a little bit of sick just came out.

[pashton86]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

Politics indeed, as it's fundamentally not legal for the RN to undertake a USCG function. Navies are prohibited from undertaking police functions, hence the reason RN/RFA ships on counter drug operations use USCG boarding teams. As for lions lead by donkeys, I do hope you mean political donkeys but even so I think that's an unfair summation of the current situation. Unless of course you wish to base your opinions solely on what you read in the Daily Mail.

[dawg]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

I originally didn't think the SDR would be that hard on the forces due to the engagements; but now I'm not so sure.
It sounds like there's a 5-year plan of rolling back both what they are doing, and what they are capable of doing.
http://www.rusi.org/downloads/assets/FDR7.pdf

Officers wages and pensions are expensive; so I think it is conceivable that there could be a retrenchment that affects officers more than NCOs. Not hard to do given the current war-weariness and the austerity narrative.

You know what politicians are like, it doesn't seem quite so wacky for them to consider cleaving off patrol boats into a USCG/RNLI/Border Police type thing, with civil service-type crew on a less substantial pay and pension package.
Anything that saves money and looks like they're doing something "newy" and "changey" seems more possible.

I think if you're going to join up, pick a safe area of skills shortage based on the list published in Hansard; and take all the marketing (and the bitching) with a healthy pinch of salt.


As for the rest... I find it surprising that my summation of the current situation seems unfair [snip].
(I'll leave it at that, because it's too off topic; by all means start another thread on it).

[penfold]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

You know what politicians are like, it doesn't seem quite so wacky for them to consider cleaving off patrol boats into a USCG/RNLI/Border Police type thing, with civil service-type crew on a less substantial pay and pension package.

Apologies for cherrypicking your post, but any attempt to strongarm the RNLI into some kind of chimeric Borders Agency/HMRC/Fisheries Protection/RN/RNLI force thingy is likely to be met with politically lethal brickbats, never mind the largely incompatible aims and roles of these organisations. Even the thickest politician could see that the commonality stops at them all involving 'floaty things'(I hope). I think a thread on the subject would be of interest, but best left until the SDR is finished so we can slag it off and moan about Dr Fox being a complete silly billy.

As regards the Daily Mail, I prefer the Beano for political commentary and the Sport for defence matters.

[dawg]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

Well, I think there'd be support for a fully funded RNLI... I don't think I'd like a hypothetical UKCG to be anything like as arsey as the USCG. We could embarrass them with our pleasantness (if they could only feel).

[kayak]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

I was under the impression the the RNLI isn't funded by the government, simply because they don't want to be! Mainly because if the government funds them, then they will be able to control them and make a pigs ear of it. With the RLNI funding themselves, then people who actually know what they are on about land up making the decisions and such.

[penfold]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

I was under the impression the the RNLI isn't funded by the government, simply because they don't want to be! Mainly because if the government funds them, then they will be able to control them and make a pigs ear of it. With the RLNI funding themselves, then people who actually know what they are on about land up making the decisions and such.

Only indirectly through gift-aid; it's all donations. It has always been a charity relying on volunteers and donations to keep going; being an island nation the fundraising isn't a particularly hard sell.

[Steve]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

it's fundamentally not legal for the RN to undertake a USCG function. Navies are prohibited from undertaking police functions, hence the reason RN/RFA ships on counter drug operations use USCG boarding teams.

Do you have a reference for that?

Consider the role of the Royal Navy in such law enforcement functions within territorial waters as fishery protection and the former Northern Ireland squadron. The Royal Navy performs much of the "coast guard" function in the UK, and the USCG performs "navy" functions outside of US TTW or EEZ, for example in the Persian Gulf.

[dawg]

Re: transferring from Merchant Navy to Royal Navy after qual

Yeah, I don't see a particularly clear cut boundary between "police functions" and "military functions"; we do have at least a couple of paramilitary police forces in the UK: the nuke police; and the mod plods, who seem to do pretty much what things like the RAF regiment and plenty of squaddies of all flavours have to do - stand about a lot.

AIUI, the USCG is officially part of the US Navy, but technically a civilian police force of a sort.
I would expect that some form of UK Border Police is on the horizon, and because we're an archipelago, they would need ships to do that job effectively; and it would be impractical to have to liaise with the RN all the time - far better to just take a set of large patrol ships out of their hands, and cleave off HMCG from the MCA, and make it part of a dedicated Border police that could work with the BTP to police the Channel, basically.