Navy's 100th Anniversary Idea

[k_murphy]

Inspired by the petition to "bring back" the Royal Canadian Navy,

What would everyone think of bringing back the traditional rank insignias,
in a hypothetical discussion sort of way?

 

[ModlrMike]

Your suggestion is not without merit however, it would be difficult to administer. Think of all the confusion the Naval ranks currently create in the "purple" trades employed in army and air units, and extrapolate that out with the introduction of new insignia. In addition, there are several ranks in the current structure that didn't exist in the "old" navy. While I'm all for reinforcing element affiliation, there are some things that are just too hard to implement in the real world. Bringing back the Royal prefix to the RCN and RCAF are initiatives that would / should accrue a great deal of support.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Things are working as is...why complicate things? We have better things to worry about rather then concern ourselves with stuff like this.

 

[Neill McKay]

Your suggestion is not without merit however, it would be difficult to administer. Think of all the confusion the Naval ranks currently create in the "purple" trades employed in army and air units, and extrapolate that out with the introduction of new insignia.

Fair comment, but in other countries there are several services each with its own rank insignia and presumably all service members know all of the ranks in the other services, wouldn't you think?  (Then again maybe they don't, but there's no reason why they couldn't.  There are lots of cadets who know all three rank structures in the cadet programme.)

In addition, there are several ranks in the current structure that didn't exist in the "old" navy.

Only sort of.  There was, for a brief time, an old-style badge for master seamen consisting of an anchor with a crown above it.  (Or were you thinking about NCdt?  I don't know if there was such a thing at the time of unification, but there had been historically.)

 

[ModlrMike]

Not that Wiki is an authority by any means, but here's an idea of what this might look like. I think we're asking for far more confusion than is worth the effort.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Former_ranks_of_the_Canadian_Forces

 

[RangerRay]

Or perhaps just return the executive curl to the officers' ranks...?

 

[ModlrMike]

Or perhaps just return the executive curl to the officers' ranks...?

That's a uniform change that I can support. Most of the Naval officers that I know would support it too.

 

[Privateer]

I would definitely support the return of the executive curl.  I also wish that the army could return to the pips still seen on certain mess kit - I just think that it looks better on army green.

 

[RangerRay]

+1

Right now, they look like naval officers!  ;D

 

[navymich]

Or perhaps just return the executive curl to the officers' ranks...?

That's still the way it is on the mess dress, right?

 

[ModlrMike]

That's still the way it is on the mess dress, right?

You are correct. The curl only exists on mess kit now.

 

[FSTO]

Should have brought back the curl when we got the colours back. All that was needed was an Admiral with balls.

 

[ModlrMike]

Small steps, bother... small steps.

 

[k_murphy]

I too like the return of the curl.

 

[Navy_Blue]

Saw this thread a while back but never looked at the wiki link tho.  As far as the curl for the officers, cool sounds good. 

Did anyone else tho happen to notice the fact the RCN didn't use Master Seaman ranks??  Can you Imagine PO2's would become as plentiful as LS's. 

It would take a long time for folks to get used to changes as drastic as reverting to the old ranks I think.  Half the army guys can't figure it out now, going back would really mess them up too.

 

[Neill McKay]

Did anyone else tho happen to notice the fact the RCN didn't use Master Seaman ranks??  Can you Imagine PO2's would become as plentiful as LS's. 

It would take a long time for folks to get used to changes as drastic as reverting to the old ranks I think.  Half the army guys can't figure it out now, going back would really mess them up too.

I think the suggestion is more about insignia than about the ranks themselves.

In most armed forces there are different ranks, with different names and insignia, in each service (or at least each element -- e.g. the USN and USCG have the same ranks and insignia), and somehow everyone manages.  In fact, I suspect that several people reading this thread could name all of the old ranks right now, never having served when they were in effect.