Midshipman ordinary, or midshipman-by-order, refers to an obsolete rating for prospective officers in the

British Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fra ...

. The rating was specifically applied to graduates of the

Royal Naval Academy The Royal Naval Academy was a facility established in 1733 in Portsmouth Dockyard to train officers for the Royal Navy. The founders' intentions were to provide an alternative means to recruit officers and to provide standardised training, educa ...

who had earned their sea time in a classroom instead of serving at sea.

History

In 1729, the Royal Naval Academy in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, renamed the Royal Naval College in 1806, was founded, for 40 students between 13 and 16, who would take three years to complete a course of study defined in an illustrated book. After graduation students served on ships as midshipmen. The rating was used specifically for graduates of the Royal Naval College to distinguish them from midshipmen who had served previously aboard a ship, and were paid less than midshipmen. By 1816, the rating of midshipman ordinary was phased out, and all apprentice officers were rated as midshipmen. After 1830, Midshipman extraordinary was used to refer to Royal Naval College graduates who were serving on board a ship but were not rated as midshipmen by the captain.

References

Bibliography

* * {{refend Military ranks of the Royal Navy Naval ranks