TRAINING SEAMEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 229, 28 September 1938, Page 17

TRAINING SEAMEN.

DEPOTS AT FULL PRESSURE

iiIMTISH YOUTHS IN" TIIK NAVY

PORTSMOUTH

presenting the Navy EstimateI" tho >°'V' tl,p Lord of the V'liniriilty mentioned that one of the jno.r. i oi uiidalde problems which ha* .o 'net owing to the rapid expansi,.., <ii I lie Aavy, is the provision of proper t: ;nrn?i«r tor new ontries.

A considerable strain has been thrown oil the training establishments nlloat and Hi-liorc. If. M.S. Caledonia— the e.v tii 11: itt I White Star liner Majestic com missioned 15 months ago as a boys' mi.! arl ilicer apprent ices' training e«t:'il> r-lmieiit at. Kosyth—and 11.M.5. Wildlire, tin- old sub-dejiot at Nhccrnes.<. ylure -VpeciaJ service" boys have been in training since February, 10:17, have proved of great value *in eu'al.litia increased number* of new entries to !j> aoommodati'd and trained. At Full Pressure. The older establishment at Shotlev, H..M.S. St. Vincent at Gosport, and the Impregnable at Devonport. have all been working at full presure during the last few years. But "special service" ordinary seamen, i.e., those who enter between the ages of 17* and 25 for a period of 12 years, of which seven is "pent with tho Fleet and five in the Royal Fleet Reserve, as well as direct entry artificers, stokers, cooks, stewards, supply assistants, writers, sick berth attendants, and such ratings as joiners, shipwrights, painters, plumbers and blacksmiths, still do tlieir six months preliminary training at the Royal Naval Hurracks at Portsmouth, Chatham, and Devonport.

Increase in Man power. The man-power of the .Navy i* being increased by 7000 to 119,000 during this year. Of this increase roughly 4000 is represented liy seamen, signalmen and telegraphists. including ordinalv seamen nml boys iiiul«»r training. Analysing tho figures for Portsmouth for the year ending on .Tune 30 it was discovered that .124:2 new entries of all branches joined tlio R..V. Barracks, and that 1285 of these were "special service" ordinary sen men. About the same numbers probably joined through Chatham and Devonport.

It may be said at once that about 7~> per cent of these are subsequently recommended for transfer to "continuous service," which means that they do their full 12 years afloat, with the prospect of serving on for two further periods each of fivo years to qualify for life pension? at the age of about 40.

Of the six months' intensive training in barracks 10 weeks are spent in a preliminary and new entry cours«, which comprises squad and rifle drill, physical and recreational training, swimming, elementary seamanship, a certain amount of school work, and lectures on discipline. navalhistory,,-tha cottony pnd traditions of the Service, and theiifce.

Thirt is followed by musketry and anti-pas courses, a week at electricity and torpedo work in the torpedo school, three weeks gunnery, and nine weeks practical seamanship in a cruiser of the Reserve Fleet, during which the young seamen do all the ordinary work of the ship and much boatwork under oars and sail. This finished, they are placed on the roster for draft to seagoing ships as required.