ROMANTIC CAREER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22344, 15 February 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)

ROMANTIC CAREER

BLUEJACKET BOY'S RISE RANKER NOW COMMANDS SLOOP A.B. WHO BECAME KING'S GUEST Few men in modern times have had such a romantic career as Captain B. 0. S. Martin, who joined tho Navy ' before the mast," and is to command the sloop Folkestone in China this year, states a special correspondent of a London journal. When he became a bluejacket boy in 1907, at tho age of 15, there was no bona-fide promotion to commissioned rank from the lower deck, and his prospects appeared to be limited to long service in warrant rank and a possible lieutenancy just prior to retirement at 55. Tho .ranker promotion scheme announced by Mr. Winston Churchill in his first Navy Estimates speech as First Lord of the Admiralty, in 1912, reopened an avenue from tho lower deck to the quarter deck which had been closed for nearly a hundred years. Commissioned rank was made possible for "hawse" pipe entries at the age of 25. Young Martin was not slow to take advantage of tho new opportunities. He become a warrant officer at 23, joined the wardroom at 25, received his "brass hat" at 40, "shipped his fourth stripe" at 44, in June last, and so became the youngest ranker captain of modern times. At Jutland Having specialised in torpedo and electrical work as a rating, he later served as a torpedb officer in cruisers and in command of several destroyers. Promoted to warrant rank in May, 1915, he was appointed to the new battleship Malaya, then building on the Tyne at the expense of tho Federated Malay States. At tho Battle of Jutland the Malaya was heavily engaged by the Koenig and other German battleships. The last of Admiral Beatt.v's ships to turn, on sighting the High Seas Fleet, she became the target of a wliolo division. Salvoes fell all round her at the rato of six a minute, and, twice hit badly below the water line, she began to list. Oil fuel had to be pumped from starboard to port to bring her back to an even keel. For more than half an hour the Malaya bore the brunt of the fighting, but, in spite of 63 killed and 33 wounded, her position in the line was maintained throughout the action. In the first lower deck promotion list issued after the battle Martin was awarded a commission. His further war service included the destroyer Cossack in the Dover Patrol, another period in the Malaya, and the cruiser Leviathan in tho Atlantic convoy service.

After serving in China in 1919, he commanded the trawler James Connor for special service in the douth of Ireland, and was then appointed on the staff of the Admiralty Experimental Station at Shandon, in Scotland. Having commanded various home port destroyers, he became the first ranker officer to command a Fleet destroyer, and did so in both the Mediterranean and Atlantic Fleets. "Blue Ribbon" Job.

Promoted to commander on June 30, 1931, he was given the '-'blue ribbon" job of the destroyer flotillas, when his ship, H.M.S. Vortigern, became the Royal Yacht attendant vessel for Cowes Week. With the captain of the Malaya, H.M. Guardship, Commander Martin was honoured by an invitation to dine with the late King and Queen Mary on board the Victoria and Albert.

During 1931-32 he commanded the Mediterranean destroyer Voyager, and since August, 1933, he has been the physical and recreational training officer on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief nt Devonport. So far there has been only one other "tarpaulin" captain, and no admiral, as a result of the ranker promotion scheme of 1912. The last "tarpaulin" admiral to serve on the active list was Able-Seaman John Kingcombe, who obtained his lieutenancy in 1818, and, after serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Station, retired as Admiral of the Red, Sir John Kingcombe, K.C.B. Promotion to flag rank is now a matter of "dead men's shoes," or early retirement by other officers. Captain Martin r.an serve 11 years before the compulsory retirement age. With a reduction of the present period of service of captains, he may quite possibly become the first ranker admiral on the active list of the century.