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The captain or master is the ship's highest responsible officer, acting on behalf of the ship's owner. Whether the captain is a member of the deck department or not is a matter of some controversy, and generally depends on the opinion of an individual captain. When a ship has a third mate, the captain does not stand watch.
A whipstaff is a steering device that was used on European sailing ships from the 14th to the 18th century. Its development preceded the invention of the more complex ship's wheel and followed the simple use of a tiller to control the steering of a ship underway. [1] In a typical arrangement, an iron gooseneck was fitted at the fore end of the ...
A jack staff (also spelled as jackstaff) is a small vertical spar (pole) on the bow of a ship or smaller vessel on which a particular type of flag, known as a jack, is flown. [1] The jack staff was introduced in the 18th century.
The absorption of ship engineers into the line was the result of conflicts in the chain of command; as staff officers, engineers were not authorized to command ships, but when in battle the engineer was in charge of maneuvering the ship while under steam power, which occurred usually during battle. An exchange of open letters in 1878 voiced ...
Ships of the command are not crewed by active duty Navy personnel, but by civil service or contracted merchant mariners. Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC), established in January 2006, serves as the single functional command for the Navy's expeditionary forces and as central management for the readiness, resources, manning, training and ...
An exception to this rule is the definition of ship's company as it applies to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps personnel assigned to aircraft-capable ships of the U.S. Navy, primarily aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships. In the case of aircraft carriers in the U.S. Navy, the total ship's complement is divided into three categories:
The American flag is flown at half-staff, on land (or half-mast on a ship) when the U.S. or a state is in mourning, according to the federal government. The president, a state governor or the ...
In the Royal Navy and Commonwealth navies (Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Australian Navy, Royal New Zealand Navy, Indian Navy, and South African Navy), the quartermaster is the senior member of the gangway staff when the ship is alongside and is responsible for supervising the boatswain's mate and the security of the brow. They are also ...