In a military navy, a rate or rating, and sometimes known as a bluejacket in the United States, is a junior enlisted sailor who is below the military rank of warrant officer. They are not a commissioned officer. Depending on the country and navy that uses it, the exact term and the range of ranks that it refers to may vary.
Equity or a Sailor's Prayer before Battle, from the Battle of Trafalgar. A 19th-century caricature portraying ratings on a Royal Navy ship. The man with a sword is a commissioned officer, as is the man on the ladder with the telescope. All others are ratings.
The Royal Navy during the Second World War. Six naval rating recruits of the training ship HMS Impregnable, Devonport, scramble up the rigging during a daily training exercise.
Royal Navy Certificate of Service (Form S.459), given to all ratings on discharge.
Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned officer ranks, the most senior of the non-commissioned officer (NCO) ranks, or in a separate category of their own. Warrant officer ranks are especially prominent in the militaries of Commonwealth nations and the United States.
The Regimental Sergeant Major of the Royal Bermuda Regiment, WO1 Herman Eve, in 1992
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