Posted by Owen Roberts on February 12, 2013 at 14:22:44 user OwenRoberts.
In Reply to: John and the Navy posted by Martin Honor on February 12, 2013 at 12:45:41:
It is likely that John was a Special Entry cadet.
Approximately 50% of the officers were Special Entry Cadets, named PUBS after their mainly public school background.
The rest had come up through Dartmouth and were named DARTS after their background.
There was much rivalry between the two groups.
This rivalry continues to this day. University educated officers are often called "pickle jar" officers; i.e. they can tell you the square root of the area of a pickle jar lid - BUT are unable to remove the lid from the jar.
I think most public and grammar schools had a number of pupils looking to join the services. This would be reinforced by belonging to (in John’s day) the school OTC (officer training corps). Nowadays it is the CCF (combined cadet force).
As well as probably having at least 2 hours a week instruction in matter military, there would be a full field day each term and camps in the Easter and summer holidays on ships or shore establishments. I can remember being on board HMS Vanguard (Britain’s last battleship) and also freezing up at Scapa Flow after it had officially closed.