Ian Moore – The different ranks in the Submarine Service

Eventually I became a Charge Chief Petty Officer, which these days is equivalent to a Warrant Officer. It wasn’t a Substantive Rank in my days, what they called Substantive Rank.

In the Army, you have Corporals, Sergeants, Staff Sergeant, Warrant Officer 2, Warrant Officer 1.

In the Navy, you had Able Seaman, you had Leading Hand, you had Petty Officer, Chief Petty Officer and then there was this change off between if you were a Technical Rank, you became a Chief Tiff, but it was like a segregated rank type of thing, as a Charge Chief.

You were paid extra money but it’s not reflected in something like your pension, because I get the same pension as a Chief, but I was actually in charge of that Chief when I was in the Navy, so it’s always been a big bone of contention this one, that we had this additional pay and additional knowledge and additional responsibility, but it wasn’t reflected because it wasn’t called a Substantive Rank.

Today, the Navy has a Substantive Rank. They call it Warrant Officer 2.

They’ve brought them in line with the Army and the RAF, so that on retirement, you would get a Warrant Officer’s pension as opposed to a Chief’s pension, but back then, I reached ultimately I reached Charge Chief.