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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 28, 2012 13:29:17 GMT 12
What does the navy rank abbreviation AB stand for?
I'm talking in reference to WWII if that matters. Thanks.
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Post by phil82 on Jun 28, 2012 14:48:01 GMT 12
Able Bodied. That is, trained, equivalent to an LAC.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 28, 2012 15:07:30 GMT 12
Thanks
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Post by meo4 on Jun 28, 2012 16:46:18 GMT 12
Able rate usually followed by trade Eg ADR Able Diver
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 28, 2012 17:08:52 GMT 12
Ah ok, so a particular chap who has AB before his name such as AB H. Jones, might have been Able Seaman H. Jones in full, or Able Signaller H. Jones, or Able Diver H. Jones...?
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Post by phil on Jun 28, 2012 18:03:19 GMT 12
I'm not sure what it was like in WW2, but navy ranks/classifications are a bit different to Air and Army, in that they include their trade.
In the air force you are an LAC, or a CPL, but in the Navy you are a LWTR for example (Leading Writer) or perhaps a AET (Able Electronics Technician). It would be a bit like the air force having LACS&S as a seperate classification to a LACAV or somesuch.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 28, 2012 18:07:56 GMT 12
So does the designation AB or as Colin said Able Bodied mean that the press who wrote this particular list of men's names with AB as the prefix were not told the trade suffixes to save confusion? It was a list of men returning from overseas in a troopship.
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Post by phil on Jun 28, 2012 18:20:53 GMT 12
Perhaps the introduction of the trade as part of the classification was post war?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 28, 2012 18:34:22 GMT 12
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Post by meo4 on Jun 28, 2012 21:06:35 GMT 12
Sounds like he was a Able seaman of the seaman branch eg gunnery sonar radar etc. Engine room and technical trades differed slightly where a Able seaman was equivalent to Stoker 1st class which is a prop with one star ,and stoker 2nd class just a prop was equivalent to Ordinary seaman. Some old stoker badges  |
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Post by ngatimozart on Jun 28, 2012 21:31:15 GMT 12
If you want I have the Admiralty Book of Seamanship Vol 1 (1964) which has all the equivalent rates and ranks across the three services in it. I can scan the appropriate pages and post them here. When I was in I was an Able Seaman with the anacroymn ASEA because in the RNZNVR seaman didn't specialise. Today they are CSS Combat Specialist Seaman which I presume covers a multitude of sins. During WW2 I would have been a Seaman Gunner and that was always was seen as the senior branch of the Navy - albeit a one eyed opinion  |
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Post by phil82 on Jun 28, 2012 21:51:52 GMT 12
Not so. Gunnery at sea has always been a dark art, necessitating special training [at Whale Island?] from whence all gunnery officers came in the days when then the gun was important because it was the only means of attack and defence. Even in the Falklands Naval Gunnery Officers went ashore to more accurately direct fire from ships.
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Post by meo4 on Jun 28, 2012 22:32:38 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 28, 2012 22:47:24 GMT 12
So, at the end of the day (as i am still totally confused) if I was to write his rank in full, would I write it as Able Seaman Ogilvy?
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Post by Ykato on Jun 29, 2012 16:17:11 GMT 12
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Post by ngatimozart on Jun 29, 2012 16:26:15 GMT 12
Not so. Gunnery at sea has always been a dark art, necessitating special training [at Whale Island?] from whence all gunnery officers came in the days when then the gun was important because it was the only means of attack and defence. Even in the Falklands Naval Gunnery Officers went ashore to more accurately direct fire from ships. Yes gunnery has been a dark art but its not just the officers. It was also the seamen gunners manning the guns: the gun captains, layers, trainers, the loading numbers etc., and the seamen working in the magazines loading shell and propellant into the hoists all working in rough seas under fire. Before automation the firing rate depended upon those men working as a team quickly and efficiently. Today it is all automated and far easier but what happens when you lose power to the ship and still have to fight it? So I wonder how they operate the five inch gun on the ANZACs then? I wasn't in when we had ANZACs and managed to avoid the frigates preferring small ships. |
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Post by meo4 on Jun 29, 2012 17:53:00 GMT 12
The 5 inch gun MK45 mod 2 ( largest gun in the NZDF) is manned by Weapon Technicans with fire control officer in ops room fires gun with foot pedal. Usually have weapon techs loading rounds on hoist in magazine and one manning the transfer station panel. Range is about 24 km rate of fire is about 20 rounds a minute .Compared to Army light guns got range of about 10 km at 7 rounds a minute. 
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Post by shorty on Jun 29, 2012 18:49:27 GMT 12
Still doesnt tell us how you manage when the power goes out!
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Post by scrooge on Jun 30, 2012 8:32:35 GMT 12
Dave, yes, AB = Able Seaman.
The other stuff only applies if/when it is included.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 30, 2012 10:24:19 GMT 12
Thanks. Navy stuff is so confusing sometimes.
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