Navy General Chat

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The Maths part is hard though because I can't grasp doing the sums in my head, I need to write them down and do it the slow way - that takes up extra time.

So I take it, your after excitement in the Warfare Branch?

Reply 361

tricky_rn

Robmister

Oh yes! apprently its one of the best places to be on surface fleet, Mark will proberly dis-agree with me now like on everything, but yeah. Half my family are in the navy and im pretty close to my cousin who joined last Jan and he loves it. Second to none! Other than that i could get drafted to WSW on subs to. But i hope not, i think the surface fleet is more for me, though you do get paid more on a sub!

Reply 362

Dagg

Regarding flying in the Navy, I heard that you don't need to have quite as sharp eyesight as that needed to get into the RAF. And was just curious about whether anyone knew any specifics about this?

Thanks in advance.

PS - Sorry if this issue has been covered before.

Reply 363

Scotsman88

the reason is that the NAVY are not as good as the RAF! no only jocking. My friends starts as a pilot after he finishes UNI, so next sept. he told me they are not as strict as the RAF, as the NAVY need to recruit more pilots, so they cant be as Picky as the RAF, who get loads of candidates applying for pilot! hope this helps. If this is not true, someone let me know please!

Reply 364

tricky_rn

Scotsman88

The glass in Navy jets magnify slightly so that if you are short sighted its like waring glasses! No.. its the fact that the Navy just have different rules and lay outs to the Raf with there little toy planes. he he

Reply 365

tricky_rn

Just got the shipmates book... what a great book, buy it. enough said.

Reply 366

JayD

yeah got it for xmas. it really is a good read.

Reply 367

Ergo bibamus

Dagg mate, the problem with asking about advice on medical stuff on forums like these is that loads of people know someone who knows someone who's girlfriend's brother's mate got into the Navy as pilot despite being blind, or something. Try giving your careers office a bell, or get a number for the Fleet Air Arm themselves and try that. Nothing to lose! For what it's worth, I've certainly heard of more people being unfit for the RAF but got into the Navy than vice versa, on everything from eyesight to functional reach, so good luck!

JD and tricky, I take it that the Shipmates book is based on the tv series. I wasn't too impressed by that show myself, is the book any better? Can anyone recommend any other good books on the navy?

Reply 368

Dagg

Okay, fair enough, cheers Ergo.

Reply 369

JayD

Yeah based on TV show. I feel problem with TV show was it focussed too superficially on the lives of very few individuals within the service, and not on the services function as a whole. However I still fairly enjoyed it and the book does go into a bit more detail. Other recomendations are Lost Voices of the Royal Navy, and The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery by Paul Kennedy.

Reply 370

Ergo bibamus

I think the main problem with the tv show from my point of view was that it was on at prime time on BBC1, so they had to show plenty of nice and fluffy stories to keep granny happy. Take the last episode as an example (the one about the thursday war/that crazy lady's opera). Being the uber geek that I am, I would have quite happily watched an hour of hawks raking it in towards HMS ocean playing at being missiles, rather than having to get an update on that opera every five minutes. But fair enough to them, the program wasn't made with people like me in mind, that's why god gave us the discovery channel.

Cheers for those book recommends, looks like amazon's going to be getting some more of my hard earned cash...

Reply 371

tricky_rn

Ergo bibamus

JD and tricky, I take it that the Shipmates book is based on the tv series. I wasn't too impressed by that show myself, is the book any better? Can anyone recommend any other good books on the navy?

Shipmates Book is Great 10/10, especialy "life in a blue suit" and the new recruits going into raliegh (will soon be me: 6th of feb, ahh) A lot better than the series. The book somewhat is inspiring where as the series wasnt really. I only liked the first and the thired chapters of the tv series any way and didnt think it was great as there was so much more it could of unlocked about the navy and the sailors who make the navy "the team works" ect. But hey, he was only allowed five episodes so maybe it wasnt his fault to, a years filming into five episodes. I blame the BBC not Chris.

Reply 372

tricky_rn

So any other shipmates going in around the 6th of feb??

Reply 373

Ergo bibamus

hey, apologies if this is well known to you all but I've just been made aware of this site:
http://navy-matters.beedall.com/index.html

which has loads of funky stuff on the Navy, especially the future and where it's headed, could be useful interview prep.

Also, has anyone been on the POC visit to Yeovilton? I've got one coming up soon, and was wondering if anyone has any tips on how to make the best out of it. What's it like? Are there any opportunities to do your own thing, or do you follow the itinerary to the letter? Anything anyone can recommend doing?

Cheers in advance

Reply 374

tricky_rn

Ergo bibamus

I hope they dont scrap the carrier project :frown:

. Unless we have a war within the next ten years i belive the royal navy's fleet will be half its size.

Would love someone to proove me wrong.

Reply 375

big_pd

Dagg

It depends whether you want to be a pilot or observer. Also fast jet pilots need perfect vision whereas the rotary get a little more leway. For observer the eyetest is not as strict. If you want to find out contact the aircrew medical board at HMS Sultan and they will tell you.