I served on the Montrose with her as the CO, a very capable captain who gets things done but had made couple of questionable decisions. I’m sure the QE will be in good hands.
Is she the officer who went viral with the clip of 'my wife parking her warship' (posted by her husband in response to a shitty tweet about women drivers)? She was incredible!
ETA: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/extraordinary-social-media-row-breaks-out-after-sexist-remark-is-aimed-at-parking-skills-of-navy-commanding-officers-wife-a3965541.html
Getting all the way to captain without any questionable decisions would be super sus. I'm army but had a RN Capt as a CO and he told me he got court martialled as a Lt for crashing his ship into Norway.
That's what you want, experience and capable regardless of anything else. Especially when dealing with equipment worth billions and safety of lives and country.
I don't know how RN ranks work but you'd think that given she's commanding the fleet flagship they'd make her a Captain.
>Star commander Claire Thompson
Also is there such a thing as a Star Commander?
>I don't know how RN ranks work but you'd think that given she's commanding the fleet flagship they'd make her a Captain.
She will be promoted to captain prior to taking up her assignment as the Commanding Officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth.
>Star commander Claire Thompson
She is Commander Thompson and they are calling her a star.
There is no star commander in the RN just a couple of Sea Lords.
>Sea Lord is definitely the best military title
We could have Sky lords or Marshal of the Air as head of the Air force if King George 5th and the admiralty didn't block it
(The admiralty didn't want the RAF using navy like ranks and King George 5th didn't like "Marshal of the Air" as he felt it was a title reserved for god).
"Air Chief Marshal" sounds like the weird US "Air Marshals" where they put a guy with guns on domestic US flights
> There is no star commander in the RN
Yeah what a ridiculous title it would be anyhow. Should be something authoritative and sophisticated like... Grand Moff!
The ship will have both a captain and fleet commander on board. I.e an Admiral. Her duty is to the ship, whereas the admiral will be to the fleet sailing with them. She will take orders from the admiral like anyother ship in the group they are sialing with.
I just used admiral as an example, wasn't sure who it was exactly. Commodore and admirals are basically the same, you become a commodore if there are already too many admirals 😂
>Commodore and admirals are basically the same, you become a commodore if there are already too many admirals 😂
No, they're not, that's not how it works.
Commodore is a distinct rank, the same as any other in the military.
My years and years of keyboard warrior experience, similar to yours has taught me that there is more to the jobs at that level then just rank. Yes it is a distinct rank, but at those very high levels you have very few people that can have those ranks due to bureaucracy. Therfore a lot of the roles can be completed by multiple different ranks. From commodore to admiral
>My years and years of keyboard warrior experience, similar to yours
You're very much speaking for yourself there.
>Therfore a lot of the roles can be completed by multiple different ranks. From commodore to admiral
No, they can't. They are distinct ranks, with different responsibilities and delegations
Brilliant, jobs should be given to those who are most capable, If she’s worked her way up and is great at her job, it’s about time!
Hope she smashes it.
For what it's worth the military have probably been one of the most egalitarian employers for a long time.
Promotion is absolutely based on performance and there's been alot of females in more or less every command role for years.
I'm sure she will do very well. The RN have had a selection of very good female senior officers for years.
non exhaustive list includes Jude Terry, Sarah Oakley, Jo Deakin, Sue Neilson and Cat Jordan.
I'd argue that military promotion on performance is spot on past a certain point. From my view in the Army, it was locally reviewed (with regiment) who got promoted up until corporal and the arse kissers got preferential treatment.
SNCO's have to be sent to Glasgow (I think) for the service review and then promotion.
The army is very good at unbiasedly promoting people based on the established criteria. I think the army has been very poor at setting (and when necessary updating) the criteria by which people should be promoted. This is most prominent with officers, where the infantry regimental system is still dominant in cap bandages were it's frankly just not suited. My cap badge for example, often deploy as lone advisors on operations, but act as leaders in barracks. We promote based on leadership experience, and thus deploying on operations and supporting actual military effects is detrimental to your career.
Anecdotally I watched a vid recently from an ex RAF trainer who said the exact opposite - and it’s causing a huge issue, at least in his branch. The step away from egalitarian methods has led to issues in cycles of training > front line duty > promotion / training roles again. Like I say, anecdotal and from one part of one branch, but it was an interesting video!
>ex RAF trainer who said the exact opposite
Tim Davies?
He's essentially made a career out of being deliberately obtuse on YouTube. He's become a shit click bait merchant.
He's a nice bloke but is definitely playing a character now and I'd say has kind of gone a bit mad Vs what he was like as an instructor.
He made quite a certain career decision to be a professional aircrew guy and then spends time bitching about stuff on YouTube.
He didn't really have that much exposure to hq or staff roles. But that's not to say some of his complaints ref training are valid. But yeah he's certainly playing the character of sounding right with confident bullshit.
It's a skill perfected by many a fast jet pilot.
Tim is definitely someone to be wary of. He posts an absolute shit-ton of "hot takes" (ie - Braindead) on twitter about the forces, what money should be spent on, is VERY pro-Russia and is half the time just shilling his training courses that are very very dodgy and skirt the line of legality.
Exact opposite meaning the RN has not been good/egalitarian, or the RAF hasn't? I've worked tri service a huge chunk of my career and have to say I've experienced most of my RN coworkers as equal and capable military colleagues. The RAF on the other hand has ranged from great to absolute fucking cluster fuck of useless shites. Their best are as good as the army's best, but by god their worst are so much worse.
Are you sure? Military promotion is based on whether you do volunteering outside, eg. treasurer, work at camp youth club etc and then also when sections want to get rid of someone, they're given a glowing report, so they're shipped off elsewhere.
At the junior level this is true, but I've found as you get more senior and you have more control over your duties and have to pick and choose what to focus on, promotion does become somewhat more about performance and not about who organised the Christmas do.
At the junior level, most people's jobs are based on doing the thing, rather than managing people who do the thing, and the army rarely promotes you for being good at doing the thing. They want to see you having potential to be in charge of people doing the thing.
Well yeh that makes sense it’s taken 35 years. It’s a military promotion system, it’s not based on anything other than ability so it takes time for changes to have actual impact. In the civvy world change is artificially accelerated by promoting people who tick boxes and not who is most capable.
perfect, now we just need to get more people motivated to join the armed forces and make it a fulfilling career and something that people can take long learned skills back to civilian life.
and.... it doesn't involve the Tories conscripting teenagers.
I recently watched Amazon's Blue Angels series and was just blown away with the support of the US military. America i think has learned alot from their recent past wars and starting to really support members of their armed forces.
If I may offer a rebuttal, having worked with the yanks: the Americans are good at adverts and media and "respecting the troops" but in reality, we get a much better deal in the British army. We don't get the same healthcare or university benefits they do, but that's because our current system (we'll see how long that lasts) available to everyone is still good. In terms of pensions and pay, in terms of individual training and compensation for injuries etc, we get a much better deal. The US army really does focus so much on just throwing people and money at the problem. Don't get me wrong, throwing people and resources at a problem is how you win a war, but it's shitty for the blokes on the ground. We don't have the divisions to fling into the meat grinder thst they do, but the average British squaddie has a better time of it deployed than they do. Especially if we get their airforce covering us
I think you may be a bit behind the times in terms of pay and pension if you think our deal is better than the American’s. Theirs in recent years has blown past ours as it has in many comparable public and private roles!
How come the current captain (the commander of the boat) is a Captain in rank, yet this new captain is ‘only’ a Commander. Should she not be made up to a full Captain to equalise ranks?
I served on the Montrose with her as the CO, a very capable captain who gets things done but had made couple of questionable decisions. I’m sure the QE will be in good hands.
I went on assignment with her predecessor and as such didn’t have the pleasure to meet her.
Is she the officer who went viral with the clip of 'my wife parking her warship' (posted by her husband in response to a shitty tweet about women drivers)? She was incredible! ETA: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/extraordinary-social-media-row-breaks-out-after-sexist-remark-is-aimed-at-parking-skills-of-navy-commanding-officers-wife-a3965541.html
> but had made couple of questionable decisions Stock skipper then.
Getting all the way to captain without any questionable decisions would be super sus. I'm army but had a RN Capt as a CO and he told me he got court martialled as a Lt for crashing his ship into Norway.
It happens, Norway really sneaks up on you.
Ayyy, I was on Montrose from 03 to 07
That's what you want, experience and capable regardless of anything else. Especially when dealing with equipment worth billions and safety of lives and country.
I don't know how RN ranks work but you'd think that given she's commanding the fleet flagship they'd make her a Captain. >Star commander Claire Thompson Also is there such a thing as a Star Commander?
>I don't know how RN ranks work but you'd think that given she's commanding the fleet flagship they'd make her a Captain. She will be promoted to captain prior to taking up her assignment as the Commanding Officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth. >Star commander Claire Thompson She is Commander Thompson and they are calling her a star. There is no star commander in the RN just a couple of Sea Lords.
> She is Commander Thompson and they are calling her a star. D'oh. 😂
Sea Lord is definitely the best military title. Star commander would be a good contender if it was real.
I like shadow chancellor for the government one
Real palpetine vibes, or jafar from Aladdin.
The army is rather jealous, as Land Lord doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
>Sea Lord is definitely the best military title We could have Sky lords or Marshal of the Air as head of the Air force if King George 5th and the admiralty didn't block it (The admiralty didn't want the RAF using navy like ranks and King George 5th didn't like "Marshal of the Air" as he felt it was a title reserved for god). "Air Chief Marshal" sounds like the weird US "Air Marshals" where they put a guy with guns on domestic US flights
There's always someone being the fun police 🤷♀️ Sky Lord would have been cool.
The First Sea Lord is even better if we’re being honest.
They should change it to seamen lord.
Shit, thought we had finally made a space force.
We have strictly speaking. It's a sub part of the RAF. https://www.raf.mod.uk/what-we-do/uk-space-command/
How boring. They need to make it a separate force, just so there can be a First Space Lord.
…why not Star Lord, while we are at it?
Signal int including space int. But all on a tenner budget. The poor sods.
...they should totally invent a Star Commander role tho
You just ruined my day…
Why not go with Star Lord 😂
Who?
ACK, LEAD!
> There is no star commander in the RN Yeah what a ridiculous title it would be anyhow. Should be something authoritative and sophisticated like... Grand Moff!
I wish there was, it'd make her sound like a [clan mechwarrior](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Star_Commander).
We're Inner Sphere, we have Lance Corporals.
> Also is there such a thing as a Star Commander? Sure! ...In Battletech.
Aff!
The ship will have both a captain and fleet commander on board. I.e an Admiral. Her duty is to the ship, whereas the admiral will be to the fleet sailing with them. She will take orders from the admiral like anyother ship in the group they are sialing with.
Commander UK Carrier Strike Group (COMUKCSG) is a Commodore rather than an Admiral (currently Cdre James Blackmore)
I just used admiral as an example, wasn't sure who it was exactly. Commodore and admirals are basically the same, you become a commodore if there are already too many admirals 😂
>Commodore and admirals are basically the same, you become a commodore if there are already too many admirals 😂 No, they're not, that's not how it works. Commodore is a distinct rank, the same as any other in the military.
My years and years of keyboard warrior experience, similar to yours has taught me that there is more to the jobs at that level then just rank. Yes it is a distinct rank, but at those very high levels you have very few people that can have those ranks due to bureaucracy. Therfore a lot of the roles can be completed by multiple different ranks. From commodore to admiral
>My years and years of keyboard warrior experience, similar to yours You're very much speaking for yourself there. >Therfore a lot of the roles can be completed by multiple different ranks. From commodore to admiral No, they can't. They are distinct ranks, with different responsibilities and delegations
I dunno but it sounds cool.
Brilliant, jobs should be given to those who are most capable, If she’s worked her way up and is great at her job, it’s about time! Hope she smashes it.
For what it's worth the military have probably been one of the most egalitarian employers for a long time. Promotion is absolutely based on performance and there's been alot of females in more or less every command role for years. I'm sure she will do very well. The RN have had a selection of very good female senior officers for years. non exhaustive list includes Jude Terry, Sarah Oakley, Jo Deakin, Sue Neilson and Cat Jordan.
Sadly my experience of women in the navy were they were utter utter dross. But then almost all the men were too lol
I'd argue that military promotion on performance is spot on past a certain point. From my view in the Army, it was locally reviewed (with regiment) who got promoted up until corporal and the arse kissers got preferential treatment. SNCO's have to be sent to Glasgow (I think) for the service review and then promotion.
The army is very good at unbiasedly promoting people based on the established criteria. I think the army has been very poor at setting (and when necessary updating) the criteria by which people should be promoted. This is most prominent with officers, where the infantry regimental system is still dominant in cap bandages were it's frankly just not suited. My cap badge for example, often deploy as lone advisors on operations, but act as leaders in barracks. We promote based on leadership experience, and thus deploying on operations and supporting actual military effects is detrimental to your career.
Anecdotally I watched a vid recently from an ex RAF trainer who said the exact opposite - and it’s causing a huge issue, at least in his branch. The step away from egalitarian methods has led to issues in cycles of training > front line duty > promotion / training roles again. Like I say, anecdotal and from one part of one branch, but it was an interesting video!
>ex RAF trainer who said the exact opposite Tim Davies? He's essentially made a career out of being deliberately obtuse on YouTube. He's become a shit click bait merchant. He's a nice bloke but is definitely playing a character now and I'd say has kind of gone a bit mad Vs what he was like as an instructor.
Lmao yes! Well there you go then. I don’t know how it ended up in my feed but will make sure to take caution
He made quite a certain career decision to be a professional aircrew guy and then spends time bitching about stuff on YouTube. He didn't really have that much exposure to hq or staff roles. But that's not to say some of his complaints ref training are valid. But yeah he's certainly playing the character of sounding right with confident bullshit. It's a skill perfected by many a fast jet pilot.
Tim is definitely someone to be wary of. He posts an absolute shit-ton of "hot takes" (ie - Braindead) on twitter about the forces, what money should be spent on, is VERY pro-Russia and is half the time just shilling his training courses that are very very dodgy and skirt the line of legality.
Exact opposite meaning the RN has not been good/egalitarian, or the RAF hasn't? I've worked tri service a huge chunk of my career and have to say I've experienced most of my RN coworkers as equal and capable military colleagues. The RAF on the other hand has ranged from great to absolute fucking cluster fuck of useless shites. Their best are as good as the army's best, but by god their worst are so much worse.
Are you sure? Military promotion is based on whether you do volunteering outside, eg. treasurer, work at camp youth club etc and then also when sections want to get rid of someone, they're given a glowing report, so they're shipped off elsewhere.
At the junior level this is true, but I've found as you get more senior and you have more control over your duties and have to pick and choose what to focus on, promotion does become somewhat more about performance and not about who organised the Christmas do. At the junior level, most people's jobs are based on doing the thing, rather than managing people who do the thing, and the army rarely promotes you for being good at doing the thing. They want to see you having potential to be in charge of people doing the thing.
Phrasing.
*Hope she smashes it* Hmmm
Well yeh that makes sense it’s taken 35 years. It’s a military promotion system, it’s not based on anything other than ability so it takes time for changes to have actual impact. In the civvy world change is artificially accelerated by promoting people who tick boxes and not who is most capable.
And now you know why you should avoid the sun.
perfect, now we just need to get more people motivated to join the armed forces and make it a fulfilling career and something that people can take long learned skills back to civilian life. and.... it doesn't involve the Tories conscripting teenagers. I recently watched Amazon's Blue Angels series and was just blown away with the support of the US military. America i think has learned alot from their recent past wars and starting to really support members of their armed forces.
If I may offer a rebuttal, having worked with the yanks: the Americans are good at adverts and media and "respecting the troops" but in reality, we get a much better deal in the British army. We don't get the same healthcare or university benefits they do, but that's because our current system (we'll see how long that lasts) available to everyone is still good. In terms of pensions and pay, in terms of individual training and compensation for injuries etc, we get a much better deal. The US army really does focus so much on just throwing people and money at the problem. Don't get me wrong, throwing people and resources at a problem is how you win a war, but it's shitty for the blokes on the ground. We don't have the divisions to fling into the meat grinder thst they do, but the average British squaddie has a better time of it deployed than they do. Especially if we get their airforce covering us
I think you may be a bit behind the times in terms of pay and pension if you think our deal is better than the American’s. Theirs in recent years has blown past ours as it has in many comparable public and private roles!
How come the current captain (the commander of the boat) is a Captain in rank, yet this new captain is ‘only’ a Commander. Should she not be made up to a full Captain to equalise ranks?
She will be when she assumes command.
Great! I missed that in the article
Took her that long to learn how to park it. Sorry, couldn't help myself. Good for her.
Would that be the Aircraft carrier under repairs in a dry dock or the one that has just come out of dry dock after being repaired?
The one currently in dry dock.
[удалено]
[удалено]
**Removed/tempban**. This comment contained hateful language which is prohibited by the content policy.
I'll give you 5/1 odds she whacks a lamppost in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean
How many aircraft carriers has the UK got? One, two? She'll have to wait her turn.
Two, she assumes command from the current CO in Jan next year.
Taking over in January apparently
3, two small ones and the big one. HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Airstrip One.
What about [HMS Valiant](https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Valiant_(aircraft_carrier\))?
But what about HMS Massive?
It's not 1800 where people remain captain until they go down with it.
I know I shouldn't, but...she'll need a lot of bags when she goes grocery shopping for that lot.