Skipper of Big Lizzie

[Rodney Mills]

What ever happened to "privilege of rank"? When I was a galley boy in the M.N., I had to close up and open the kitchen, first-in, last-out. Got my rating to assistant cook came in to the kitchen, coffee/tea made, end of shift, pots left for the G.B.. I wiped down the work stations, cleaned the stoves. Moved up to second assistant cook rating, left the work station for the new third assistant and so on up the ladder. Became the executive chef, coffee was poured and waiting for me on my desk by my secretary. Continuing up the ladder, as a company president I had a car and driver, fringe packet benefits, bonus program in return for the weight of the company on my shoulders and responsible for continued growth of the company. Now compare that to my beginnings as a galley boy. Now I'm sure all of you received "privilege of rank" as you moved up the ladder. Seeing what is a better on the rung above you is what motivates people to advance their careers.

Surely there must be something else involved. If he was straight up and trusted with the flagship of the fleet, surely his boss, the Admiral, or Sea-Lord would have want to keep him on, and would have pulled him aside and said basically "knock-it-off mate." I would not have wanted to lose a valued executive over something like hogging a car. It would have discretely stopped, it would have become the community car and the Commodore would have had his wrist slapped with a wet noodle and carried-on.

Just my opinion, Rodney

[Keith at Tregenna]

All a bit odd:

He is an experienced officer and said to be one of the best from his generation. Cooke-Priest joined the Royal Navy in 1990 and initially specialised as a Lynx helicopter pilot.

In 2009 he was promoted to Commander, escorting the Queen during a royal tour on HMS Kent before later taking charge of HMS Iron Duke, and HMS Bulwark, the Fleet Flag Ship.

In 2016 he was awarded an OBE.

He is still in command despite being flown off aircraft carrier.

"In light of the ongoing investigation, as a precautionary measure to protect both the individual and the Ship's Company the Royal Navy has decided that Captain Nick Cooke-Priest will not be at sea in HMS Queen Elizabeth."

Probably, many motor companies considering giving him a free car now ?

K.

[Keith at Tregenna]

Apparently - Navy commodore 'was kicked off HMS Queen Elizabeth for letting his wife use the aircraft carrier's Ford Galaxy for the school run' while he was at sea.

Falklands veteran Major General Julian Thompson called the dismissal a 'ridiculous overreaction'. He said: 'A slap on the wrist would have been sufficient. We live in a different age than the one I served in. We were far more bothered about defeating the enemy.'

Captain Steven Moorhouse, who is currently the Commanding Officer of HMS Prince of Wales, will replace Cdre Cooke-Smith.

[Samuel Denton]

If true !! his wife was using the car for the school run? well if true the guy deserves a kick in the butt. He had to have been warned about this and decided he was un-touchable? Big ego perhaps so maybe in todays navy, someone decided a lesson needed to be learnt.

[happy daze john in oz]

Rodders, privilege of rank is fast vanishing in so many parts of our lives.

We now have the groups who thing any form of privilege is wrong and that we should all be the same, mainly the socialistic groups.
These people do not think that it is good to attempt to improve your lot in life.

But the same persons scream when they are told that there is something they ae not allowed.

[John F Collier]

If the likes of you, me and Joe Blogs can own their own family car, why can't someone of his
standing do the same ,

[Keith Tindell]

Whether or not the car is the reason for sacking, if the car belongs to the navy, there will be rules attached to it, and what it is to be used for, if he has worked outside of the rules, he should be told so. Its a bit like parking in no parking zones, we all do it !!!, but if you are caught, don't grizzle, kt

[Keith at Tregenna]

Glad it was the car and not the ship he let her drive.

K.

[Malcolm Lawrence]

Sadly I have to say I have had first hand experience of upper echelon arrogance within the RN, there is a site in Hampshire that is home to no less than 4 Admirals some of which have accommodation on site.
We were part of the MODs Maintenance Services team responsible for maintaining the grounds/buildings etc, when the MOD were on a cost cutting exercise they decided to stop maintaining the Officers houses private gardens, I then witnessed 2 of those high ranking officers go ballistic at two guys who were on our Grounds Maintenance Team demanding they get there gardens maintained, this of course put our Company in a difficult situation, however, when we reported the incident to the MOD all of a sudden said Admirals went quiet and we never heard any more.
I later found out that they had been censured by the MOD and had probably had some sort of financial penalty to pay, at least we had some justice.