Boatswain's Mate (US Navy)

The United States Navy occupational rating of Boatswain's Mate (abbreviated as BM) is a designation given by the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS) to enlisted members who are rated or "striking" for the rating as a deck seaman. Not surprisingly, the colloquial form of address for a boatswain's mate is 'Boats'.

Job description

Boatswain's mates train, direct, and supervise personnel in ship's maintenance duties in all activities relating to marlinspike, deck, boat seamanship, painting, upkeep of ship's external structure, rigging, deck equipment, and boats.] USS James E. Williams (DDG 95) is an Arleigh Burke class destroyer, named for BM1 James E. Williams who earned the Medal of Honor while serving in the "brown water navy" in Vietnam.The Boatswain in William Shakespere's The Tempest is a central character is several scenes.

Victoria Cross recipients John Sheppard (VC), John Sullivan (VC), Henry Curtis, and John Harrison (VC 1857) were Royal Navy Boatswain's Mates.

Lord Byron had a Newfoundland dog named Boatswain.cite book
last = Clinton
first = George
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title = Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Lord Byron
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=z14S0iaeD78C&pg=PA3&dq=Boatswain&num=100&as_brr=1#PPR3,M1
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accessdate =2007-05-27
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year = 1828
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publisher = James Robbins and Company
location = London
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quote = ] Byron wrote the famous poem Epitaph to a Dog and had a monument made for him at Newstead Abbey.

There are also a handful of fictional boatswains and boatswain's mates. The father of main character Zack Mayo in An Officer and A Gentleman was a Boatswain's Mate.Fact|date=May 2007, as was James Caan's character in Cinderella Liberty. Also, the character Bill Bobstay in Gilbert and Sullivan's musical comedy "H.M.S. Pinafore" is alternatively referred to as a "bos'un" [See quote from "The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan" at [http://www.operatalent.com/Safe/Roles/Boatswain66723270.asp?rolea=324] .] and a "Boatswain's Mate." [See quote from S.W. Gilbert in "The story of the H.M.S. Pinafore" at [http://www.operatalent.com/Safe/Roles/Boatswain66723270.asp?rolea=324] .] Another boatswain from literature is Smee from "Peter Pan". [ cite book
author = J M Barrie
authorlink = J M Barrie
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title = Peter Pan or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up
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url = http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300081h.html
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date = December 27, 1904
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chapter = Act II: The Never Land
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quote = ]

Notes

References

*cite book| author = United States Naval Institute| title = The Bluejackets' Manual| origyear = 1902| edition = 21st ed.| year = 1996| publisher = United States Naval Institute| location = Annapolis, MD| isbn = 1-55750-050-9

ee also

*Boatswain
*List of United States Navy ratings
*Reuben James
*Boatswain's Mate (US Coast Guard)
*Bootsmann

External links

* [http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq78-1.htm Enlisted Ratings and Jobs in the US Navy (Historical)]
* [http://buperscd.technology.navy.mil/bup_updt/508/OccStandards/OccStd_Menu.htm NAVPERS 18068F "Navy Enlisted Occupational Standards"] ; also available as a [http://buperscd.technology.navy.mil/bup_updt/upd_CD/BUPERS/OCCSTD/Occstd.pdf PDF file]
* [http://www.bluejacket.com/usn_ratings.html "Navy Ratings, Past and present"]
* [http://www.bluejacket.com/usn_ratings_emergency.html "Navy Speciality ratings & Emergency ratings"]
* [http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ranks/ratings/ratings.html "Enlisted Rating Insignia"]
* [http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/default.asp?p=594 Boatswain's Mate Job Description at the Royal Australian Navy]
* [http://www.recruiting.forces.gc.ca/v3/engraph/jobs/jobs.aspx?id=181&bhcp=1 Boatswain's Job Description at the Canadian Navy]
* [http://www.cds31.navy.mil/cmesshistory.htm Boatswain's Mates and the Origins of the Chief Petty Officer]
* [http://www.uscg.mil/HQ/RTC/Ops/bma/index.shtm Boatswains Mate "A" School (USCG)]