Naval Orientation - Sea Cadet Corps Organisation, Naval Traditions and Terminology
The naval wing questions test whether you can talk about a ship the way a sailor does. You need the Indian Navy's basic facts, the place of the NCC's naval wing (the Sea Cadet Corps) in the Corps, and a working vocabulary of shipboard terms.
Indian Navy essentials
- The Navy has precedence over the Army and Air Force in the order of service.
- Navy Day: 4 December, marking the 1971 missile attack on Karachi (Operation Trident).
- Motto: "Sham No Varunah" - may Varuna, lord of the waters, be auspicious unto us.
- Headed by the Chief of the Naval Staff, an Admiral; below him Vice Admiral, Rear Admiral, Commodore, Captain, Commander, Lieutenant Commander, Lieutenant, Sub Lieutenant, Midshipman.
The Sea Cadet Corps in the NCC
Cadets of the Senior Wing and Junior Wing who opt for the naval wing study seamanship, boat work, navigation, naval history and signalling instead of army subjects. They attend Nau Sainik Camp alongside the Army's Thal Sainik Camp and the Air Force's Vayu Sainik Camp, and take part in boat pulling and sailing.
Shipboard vocabulary
- Bow (front), stern (rear), port (left facing the bow), starboard (right).
- Deck not floor, bulkhead not wall, ladder not staircase, hatch, galley (kitchen), heads (toilets), bridge (from which the ship is conned), quarterdeck, forecastle.
- Side lights: red on port, green on starboard; speed in knots, depth in metres or fathoms, distance in nautical miles (1 nm = 1.852 km).
Worked example
A cadet is told, "Go aft, down two decks, to the galley." Aft means towards the stern, deck means a level of the ship, and galley is the kitchen. He would be wrong to walk towards the bow, and wrong to look for a staircase - he would use a ladder.
Traps
Reversing port and starboard; saying Navy Day is 26 January; quoting an Army motto; calling the bridge the "cockpit"; treating a knot as a distance.