Editing Warrant officer (section)

==Origins==
The warrant officer corps began in the nascent [[Royal Navy]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Welsh|first=David R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-Q-rP7AnaIC|title=Warrant: The Legacy of Leadership as a Warrant Officer|location=Nashville, Tennessee|publisher=Turner Publishing Company|date=2006|isbn=978-1-59652-053-0|page=6}}</ref> which dates its founding to 1546. At that time, noblemen with military experience took command of the new navy, adopting the military ranks of [[lieutenant]] and [[Captain (Royal Navy)|captain]]. These officers often had no knowledge of life on board a ship—let alone how to navigate such a vessel—and relied on the expertise of the ship's [[Master (naval)|master]] and other seamen who tended to the technical aspects of running the ship. As cannon came into use, the officers also required gunnery experts; specialist gunners began to appear in the 16th century and also had warrant officer status.<ref name="WarrantHistory">{{Cite web|url=http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Pers-Warrant%20Rank.htm|title=A Brief History of Warrant Rank in the Royal Navy|website=Naval-History.Net|access-date=7 April 2010}}</ref> Literacy was one thing that most warrant officers had in common, and this distinguished them from the common seamen: according to the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] regulations, "no person shall be appointed to any station in which he is to have charge of stores, unless he can read and write, and is sufficiently skilled in arithmetic to keep an account of them correctly". Since all warrant officers had responsibility for stores, this was enough to debar the illiterate.<ref name="Lavery100"/>

===Rank and status in the 18th century===
In origin, warrant officers were specialist professionals whose expertise and authority demanded formal recognition.<ref name="Lavery100">{{Cite book |last=Lavery |first=Brian |title=Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organization |year=1989 |location=Annapolis, Md |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=0-87021-258-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/nelsonsnavyships00lave/page/100 100] |url=https://archive.org/details/nelsonsnavyships00lave/page/100 }}</ref> In the 18th century they fell into two clear categories: on the one hand, those privileged to share with the commissioned officers in the [[wardroom]] and on the [[quarterdeck]]; and on the other, those who ranked with more junior members of the ship's crew.<ref name="rnranks">{{cite web|url=http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/sites/default/files/Naval%20Ranks.pdf|title=Information sheet no 096: Naval Ranks|website=National Museum of the Royal Navy|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923074318/http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/sites/default/files/Naval%20Ranks.pdf|archive-date=23 September 2015}}</ref> Somewhere between the two, however, were the [[#Standing warrant officers|standing officers]], notable because, unlike the rest of the ship's company, they remained with the ship even when she was out of commission (e.g. for repair, refitting or replenishment, or whilst laid up); in these circumstances they were under the pay and supervision of the [[Royal Navy Dockyard|Royal Dockyard]].

====Wardroom warrant officers====
These classes of warrant officer messed in the [[wardroom]] with the commissioned officers:
*the [[master (naval)|master]]: the senior warrant officer, a qualified navigator and experienced seaman who set the sails, maintained the [[ship's log]] and advised the captain on the seaworthiness of the ship and crew;
*the [[naval surgeon |surgeon]]: who treated the sick and injured and advised the captain on matters of health;
*the [[purser]]: responsible for supplies, [[food]] and pay for the crew.
In the early 19th century, they were joined in the wardroom by naval [[chaplain]]s, who also had warrant officer status (though they were only usually present on larger vessels).

====Standing warrant officers====
The standing officers were:<ref name=rnranks/>
*the [[boatswain]]: responsible for maintenance of the ship's boats, sails, rigging, anchors and cables;
*the [[ship's carpenter|carpenter]]: responsible for maintenance of the ship's hull and masts;
*the [[Gunner (artillery)|gunner]]: responsible for care and maintenance of the ship's guns and [[gunpowder]].

====Junior warrant officers====
Other warrant officers included surgeon's mates, boatswain's mates and carpenter's mates, sailmakers, armourers, schoolmasters (involved in the education of boys, midshipmen and others aboard ship) and clerks. [[Master-at-arms|Masters-at-arms]], who had formerly overseen small-arms provision on board, had by this time taken on responsibility for discipline.

====Warrant officers in context====
By the end of the century, the rank structure could be illustrated as follows (the warrant officers are underlined):
[[File:Warrantchart.png|frame|left|Relative ranks in the Royal Navy, {{Circa|1810}}. Warrant officers are underlined in the chart.<ref name="Lavery136">{{Cite book |last=Lavery |first=Brian |title=Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organization |year=1989 |location=Annapolis, MD |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=0-87021-258-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/nelsonsnavyships00lave/page/136 136] |url=https://archive.org/details/nelsonsnavyships00lave/page/136 }}</ref>]]
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===Demise of the royal naval warrants===
In 1843, the [[wardroom]] warrant officers were given commissioned status, while in 1853 the lower-grade warrant officers were absorbed into the new rate of [[chief petty officer]], both classes thereby ceasing to be warrant officers. On 9 July 1864 the standing warrant officers were divided into two grades: warrant officers and chief warrant officers (or "commissioned warrant officers", a phrase that was replaced in 1920 with "commissioned officers promoted from warrant rank", although they were still usually referred to as "commissioned warrant officers", even in official documents).

By the time of the [[First World War]], their ranks had been expanded with the adoption of modern technology in the Royal Navy to include [[telegraphist]]s, [[electrician]]s, [[shipwright]]s, [[engine room artificer|artificer]] [[Engineer officer (Royal Navy)|engineer]]s, etc. Both warrant officers and commissioned warrant officers messed in the warrant officers' mess rather than the wardroom (although in ships too small to have a warrant officers' mess, they did mess in the wardroom). Warrant officers and commissioned warrant officers also carried swords, were saluted by [[Naval rating|ratings]], and ranked between [[sub-lieutenant]]s and [[midshipman|midshipmen]].<ref name="WarrantHistory"/>

In 1949, the ranks of warrant officer and commissioned warrant officer were changed to "commissioned officer" and "senior commissioned officer", the latter ranking with but after the rank of lieutenant, and they were admitted to the wardroom, the warrant officers' messes closing down. Collectively, these officers were known as "branch officers", being retitled "special duties" officers in 1956. In 1998, the special duties list was merged with the general list of officers in the Royal Navy, all officers now having the same opportunity to reach the highest commissioned ranks.<ref name="WarrantHistory"/>