Editing Warrant officer (section)

===United Kingdom===
{{Main|Warrant officer (United Kingdom)}}
[[File:RSM of the Bermuda Regiment 1992.jpg| thumb|The [[Regimental Sergeant Major]] of the [[Royal Bermuda Regiment]], WO1 Herman Eve, in 1992]]
====Royal Navy====
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In 1973, warrant officers reappeared in the [[Royal Navy]], but these appointments followed the army model, with the new warrant officers being ratings rather than officers. They were initially known as [[fleet chief petty officer]]s (FCPOs), but were renamed warrant officers in the 1980s. They rank with warrant officers class one in the [[British Army]] and [[Royal Marines]] and with warrant officers in the [[Royal Air Force]].<ref name="WarrantHistory"/>

There are executive warrant officers for commands and ships.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Executive Warrant Officer |url=http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/News-and-Events/Reference-Library/~/media/Files/Navy-PDFs/News-and-Events/Naval+Publications/BR+2/brd2book/ch23.pdf |publisher=[[Royal Navy]] |date=4 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004235001/http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/News-and-Events/Reference-Library/~/media/Files/Navy-PDFs/News-and-Events/Naval%20Publications/BR%202/brd2book/ch23.pdf |archive-date=4 October 2013 }}</ref> Five branches (surface ships, submarines, Royal Marines, [[Fleet Air Arm]], and [[Maritime Reserve (United Kingdom)|Maritime Reserves]]) each have a command warrant officer.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Command Warrant Officer (Cwo) |url=http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/News-and-Events/Reference-Library/~/media/Files/Navy-PDFs/News-and-Events/Naval+Publications/BR+2/brd2book/ch20.pdf |publisher=[[Royal Navy]] |date=4 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004221428/http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/News-and-Events/Reference-Library/~/media/Files/Navy-PDFs/News-and-Events/Naval%20Publications/BR%202/brd2book/ch20.pdf |archive-date=4 October 2013}}</ref> The senior RN WO is the [[Warrant Officer of the Royal Navy]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Warrant Officer in a class of his own |url=http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/News-and-Events/Latest-News/2013/April/24/130424-Warrant-Officer-First-Class-in-a-class-of-his-own |date=24 April 2013 |publisher=[[Royal Navy]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=New Base Warrant Officer at Culdrose |url=http://www.fleetairarmoa.org/news/new-base-warrant-officer-at-culdrose |publisher=Fleet Air Arm Officers Association |date=2 October 2013}}</ref> Under the Navy Command Transformation Programme, there are now a [[Fleet Commander]]'s Warrant Officer and a [[Second Sea Lord]]'s Warrant Officer, all working with the [[Warrant Officer to the Royal Navy]], taking over the roles of the Command Warrant Officers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://docplayer.net/185112612-The-semaphore-circular.html |title=The Semaphore Circular May 2020 |date=1 May 2020 |publisher=[[Royal Naval Association]] |access-date=18 July 2020 |quote=Our source was the Fleet Commander's Warrant Officer, a newly created post and itself part of the Navy Command Transformation programme. WO Mick Turnbull works alongside the Warrant Officer of the Naval Service as well as First and Second Sea Lords WOs. This is a change from the former situation where each fighting arm (Surface Ships, Submarines, Royal Marines, Reserves and Fleet Air Arm) had its own WO. It is one part of a shift to a whole naval force focus }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/royal-navy-responsive/images/navynews/archivepdfs/2020s/2020/navy-news-march-2020-issue-788.pdf |title=Navy News March 2020 |date=1 March 2020 |publisher=[[Royal Navy]] |access-date=18 July 2020 |quote=Helping to deliver transformation is the new Warrant Officer of the Naval Service, WO1 Carl 'Speedy' Steedman. He will be working with the holders of two brand new positions; Second Sea Lord's Warrant Officer, WO1 Ian Wilson and Fleet Commander's Warrant Officer, WO1 Mick Turnbull, together with the RM Corps RSM, WO1 Dave Mason.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/command_warrant_officers#incoming-1623567 |title=Command Warrant Officers |date=18 August 2020 |publisher=Navy Command Secretariat |via=[[WhatDoTheyKnow]] |access-date=22 August 2020 }}</ref>

In 2004, the rank of warrant officer class 2 was introduced. However, the rank was phased out in April 2014,<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Single rate for warrant officers |url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/royal-navy-responsive/images/navynews/archivepdfs/2010s/2014/navy-news-january-2014-issue-714.pdf |magazine=201401 Navy News Jan 14 |page=35 |access-date=29 February 2020 |publisher=[[Royal Navy]] }}</ref> but is being reinstated for non-technical and technical branches of the Royal Navy in 2021.<ref>{{Cite tweet |user=WO1MickTurnbull |number=1356635634094473219 |title=Good afternoon the WO2 rank was kept in Service for the Royal Marines and Submariner engineers. However as part of Royal Navy Transformation the WO2 Rank has now been introduced across the Service. The first recipients were notified on 18 Jan 21 and others have now been selected.}}</ref>

====British Army====
[[File:Army-GBR-OR-09a.svg|thumb|left|100px|Arm badge of a [[Conductor (Army)|WO1 conductor RLC]] (British Army)]]
In the [[British Army]], there are two warrant ranks, warrant officer class two (WO2) and warrant officer class one (WO1), the latter being the senior of the two. These ranks were previously abbreviated as WOII and WOI (using Roman instead of Indo-Arabic numerals). "Warrant officer first class" or "second class" is incorrect. The rank immediately below WO2 is [[staff sergeant]] (or [[colour sergeant]]).<ref name="WarrantHistory"/> From 1938 to 1940 there was a WOIII [[platoon Sergeant Major|platoon sergeant major]] rank.<ref>{{cite book |page=272 |last=Banham |first=Tony |title=The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru: Britain's Forgotten Wartime Tragedy |publisher=[[Hong Kong University Press]] |date=2006 |isbn=978-962-209-771-1 }}</ref>

In March 2015, the new appointment of [[Army Sergeant Major]] was created, though the holder is not in fact a warrant officer but a commissioned officer holding the rank of captain.<ref>{{cite news |title=Army |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/61742/supplement/3/data.pdf |access-date=26 May 2023 |work=[[The London Gazette]] |issue=22585 |date=25 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Royal Army Medical Corps |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/60765/supplement/1689/data.pdf |access-date=26 May 2023 |work=[[The London Gazette]] |date=28 January 2014}}</ref> The creation of the appointment of [[command sergeant major]] was announced in 2009.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Bruce |title=CGS outlines new British Army senior posts amid culling of generals |work=[[Jane's Defence Weekly]] |date=1 February 2015 |url=http://www.janes.com/article/48536/cgs-outlines-new-british-army-senior-posts-amid-culling-of-generals }}</ref>

====Royal Marines====
Before 1879, the [[Royal Marines]] had no warrant officers:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1879/jul/29/navy-the-royal-marines-ser-geants |title= Navy — The Royal Marines — Sergeants. — Question. |website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |date=29 July 1879 |access-date=1 August 2017 }}</ref> by the end of 1881, the Royal Marines had given warrant rank to their sergeant-majors and some other senior non-commissioned officers, in a similar fashion to the army.<ref>{{London Gazette |title=Warrant Officers |issue=25044 |date=2 December 1881 |page=6466 }}</ref> When the army introduced the ranks of warrant officer class I and class II in 1915, the Royal Marines did the same shortly after.<ref>{{London Gazette |title=Whereas there was this day read at the Board a Memorial from the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty... |issue=29364 |date=12 November 1915 |page=11174 }}</ref> From February 1920, Royal Marines warrant officers class I (renamed warrant officers) were given the same status as Royal Navy warrant officers and the rank of warrant officer class II was abolished in the Royal Marines, with no further promotions to this rank.<ref name="LGRM">{{London Gazette |title=Whereas there was this day read at the Board a Memorial from the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty... Schedule V, Section X: Miscellaneous Provisions |issue=31765 |date=3 February 1920 |page=1414 }} Retrieved 26 May 2023/</ref>

The marines had introduced warrant officers equivalent in status to the Royal Navy's from 1910 with the Royal Marines gunner (originally titled gunnery sergeant-major), equivalent to the navy's warrant rank of gunner.<ref>{{London Gazette |title=Whereas there was this day read at the Board a Memorial from the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty... |issue=28437 |date=15 November 1910 |page=8163 }}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |title=Whereas there was this day read at the Board a Memorial from the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty... |issue=30131 |date=15 June 1917 |page=5870 }}</ref> Development of these ranks closely paralleled that of their naval counterparts: as in the Royal Navy, by the Second World War there were warrant officers and commissioned warrant officers (e.g. [[staff sergeant major]]s, commissioned staff sergeant majors, Royal Marines gunners, commissioned Royal Marines gunners, etc.). As officers, they were saluted by junior ranks in the Royal Marines and the army. These all became (commissioned) branch officer ranks in 1949, and special duties officer ranks in 1956. These ranks would return in 1972, this time similar to their army counterparts, and not as the RN did before. The most senior Royal Marines warrant officer is the [[Corps Regimental Sergeant Major]]. Unlike the RN proper (since 2014), it retains both WO ranks.

====Royal Air Force====
The [[Royal Air Force]] first used the ranks of sergeant major first and second class as inherited from the [[Royal Flying Corps]], with the rank badges of the Royal coat of arms and the crown respectively. In the 1930s, these ranks were renamed warrant officer class I and II as in the Army. In 1939, the RAF abolished the rank of WOII and retained just the WOI rank, referred to as just warrant officer (WO), which it remains to this day. The RAF has no equivalent to WO2 (NATO OR-8), an RAF WO being equivalent to WO1 (NATO OR-9) and wearing the same badge of rank, the Royal coat of arms. The correct way to address a warrant officer is "sir" or "ma'am" by airmen and "mister or warrant officer (surname)" by officers. Most RAF warrant officers do not hold appointments as in the army or Royal Marines; the exception to this is the station warrant officer, who is considered a "[[primus inter pares|first amongst equals]]" on an [[Royal Air Force station|RAF station]]. Warrant officer is the highest non-commissioned rank and ranks above flight sergeant.

In 1946, the RAF renamed its aircrew warrant officers to master aircrew, a designation which still survives. In 1950, it renamed warrant officers in technical trades to master technicians, a designation which survived only until 1964.

The most senior RAF warrant officer by appointment, although holding the same rank as other RAF warrant officers (OR9), is the [[Warrant Officer of the Royal Air Force]], previously known as the Chief of the Air Staff's Warrant Officer from the post's creation in 1996 until 2021.