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Date	Original Topic
7th February 2002	Seniority? By James Krentz I'm a little confused. Bromhead, a line officer, was commissioned in April of 1867 and Chard, a non-line officer, was commissioned in July of 1868. Therefore,how could Major Spalding determine that Chard was the senior officer? Am I missing something here? I spent six years in the U.S. Navy and am quite familiar with how seniority works. Thank you. James Krentz
Date	Replies
7th February 2002	Alan Critchley James, Bromhead was only an ensign for the first period of sevice. He was therefore not a Lieutenant longer than Chard. Besides which it was the perogative of the commander to decide who should be left in charge. Alan
7th February 2002	Gary Laliberty James, Hope to clear this up.Here goes...Bromhead had purchased an ensign's commission in April of 1867,but he had not been promoted to lieutenant until October of 1871; as a Royal Engineer, Chard had not been subject to purchase and had been commissioned directly as a lieutenant in April of 1868. So, although Chard had been in the Army a year less than Bromhead,he was actually three and a half years his senior in substantive rank. Well, I hope that has help. Gary
11th February 2002	Mike McCabe Maj Spalding found it all quite simple, not being in the US Navy himself!