Boat Officer
During heavy weather, and other times as deemed necessary, an officer (sometimes a chief petty officer) is assigned to each duty boat.
A boat officer naturally has authority over the coxswain. The boat officer does not assume the coxswain's responsibilities, or relieve the coxswain of his duties, but is there to oversee the boat operations to ensure that safety is maintained at all times. The situation is somewhat like the relationship between the OOD and the commanding officer on the bridge. The coxswain and boat officer are responsible for the boat and for the safety and welfare of the crew and passengers.
Read more about this topic: Navy Boat Crew
Famous quotes containing the words boat and/or officer:
“The utmost familiarity with dead streams, or with the ocean, would not prepare a man for this peculiar navigation; and the most skillful boatman anywhere else would here be obliged to take out his boat and carry round a hundred times, still with great risk, as well as delay, where the practiced batteau-man poles up with comparative ease and safety.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“No officer should be required or permitted to take part in the management of political organizations, caucuses, conventions, or election campaigns. Their right to vote and to express their views on public questions, either orally or through the press, is not denied, provided it does not interfere with the discharge of their official duties. No assessment for political purposes on officers or subordinates should be allowed.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)