Equity or a Sailor's Prayer before Battle, from the Battle of Trafalgar. A 19th-century caricature portraying ratings on a Royal Navy ship. The man with a sword is a commissionedofficer, as is the man on the ladder with the telescope. All others are ratings.The Royal Navy during the Second World War. Six naval rating recruits of the training ship HMS Impregnable, Devonport, scramble up the rigging during a daily training exercise.Royal Navy Certificate of Service (Form S.459), given to all ratings on discharge.
In a militarynavy, a rate or rating, and sometimes known as a bluejacket in the United States, is a junior enlisted sailor who is below the military rank of warrant officer. They are not a commissionedofficer. Depending on the country and navy that uses it, the exact term and the range of ranks that it refers to may vary.
