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Description

A unique approach to describing life at sea in the Royal Navy.

Despite the introduction of modern-day technology, Ships and Submarines of the Royal Navy still operate on the basis of main broadcast announcements, known in the Royal Navy as Pipes. Before the introduction of main broadcasts, a Crew (or Ship's Company) would be alerted to forthcoming ship's activity either using a Bosun's Call (which is a small pipe or whistle) or a Bugle. Whilst those methods are still in place, and still used, a Pipe is now the term for any verbal announcement made over a ship's main broadcast in the Royal Navy.

This book aims to translate their meanings, not simply to make the seemingly incomprehensible understandable, but also to conjure up often humorous anecdotes that provide an insight into life at sea in the RN. Each Pipe is provided with a brief description of its meaning followed by longer observation of what it meant to different members of the Ship's Company.

Accessibility Information

Additional accessibility information

  • EPUB 3.0
  • Conforms with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Spec v1.1
  • WCAG level AA
  • WCAG v2.2 compliant
  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

Hazards

The publication contains no hazards

Support for non-visual reading

  • No accessibility features offered by the reading system, device or reading software are disabled or otherwise unusable with the product
  • Has alternative text descriptions for images

Visual adjustments

Appearance of the text and page layout can be modified according to the capabilities of the reading system (font family and size, spaces, as well as color of background and text)

Navigation

  • Page list to go to pages from the print source version
  • Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
  • All or substantially all textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order
  • Content is enhanced with ARIA roles to optimize organization and facilitate navigation
  • Purposes of all links are made clear

Rich content

Language tagging provided

Table of Contents

(Subject to confirmation)
Foreword
Preface – scene setter
Alongside – individual pipes associated with basic life alongside in baseport
At sea – individual pipes associated with life at sea and deployed (including training for war)
Abbreviations and translations
Index

Product details

Published May 07 2026
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Pages 144
ISBN 9781472876195
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Series General Military
Short code GNM
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Richard Harris

Richard Harris served for 31 years in the Royal Na…

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