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Personnel => Royal Navy => Topic started by: MickH on 22 December 2022 02:12:14 pm

Title: Help with Service Number / Rating
Post by: MickH on 22 December 2022 02:12:14 pm
I'm new to this forum so apologies if this is not the place for this question.
Can anybody help me on deciphering a Service No / Rating that appears on a medal recently purchased?
SERVICE NO.: D/MX 58616 - does anyone have an idea when this man would have joined?
RATING: Is shown on medal as ST.AST(S)?
Thank you
Title: Re: Help with Service Number / Rating
Post by: PhiloNauticus on 23 December 2022 09:17:51 am

D  = Devonport – this would have been his homeport/base
M  = Miscellaneous branch – i.e. he was not a Seaman/Stoker/Cook
X  =  On the post-1934 pay scale  (there had been different pay scales dependant on when you joined)
58616 – his official service number – you cannot tell exactly when, but I would suggest that it was probably in the mid-late 1930s.

ST  AST(S) - ?? can’t say I recognise that: perhaps Assistant Steward?
Title: Re: Help with Service Number / Rating
Post by: MickH on 24 December 2022 11:35:26 am
Thank you for the info.
However, after another internet search, it appears that a Steward would have the numbering L and not M?
Seamen and Communicators (J); Stokers (K); Officers Cooks and Stewards (L) and All Others (M)
Title: Re: Help with Service Number / Rating
Post by: PhiloNauticus on 27 December 2022 11:47:40 am

Yes, you are correct, L would have been used if he was a Steward - I hadn't connected that up !
The rate remains a mystery ....