On 4/28/2022 1:01 AM, Jim Vassilakos - jim.vassilakos at gmail.com (via
tml list) wrote:
> A few questions came up regarding chaplains in the Imperial Navy
> stemming from a brief line in "Element Cruisers", page 51: "Chaplains
> in the navy are secular, although individuals can belong to any faith
> so long as it does not interfere with their duties." Also, there's a
> chart that shows the ship's chaplain as being a sublieutenant.
>
> In the modern U.S. Navy, chaplains tend to hold a higher rank, but it
> appears to be purely honorary. Actually, different militaries treat
> chaplains quite differently.

A Navy Chaplain's rank is not honorary, they are a commissioned officer,
specifically they are a staff officer that is not an unrestricted line
officer (i.e. one that can hold a combat command).  They have to go
through generally the same commissioning process as any other officer.

As for the comment in Element Cruisers, after reading the specific
paragraph in question, I think it was either the author is clueless on
how navy ships work, or they were trying very hard to appeal to everyone
and failed.  What I *think* they meant by "secular" is that the Chaplain
doesn't evangelize a specific faith, even their own, but rather
ministers to all faiths equally.

>
> So I have a couple of different questions for the list. First, does
> anyone know of any other references to chaplains in the Traveller
> literature.

Nothing where they might be considered the "good guys", often they were
presented as stereotypes of the religious zealot (Divine
Intervention/Night of Conquest among others).

> All I could find was this one in the book on Element-class cruisers.
> Second, what's this bit about Chaplain's being secular? If they're
> secular, doesn't that make them counselors rather than chaplains?

As I stated above, I think it's extremely poor wordsmithing on the part
of the author or they're just trying to be all things to everyone as
other parallels come to mind.  It would make for difficult living
conditions if the chaplain evangelized his personal faith above all
others on a ship where among the crew there were a dozen different
religions/sects.

> Third, would the Imperial Navy have a single standard regarding rank
> and insignia, or might it be the case that different fleets handle
> these matters differently?

Yes.  IIRC, this was covered back in the 80s in an issue of Travellers
Digest or MT Journal, though your views on the validity may vary.  I
can't see any sort of organization like the Imperial Navy/Army/Marines
having different rules for different areas.

--
Kurt Feltenberger
xxxxxx@thepaw.org/xxxxxx@yahoo.com
“Before today, I was scared to live, after today, I'm scared I'm not living enough." - Me

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