EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
A naval chaplain is commissioned as such, and is not an officer. Regulation 3 ensures that for the purposes of the Armed Forces Act 2006 he is treated as if he were an officer, except that (like a chaplain in one of the other Services) he may not sit as a member of the Court Martial or the Summary Appeal Court.
Although subject to service law, a naval chaplain has no rank, and is therefore outranked by no-one. Regulation 4 provides that the officers there specified are to be regarded as a naval chaplain’s superior officers for the purpose of certain service offences, and for that of an officer’s powers of arrest for a service offence.
Conversely, a naval chaplain outranks no-one. Since he is subject to service law, it follows that any officer (however junior) can give him a command. Regulation 5 enables him to disobey a command, without committing an offence of disobedience, unless the command is given by an officer of a specified rank or description.
Regulation 6 enables a charge brought against a naval chaplain to be heard summarily, unless he is a principal chaplain or the Chaplain of the Fleet.