Warrant officer (United Kingdom)


A warrant officer in the British Armed Forces is a member of the highest-ranking group of non-commissioned ranks, holding the King's Warrant, which is signed by the Secretary of State for Defence.
Warrant officers are not saluted, because they do not hold the King's Commission, but are addressed as "Sir" or "Ma'am" by subordinates. Commissioned officers may address warrant officers either by their appointment or as "Mister", "Mrs" or "Ms" along with their last name. Although often referred to along with non-commissioned officers, they are not NCOs, but members of a separate group, although all have been promoted from NCO rank.
In November 2018, the most senior warrant officer and most senior other ranks position was created, titled Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chiefs of Staff Committee. A warrant officer in this position is the most senior warrant officer in the British Armed Forces.

Royal Navy

Use of the term "warrant officer" dates from the beginnings of the Royal Navy, a time when ships were commanded by noblemen who depended on others with specialist skills to oversee the practicalities of life on board. Specialists such as a ship's carpenter, boatswain and gunner were vital to the safety of all on board, and were accordingly ranked as officers – though by warrant rather than by commission. These and other specialists retained their distinctive rank and status until 1949, when the rank of warrant officer was abolished.
In 1971, warrant officers reappeared in the Royal Navy, but these appointments followed the Army model, with the new warrant officers being classified as ratings rather than officers, superior to the rate of chief petty officer. They were ranked as equivalents to warrant officer class I in the British Army and Royal Marines and with warrant officers in the Royal Air Force. The rate was initially titled as fleet chief petty officer, becoming warrant officer in 1985.
In April 2004, the Royal Navy created the rate of warrant officer 2, superior to the CPO and subordinate to existing warrant officers who were retitled as warrant officer 1. The WO2 replaced the non-substantive appointment of charge chief petty officer in the technical branches. Prior to this change, a CCPO was classified as a NATO OR-8, equivalent to WO2. Royal Navy warrant officers wear the same insignia as their counterparts in the Royal Marines.
In 2005, the Royal Navy introduced the appointment of executive warrant officer in all ships and shore establishments. The EWO is the senior warrant officer within the unit, and a member of the senior command team. The appointment is intended to be filled by an experienced WO1. Above these were five command warrant officers: CWO Surface Ships, CWO Submarines, CWO Royal Marines, CWO Fleet Air Arm and CWO Maritime Reserves. Under the Navy Command Transformation Programme, there are now a Fleet Commander's Warrant Officer and a Second Sea Lord's Warrant Officer, all working with the Warrant Officer of the Naval Service, taking over the roles of the command warrant officers.
The most senior warrant officer is the Warrant Officer to the Royal Navy. This post replaced the command warrant officer working under the Second Sea Lord in 2010.
The WO2 rate began to be phased out in April 2014, with no new appointments and existing holders retaining the rate of WO2 until they were either promoted or had left the Royal Navy, except for those in Full Time Reserve Service roles, who were the only ratings to retain this rate. The WO2 rate was reinstated in 2021 for all branches.

Royal Marines

Before 1879, the Royal Marines had no warrant officers, but by the end of 1881, warrant rank was held by sergeant-majors and some other senior NCOs, in a similar fashion to the Army. Warrant officers were given equivalent status to those in the Royal Navy from 1910, with the Royal Marines gunner equivalent to the Navy's warrant rank of gunner.
Shortly after the Army introduced the ranks of warrant officer classes I and II in 1915, the Royal Marines did the same. From February 1920, Royal Marines warrant officers class I were once more retitled warrant officers and given the same status as Royal Navy warrant officers and the rank of warrant officer class II was abolished in the Royal Marines, with no further promotions to the rank, although men who already held it retained it.
As in the Royal Navy, by the Second World War there were warrant officers and commissioned warrant officers. As officers, they were saluted by junior ranks. These all became branch officer ranks in 1949, and special duties officer ranks in 1956.
In 1973 the Royal Marines reintroduced the same warrant ranks as the Army, warrant officer class 1 and warrant officer class 2, replacing the ranks of quartermaster sergeant and regimental sergeant major. The insignia are the same, but all Royal Marines WO2s wear the crown-in-wreath variation. As in the Army, many warrant officers have appointments by which they are known, referred to and addressed.
WO1 appointments are:
WO2 appointments are:
The most senior Royal Marines WO1 is the Corps Regimental Sergeant Major. Directly junior to him is the Command Warrant Officer.
The rank below WO2 is colour sergeant, the Royal Marines equivalent of staff sergeant. The Royal Marines rank of warrant officer class 2 was unaffected by the 2014 phaseout of the rank in the Royal Navy.

British Army

In the British Army, there are two warrant ranks, warrant officer class 2 and warrant officer class 1, the latter being the senior of the two. It used to be more common to refer to these ranks as WOII and WOI. Warrant officer 1st class or 2nd class is incorrect. The rank immediately below WO2 is staff sergeant, colour sergeant or staff corporal depending on regiment/corps. Until 1915, there was only a single rank of warrant officer. In 1915, the rank of warrant officer class II was introduced and former warrant officers were regraded as warrant officers class I.
WO1s wear a royal coat of arms on the lower sleeve, except for the regimental sergeant majors of Foot Guards Regiments who wear a larger version of the same coat of arms on the upper sleeve. The insignia of those holding the most senior WO1 appointment of Conductor is the coat of arms surrounded by a wreath.
WO2s are identified by a crown on the lower sleeve, surrounded by a wreath for quartermaster sergeants and all WO2s in the Royal Army Medical Corps and formerly in the 9th/12th Royal Lancers. The wreath was used for all WOIIs from 1938 to 1947.
From 1938, there was also a rank of warrant officer class III. The only appointments held by this rank were platoon sergeant major, troop sergeant major and section sergeant major. The WOIII wore a crown on his lower sleeve. The rank was placed in suspension in 1940 and no new appointments were made, but it was never officially abolished.
Historically, the four most senior warrant officer appointments in the British Army according to King's Regulations were, in descending order of seniority:
In 2015, the new appointment of Army Sergeant Major was introduced. The holder of this appointment is now the most senior warrant officer in the British Army.

WO1

Until 1993, the border on a WO1 insignia represented the following:

Appointments

Most warrant officers have an appointment, and they are usually referred to by their appointment rather than by their rank.

Appointments held by WO1s