The challenge.
The Royal Navy’s Officers have excellent knowledge of the Collision Regulations because they are required to learn them off by heart in their entirety, and are regularly tested on their knowledge. However, this method does not prioritise the ability to apply multiple Rules at the same time in more complex situations, and to be able to understand the relationships between them.
Merchant Naval Officers, in contrast, probably don’t know the Rules in as much detail as their Royal Naval counterparts and they are certainly not tested on them much, if at all. However, Officers in the Merchant Navy are taught in a much more thematic fashion, with the Rules being built around realistic traffic situations, and that means that their ability to apply the Rules can be better.
The Royal Navy’s training team wanted, naturally, to have the best of both worlds and to ensure that their Officers are trained to the highest possible standard. They therefore reached out to us and asked us to develop a Collision Regulations training package for them.
The solution.
First things first, we needed to understand where the Royal Navy was coming from, so we conducted a series of meetings to identify their requirements and conducted a simple gap analysis to identify areas of potential improvement.
Building on our extensive experience with training both individuals and corporate clients on the Collision Regulations, we developed a comprehensive training plan and optimised it for the limited time-frame that we had been allowed within the Client’s busy training schedule in order to gain maximum value. As per the Client’s requirements, we focused on developing a deeper understanding of the Rules and how they interact, in both single- and multi-vessel situations.
With that in place, we ran a pilot session with a selection of Junior Officers, after which we solicited and implemented feedback. This entirely bespoke course is now being delivered throughout the year, for each Initial Warfare Officer Course that attends HMS Collingwood.