Originally Posted by
NutLoose
Should he not be signing his myriad of letters as retired?
It always makes me laugh to see people putting down their ranks they held once upon a time in their correspondence, heck you even get Flight Lieutenants doing it these days...... They need to get over it.
Actually Nutty, whatever one's views of his many assertions, he is quite correct to use the postnominal RN. It is an historical quirk that RN officers NEVER retire - they are placed on the Retired List and are theoretically available for service until the Grim Reaper comes knocking. This is a throwback to Elizabethan times, when "gentlemen officers" retired to their farms until the dastardly Iberians got uppity again.
Officers on the Retired List are also entitled to wear uniform on "suitable occasions". Not sure mine still fits though - I think it shrunk in the cupboard!
mog