If you're an aspiring Royal Navy officer in 1900, you're certainly going to be young. Your journey into the Navy would start aged 13-14, when you entered the training hulk Britannia in Dartmouth as an officer cadet. It was not unusual for students to start their naval journey before this. Entry to Britannia was by competitive examination and interview, so many students went to cram schools to prepare. Admiral Andrew Cunningham started prepping for the Britannia entry exams aged 10. While anyone could apply to sit the examinations, the competitive nature of the examinations and the limited entry (~65 cadets twice a year) excluded a lot of potential cadets. Working class boys typically lacked the education to compete well in the examinations, especially as they could not afford to attend the specialist naval schools. The interview process was often biased against those who appeared to be working class - even as late as 1939, an interview board rejected a prospective cadet with a 'slightly cockney accent'. A final barrier to working class cadets were the fees that were charged for the education - £75 per year in 1905. Instead, the cadets largely came from middle- and upper-class backgrounds. Cunningham's father was a professor of anatomy at Trinity Dublin (and later Edinburgh), while the fathers of Admirals Forbes and Somerville were barristers. Military connections were not unknown - Bruce Fraser was the son of a general, John Tovey a colonel. Bertram Ramsay was from both a military family (his father was a brigadier-general) and a scion of landed gentry; his family had held a Baronetcy since the 1600s

Education at Britannia took 15 months, with a fairly broad focus. It was a mix of traditional school subjects - science, maths, French, geography - with more nautical ones, such as naval history, seamanship and navigation. The training establishment had its own dedicated ship, the sloop Racer, for seamanship training. Cadets learned to steam, sail and steer her as part of their education. Beyond this experience, it was much the same education as one might see in a more traditional British public school. Once you had passed out of Britannia, you would join the fleet as a midshipman, the lowest actual officer rank.

As a midshipman, you had some choice of where in the world you went, with an ability to apply for appointments on particular station. For someone who had joined as a cadet in January 1900, the Cape station might be enticing, with its chance to take part in the last year of the 2nd Boer War. Cunningham had been sent here in 1898, spending his time as a midshipman on the cruisers Fox and Doris. During the Boer War, he spent some time ashore with a naval brigade. Other stations, like the China or Pacific stations, offered the chance for new experiences and sightseeing. The Mediterranean and Home stations, though, were the most common stations. These housed the majority of Britain's battlefleet, so had the most berths for midshipmen. They were also fairly prestigious; they had the most chances for social engagements, being stationed so close to home.

A midshipman would spend up to two years at sea, learning from those around him. This would be your first real experience of command. Midshipmen were typically tasked with minor commands - a ship's boat, a gun's crew, and the like. You would receive more practical training too, getting experience with navigation, ship-handling and watch-keeping. At the end of your sea time, you would have a further examination and interview for the position of lieutenant. Here, your contacts might help. Those with a naval background or contacts might have an easier time in the interview, or be able to sit the examination earlier. Cunningham, though, had an army contact in the form of Field Marshal Roberts, a family friend; while this had helped his career in South Africa, it resulted in him being denied early promotion.

Once you'd passed the lieutenant's examination, you would become an acting sub-lieutenant. You then took a number of three-month courses. There was a gunnery course at HMS Excellent, a torpedo course at HMS Vernon, and a course at the School of Navigation in Portsmouth. There was also a course at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich for general education, and a 'divisional course', which taught the essentials of leadership and man-management. These courses were some of the most important parts of a young officer's career. Each course had its own graded examination; passing all five with a first-class pass was seen as a significant distinction. Even a single first-class pass might well bring early promotion. If you wanted to specialise, you'd need a first-class pass in that topic. After passing these courses, you would become a full sub-lieutenant and receive your commission as an officer. You'd spend a short time as a sub-lieutenant - Cunningham went from being confirmed as a sub-lieutenant to promotion to lieutenant in a year - most of which time was spent looking after midshipment, but would also include time spent learning to handle your duties aboard ship. Those wishing not to take one of the available specialisations would spend six months learning to stand watch and command a ship. Those who wished to specialise would take year-long courses at the various schools; in the early 1900s, these were gunnery, navigation , torpedoes (which included mines and electrical systems) and signalling, with submarines and aviation as less common choices.

Your experience as a lieutenant would depend on which branch you went into. For the sake of simplicity, I will assume that you followed Cunningham and did not specialise. There was a wide range of positions available to a new lieutenant. You might, as Cunningham did, spend time in a large ship, standing watches, looking after a division of seamen on the ship, and training new midshipmen and sub-lieutenants. You might end up as a junior lieutenant in a destroyer, acting as the ship's executive officer. If you didn't impress, though, you might just end up in a dead-end shore position. As you gained experience and authority, you might have a chance to gain your own command if you were willing to go into smaller ships. After four years as a lieutenant, Cunningham was appointed to command the torpedo boat TB14 in May 1908. Other officers stayed in larger ships, which might bring quicker promotion as it was easier to demonstrate your skills, enthusiasm and experience to your seniors.

The next major event in your life would be WWI. While this would, of course, bring its own risks, it also brought opportunities. There was the ever-present chance to gain recognition in the wider Navy through your actions and gallantry, but there was also the possiblity that you might lose your life to a German shell, mine or torpedo. Cunningham received a Distinguished Service Order and a promotion to Commander following his distinguished actions at Gallipoli, for example. Following the war, though, there was a series of major cuts to naval spending in the so-called 'Geddes Axe'. This led to a considerable number of officers being made redundant or forcibly retired in the early 1920s; a 1919 report called for the redundancies of 95 captains, 189 commanders and 283 lieutenants and lieutenant commanders. Officers below the age of 36 would receive a gratuity based on rank and long service, those over received a pension. The officers to be retired were selected by an Admiralty sub-committee, based on a combination of their past records and reports from their senior officers. The committee might also have taken a number of other factors into account; officers who had income outside of their naval pay may have been selected preferentially for redundancy. Those with significant political or service connections might also have been kept in service. There were persistent rumours that Lieutenant Louis Mountbatten, related to the Royal Family, was only kept in due to Royal pressure, but the committee firmly denied it. Even if you were kept in service after this round of redundancies, you might leave the RN by your own choice. Officer's pay saw significant cuts over the 1920s - 5.5% in 1924, 6% in 1927, 7% in 1929 and 8% in 1931. Promotions slowed as well. The work they were doing was much the same as they had been in the pre-war period, though; training, developing new tactics, showing the flag and performing colonial policing. Many officers chose to leave the navy, and morale more generally was poor. Cunningham became protege of Admiral Walter Cowan following his war experiences, which helped to ensure that he stayed on track in the navy. Of the 56 other cadets from his term at Britannia who served in WWI, twelve were retired in 1922, and another 35 never reached a higher rank than commander. He spent his time in a mix of sea appointments and courses ashore.

The 1930s saw major reforms that increased officer morale. Pay cuts were reversed, but only slowly - the first pay rise came in 1935. Promotions were reformed, making it easier for skilled officers to gain promotion. There were also improvements to training, especially for officers later in their careers. From 1930, ship captains had to attend the Tactical School, to learn how to operate their ships in action. There was also increased attention paid to training them in how to look and train their crews. By this point, an officer who joined in 1900 would have either seen his career stall at a lower rank, or would be a captain, seeking promotion to flag rank. Cunningham was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1934; Harwood, who joined the navy in 1904, was promoted to Commodore in 1936. This brings us through to 1939 and the start of WWII. Many retired officers would be called back up, to serve in training, administrative or combat positions, depending on age, skill or experience. Those who had served through the interwar period were leading the fleet as admirals.