A 19-year-old from Ramsey has celebrated after he was commissioned as a Royal Navy officer on parade at Britannia Royal Naval College.

Midshipman Jack Vaughan was one of around 145 officer cadets who took part in the parade, watched by their families, friends and distinguished guests, including the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval staff, Admiral Sir George Zambellas, who was the inspecting officer

To earn his place on the parade ground, Jack completed a 30-week training course, which was split into phases. While the course predominately takes place at the naval college in Dartmouth, the training includes a three-week ship acquaint when Jack was assigned to the Type 23 frigate, HMS Iron Duke. Jack said: “For me there have been lots of highlights during my training; for example fire fighting and damage control training during the basic sea survival package, sail training in yachts of the South Coast, the battlefield study package in Normandy, and the physical leadership exercise on Dartmoor.

“However, if I had to pick one experience it would be the maritime leadership exercise on the River Dart. This was the final assessment of the course, where you had command of a small vessel and had to take charge of operations against an enemy force.

“It was a great opportunity to test all of the skills that we’d learnt in the 30-weeks of training and is designed to assess if we were ready to take on the role as a Royal Naval Officer”.

A former pupil of Abbey College Ramsey, Jack took his A-Levels at the Wellbeck Defence Six Form College under the Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme.

With the first phase of his training complete Jack will remain at college to begin his l course to qualify as a warfare officer.