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Royal Naval Engineering College - Badges Through The Years

The THUNDERER name was awarded to the Royal Naval Engineering College in 1947. The college had been founded at Keyham in 1880, but during the second war the move to Manadon had begun, with the building of the hangars and instructional block, and the use of Manadon House as the Officer's Mess with accommodation in Nissen huts stretching down to the tennis courts.

When Keyham had been founded in 1880, a badge was adopted showing the naval crown and foul anchor, surrounded by a garter carrying the original title "Training School for Engineer Students Devonport". This badge was superseded around 1900 by the interlaced RNEC monogram in a ropework border, which remained in use for many years.

With the award of the name HMS THUNDERER to the combined colleges of Keyham and Manadon, the 1919 battleship badge was re-adopted, showing a hand grasping a thunderbolt and six lightning flashes, with the motto "Eripimus Jovi Fulmen" meaning "We snatch the thunder from Jove", a classical reference to the growth of reason replacing superstition, as men began to understand the science that lay behind natural phenomena.

This new badge lasted only until 1953, when an old design based on the original battleship's gun tompions was re-adopted. This showed a wild figure, more like Thor than Jove, swinging a great hammer, and surrounded by lightning flashes. An English motto, "Strike the iron while 'tis hot" was adopted; this seems to have some reference to the process of engineering education.

This new badge was shown in a circular ropework border, because during the 1950's, the pre-war conventions had all broken down, as new ships maintained their predecessor's badges rather than casting new ones. Thus destroyers were using the cruisers' shield-shaped badges, and frigates were adopting the destroyers' pentagons. The 1947 badge was properly placed in the "lozenge" or diamond-shaped frame reserved for auxiliaries, (including aircraft-carriers and submarines, which seemed of small importance when the system was established in 1919). By 1953, however, the prevailing anarchy meant that ships could adopt any shape of badge they had inherited, or use a circular frame, (formerly reserved for battleships) for any new designs that arose. At least THUNDERER had the justification that the establishment's predecessor had been a battleship, though the version used in the Manadon wardroom was totally unofficial in design, even though it was very appropriate in style.

In 1976, a DCI was published requiring all ships and establishments to conform to a new code, as follows:

In most cases the changes were made by placing the old designs into new frames, and re-casting the badges. However, the large figure of Jove and his thunderbolts had to be re-carved to fit into a diamond frame, so this work was not undertaken until 1983, when the Queen was due to make a Royal Visit to award degrees. At the same time, it was agreed that we should revert to the original, 1911 orientation of the figure, which had been unaccountably reversed to show his back in the 1953 version. This latest version was approved by Sir Waiter Verco, of the Royal College of Arms, in time to be carved in Manadon's workshops by Mr Hollett, and cast for display on the Main Gates and over the IB when the Queen visited. A pair of the new-style badges was also presented to British Rail at Laira for display on the Class 50 locomotive named THUNDERER. She was always known as the best timekeeper on the Plymouth expresses before the High Speed Trains took over, and now that she has been preserved, she will remain the last site to carry the official THUNDERER badges, unless a new ship is given the name.

Source:
Lt Cdr Rupert Nichol
Instructor Officer

http://www.rnecmanadon.com/about/thunderer.php

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