Talk:daggerman

Royal Navy slang

Officers who took specialist qualifications would have their name marked with the dagger symbol in certain lists, followed by a letter or letters, e.g. †G = gunnery, †T = torpedo, †N = navigation. Some slang dictionaries say that such an officer was called a "dagger" (or a "dagger N" etc.), which seems hard to attest. I did spot this use of dagger-man:

• 1918, Edward Noble, The Naval Side (page 45)

  It is at this stage, under the scheme, that the executive officer breaks away from the rest. He becomes a specialist, perhaps a dagger-man, reaches commander's rank as a specialist, and from thence passes by seniority to captain and finally to admiral.

Equinox ◑ 14:29, 9 February 2020 (UTC)