THE Royal Navy’s world of Communications and Information Systems is on the move – from the Warfare Branch to Weapon Engineering.

Sailors from HMS Trenchant and Somerset became the first to receive the new badges marking the merger of CIS with WE and CISSM (Submarines) with WESM (Submarines).

The change is one of several in weapon engineering introduced as part of the Faraday programme which aims to make the engineering branch better.

The close ties between the WE and CIS branches – with engineers and the warfare world working ‘hand in glove’ for a number of years – plus the increasing skills of the CIS branch in network operation, administration and maintenance, meant boundaries between the two branches have become blurred.

And so, as of April 1, the formal transfer of all warfare CIS and CISSM personnel into the Weapon Engineering Branch will begin.

All new joiners will receive the new badge which will eventually be worn by all members of the CIS stream of the Weapon Engineering Branch.

ET(WESM)(CIS) Peter Miles, from Plymouth based HMS Trenchant, was one of the first to get the new badge. Receiving it from Commodore Devonport Flotilla, Commodore Richard Farrington CBE, he said: “Despite my limited experience within the Royal Navy, I understand that the Communications Branch is becoming increasingly technical, meaning that the integration with the Weapon Engineering Department is a positive step for the RN and support to future operations.

“This is an aspect of the job I look forward to learning more about and becoming increasingly involved in moving forward”

New career courses are being developed at HMS Collingwood and the RN Submarine School at Raleigh which will provide CIS engineering technicians with the knowledge and skills to perform all of the functions provided by today’s communications engineers and CIS specialists.

In the future they will be responsible for the operation, maintenance, diagnosis and repair of command, communication, information and network systems.