CHAPTER 1 RULES AND REGULATIONS

Masters-at-Arms (MAs) afloat and ashore normally are tasked with enforcing the rules and regulations on ships and shore installations. This chapter acquaints you with those rules and regulations you will be required to enforce.

Your responsibilities are not limited to the regulations in this chapter; you must have a good working knowledge of all the rules that you may be required to enforce including regulations at your own command.

You must also remember that in today's Navy changes are taking place rapidly and those changes may affect the existing rules and regulations. It is your responsibility to keep abreast of the times and to respond to necessary changes.

U.S. NAVY REGULATIONS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: State the purpose of Navy Regulations. Explain the rights and responsibilities of Navy personnel according to U.S. Navy Regulations.

The United States (Continental) Navy came into being early in the Revolutionary War, On 13 October 1775 the Continental Congress voted to outfit two swift vessels and formed a legislative committee to oversee naval matters. On the committee was John Adams, a firm believer in having a strong naval force. Foreseeing the need for guidelines in discipline and administration, the committee presented to Congress a set of rules for governing the Navy. These rules were largely the work of Adams who based them on British Navy Regulations with some original articles of his own. Titled "Rules for the Regulation of the Navy of the United Colonies of North America," the 44 articles were approved by Congress in November 1775. Many of the articles, in modernized form, are part of today's Navy Regulations.

PURPOSE

United States Navy Regulations, 1990, is the principal regulatory document of the Department of

the Navy, endowed with the sanction of law as to duty, responsibility, authority, officials, and individuals. No other regulations that conflict with, alter, or amend any provision of Navy Regulations are to be issued within the Department of the Navy.

RESPONSIBILITY

The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) is responsible for making sure Navy Regulations conform to the current needs of the Department of the Navy. When any person in the Department of the Navy deems it advisable that a correction, change, or addition be made to Navy Regulations, a draft of the proposed correction, change, or addition will be forwarded, with a statement of the reasons therefore, to the CNO via the chain of command.

RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

All members of the naval service should acquaint themselves with, obey, and within their authority, enforce the laws, rules, and regulations pertaining to the Department of the Navy. The following regulations, from United States Navy Regulations, 1990, are of particular interest to you as an MA. Not all regulations are quoted in their entirety.

Conduct

Requirements of exemplary conduct are explained as follows.

ARTICLE 1131.- "All commanding officers and others in authority in the naval service are required to show in themselves a good example of virtue, honor, patriotism, and subordination; to be vigilant in inspecting the conduct of all persons who are placed under their command; to guard against and suppress all dissolute and immoral practices, and to correct, according to the laws and regulations of the Navy, all persons who are guilty of them; and to take all necessary and proper measures, under the laws, regulations, and customs of the naval service, to promote and safeguard the morale, the physical well-being and the general welfare of the officers and enlisted persons under their command or charge."

_{ARTICLE 1110.- "}All Department of the Navy personnel are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the highest standards of personal and professional integrity and ethics. At a minimum, all personnel shall comply with directives issued by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy regarding the Standards of Conduct and Government Ethics."

Sexual Harassment and Fraternization

Navy Regulations clearly prohibit sexual harassment and fraternization within the naval service. The following two articles apply.

ARTICLE 1166.- Sexual Harassment. Sexual harassment is prohibited. No individual in the Department of the Navy should:

l Commit sexual harassment

l Take reprisal action against a person who provides information on an incident of alleged sexual harassment

l Knowingly make a false accusation of sexual harassment; or

l While in a supervisory or command position, condone or ignore sexual harassment of which he or she has knowledge or has reason to have knowledge

ARTICLE 1165.- Fraternization. Personal relationships between officer and enlisted members that are unduly familiar and that do not respect differences in grade or rank are prohibited. Such relationships are prejudicial to good order and discipline and violate long-standing traditions of the naval service.

When prejudicial to good order and discipline or of a nature to bring discredit on the naval service, personal relationships between officer members or between enlisted members that are unduly familiar and that do not respect differences in grade or rank are prohibited. Prejudice to good order and discipline or discredit to the naval service may result from, but are not limited to circumstances which:

l Call into a question a senior's objectivity

l Result in actual or apparent preferential treatment

l Undermine the authority of a senior; or

l Compromise the chain of command

Accusations, Replies, and Countercharges

Whenever an accusation is made against another person in the naval service, either by report or by endorsement upon a communication, a copy of the report or endorsement should be furnished the accused at the time the accusation is submitted.

Any reports or complaints, and statements submitted in reply to or explanation of written accusations, should be written in temperate language and should be confined to pertinent facts. Opinions should not be expressed nor the motives of others discredited.

Persons to whom reports or complaints are submitted for statement should not reply by making countercharges.

Persons in the naval service who consider themselves wronged by an act, omission, decision, or order of a person who is superior in rank should be respectful toward that superior, but may report the alleged wrong to the proper authority for redress in the manner described in Article 1150, United States Navy Regulations, 1990. The report should clearly identify the superior against whom the accusation is made, the wrong complained of, and the redress desired. The person submitting the report or complaint may be held accountable by the senior who is responsible for the resolution of the report if the report is found to be frivolous or false.