COMMANDING OFFICER. The officer in actual command of a vessel of war. He is an officer of the line or executive corps, and is usu ally addressed by the courtesy title of 'captain,' without regard to actual rank, if he is per manently in command and not merely in tem porary charge during the absence of a senior. The regular commanding officer, upon leaving the ship, is succeeded by the next line officer in rank, but the latter must not alter the regula tions established by his superior except in case of urgent necessity. the commanding offi cer of a modern battle-ship there rests a respon sibility the like of which is placed upon few men. He is answerable for the safety of the ship and of the crew. for the preservation of the Battery, engines, boilers. and other machinery in condition for instant use, and for the conduct of all those placed under him, so far as he can control it. He is required to know every detail of construction of his ship and of her equipment, as well as of the organization of the crew. He
has as an assistant an executive officer, who has charge of the organization of the personnel, and of the hill] and equipment; a navigating officer, who has charge of the navigation and navigating apparatus: an ordnance officer, who has charge of the guns and ordnance stores: a chief engineer, who has charge of the propelling machinery; also a surgeon and a paymaster, the latter having charge of the accounts of the men and officers and of the provisions and cloth ing for the men. In the military services through out the world, the senior officer of a regiment. corps, post, or any detachment where there is not any higher local military authority, is re garded as the commanding officer. Regimentally. the officer commanding the regiment is spoken of and referred to as the commanding officer, which usage in the British Army is still further abbre viated by the use of the initials 'C. 0.'