Why is the royal navy often refered to as the ANDREW by serving mariners?

Question

Why is the royal navy often refered to as the ANDREW by serving mariners?

Answer 1

Royal Navy's nickname

The origin of the Royal Navy’s nickname is obscure; some sources, including the Admiralty Manual of Seamanship, say that it derives from one Andrew Miller, a zealous officer of the Impress Service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, who ‘recruited’ so many men to His Majesty's ships that the navy was said to belong to him.

Earlier (19th century) sources variously suggest that Andrew was a slang name for a man o' war, that Andrew Miller was a supplier of provisions to the Royal Navy, with such an apparent monopoly that he was said to own the Navy, or that the Press Service officer was named Andrew Walker. The most reliable list of Royal Navy officers does not mention either an Andrew Miller or an Andrew Walker.

What is certain, however, is that the Royal Navy continues to be known as the Andrew, and that there is no absolutely conclusive answer to the derivation of the nickname.

Answer 2

It's thought that the term refers to some particularly efficient press ganger of former days.

Answer 3

In the 17th century there was a press gang officer called Andrew Miller who impressed so many men he was said to own the Navy.

It is not St Andrews flag that is the Navy flag, it is St Georges flag.

Answer 4

St; Andrew is the patron Saint of the Royal navy, as well as

for Scotland!

Answer 5

Andrew (the) Widespread nickname for the RN used by all ranks within the senior service, especially when referring to time done: "fifteen years in the Andrew and most of that spent at sea" Nothing to do with the Duke of York but said to be named after Lieutenant Andrew Miller, a highly successful press gang officer of the 18th century, and thus also more completely refereed to by older hands as the Andrew Miller.