Patronage gave well-connected officers advantages, yet it did not remove every professional hurdle. A future lieutenant still needed to qualify, pass examinations, and accumulate service and sea time. Those requirements helped sustain the Royal Navy's professional standard during the later Napoleonic Wars. Control over sea appointments also gave the service a way to keep an unwanted captain from meeting the requirements for promotion to admiral.
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The professional requirements behind Royal Navy patronage
Connections could help an officer advance, but exams and time at sea still constrained promotion.