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Nautical Terminology: Gundecking

In the modern Navy, falsifying reports, records and the like is often referred to as "gundecking."  The origin of the term is somewhat obscure, but at the risk of gundecking, here are two plausible explanations for its modern usage.

The first relates to ship construction.  The deck below the upper deck on British sailing ships-of-war was called the gundeck although it carried no guns.  This false deck may have been constructed to deceive enemies as to the amount of armament carried, thus the gundeck was a falsification.

A more plausible explanation may stem from shortcuts taken by early Midshipmen when doing their navigation lessons.  Each Mid was supposed to take sun lines at noon and star sights at night and then go below to the gundeck, work out their calculations and show them to the Navigator.  Certain of these young men, however, had a special formula for getting the correct answers.  They would note the noon or last position on the quarter-deck traverse board and determine the approximate current position by dead reckoning plotting.  Armed with this information, they proceeded to the gundeck to "gundeck" their navigation homework by simply working backwards from the dead reckoning position.

Physical gundecks no longer exist in modern ships, but the concept of falsifying reports continues alive and well with the humans.

Print | posted on Sunday, March 27, 2005 11:17 PM | Filed Under [ Day Job ]

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# re: Nautical Terminology: Gundecking

It also refers to not doing your work (such as routine maintenance) and claiming you did.

I remember being told that gundecking originated from hanging out around the gundeck and getting some sun instead of being below deck, working on the assigned task.

DP2 Williams
3/28/2005 6:03 PM | chris
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# re: Nautical Terminology: Gundecking

Gundecking is the term used to describe when Sailors take shortcuts or completely falsify maintenance procedures.
Make no mistake about the procedure, even if the air force found it inadequate, preventive maintenance is exactly what it implies: maintain the equipment with regular check-ups to ensure proper operation. Very simple. Human error or indifference is the root cause for malfunction of our most cherished defenders of the seas. We have no power over those that preform these checkups, but maybe we can lend an ear to those that report abuse of these procedures. Their lives and even ours may depend on it .God bless the United States of America
6/23/2005 4:29 AM | "Duck"
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# re: Nautical Terminology: Gundecking

A Navy buddy told me that it was from guys taking a pencil to mask over rust on the gun deck, instead of doing the work to remove the rust. Henceforth, taking shortcuts of that type were "gun decking".
12/9/2005 7:56 PM | an Army guy
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# re: Nautical Terminology: Gundecking

Gundecking:

A simple term used when a sailor takes a short cut while working on the task at hand. In laymans terms "Half-assing" is used.
5/30/2007 12:19 AM | Scott
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# re: Nautical Terminology: Gundecking

When I was attending Navy Officer Candidate School, we had to perform the Manual-of-Arms with rifles. When the command ORDER ARMS was given, we had to position our rifle vertically along the right side of our body. The rifle barrel had to be pointed straight up and the stock heel rested on the ground. If this was performed too fast, when the stock heel contacted the ground, it would produce a thump sound. And if contact was hard enough, rifle vibrations would generate rattling sounds. I recall our instructors referring to this noise as GUNDECKING. We constanly drilled in order to eliminate any gundecking sounds.
8/11/2007 2:17 PM | John
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# re: Nautical Terminology: Gundecking

My boss and good friend Jim had used the term 'gundecking' in the context of filling out the paperwork after the work was done - solve the problem first, then make the paperwork consistent with the results. I'm sure he picked up the term working as an Army diver (yes, there are such animals) and I took it as following the spirit, if the letter, of a procedure.
8/15/2007 2:05 AM | Bob
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# re: Nautical Terminology: Gundecking

A Navy buddy told me that it was from guys taking a pencil to mask over rust on the gun deck, instead of doing the work to remove the rust. Henceforth, taking shortcuts of that type were "gun decking".
11/17/2007 1:53 PM | seo yarışması
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# re: Nautical Terminology: Gundecking

Gundecking:

A simple term used when a sailor takes a short cut while working on the task at hand. In laymans terms "Half-assing" is used.
THANKS..
2/16/2008 5:45 PM | evden eve nakliyat
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# re: Nautical Terminology: Gundecking

We use that term at work at the VA hospital. All of the guys that I work with in Materiel Management, were Navy as well as myself. So anytime a department puts in a request for equipment and doesn't fill it out completely, we say "they GUNDECKED it".
5/12/2008 6:44 PM | Steve
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# re: Nautical Terminology: Gundecking

A simple term used when a sailor takes a short cut while working on the task at hand. In laymans terms "Half-assing" is used.
THANKS..
6/30/2008 1:41 AM | akbudak süpürgüç araban
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# re: Nautical Terminology: Gundecking

Thanks "akbudak" ;)
7/1/2008 11:07 AM | sesli

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