TWO West Devon seamen have passed their initial phase of officer training at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth.

Danny Savage, from Yelverton, and Ryan Coatalen-Hodgeson, from Milton Abbot, are training to be a marine engineering officer and a warfare officer respectively.

Danny, 25, joined the Royal Navy in January. After graduating from the University of the West of England, Bristol, with a degree in mechanical engineering, he worked in Bath before starting his naval career.

Ryan, 19, a former Tavistock College pupil, joined the Royal Navy in September last year. He maintains a family connection with the service, as his father, James, left the Navy in May last year and his sister, Rebecca, intends to join next year.

Ryan is to be sponsored through university studies and will read French and Russian at Durham.

The course at the Navy College has been hectic and included up to two months at sea in the type-22 frigate, HMS Campbeltown.

The time on board provided the trainees with an excellent introduction to all aspects of life at sea in a fully operational warship.

Danny and Ryan's parents travelled to Dartmouth to witness the passing-out parade where the Sultan of Brunei took the salute.

Sub Lt Savage has now joined the type-42 destroyer HMS Newcastle for further fleet training prior to professional courses, while Mipshipman Coatalen-Hodgeson has started his degree studies after some summer leave and a short time on HMS Cambridge.