Baptisms - attendance of both parents?

[ElizabethHerts]

A baptism c. 1860

When a child was baptised, did the vicar or whoever perform the ceremony check the details given about the parents?

Did both parents have to attend the baptism?
If a father was in the army or navy I have always assumed that a baptism could take place without his attending.

We have the scenario of a child being baptised and the mother stating that the father was in the navy. The father has not been found on the census or marriage record.