Naval Service (United Kingdom)

Naval Service of the British Armed Forces
Components
Royal Navy Surface fleet Fleet Air Arm Submarine Service Royal Naval Reserve Nursing Service (QARNNS) Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Royal Marines Royal Marines Reserve Special Boat Service
History and future
History of the Royal Navy History of the Royal Marines Customs and traditions Future of the Royal Navy
Ships
Current fleet Current deployments Historic ships
Personnel
The Admiralty Senior officers Uniforms Officer rank insignia Ratings rank insignia
Related civilian agencies of the Ministry of Defence
Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service (now privatised)
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The Naval Service is the naval branch of the British Armed Forces, which includes civilian agencies under the control of the Navy Board.

Branches

HMS Illustrious, an Invincible class aircraft carrier.

According to the Queen's Regulations for the Royal Navy^[1], it consists of:

• The Royal Navy (including Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service)
• The Royal Marines
• The Naval Reserve Forces:
  • The Royal Naval Reserve (including Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service Reserve)
  • The Royal Marines Reserve
  • The Royal Fleet Auxiliary
• Naval Careers Service

Formerly the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service,the Royal Fleet Reserve,and the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors were also considered part of the Naval Service.

The term Naval Service should be distinguished from the "UK Naval Services", which consist of the Naval Service and the Merchant Navy.

The April 2005 regular strength of the Naval Service (i.e. Royal Navy and Royal Marines) was 36,320. The Naval Service is dominated by the Royal Navy, which accounts for over 80% of Naval Service personnel. The Naval Service as a whole comes under the command of the Navy Board, which is headed by the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff.

Ships of the Naval Service

The Naval service operates a total of 168 ships, broken up as follows;

• Royal Navy; the Royal Navy operates 79 commissioned ships.
• Royal Fleet Auxiliary; the Royal Fleet Auxiliary operates 13 commissioned ships plus 6 further roll on/roll off Point class ships.
• Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service; the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service operates a total of 70 commissioned ships.

Royal Navy

Main article: Royal Navy

HMS Daring, a Type 45 destroyer.

Referred to as the "Senior Service" by virtue of it being the oldest service within the British Armed Forces, the Royal Navy had a strength of 34,900 in April 2006. The Navy has been structured around a single fleet since the abolition of the Eastern and Western fleets in 1971.^[2] Command of deployable assets is exercised by the Commander-in-Chief Fleet, who also has authority over the Royal Marines, and the civilian Royal Fleet Auxiliary.^[3] Personnel matters are the responsibility of the Second Sea Lord/Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command, an appointment usually held by a vice-admiral.^[4]

The United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent is carried aboard the navy's Vanguard-class of four nuclear ballistic-missile submarines. The surface fleet consists of carriers, destroyers, frigates, amphibious assault ships, patrol ships, mine-countermeasures, and miscellaneous vessels. A submarine service has existed within the Royal Navy for over 100-years. The service possessed a combined fleet of diesel-electric and nuclear-powered submarines in the early 1990s. Following the Options for Change defence review, diesel-electric submarines were withdrawn and the "hunter-killer" fleet is now exclusively nuclear-powered.

Royal Marines

Royal Marines on exercise

Main article: Royal Marines

The infantry component of the Naval Service is the Corps of Royal Marines, which had a reported strength of approximately 7,400 in 2006.^[5] Consisting of a single manoeuvre brigade (3 Commando) and various independent units, the Royal Marines specialise in amphibious, arctic, and mountain warfare. ^[6] Contained within 3 Commando Brigade are three attached army units; an infantry battalion (from April 2008), an artillery regiment, and an engineer regiment.^[7] The Commando Logistic Regiment consists of personnel from the Army, Royal Marines, and Royal Navy.^[8]

Former components of the Naval Service

A Trident II SLBM being launched from one of the Royal Navy's 4 Vanguard class submarines as a test launch.

The following services were formerly also components of the Naval Service:

• The Women's Royal Naval Service (merged into the Royal Navy in 1993)
• The Royal Naval Minewatching Service (reformed into the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service in 1962 and disbanded in 1994)
• The Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service (incorporated within the Royal Navy in 2000)

Naval Reserve Forces:

• The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (merged with the Royal Naval Reserve in 1958)
  • The Royal Naval Volunteer (Supplementary) Reserve
  • The Royal Naval Volunteer (Wireless) Reserve
  • The Royal Naval Volunteer (Postal) Reserve)
• The Royal Naval Emergency Reserve (disbanded c. 1959)
• The Royal Naval Special Reserve (disbanded c. 1960)
• The Women's Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (renamed the Women's Royal Naval Reserve in 1958, merged into the Royal Naval Reserve in 1993)
  • The Women's Royal Naval Supplementary Reserve
• The Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service Reserve (incorporated within the Royal Naval Reserve in 2000)

Notes

1. ^ Queen's Regulations for the Royal Navy (Nov. 2007), Ch. 1
2. ^ Hampshire (1975), The Royal Navy Since 1945: its transition to the nuclear age, p248
3. ^ Fleet Command and Organisation, armedforces.co.uk
4. ^ https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/static/content/209.html
5. ^ Strength of UK Regular Forces by Service and whether trained or untrained at 1 April each year, dasa.mod.uk
6. ^ BBC News (2002), UK's mountain warfare elite, news.bbc.co.uk
7. ^ The Commando Role for 1 RIFLER, army.mod.uk
8. ^ Commando Logistic Regiment, royalnavy.mod.uk

References

• BR 2 - Queen's Regulations for the Royal Navy
• BR1806 - British Maritime Doctrine, Glossary
• United Kingdom Defence Statistics 2005 - glossary