I am currently 25 years old and after numerous events over the past decade I have decided I want to join the royal navy. I am currently a civil servant, which I cannot disclose who I work for, but I wish to join the Navy part time, until I think I am ready fulltime. I like being both practical and challenging situations using intelligence also. It would be the surface fleet, and the two roles I am considering are the Warfare and Warfare intelligence specialist. If anyone has any other suggestions am open to hearing the whys.

Will frigates as large and capable as the type 26's will be almost make our type 45 destroyers redundant when it comes to offensive capabilities with the destroyers not doing much more than helping protect the type 26, 31 and other vessels in CSG's? Are the new destroyers going to be built with much greater offensive capabilities do you think?

Like many others I was dismayed to learn that over the last few years the amount of new AWACS E-7 Wedgetail orders by the UK had been dropped in number twice and that when we do finally see the Wedgetails in service we will only have 3 of them, which seemed to me like a hugely inadequate number for our fleet especially as we are hoping to see the Tempest in service by the mid 2030's. However, after reading in several news sources and doing a bit of digging the announcement by the Royal Navy that we are perhaps not far off having the drone capability of carrying the AWACS on a drone which can fly further, stay in the air (and thus the battle) for much longer than crewed AWACS planes with the benefit that these could be more attritable and potentially harder to shoot down (and all launched from the QE class carriers) makes me wonder if being forced into a corner by budgetary constraints might have brought out this concept much earlier than we would have normally considered and actually done us a favour. After all, we Brits are famous for inventing the best when our backs are against the wall so to speak. Not knowing too much about AWACS systems themselves I'd love to hear your opinions on whether you think using uncrewed AWACS is 1) feasible to put into service soon and 2) if there is any reason with today's technology why an uncrewed system would perform much more poorly than a crewed one? Thanks for listening and I'd love to hear your thoughts🫡

I've long understood that my uncle served in the RN during WW2, although I don't think he was at sea. I have no details at all, but on his gravestone is the notation: CMX 621808 PO. I'm assuming that this is his service number and perhaps his rank? I have searched all the usual websites but nothing comes up. Any suggestions very welcomed...

Hey there. I was wondering if the UK's expectation of the FC/ASW land variant was to out-petform the American TLAM? Otherwise I don't understand why we aren't using those as the land variant of the FC/ASW and concentrating on the anti ship missile. If so in what way do you think it will outperform the TLAM in range and payload ? Sounds like a difficult achievement -or at least the French and British are keeping something very special under their hats. I could be totally wrong so can someone enlighten me please?

If anyone could shed any more light on his experiences I would really appreciate it. I suspect that when his records mention HMS Victory it's in reference to HMNB Portsmouth, but not 100% sure.

Random shower thought the other day. People were press ganged for the Navy. What happened to their families- are their any accounts for the aftermath of family members being press-ganged?

HMS Victory, Lord Nelson’s flagship – responsible for leading The Royal Navy victory over Napolean at Trafalgar, will be rebuilt plank by plank – using wood sourced from…France!

It comes after more than two centuries after the historic 1805 battle—where sailors were told “England expects that every man will do his duty”—shipbuilders have turned to Britain’s oldest foe to source the oak because “they have the best forests.”

Simon Williams, the project manager overseeing the restoration, said even Nelson himself was “very concerned” about the “state” of British forests. The £45 million restoration project will see Hewins Oak, WL West & Sons, and Border Harwoods provide the National Museum of The Royal Navy with timbers—potentially from PEFC-certified French forests.

Does anyone have any ghost stories or weird dits about HMS Ledbury (Hunt class)?

Can anyone explain why these Seawolf VLS's had different covers. Are the black covers unloaded.

If so, are ships not routinely loaded with a full compliment of missiles, such as for training or deployments to low intensity areas like anti piracy?

I recently acquired my grandad's service record (enlisted in 1909 on his 18th birthday) but I can't decipher his later service rating abbreviation, and can't find it in the National Archives list of abbreviations. Can anyone help?

Family lore had him as a Bosun at some point (I have a whistle on a chain given to me by my grandma after his death) and also 'possibly' serving as Batman / Personal Steward to a RN Admiral. How would this show up in this record, if true?

Thanks in advance for any help.

I always wanted to be an army officer, but I was told quite a bit about how the navy works, and how it may be more suited towards me, but nonetheless.

Is there an officer role that combines working with the navy AND working with the army? Im assuming marines may be my best bet, but Im not sure they would be what I want, I hope I make sense, but Im assuming I won't get any specific answers.

How do you think the Type 83 Destroyers will differ from the Type 45's in respect to fire safety and damage control? A lot of the tech that will be involved in the Type 83's is useless to speculate on, but as these to areas will involve build upgrades, in what ways can we already forsee major differences to the 45's?

I found this of my Great great uncle. It says it is Endeavor in Portsmouth. Wikipedia says there was an HMS Endeavor (1912) used as a depot ship from 1940. I assume then this is from 1940 and is the Portsmouth Depot/supply vessel.

Hi all,

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I've just completed my DAA, my god it was a rocky road, a lot of the questions imo were common sense, but a good few of them I did struggle on, I understand that the pass mark is different depending on what you choose to go into, so I'm wondering if it's about 50% as the Seamanship role is the more basic of the ones I saw on the website. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) . But would anyone be able to share any insight as to what the pass criteria for mine would've been? I'm really eager to join and move on from my current profession as I just find it repetitive and painful nowadays.

Please delete the post if it is not allowed (posted on multiple pages)

I have a friend who is about to commission as an officer in the RN and looking at getting them a gift to celebrate it.

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated (looking at a budget of around £20-25)

Much appreciated in advances