| His Majesty's Naval Service | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country |  United Kingdom[note 1] |
| Type | Naval warfare andmaritime service |
| Role | Naval,expeditionary andamphibious warfare |
| Part of | British Armed Forces |
| Garrison/HQ | Whitehall /Portsmouth |
| Branches | |
| Commanders | |
| Head of the Armed Forces andLord High Admiral | Admiral of the FleetKing Charles III |
| First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff | GeneralSir Gwyn Jenkins |
| Second Sea Lord and Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff | Vice AdmiralSir Martin Connell |
| Fleet Commander | Vice AdmiralAndrew Burns |
| Warrant Officer to the Royal Navy | Warrant Officer Class 1 Jamie Wright |
| Insignia | |
| White Ensign[note 2] | |
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| His Majesty's Naval Service of theBritish Armed Forces |
|---|
| Components |
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| History and future |
| Operations |
| Equipment |
| Personnel |
| Auxiliary services |
His Majesty's Naval Service,[a] referred to colloquially as theRoyal Navy, after the primary fighting arm of the service,[1] is theUnited Kingdom'snaval warfare andmaritime service.[2][3] It consists of theRoyal Navy,Royal Marines,Royal Fleet Auxiliary,Royal Naval Reserve,Royal Marines Reserve andNaval Careers Service.[4] The Naval Service as a whole falls under the command of theNavy Board, which is headed by theFirst Sea Lord. This position is currently held byGeneralSir Gwyn Jenkins (appointed May 2025).[5] The Defence Council delegates administration of the Naval Service to theAdmiralty Board, chaired by theSecretary of State for Defence.
The Naval Service is dominated by the Royal Navy, and operates primarily from three bases in the United Kingdom where commissioned ships are based;Portsmouth,Clyde andDevonport, the last being the largest operational naval base in Western Europe. As of September 2025, there were about 90 vessels in service with the various branches of the Naval Service, plus more than 90 additional vessels operated by the supportingSerco Marine Services. These vessels included: 64 commissioned ships of the Royal Navy, 17 principal landing craft of the Royal Marines, 10 auxiliary ships of theRoyal Fleet Auxiliary and 90+ supporting Marine Services vessels.[6][7] Additional vessels are under charter to theMinistry of Defence. As of 2022, HM Naval Service (Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and Naval Careers Service) employed about 39,500 regular and reserve personnel.[8][9][10][11]
In 2020, the First Sea Lord announced that the 'Naval Service' will informally be known as the 'Royal Navy'. The Royal Navy was made acolloquial name for the Naval Service as part of a transformation programme with the approval of the Navy Executive Committee to reflect the strength of the Royal Navy brand and assist with unifying the force.[1][12]
The totaldisplacement of the Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary is, as of September 2025, around 678,500tonnes, while the combined displacement of Royal Marine landing craft is approximately an additional 2,200 tonnes.
The 2017Queen's Regulations for the Royal Navy stipulate that the Naval Service consists of:[4]
TheRoyal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) operate a fleet of auxiliaries in support of the Royal Navy. RFA personnel are part of theMinistry of Defencecivil service. Among the many contractors which support the Ministry of Defence and Royal Navy isSerco Marine Services, provided under aprivate finance initiative.
The following services were formerly also components of the Naval Service:
Naval Reserve Forces:
Formerly theRoyal Maritime Auxiliary Service (merged with the former Port Auxiliary Service in 1976), theFleet Reserve, and theRoyal Corps of Naval Constructors were also considered part of the Naval Service.
Referred to as the "Senior Service" by virtue of it being the oldest service within the British Armed Forces, the Royal Navy is a technologically sophisticated naval force and forms the core structure of the Naval Service. Command of deployable assets is exercised by theFleet Commander. The United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent is carried aboard the navy'sVanguard class of four nuclear ballistic-missile submarines. The surface fleet consists ofaircraft carriers,destroyers,frigates,patrol ships,mine-countermeasures, and miscellaneous vessels. Thesubmarine service has existed within the Royal Navy for more than 100 years. The service possessed a combined fleet of diesel-electric and nuclear-powered submarines until the early 1990s. Following the Options for Change defence review, theUpholder-class diesel-electric submarines were withdrawn and the attack submarine flotilla is now exclusively nuclear-powered.
_underway_during_trials_with_HMS_Sutherland_(F81)_and_HMS_Iron_Duke_(F234)_on_28_June_2017_(45162784).jpg)
The infantry component of the Naval Service is the Corps of Royal Marines. Consisting of a single manoeuvre brigade (UK Commando Force) and various independent units, the Royal Marines specialise inamphibious,arctic, andmountain warfare.[13] Contained within the UK Commando Force are attached army units;29 Commando RegimentRoyal Artillery, an artillery regiment based in Plymouth, and24 Commando RegimentRoyal Engineers. Both regiments have CommandoREME detachments.[14] TheCommando Logistic Regiment consists of personnel from the Army, Royal Marines, and Royal Navy.[15]
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The Royal Fleet Auxiliary is a civilian-manned fleet owned by theBritish Ministry of Defence. The RFA enables ships of the Royal Navy to maintain operations around the world. Its primary role is to supply the Royal Navy with fuel, ammunition and supplies, normally byreplenishment at sea (RAS). It also transportsArmy and Royal Marine personnel, as well as supporting training exercises. RFA personnel are members of theMinistry of Defence civil service who wearMerchant Navy rank insignia with naval uniforms and are under naval discipline when the vessel is engaged on warlike operations. RFA vessels are commanded and crewed by these civilians, augmented with regular and reserve Royal Navy personnel to perform specialised military functions such as operating and maintaining helicopters or providing hospital facilities. The RFA is funded out of the UK defence budget and the Commodore commanding the RFA is directly responsible to the Royal NavyFleet Commander.
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary also provides the naval service's principal amphibious warfare capability through its threeBay-classlanding ship dock vessels. The service is manned by around 1,750 civilian personnel (as of late 2022).[16]
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The Naval Careers Service is the recruiting arm of the Naval Service.[17] It is manned by former Royal Navy and Royal Marine personnel who are typically based at Armed Forces Careers Offices.[18] It is the smallest component of the Naval Service, comprising fewer than 200 personnel.[19]
Marine Services enables Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ships, including the United Kingdom's Strategic Nuclear Deterrent, to either move in or out of port for operational deployment and training exercises around the world. The service operates a large assortment of vessels including tugs and pilot boats as well as transporting stores, liquid and munitions and providing passenger transfer services to and from ships for officers and crew. Serco Denholm took over Marine Services to the Naval Service from the now disbanded Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service in 2008. In late 2009 Serco bought out Denholm's share, with the service now being known as Serco Marine Services.[20] In 2025, Serco won a renewal of the contract to continue services for the Naval Service until 2035.[21]
Marine services at thePort of Gibraltar, including naval vessels using the port, are provided by Boluda Towage Europe.[22] Boluda acquired Resolve Marine Group in 2024, which had been equipped with one ASD ocean-going and harbour tug (Resolve Hercules), four harbour tugs (Rooke,Wellington,Egerton andEliott), two barges (Isaac 1874 andRMG 280) as well as the anchor-handling tugResolve Blizzard, which provided regional firefighting, oil pollution and emergency response services.[23][24] Several of these assets were acquired by Boluda which, in June 2024, also strengthened its own presence at Gibraltar by adding the tugboat “VB Responder” to its fleet.[25]
As of 2021, marine services at the British military and naval port in the Falkland Islands,Mare Harbour, were provided by the contracted Netherlands Marine Services company Van Wijngaarden. The company operated two tugs (Giesenstroom andDintelstroom) as well as a multi-purpose barge (MP2003) at the port.[26]
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See the articles below for lists of vessels operated by or in support of His Majesty's Naval Service:
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