The records of service for the Royal Navy and Marines for the period of the Great War are more or less complete. Below are listed the records that are available and what one can expect to find in them.

Officers - These records show date and place of birth, generally fathers name. Full service is listed up till discharge, which in many cased means Second World War service and later. For some there is a second series of records which are confidential reports of the officers. All records show postings, ships, promotions, awards.

Ratings - Date and place of birth are show along with trade on joining. Records show all postings, ships, promotions, character and casualty details. Service is shown up till 1927. The menthod of keeping records from this date changed to card form. These later records are still held by the Admiralty.

Officers - These have not yet been released for the rank of Sub-Lieutenant etc. However if you are looking for a Skipper of the RNR these are available and take the same format as Ratings records.

Ratings - Records are in card form. Show date and place of Birth, trade, next of kin details. They also show full postings and ships on which they served, character and casualty details. There may be more than one record to copy. A man would sign on for the Reserve for a period of five years. If after this period of engagement he wished to sign for a further term he would be assigned a new number, and a new card would be made out to continue his service details on.

Officers - Records show date of birth, postings and ships on which the officer served.

Ratings - These show date and place of birth, trade on joining, postings and ships served, character and casualty details.

The Royal Naval Division was formed from members of the Royal Navy, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Fleet Reserve and Royal Marines Light Infantry. Many of the members from the RNVR and RMLI had originally volunteered for Kitchener's New Army, but were transferred in September 1914. The 63rd (Royal Naval) Division saw service in Gallipoli and later France and Flanders fighting alongside army Divisions in the Front Line.

The records for both Officers and Other Ranks take the same format. These records are very detailed and are complete apart from many of the RMLI men. For RMLI men see ROYAL MARINES below. One can usually expect to find Date and place of Birth, Home address, Next of Kin's name and address, occupation, religion etc. The actual service history is listed in detail for both home and overseas service. This includes promotions, battalion or unit postings and details of wounds. If Killed in Action often the original map reference and place of burial is shown.

Details

OFFICERS

RATINGS

INTRODUCTION

ETC

ETC

OPERATIONAL RECORDS

WAR DIARIES