SUMMARY
  LOCATIONS
  SPECIAL BOAT SERVICE (SBS) 
  Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines (FPGRM) 
 

SUMMARY     

The Royal Marines (RM) are an elite Corps and specialists in Amphibious Warfare - and wherever there is action, the Royal Marines are likely to be involved.

They were prominent, for example, in the Falklands campaign, and they could be found wherever the UK Armed Services are actively involved e.g. Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Iraq.



The Royal Marines number approximately 7,200 men and, since the end of the Cold War, and especially in recent years, the Corps appears to have reverted to its traditional role of being ready for operations anywhere in the world.

All Royal Marines, except those in the Royal Marines Band Service, are first and foremost, commando soldiers. They are required to undergo what is recognised as one of the longest and most demanding infantry training courses in the world. This is undertaken at the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines at Lympstone in UK’s West Country, not far from Dartmoor.

The titular head of the Royal Marines is always a Major General – Commandant General Royal Marines (CGRM). There have been significant recent structural changes in the higher management of the Royal Navy recently and this has added to the responsibilities and raised the profile of CGRM.

The Royal Marines have small detachments in ships at sea and other units worldwide with widely differing tasks. However, the bulk of the manpower of the Royal Marines is grouped in battalion-sized organisations known as Commandos (Cdo). There are 3 Commando Groups and they are part of a larger formation known as 3 Commando Brigade (3 Cdo Bde).

Note:

(1) 29 Cdo Regt RA has one battery stationed at Arbroath with 45 Cdo.

(2) 1^st Bn The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps is part of 3 Cdo Bde for NATO assigned tasks. The Air Defence troop is equipped with Rapier. There are three regular Tactical Air Control Parties and one reserve. 539 Assault Squadron has hovercraft, landing craft and raiding craft.

Commando Organisation

Note: There are 4 x Manoeuvre Companies:
2 x Close Combat Companies each with 3 x Fighting Troops (5 x officers and 98 other ranks).
2 x Stand Off Combat Companies one of which is tracked (Viking armoured vehicle) and the other wheeled. Each Stand Off Combat Company has 1 x Heavy Machine Gun Troop with 6 x 0.5 HMG, 1 x Anti-Tank Troop with 6 x Milan and 1 x Close Combat Fighting Troop (5 x officers and 78 other ranks).

Total personnel strength is 692 all ranks.

A troop (Tp) roughly equates to an army platoon and consists of about 30 men.
 

LOCATIONS  

Royal Marines Reserve (RMR)

The RMR consists of about 600 personnel based around the following locations:

RMR London: The detachment is in London and is located alongside the HQ. The three remaining detachments are based in Chatham, Henley and Portsmouth.

RMR Merseyside: The Headquarters is in Liverpool were there is a detachment. The other two detachments are based in Birmingham and Manchester.

RMR Scotland: HQ is in Glasgow with the five remaining detachments based in Greenock, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness.

RMR Tyne: A single location at Newcastle-on-Tyne

RMR Bristol: The main detachment is in Bristol which is located alongside the HQ. The four remaining detachments are based in Poole, Plymouth, Cardiff and Lympstone.
 

SPECIAL BOAT SERVICE (SBS)  

This organisation is the Naval equivalent of the Army's SAS (Special Air Service). Personnel are all volunteers from the mainstream Royal Marines and vacancies are few with competition for entry fierce.

Generally speaking only about 30% of volunteers manage to complete the entry course and qualify. The SBS specialises in mounting clandestine operations against targets at sea, in rivers or harbours and against occupied coastlines.

Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines (FPGRM)  

This specialist company was formed in 1980 as the Comacchio Group, and has the task of guarding the UK's oil rigs and other associated installations from a variety of threats - in particular terrorist attacks.

In 2001 Comacchio Group was renamed as the Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines (FPGRM) and the unit moved from RM Condor to HMNB Clyde.

FPGRM is structured around 3 x rifle companies and 1 x headquarters company. Personnel strength is in the region of 533 personnel.