Royal Navy Research Articles

An observational objective job analysis of role related tasks undertaken by Royal Navy sailors.

The current in-service Royal Naval Fitness Test has two elements to test the aerobic endurance and muscular strength of Service Personnel through generic field-based tests and a short job task simulation. However, in 2017 the Royal Navy (RN) identified a requirement to update their in-service fitness test to align with international best practice. The purpose of this study was to conduct an Objective Job Task Analysis on critical, physically demanding tasks that could be undertaken by RN sailors during sea deployments. Twenty-one training exercises were observed across a range of contexts; Type 23 Frigates, Type 45 Destroyers and at shore-based training facilities. A total of 203 RN personnel (age 27.8±7.1 years) were observed undertaking 36 job related tasks (e.g., 'firefighting', 'damage control', 'abandon ship' and 'casualty handling'). Tasks were evaluated by cardiovascular response, primary functional movements and contextual factors to aid a Military Judgement Panel in task list down-selection. 14 Criterion Tasks (e.g., 'firefighting', 'two-person magazine stowage' and 'casualty handling') were selected to progress to the next stage of the process. Five tasks were selected based on cardiovascular responses and a further nine tasks selected based on task ergonomics and other factors. This research has identified and quantified the most physically demanding, critical roles undertaken by RN sailors on sea deployments and will inform the development of the RN Physical Employment Standard.

‘We Are Making No Sailors’: Apprenticeship and the British mercantile marine 1840–1914

For more than a century and a half, apprenticeship was of fundamental importance to the recruitment and training of British seafarers. From the introduction of compulsory apprenticeship in 1703, through the removal of compulsion in 1850 and up to the outbreak of the First World War, tens of thousands of boys and young men served apprenticeships on British ships, making up a substantial proportion of the maritime labour force. Apprenticeship in the merchant shipping industry has received little attention and the whole question of maritime training remains under-researched. This article opens by revisiting the debates of the 1840s over the Navigation Laws and argues that shipowners’ attitudes to apprenticeship were ambivalent. It provides a survey of the decline and evolution of apprenticeship in the six decades following the repeal of the Navigation Laws, highlighting the unevenness of its decline and the existence of countervailing factors in some sectors. Finally, it examines the widespread concerns over the quality and skill of British seafarers and the impact of apprenticeship on recruitment to the Royal Navy.

M-FISH evaluation of chromosome aberrations to examine for historical exposure to ionising radiation due to participation at British nuclear test sites

Veterans of the British nuclear testing programme represent a population of ex-military personnel who had the potential to be exposed to ionising radiation through their participation at nuclear testing sites in the 1950s and 1960s. In the intervening years, members of this population have raised concerns about the status of their health and that of their descendants, as a consequence. Radiation dose estimates based on film badge measurements of external dose recorded at the time of the tests suggest any exposure to be limited for the majority of personnel, however, only ∼20% of personnel were monitored and no measurement for internalised exposure are on record. Here, to in-part address families concerns, we assay for chromosomal evidence of historical radiation exposure in a group of aged nuclear test (NT) veterans, using multiplex in situ hybridisation (M-FISH), for comparison with a matched group of veterans who were not present at NT sites. In total, we analysed 9379 and 7698 metaphase cells using M-FISH (24-colour karyotyping) from 48 NT and 38 control veteran samples, representing veteran servicemen from the army, Royal Airforce and Royal Navy. We observed stable and unstable simple- and complex-type chromosome aberrations in both NT and control veterans’ samples, however find no significant difference in yield of any chromosome aberration type between the two cohorts. We do observe higher average frequencies of complex chromosome aberrations in a very small subset of veterans previously identified as having a higher potential for radiation exposure, which may be indicative of internalised contamination to long-lived radionuclides from radiation fallout. By utilising recently published whole genome sequence analysis data of a sub-set of the same family groups, we examined for but found no relationship between paternal chromosome aberration burden, germline mutation frequency and self-reported concerns of adverse health in family members, suggesting that the previously reported health issues by participants in this study are unlikely to be associated with historical radiation exposure. We did observe a small number of families, representing both control and NT cohorts, showing a relationship between paternal chromosome aberrations and germline mutation sub-types which should be explored in future studies. In conclusion, we find no cytogenetic evidence of historical radiation exposure in the cohort of nuclear veterans sampled here, offering reassurance that attendance at NTs sites by the veterans sampled here, was not associated with significant levels of exposure to radiation.

Exploring Reasons for Non-Engagement From a Peer-Led Diversionary Intervention for Veterans in Police Custody.

UK veterans with complex needs arrested in police custody can access support through pre-charge diversion into treatment and ancillary services. We consider why veterans in police custody disengaged from a peer-led criminal justice diversionary support service in one UK region that adopted a continuous case management approach. Seven hundred and fifty-seven veterans were assessed to have high levels of comorbid health needs and socio-economic harms, with one-quarter (26.7%, n = 202) subsequently disengaging from the service. A logistic regression model using Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations identified that veterans of a younger age, no-fixed-abode, a history of incarceration, and those from a Royal Navy background were likelier to disengage from the intervention. We conclude that this peer-based diversionary model has some efficacy in maintaining the engagement of a highly complex, comorbid segment of criminally-justice-exposed UK military veterans. The perceived benefits of an integrated peer-based model predicated on continuous case-management techniques are discussed.

A Forgotten Pupil of Sir Ludwig Guttmann: Ralph Spira, M.D.(Paris) , LRCP &Surg (Edin.), and LRCPS (Glas). (1913 Krakow, Poland-1997, Tel Aviv, Israel)

Dr. Ralph Spira (1913 Krakow, Poland-1997, TelAviv, Israel ) studied medicine in Paris and, in 1938,moved to London to work in emergency medicineand surgery. During the War, he volunteered to servewith the British Royal Navy and in a few generalhospitals. Later on, he was affiliated with the rehabilitation medicine units, and in 1948, he wassent to join Dr. Ludwig Guttmann's at the firstNational Spinal Unit, Stoke Mandeville Hospital,Aylesbury, Bucks. In 1952, he immigrated to Israeland is regarded as one of the first rehabilitationmedicine physicians in the newly established state.

Gallant Officers and Benevolent Men: Royal Navy officers, voluntarism and the launch of the Shipwrecked Mariners Society in the early Victorian era

This article examines the relatively unexplored relationship between Royal Navy flag and commissioned officers and shore-based secular and civic voluntary societies in the early Victorian period using the case study of the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners’ Royal Benevolent Society. Portrayed in the literature as heroes and objectivized symbols of the glory of nation, naval officers instead had agency of their own. They were active facilitators, employing personal experience, naval culture and patronage networks to drive forward philanthropic initiatives for the society. They were crucial to the society’s success, moving it forward to incorporation by an act of parliament in 1850, and to national and imperial expansion. It suggests that naval associative voluntary service needs to be considered more fully not only in naval history, but also within broader historical studies.

Identifying the risk factors associated with food insecurity in the UK veteran population: a nationwide survey.

There has been limited focus placed on exploring food insecurity within the UK-ex-Armed Forces population. The present study aims to build on initial work by investigating the prevalence and associated factors of food insecurity within UK veterans and their families and their current health status. 881 veterans (or a family member) who previously served in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, Army and the Royal Air Force completed an online survey to explore health status, food insecurity and receipt of benefits. In total, 16.9% of survey respondents were part of food-insecure households, with 12% of these also experiencing some element of hunger. Working age, non-officer rank at the time of service discharge, not being married, living in rented accommodation, having at least one medical condition and in receipt of other benefits were significant risk factors associated with food insecurity. Understanding the specific risk factors associated with food insecurity is vital to develop personalised interventions and policies, such as income support programmes and affordable housing initiatives. However, more work is needed to further explore the factors associated with food insecurity, particularly in the long term.

Explainable Deep Learning to Classify Royal Navy Ships

Explainable Deep Learning to Classify Royal Navy Ships

‘To prevent any succour to the insurgents’: Enslaved insurgency and the Royal Navy in the Caribbean, 1795–1832

While the actions of foreign navies and enemy privateers in the Caribbean have occupied the minds of maritime scholars, the role of the Royal Navy as an instrument of counterinsurgency to be used in suppressing self-liberation struggles by the enslaved has received much less attention. Yet, across the Caribbean, the Royal Navy was instrumental in securing victory for the colonial elite. In addressing this lacuna, this article revisits Fédon's rebellion in Grenada and the Second Carib War in St Vincent in 1795–1796, and the Jamaican Rebellion in 1831–1832, to suggest the extent of naval activity in confronting internal threats, and how responses to revolts illuminate the complex relationship between the navy and enslavement. In adopting its counterinsurgency role, after 1815 the navy found itself in the seemingly paradoxical situation of protecting enslavement and suppressing the slave trade.

The health of Royal Navy sailors in the West Indies during the American War of Independence, 1776–1783

The islands of the West Indies are often considered the most dangerous places for eighteenth century British sailors. Contemporary sources maintain that the level of sickness and mortality in the West Indies crippled the Royal Navy's fleet to such an extent as to render it extremely ineffective during the American Revolutionary War. There can be no doubt that disease, accidents and naval action had an effect on the Royal Navy in the West Indies; however the true extent of the impairment has been grossly exaggerated. This paper seeks to examine the precise effects of disease and mortality on British sailors stationed in the West Indies during the American War of Independence.

ON THE LOSS OF HMS HOOD

HMS Hood, the largest and most famous warship in the Royal Navy, blew up and sank while engaging the German Battleship Bismarck on the early morning of Saturday 24th May 1941 in what became known as the battle of the Denmark Strait. Casualties were extremely heavy: only 3 survivors were found from a ship’s complement of 1,418 men. The tragedy represented the largest loss of life of any single Royal Navy vessel lost in the Second World War. It came as a great shock not only to the Admiralty but to the entire country, every outpost of empire and indeed the World.

THE CUTTER IN THE FIELD: RESCUING A 1911 BOMBAY NAVAL CUTTER

The paper tells the story of how Chatham Historic Dockyard rescued a 1911 teak-built Royal Navy cutter from a field in Suffolk. It outlines the history of the vessel, how the Trust moved the cutter to the Dockyard, how they plan to conserve and display her to the public.

Assessing injury risk in male and female Royal Navy recruits: does the Functional Movement Screen provide understanding to inform effective injury mitigation?

IntroductionMusculoskeletal injuries (MSKIs) are common during military and other occupational physical training programmes, and employers have a duty of care to mitigate this injury risk. MSKIs account for a high...

Human hair from the wreck of HMS Erebus of the Franklin Expedition, 1845: Elemental chemistry revealed by double-ablation LA-ICP-MS

This report describes the analysis of 20 human scalp hairs, and one facial hair, found attached to bristles of a hairbrush recovered during underwater archaeological investigation of the wreck of HMS Erebus of the British Royal Navy’s “Franklin Expedition” which sank in the Arctic after its desertion in April 1848. Hair colour and diameter range were typical of Western Europeans, consistent with the Caucasian origins of the crew. Microscopic examination showed often severe degradation caused by biological agents and mechanical damage, and penetrative contamination by iron oxide encrustation from the wreck environment during some 170 years of marine immersion. No viable DNA was recovered to allow identification from a database of crew descendants. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) determined heavy and trace metals within the hair that might reflect uptake or depletion of those metals during life to allow insight to conditions on board, or contamination during immersion. Further analysis of hair from a present-day male group and from two Franklin Expedition crewmen whose permafrost-preserved remains were autopsied in the 1980s, and hog-hair bristles of the hairbrush, allowed some account of differential effects of time upon the hair structure while immersed or non-immersed. Analysis confirmed considerable contamination of the hair from metals likely to derive from the wreck and marine environment (e.g., As, Hg, Na, Pb, etc.). The large range of concentrations found in the hair from Erebus precluded any insight to the health status or otherwise of the donor(s) of the hairs. Conclusions were further limited by uncertainty over whether the hairs were from only one individual and the time at which the hairs were deposited on the brush, for example before and/or during the mission, and at what stage in the known chronology of events the last hairs were deposited. Nonetheless, the present retrieval and analysis of human hair from this iconic wreck may provide a further advance in the archaeological investigation of the Franklin Expedition.

Ethnographic collections in Northern Ireland and the Solomon Islands tomako (canoe) at the Ulster Museum, 1898–2023

AbstractThe World Cultures collection at National Museums Northern Ireland is an essential source for the study of Irish collecting in the wider British Empire. The 2022 redisplay of the collection in the Ulster Museum's exhibition, Inclusive Global Histories, is part of a staged engagement with local and source communities. Given the critical importance of the global museum decolonisation work of which the exhibition is an example, a fresh consideration of this ethnographic collection's history is timely. This article reviews the collection within the context of the three museums that have housed it, and investigates how curators within the institution understood, represented and displayed the collection. It does so through a case study of a war canoe (tomako), that was taken from the Solomon Islands, by John Casement, a captain in the Royal Navy, and is the largest and among the most significant items within the collection. The canoe's centrality to the gallery — built around it in 1925 — that now contains Inclusive Global Histories reveals complex social networks between nineteenth- and twentieth-century collectors, curators and photographers, and aids understanding of how global human cultures have been regarded in Northern Ireland's civic life.

Revealing the Identity, History and Nature Conservation Status of Royal Navy Vessel Steam Pinnace 744, in Lyness, Scapa Flow, Orkney Isles

Revealing the Identity, History and Nature Conservation Status of Royal Navy Vessel Steam Pinnace 744, in Lyness, Scapa Flow, Orkney Isles

Dizziness Directly Influences Postconcussion Symptoms and Is Predictive of Poorer Mental Health in UK Military Personnel: A Retrospective Analysis.

To investigate the contribution of dizziness to postconcussion symptoms, depression, and anxiety symptoms. Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) service, Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Stanford Hall. Two hundred eighty-three UK military personnel from the Royal Navy, Royal Airforce, Royal Marines, and British Army. A retrospective analysis of data from the Ministry of Defence medical records database. Sixteen-item Rivermead Post Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, The Dizziness Handicap Inventory. Injuries from sports or falls were the most common mechanism of mTBI, accounting for 23%, respectively. Chi-square analysis indicated that individuals with dizziness and postconcussion symptoms (PCS) had greater severity of PCS, depression, and anxiety than those with PCS alone. Mediation analysis showed dizziness directly and independently influenced the severity of PCS, despite the indirect effects of mediating depression and anxiety symptoms. Comorbid dizziness and PCS were predictive of poorer mental health compared with PCS alone. In addition, dizziness directly influenced the severity of PCS irrespective of the indirect effects of mental health symptoms. These observations suggest that treating dizziness with vestibular rehabilitation may improve PCS and mental health.

Структурные изменения ВМФ и ротация военно-морской элиты Великобритании в годы Первой мировой войны

Great Britain, due to geographical location and the need to maintain dominance on the seas, emphasized the actions of its Royal Navy during military conflicts. The realities of World War I forced Great Britain’s military and political leadership to reconsider the country's traditional role in international military conflicts. A pressing issue facing the military and political elite was the development of military plans aimed at harnessing Great Britain’s Naval Forces. Proposed drafts by British Admiralty representatives such as J. Fisher, W. Churchill, and J. Jellico often met with obstruction from the state's political leaders and the Army elite. On the eve of the war and during the hostilities, representatives of the elite proposed various plans for the use of the country’s Royal Navy, the implementation of which led both to the fleet's structural changes and to the rotation of the military elite.

The Development of Nuclear Propulsion in the Royal Navy, 1946–1975 by Gareth Michael Jones (review)

The Development of Nuclear Propulsion in the Royal Navy, 1946–1975 by Gareth Michael Jones (review)

Proximity, Patronage and Politics in the Correspondence of Lady Elizabeth Anson, c. 1748–1760

AbstractThis article examines the life of Lady Elizabeth Anson (1725–60), daughter of Philip Yorke, 1st earl of Hardwicke, and the wife of Admiral George Lord Anson, first lord of the admiralty. Using a sample of her letters, this article argues that Lady Anson engaged with letter-writing as an inherently political activity. Previous studies of Lady Anson’s correspondence have emphasized her role in the Yorkes’ political network, but this article foregrounds her marriage to Lord Anson and her life at the admiralty. In a marriage shaped by the strains of naval service, Lady Anson used her talents as a letter-writer to establish a role for herself as her husband’s political partner. Building on the work of Elaine Chalus, Judith Lewis, and Sarah Richardson, this article explores the ways in which Lady Anson used letters to disseminate intelligence and negotiate patronage. It examines her friendship with the powerful admiralty secretary, John Cleveland, and considers the ways in which her physical proximity to the admiralty office gave her privileged access to the inner workings of the Royal Navy. Consequently, her writing provides important insights into the ways in which elite women could use letters to establish their own political authority.