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Members of the UK Merchant Navy have been awarded the Victoria Cross, George Cross, George Medal, Distinguished Service Order, and Distinguished Service Cross for their actions while serving in the Merchant Navy. Canadian Philip Bent, ex-British Merchant Navy, joined the British Army at the outbreak of World War I and won the Victoria Cross.
The Mercantile Movements Division [1] originally known as the Convoy Section [2] was a former Directorate of the British Admiralty, Naval Staff that coordinated, organised and plotted all Merchant Navy convoys, routing and schedules from 1917 until 1920.
Convoy commodore also known as commodore, convoys was the title of a civilian put in charge of the good order of the merchant ships in the British convoys used during World War II. Usually the convoy commodore was a retired naval officer or a senior merchant captain drawn from the Royal Naval Reserve. He was aboard one of the merchant ships.
In order to maintain supplies to the island, the British deployed large flotillas to escort convoys to Malta. In March, the Second Sea Battle in the Gulf of Syrte took place, which ended with the defeat of the Axis powers. The British victory was followed by a serious setback in June and August during Operations Vigorous, Harpoon and Pedestal.
For much of its history, the merchant navy was the largest merchant fleet in the world, but with the decline of the British Empire in the mid-20th century it slipped down the rankings. In 1939, the merchant navy was the largest in the world with 33% of total tonnage. [11] By 2012, the merchant navy held only 3% of total tonnage. [12]
This is a list of the naval forces from the United Kingdom that took part in the Falklands War, often referred to as "the Task Force" in the context of the war. [1] For a list of naval forces from Argentina, see Argentine naval forces in the Falklands War.
The Operations Division [1] was a former directorate of the Admiralty Naval Staff responsible for the creation and implementation of long-term policy in regards to the composition of all Royal Navy fleets, squadrons and commands and including operational planning and monitoring from 1912 to 1961.
The majority of seamen manning ships of the British Merchant Navy were British. However, in a 1938 survey, it was found that 27 per cent were either from India or China and another 5 per cent were British domiciled Arabs, Indians, Chinese, West Africans or West Indians mainly resident in major UK ports such as Cardiff, Liverpool or South Shields.