Royal Marines

The Corps of Royal Marines, usually just known as the Royal Marines (RM), are the United Kingdom's amphibious forces and a core component of the country's Rapid Deployment Force. They are lightly equipped, able to operate independently in all terrains, and highly trained as a commando force.

Organization

Commandos

There are four battalion sized combat units within the Royal Marines. Of these, three are designated as "Commandos":

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• 40 Commando
• 42 Commando
• 45 Commando

Until recently, Commandos were structured similarly to Army battalions, but beginning in the late 1990s, commandos were reorganised to meet the new challenges present after the end of the Cold War, and their formation structure and equipment now differs from that of British Army infantry battalions.

Related Topics:
Battalion - 1990s - Cold War

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A commando is now commanded by a full colonel, as opposed to the lieutenant-colonels who command infantry battalions (and previously also commanded RM commandos).

Related Topics:
Colonel - Lieutenant-colonels

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In a commando, a Royal Marine is a member of "the team", a four-man fire team, the building block of commando operations. A Royal Marine works with his team in the field and lives with them in his accommodation (if he lives in barracks).

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The three battalion-sized Royal Marine Commandos are each organized into six companies (themselves organised into platoon-sized troops) as follows:

Related Topics:
Companies - Platoon - Troop

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• One Command Company
• One Logistic Company
• A Echelon 1 (A Ech1)
• A Echelon 2 (A Ech2)
• FRT
• RAP
• B Echelon (B Ech)
• Two Close Combat Companies
• Company Headquarters (Coy HQ)
• 3 Close Combat Troops (Troop HQ, 3 Rifle Sections, Manoeuvre Support Section)
• Two Stand Off Companies
• Company Headquarters (Coy HQ)
• Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) Troop (0.5" heavy machine guns)
• Anti-Tank Troop (Milan - to be replaced with Javelin)
• Close Combat Troop

Fleet Protection Group

See Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines.

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Amphibious Ready Group

The Amphibious Ready Group is a mobile, balanced amphibious force, based on a Commando Group and its supporting assets, that can be kept at high readiness to deploy into an area of operations. The Amphibious Ready Group is normally based around specialist amphibious ships, most notably HMS Ocean, the largest ship in the fleet. Ocean was designed and built to accommodate an embarked commando and its associated stores and equipment. The strategy of the Amphibious Ready Group is to wait "beyond the horizon" and then deploy swiftly as directed by HM Government. The whole amphibious force is intended to be self-sustaining and capable of operating without host-nation support. The concept was successfully tested in operations in Sierra Leone.

Related Topics:
HMS ''Ocean'' - Sierra Leone

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Supporting units

3 Commando Brigade not only consists of Royal Marines units, but also of combat support elements provided by other branches of the armed forces, mainly the Army. These include the Commando Logistic Regiment (consisting of both RM and Army personnel), 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery (based in Plymouth), and 59 Independent Commando Squadron Royal Engineers (based at Chivenor, near Barnstaple). These units provide the specialist artillery, combat service logistic, signals, and engineer support for the Brigade. All Army ranks serving with the brigade also undergo commando training on the All Arms Commando Course.

Related Topics:
Commando Logistic Regiment - Chivenor - Barnstaple

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In practice in specific operations 3 Commando Brigade is configured to the task at hand with the attachment or detachment of units. For instance in the 1982 Falklands War two battalions of Parachute Regiment and a squadron of light tanks were attached to the brigade.

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