His Majesty's Naval Service

The 2017 Queen's Regulations for the Royal Navy stipulate that the Naval Service consists of:[3]

• The Royal Navy (Royal Naval Reserve) - including Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service
• The Royal Marines (Royal Marines Reserve)
• Naval Careers Service

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary operate a fleet of auxiliaries in support of the Royal Navy. Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel are part of the Ministry of Defence civil service. Among the many contractors which support the Ministry of Defence and Royal Navy is Serco Marine Services, provided under a private finance initiative.

The following services were formerly also components of the Naval Service:

• The Women's Royal Naval Service (merged into the Royal Navy in 1993)
• The Royal Naval Minewatching Service (reformed into the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service in 1962 and disbanded in 1994)
• The Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service (incorporated within the Royal Navy in 2000)

Naval Reserve Forces:

• The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (merged with the Royal Naval Reserve in 1958)
  • The Royal Naval Volunteer (Supplementary) Reserve
  • The Royal Naval Volunteer (Wireless) Reserve
  • The Royal Naval Volunteer (Postal) Reserve)
• The Royal Naval Emergency Reserve (disbanded c. 1959)
• The Royal Naval Special Reserve (disbanded c. 1960)
• The Women's Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (renamed the Women's Royal Naval Reserve in 1958, merged into the Royal Naval Reserve in 1993)
  • The Women's Royal Naval Supplementary Reserve
• The Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service Reserve (incorporated within the Royal Naval Reserve in 2000)

Formerly the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service, the Fleet Reserve, and the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors were also considered part of the Naval Service.

Referred to as the "Senior Service" by virtue of it being the oldest service within the British Armed Forces, the Royal Navy is a technologically sophisticated naval force and forms the core structure of the Naval Service. Command of deployable assets is exercised by the Fleet Commander. The United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent is carried aboard the navy's Vanguard class of four nuclear ballistic-missile submarines. The surface fleet consists of aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, amphibious assault ships, patrol ships, mine-countermeasures, and miscellaneous vessels. The submarine service has existed within the Royal Navy for more than 100 years. The service possessed a combined fleet of diesel-electric and nuclear-powered submarines until the early 1990s. Following the Options for Change defence review, the Upholder-class diesel-electric submarines were withdrawn and the attack submarine flotilla is now exclusively nuclear-powered.

• 
  HMS Queen Elizabeth on sea trials in June 2017
• 
  HMS Vanguard, a Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarine
• 
  HMS Diamond, a Type 45 guided missile destroyer

The infantry component of the Naval Service is the Corps of Royal Marines. Consisting of a single manoeuvre brigade (3 Commando Brigade) and various independent units, the Royal Marines specialise in amphibious, arctic, and mountain warfare.[12] Contained within 3 Commando Brigade are three attached army units; 1st Battalion, The Rifles, an infantry battalion based at Beachley Barracks near Chepstow (from April 2008), 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, an artillery regiment based in Plymouth, and 24 Commando Regiment Royal Engineers.[13] The Commando Logistic Regiment consists of personnel from the Army, Royal Marines, and Royal Navy.[14]

• 
  Mk5 Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel
• 
  2000TDX Landing Craft Air Cushion
• 
  Royal Marines during the annual Cold Weather Training exercise

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary is a civilian-manned fleet owned by the British Ministry of Defence. The RFA enables ships of the Royal Navy to maintain operations around the world. Its primary role is to supply the Royal Navy with fuel, ammunition and supplies, normally by replenishment at sea (RAS). It also transports Army and Royal Marine personnel, as well as supporting training exercises. RFA personnel are members of the Ministry of Defence civil service who wear Merchant Navy rank insignia with naval uniforms and are under naval discipline when the vessel is engaged on warlike operations. RFA vessels are commanded and crewed by these civilians, augmented with regular and reserve Royal Navy personnel to perform specialised military functions such as operating and maintaining helicopters or providing hospital facilities. The RFA is funded out of the UK defence budget and the Commodore commanding the RFA is directly responsible to the Royal Navy Fleet Commander.

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary also augments the Royal Navy's amphibious warfare capabilities through its three Bay-class landing ship dock vessels. The service is manned by around 1,750 civilian personnel (as of late 2022).[15]

• 
  RFA Mounts Bay, a Bay-class landing ship
• 
  RFA Fort Victoria, a replenishment oiler
• 
  RFA Argus, an aviation training and casualty receiving ship

The Naval Careers Service is the recruiting arm of the Naval Service.[16] It is manned by former Royal Navy and Royal Marine personnel who are typically based at Armed Forces Careers Offices.[17] It is the smallest component of the Naval Service, comprising fewer than 200 personnel.[18]

Marine Services enables Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ships, including the United Kingdom's Strategic Nuclear Deterrent, to either move in or out of port for operational deployment and training exercises around the world. The service operates a large assortment of vessels including tugs and pilot boats as well as transporting stores, liquid and munitions and providing passenger transfer services to and from ships for officers and crew. Serco Denholm took over Marine Services to the Naval Service from the now disbanded Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service in 2008. In late 2009 Serco bought out Denholm's share, with the service now being known as Serco Marine Services.[19]

Marine services at the Port of Gibraltar, including naval vessels using the port, are provided by Resolve Marine, Gibraltar. Resolve Marine is equipped with one ASD ocean-going and harbour tug (Resolve Hercules), four harbour tugs (Rooke, Wellington, Egerton and Eliott), two barges (Isaac 1874 and RMG 280) as well as the anchor-handling tug Resolve Blizzard, which can provide regional firefighting, oil pollution and emergency response services.[20][21]

As of 2021, marine services at the British military and naval port in the Falkland Islands, Mare Harbour, were provided by the contracted Netherlands Marine Services company Van Wijngaarden. The company operated two tugs (Giesenstroom and Dintelstroom) as well as a multi-purpose barge (MP2003) at the port.[22]

• 
  SD Northern River, a Marine Services multi-purpose ship
• 
  SD Bountiful, a Marine Services ATD 2909-class tug
• 
  SD Navigator, a Marine Services Multicat 2510-class recovery vessel