Royal Navy - The Royal Marines - Summary - Locations - Special Boat Service (SBS) - Comacchio Group Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines (FPGRM) - n7a1 (2025)

SUMMARY LOCATIONS OF ROYAL MARINE UNITS SPECIAL BOAT SERVICE (SBS) Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines (FPGRM)
ROYAL MARINES RESERVE (RMR)
SPECIAL BOAT SERVICE (SBS
1 ASSAULT GROUP ROYAL MARINES (1 AGRM)

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 6,850 (including 760 officers) 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 4 Commando Groups and they are part of a larger formation known as 3 Commando Brigade (3 Cdo Bde).

3 CDO BDE COMMANDO ORGANISATION

(1) For operations expect 3 Commando Brigade to come under the command of the Joint Forces Command (JFC).

(2) 30 Commando - Information Exploitation Group is the organisation that provides command, communications, reconnaissance and intelligence capabilities to 3 Comando Brigade.

(3) 1st Battalion The Rifles – 3 Commando Brigade’s Fourth Manoeuvre Unit
From 1 April 2008 1 Rifles has been attached to 3 Commando Brigade as a fourth manoeuvre unit. 3 Commando Brigade is now capable of providing a both a brigade at high readiness for operations anywhere in the world and also has the ability to support programmed operations.

1 Rifles will remain on the Army list under the Full Command of the Chief of the General Staff but serve under the direction of the Commander in Chief Fleet and the Commander of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines. The battalion has been structured as a Light Role Battalion and personnel will continue to wear the Rifles cap-badge. For normal tri-service operations

(4) 539 Assault Squadron has the personnel that allows troops and equipment from 3 Commando Brigade to land from vessels at sea to the operational areas (mainly beaches) where operations are to be conducted. 539 Assault Squadron is equipped with hovercraft, landing craft, raiding craft and Viking vehicles.

(5) 29 Cdo Regt RA has one battery stationed at Arbroath with 45 Cdo.

(7) 1st Bn The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps can be part of 3 Cdo Bde for NATO assigned tasks.

(8) There are three regular Tactical Air Control Parties and one reserve.

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 690 all ranks. A Troop (Tp) roughly equates to an army platoon and consists of about 30 men.

ROYAL MARINE MAJOR UNITS

LOCATIONS

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 per cent 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.

43 COMMANDO FLEET PROTECTION GROUP (FPGRM)
This specialist Commando group was originally formed in 1980 as Comacchio Group and has the task of guarding the UK's nuclear weapons, and other associated installations from a variety of threats, plus the security of UK oil rigs against terrorist attacks. Personnel are also deployed world-wide on specialist tasks.

During 2001 Comacchio Group was renamed as the Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines (FPGRM) and the unit moved from RM Condor to HMNB Clyde. In 2012 the unit adopted its current name and became part of 3 Commando Brigade.

43 Commando is structured around 3 x Rifle Squadrons and 1 x Headquarters Squadron. Personnel strength is in the region of 533 personnel.

ROYAL MARINES RESERVE (RMR)

The RMR consists of about 750 personnel based around the following locations:

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

RMR Merseyside: The Headquarters is in Liverpool where there is a detachment. The other detachments are based in Birmingham, Nottingham and Manchester.

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

RMR Tyne: Location at Newcastle-on-Tyne. Hartlepool and Leeds.

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.