Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft such as boats, and barges, used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Production of landing craft peaked during World War II, with a significant number of different designs produced in large quantities by the United Kingdom and United States.
Standing Royal Navy deployments is a list of operations and commitments undertaken by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy on a worldwide basis. The following list details these commitments and deployments sorted by region and in alphabetical order. Routine deployments made by the Navy's nuclear-powered submarines and their location of operations is classified.
Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted using ship's boats as the primary method of delivering troops to shore. Since the Gallipoli Campaign, specialised watercraft were increasingly designed for landing troops, materiel and vehicles, including by landing craft and for insertion of commandos, by fast patrol boats, zodiacs and from mini-submersibles.
The Landing Craft Utility (LCU) is a type of boat used by amphibious forces to transport equipment and troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles and troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or piers.
Her Majesty's Naval Service, also known as the Senior Service, is the United Kingdom's naval warfare and maritime service. It consists of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Marines Reserve and Naval Careers Service. The term Naval Service should be distinguished from the "UK Naval Services", which consist of the Naval Service and the Merchant Navy. The Naval Service as a whole falls under the command of the Navy Board, which is headed by the First Sea Lord. This position is currently held by Admiral Sir Phillip Jones. The Defence Council delegates administration of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence.
The Gibraltar Squadron is a unit of the British Royal Navy. It is the only resident seagoing Royal Naval unit in Gibraltar, attached to British Forces Gibraltar. In 2016 it consisted of two 16 m Patrol launches—HMS Scimitar and her sister ship HMS Sabre—and three Pacific 24 rigid-hulled inflatable boats, manned by a team of 26 people.
The Rigid Raider (RRC) is a series of fast raiding and assault craft made by RTK Marine, a subsidiary of Halmatic. They are primarily in service with two branches of the British Armed Forces: The Royal Navy and the British Army. Despite being among the smallest of the amphibious craft, the RRC is one of the most widely used due to its mobility and versatility. As such, the Rigid Raider often finds itself deployed in amphibious and riverine operations around the globe, in environments ranging from the Arctic to the tropics.
RFA Wave Ruler is a Wave-class tanker fast fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) of the United Kingdom tasked with providing fuel, food, fresh water, ammunition and other supplies to Royal Navy vessels around the world.
An amphibious warfare ship is an amphibious vehicle warship employed to land and support ground forces, such as marines, on enemy territory during an amphibious assault. The largest fleet of these types is operated by the United States Navy.
Navy Command is the current headquarters body of the British Royal Navy, and its major organisational grouping. It is a hybrid, neither a command, nor simply an installation. Royal Navy official writings describe Navy Command Headquarters both as a physical site, on Whale Island, a collective formed of the most senior RN officers, and as a budgetary grouping.
Joint Expeditionary Force (Maritime), is the Royal Navy's expeditionary task force maintained at high-readiness and available at short notice to respond to unexpected global events. In addition to the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines, the RFTG also includes elements of the British Army and the Royal Air Force. While it is primarily poised to conduct war-fighting or amphibious operations, the JEF (M) is capable of undertaking a diverse range of activities such as evacuation operations, disaster relief or humanitarian aid.
This is a list of Active Royal Navy weapon systems.
The Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP) is a versatile amphibious landing craft designed to transport troops or armoured vehicles from ship to shore during amphibious landings. The designation was first used in British service for the LCVP Mk2s introduced with the two Fearless class amphibious transport docks, the role having previously been carried out by the Landing Craft Assault developed during the Second World War. They are manned and operated by 1 Assault Group Royal Marines.
A Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel or Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) is any of a variety of amphibious landing craft designed to transport troops or armoured vehicles from ship to shore during amphibious landings.
The Offshore Raiding Craft (ORC) is a small, fast boat used by the Royal Marines for troop insertion, and patrols. The ORC is primarily used when undertaking strategic raiding missions, where speed and covertness is desired. However, it is equally capable when conducting larger scale amphibious operations alongside the larger and more traditional LCACs, LCUs and LCVPs.
The Island-class is a class of Police patrol boat operated primarily by the MOD Police Clyde Marine Unit at HMNB Clyde. They are tasked with protecting high value Royal Navy ships such as the Vanguard-class submarines. Royal Marines currently operate two of the class Mull and Rona- which are MoD Police boats that currently serve as RM vessels and were handed over to the Royal Marines during 2013. Rona and Mull are interchangeable in their roles and can be used by both RM and MDP. The RMs also have a third vessel named Eorsa.
The Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) in British service is a small amphibious hovercraft able to transverse both land and water. Like all amphibious landing craft in the Royal Navy, they are operated by the Royal Marines to transport troops or equipment from ship to shore during an amphibious landing.
The Pacific 24 is a rigid inflatable boat made by BAE Systems in the UK and is part of a range of small boats offered by the company. It is the latest Pacific craft within the Halmatic range of products and is proven in service with the UK MOD, UK police and overseas military and para-military organisations. It was designed to replace the Pacific 22.
