British Merchant Navy

The British Merchant Navy is the United Kingdom’s commercial shipping fleet and its civilian seafarers. King George V conferred the title “Merchant Navy” on the service in 1922 to honor the sacrifice of merchant crews in the First World War; the fleet had previously been called the Mercantile Marine or Merchant Service. Edward, Prince of Wales, became the first Master of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets. Merchant Navy crews are civilians, not Royal Navy personnel, though they served under wartime requisition in both world wars.