50 Fun Facts About Royal Marines

Which headdress do Royal Marines recruits earn by passing the Commando course at Lympstone?

The green beret has marked a commando since October 1942, when the first were issued to the Royal Marines. Before then, a single commando unit could parade in 79 different cap badges.

Which Royal Marines slang for a long march in full kit became famous in the 1982 Falklands War?

Yomp entered everyday English after Royal Marines carried 80 lb loads 56 miles across East Falkland in three days. The Army's word for the same slog is tab.

Which novelist, then in naval intelligence, proposed 30 Commando, whose title a Royal Marines unit revived in 2010?

Ian Fleming wanted a unit to go in with the leading troops and seize codes and documents. He later drew on its commandos when he created James Bond.

Which fictional hero names the aerial assault course Royal Marines recruits must pass in 13 minutes?

Tarzan lends his name to a ropes-and-ladders course that opens with a zip-line slide and ends with a rope climb up a 30-foot wall. Officers are allowed a minute less.

Which fortress, captured in 1704, is the only battle honour named on the Royal Marines badge?

Gibraltar fell after some 1,800 English and allied marines landed on its isthmus, and they then held the Rock through a nine-month siege against a far larger force.

Which royal was Captain General Royal Marines for 64 years, from 1953 until he retired in 2017?

Prince Philip is the longest-serving holder of the Corps' ceremonial headship, a title created in 1948 for King George VI. Prince Harry took over when he stepped down.

Which public facility, named Lympstone Commando, serves the Royal Marines' Commando Training Centre?

A railway station on the Avocet Line has served the camp since 1976, and trains stop there only on request. Platform signs still say that anyone getting off must have business with the camp.

Royal Marines paddled canoes up the Gironde in December 1942 to mine ships in which French port?

Bordeaux was a vital harbour for the German war effort, and the raiders' limpet mines damaged six ships there. Only two of the ten men who set out survived.

Which phrase is the English translation of the Royal Marines' Latin motto?

By Sea By Land translates Per Mare Per Terram, a motto believed to date from 1775. It describes a corps that fights both aboard the ships of the fleet and ashore.

Until 1923, which title did the Royal Marine Light Infantry use for the rank now called Marine?

Private vanished from the Corps in 1923, when its two branches merged and every man in the lowest rank became simply a Marine, abbreviated Mne.

Which Royal Marines rank, just below warrant officer class 2, is named for guarding a battalion's flags?

Colour sergeant was created in 1813 to reward long-serving NCOs, who protected the junior officers carrying the flags. Royal Marines address one simply as Colours.

Which rank, marked by a single chevron, is the lowest non-commissioned officer rank in the Royal Marines?

Lance corporal is first recorded for the Royal Marines in the official Gazette of 1838. The title is thought to come from an old phrase meaning a broken lance.

Which appointment, created in 1989, is held by the most senior warrant officer in the Royal Marines?

The Corps Regimental Sergeant Major was introduced to represent warrant officers and senior NCOs at central events, and to advise the head of the Corps whenever asked.

The Captain General Royal Marines wears the crossed-batons insignia of which rank, unused in the Corps itself?

Field marshal is the Army's highest rank, and its crossed batons in a wreath are worn by the Corps' ceremonial head. Prince Harry sometimes wore the badges of a far more junior officer instead.

40, 42 and 45 Commando are each normally commanded by a Royal Marines officer of which rank?

A lieutenant colonel leads each fighting commando, a battalion-sized unit. The badge of rank is a crown above a four-pointed star.

Until 1999, many Royal Marines officers counted as one rank higher than their Army equals in which setting?

On a warship's books, a Marine officer came under naval discipline and enjoyed a step up in status. The quirk ended on 1 July 1999, when the Corps' ranks were fully aligned with the Army's.

Which Royal Marines rank sits directly above colonel and directly below major-general?

Brigadier was only an acting rank in the Royal Marines until 1997, when it became permanent. Unlike a brigadier general elsewhere, it does not count as a general officer rank in Britain.

General Sir Gwyn Jenkins took which senior post in 2025, one never before held by a Royal Marine?

First Sea Lord is the professional head of the whole Royal Navy, the service the Corps belongs to. Jenkins was also only the second Royal Marine full general since 1977.

Which title, in use since 1943, is held by the professional head of the Royal Marines?

The Commandant General post has been filled at different times by a major general, a lieutenant general and a full general. Before 1943 the Corps' chief was styled the Adjutant-General.

The Royal Marines began in 1664 as a regiment named for the Duke of York and Albany, later which king?

James II was then the king's brother and head of the Navy, so his 1,200 men were soon known as the Admiral's Regiment. It was disbanded in 1689, shortly after he lost his throne.

Which celebrated general served as a young captain in the Admiral's Regiment, forerunner of the Royal Marines?

John Churchill, later Duke of Marlborough, joined the regiment in 1672, shortly after being present at the sea battle of Solebay. He went on to win at Blenheim.

Major John Pitcairn of the Marines was killed at which 1775 battle near Boston?

Bunker Hill cost Pitcairn his life two months after he had led the advance on Lexington and Concord. His own son, also a marine officer, helped carry him from the field.

Marines under Major Robert Ross sailed with the First Fleet in 1787 to guard a new colony in which country?

Australia's first European settlement was guarded by four companies of marines. By mistake the fleet left Portsmouth without its main supply of ammunition, which was made good at Rio de Janeiro.

Which shellfish nickname did sailors give the scarlet-coated infantry of the Royal Marines in the 1800s?

Lobsters was a semi-derogatory jibe at the so-called Red Marines, whose scarlet coats matched those worn by the Army's infantry.

Which branch of Britain's Marines, formed in 1804 and merged away in 1923, was nicknamed the Blue Marines?

The Royal Marine Artillery wore the blue of the Army's gunners, whom it replaced aboard bomb vessels after a court ruled that Army officers were not subject to naval orders.

Which emblem were the Royal Marines granted in 1827 in place of a long list of battle honours?

A globe was chosen because the Marines had fought in every quarter of the world, in too many actions to list. It probably inspired the globe in the US Marine Corps emblem.

The laurel wreath on the Royal Marines badge is believed to honour the 1761 capture of which French island?

Belle Île lies off the Brittany coast, and the landing there was the most famous of the many the Marines made around the world in the 18th century.

Freed slaves formed a Corps of Colonial Marines, led by Royal Marines officers, to fight America in which war?

The War of 1812 saw them fight beside regular Marines at Bladensburg and in the burning of Washington. When the unit was disbanded, its men were resettled as free people in Trinidad.

A charter of Charles II lets the Royal Marines march in full array, drums beating, through which city?

London's Lord Mayor allows the Corps this honour within the City, a right that goes back to a charter Charles II granted to the recruiting parties of its 1664 forerunner.

The Royal Marines have never raised another 4th Battalion, out of respect for which 1918 raid on a Belgian port?

Zeebrugge was attacked on 23 April 1918 from the old cruiser Vindictive, and the battalion's bravery in storming the harbour mole earned it the Victoria Cross.

Royal Marines Major Francis Harvey won a posthumous Victoria Cross for saving HMS Lion at which 1916 battle?

Jutland saw Harvey, mortally wounded, order his gun turret's magazine to be flooded, a dying act that may have saved more than a thousand lives aboard the flagship.

Royal Marines were the last troops to leave the beaches of which First World War campaign against the Ottomans?

Gallipoli ended for the Marines with a neatly executed withdrawal, in which they took over the beaches from both British and French troops. They had landed there in 1915 with the Royal Naval Division.

The first Royal Marine Commando saw its first action in August 1942 in which raid on the French coast?

Dieppe, codenamed Operation Jubilee, came just six months after the unit was formed in Kent. Lessons from the costly raid led the commando to reorganise from companies into troops.

Which 1955 film, starring and directed by José Ferrer, dramatised the Royal Marines' canoe raid Operation Frankton?

The Cockleshell Heroes took its title from the raiders' flimsy canoes, which were codenamed Cockles. During filming, Trevor Howard nearly drowned when his canoe overturned.

Which Royal Marines officer led Operation Frankton and later became known as the father of single-handed sailing?

Herbert Hasler, nicknamed Blondie for his fair moustache, invented the first practical self-steering gear for yachts. In 1960 he came second in the first solo transatlantic race.

Tom Hunter of 43 Commando won the only Royal Marines Victoria Cross of the Second World War in which country?

Italy's Lake Comacchio was where Hunter, aged 21, drew enemy machine-gun fire onto himself with a Bren gun so that his troop could reach cover. The award was posthumous.

41 Independent Commando Royal Marines fought beside the US 1st Marine Division in which 1950 Korean War battle?

Chosin Reservoir earned the commando an American Presidential Unit Citation, granted only after the US Marine Corps changed its own rules so that a foreign unit could receive it.

Royal Marines made the first helicopter assault of an amphibious landing in 1956 during which conflict?

The Suez Crisis brought 40, 42 and 45 Commando ashore in Egypt. Britain and France won the fighting, but pressure from the United States forced them to withdraw.

Lima Company of 42 Commando stormed the town of Limbang in 1962 to rescue hostages on which island?

Borneo's Limbang raid was a company-strength amphibious assault launched up a river, and L Company became known as Limbang Company in its honour.

Which Royal Marines general commanded British land forces in the Falklands War and received the Argentine surrender?

Jeremy Moore had been on the verge of retirement in 1981. He flew south in May 1982 and took over as land commander shortly before the final battles for Stanley.

Royal Marines of 3 Commando Brigade came ashore on 21 May 1982 around which sheltered inlet of East Falkland?

San Carlos Water soon earned the nickname Bomb Alley, as low-flying Argentine jets attacked the ships in the bay again and again.

In which English county do Royal Marines recruits train at the Commando Training Centre, Lympstone?

Devon has housed the training centre since 1940, when it opened as a wartime depot. Uniquely in Britain's forces, officers and other ranks train there side by side.

The final Royal Marines commando test is a 30-mile march in under eight hours across which English moor?

Dartmoor is crossed in full fighting order, and officers get an hour less and must navigate the route themselves. It is the last of four tests taken within a single week.

In which NATO country did Royal Marines begin training each winter during the Cold War as Arctic specialists?

Norway's far north was the flank the Corps was earmarked to reinforce in wartime, so vehicles and supplies were stockpiled there in advance.

Marines from which country's Korps Mariniers are integrated into the Royal Marines' own commando brigade?

The Netherlands founded its marine corps in 1665, a year after England's, during a war between the two countries. The old enemies now form a joint landing force.

43 Commando Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines exists chiefly to guard what at its base on the Clyde?

The nuclear deterrent is the unit's charge: its main mission is to prevent unauthorised access to Britain's strategic weapons. Some 550 strong, it inherited its number from a wartime commando.

45 Commando Royal Marines moved in 1971 to RM Condor, a former naval air station in which Scottish town?

Arbroath has been home to the unit ever since, and the move coincided with its first winter of Arctic training. The county of Angus later gave the commando its freedom.

Which admiral gave the Royal Marines a Russian regiment's march as their slow march for their 1964 tercentenary?

Lord Mountbatten presented the march of Russia's Preobrazhensky Regiment for the Corps' 300th birthday. He held an honorary colonelcy in the Marines until the IRA killed him in 1979.

The Royal Marines' quick march, A Life on the Ocean Wave, began as a poem inspired by which city's harbour?

New York was where the poet Epes Sargent stood on the Battery watching ships come into port. Henry Russell set his 1838 poem to music, and it became popular on both sides of the Atlantic.

The forerunners of the Royal Marines were organised in 1755 into divisions at Chatham, Portsmouth and which other port?

Plymouth's Stonehouse Barracks went on to house the headquarters of the UK Commando Force, the fighting formation of the Corps.