22 Facts About Royal Marines

Corps of Royal Marines, known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy.

The Corps of Royal Marines is organised into 3 Commando Brigade and a number of separate units, including 47 Commando Royal Marines, and a company-strength commitment to the Special Forces Support Group.

The Corps of Royal Marines has close international ties with allied marine forces, particularly the United States Marine Corps and the Netherlands Marine Corps .

Some scholars contend that the Royal Marines deliberately spread smallpox among Australia's Indigenous population in order to protect the settlement, but this incident does not appear in contemporaneous Marine or government records and most researchers associate the disease outbreak with other causes.

The Royal Marines Artillery was formed as a separate unit in 1804 to man the artillery in bomb ketches.

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The Royal Marines Navy did not fight any other ships after 1850 and became interested in landings by Naval Brigades.

Royal Marines played a prominent role in the Boxer Rebellion in China, where a Royal Marine earned a Victoria Cross.

The Royal Marines were the last to leave Gallipoli, replacing both British and French troops in a neatly planned and executed withdrawal from the beaches.

Five Royal Marines earned the Victoria Cross in the First World War, two at Zeebrugge, one at Gallipoli, one at Jutland and one on the Western Front.

The abandonment of the Marine's artillery role meant that the Corps would subsequently have to rely on Royal Artillery support when ashore, that the title of Royal Marines would apply to the entire Corps and that only a few specialists would now receive gunnery training.

The Royal Marines formed the Royal Marine Division as an amphibiously trained division, parts of which served at Dakar and in the capture of Madagascar.

Royal Marines served in Malaya and in Singapore, where due to losses they were joined with remnants of the 2nd Battalion of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at Tyersall Park to form the "Plymouth Argylls".

Again, the Royal Marines were involved with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, this time the 1st Battalion.

Eighteen Royal Marines commanded Fleet Air Arm squadrons during the course of the war, and with the formation of the British Pacific Fleet were well represented in the final drive on Japan.

Corps underwent a notable change after 1945 however, when the Royal Marines took on the main responsibility for the role and training of the British Commandos.

Royal Marines Commandos are an elite fighting force, they are part of the Naval Service and under the full command of the Fleet Commander.

Royal Marines equipped for Arctic warfare during an exercise in Norway.

Full Command of the Royal Marines is vested in the Fleet Commander with the Commandant General Royal Marines, a major-general, embedded within the Navy Command Headquarters as Commander UK Amphibious Force .

On 11 April 2017 the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Philip Jones, announced that the Royal Marines Commandos were to be restructured, and will be capable of deploying on special operations as part of the Future Commando Force Programme.

On 27 June 2020, the Royal Marines announced they will adopt a new uniform with the MultiCam camouflage instead of the MTP camo.

King George V directed that his Royal Marines Cypher, surrounded by a laurel wreath, would be known as the King's Badge, and would be awarded to the best all round recruit in the King's Squad, provided that he was worthy of the honour.

Royal Marines Museum is an institution dedicated to the history of the Royal Marines.