Tracing your Royal Navy Family History

Getting started with research

IWM's extensive collections are a practical resource to help trace individuals and put their wartime experiences into context. Although we do not hold personal service records or official documentation for the Royal Navy, this research guide explains how to trace this key information, what other sources are available at IWM and how you can start your family history research for those who served in the Royal Navy. 

Please note, personnel who served in the Second World War and subsequent conflicts may still be alive so their records could remain confidential. This can make it difficult to trace an individual but a variety of sources can provide clues.

This guide includes the following:

Royal Navy 

• There are National Archives guides to commissioned officers, warrant officers and ratings up to 1928 and 1928 onwards.

   

Royal Naval Reserves (RNR)

• Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) – professional seafarers who served with the Merchant Navy and who could be called to serve in the event of war. See The National Archives guide.

   

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR)

• Civilians who volunteered to train on shore-based establishments and then at sea, who could be called to serve in the event of war (pre-war this was comparable to the Territorial Army). Somethimes called the 'Wavy Navy' because of the pattern of officers rank braid. Most officers recruited during wartime were granted temporary commissions in the RNVR. See The National Archives guide.

   

Royal Marines (RM) 

• Royal Marines (RM) – naval infantry troops who served at sea and on land. See The National Archives guide to officers and other ranks.

   

Royal Naval Division (RND)

• Royal Naval Division (RND) – during the First World War there were more recruits than were needed by the Navy and Army so they were formed into infantry brigades known as the Royal Naval Division. They served on land as soldiers. See The National Archives guide.

   

Fleet Air Arm 

• Fleet Air Arm – the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) merged with the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in April 1918 to become the Royal Air Force (RAF). The Fleet Air Arm was formed on 1 April 1924 from RAF squadrons operating at sea. See The National Archives guide.

   

Shore establishments and Ships

• Shore establishments, (naval bases on land) as well as ships use the prefix HMS (His or Her Majesty's Ship).