Commando 21 was the name given to the reorganisation of the

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

' (RM) two battalion-sized Commando units; namely

40 Commando 40 Commando RM is a battalion-sized formation of the British Royal Marines and subordinate unit within UK Commando Force, the principal Commando formation, under the operational command of the Fleet Commander. Their barracks are at Norton Manor ...

; and

45 Commando 45 Commando Royal Marines (pronounced "four-five commando") is a battalion sized unit of the British Royal Marines and subordinate unit within UK Commando Force, the principal Commando formation, under the Operational Command of the Fleet Comman ...

. 42 Commando having converted to a specialised maritime unit in 2017.

The Commando 21 Organisation

Commando 21 organised each RM

Commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...

unit into six sub-units, styled companies. Each

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

was subdivided into

troops A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a Squadron (cavalry), squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section (military unit), section or platoon. Exception ...

; note that a “

troop A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troo ...

” is the RM nomenclature for a

platoon A platoon is a Military organization, military unit typically composed of two to four squads, Section (military unit), sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the Military branch, branch, but a platoon can ...

rather than for an individual soldier. The new structure was presented as giving the RM more firepower, more mobility, more information, more flexibility and more fighting power. According to open-sources each Stand Off Combat Company was to have a field strength of five officers and 78 other ranks, and each Close Combat Company was to have five officers and 98 other ranks. Under the Commando 21 re-organisation the overall strength of each of the three units was originally stated to be 692 all ranks. The companies are: ;Command Company : Main HQ : Tactical HQ : Reconnaissance Troop (includes a sniper section) : Mortar Troop (9 Barrels of 81 mm) (Includes 4 MFC pairs) : Anti-Tank (AT) Troop (Milan—to be replaced by Javelin ATGW) : Medium Machine Gun Troop ;2X Close Combat Companies : Company Headquarters (Coy HQ) : 3X Close Combat Troops (Troop HQ, 3 Rifle Sections, Manoeuvre Support Section) ;2X Stand Off Companies : Company Headquarters (Coy HQ) : Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) Troop (0.5" heavy machine guns) : AT Troop : Close Combat Troop ;One Logistic Company : A Echelon 1 (A Ech1) : A Echelon 2 (A Ech2) : FRT : RAP : B Echelon (B Ech)

Command Company

The Command Company is responsible for command, control, communications, computation, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (C4ISR). It also was organised to include a machine gun troop, the unit’s mortar and anti-tank troops, together with the reconnaissance troop.

Logistics Support Company

The Logistic Support Company manages administrative and logistic activity.

Close Combat Companies

Each of the two Close Combat Company is similar to the previous RM rifle company, having 3 platoon sized troops, but each troop, in addition to three rifle sections, has a manoeuvre support section of five men equipped with

General Purpose Machine Gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered for ...

, Long Range Rifle and

81 mm Mortar An 81-mm mortar is a medium-weight mortar. It is a smooth-bore, muzzle-loading, high-angle-of-fire weapon used for long-range indirect fire support of light infantry, air assault, and airborne units across the entire front of a battalion zo ...

Stand-Off Combat Companies

Each of the two Stand Off Combat Company has a Close Combat Troop identical to those in the Close Combat Companies. It also was organised to have an Anti-Tank Troop with 6

Javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling ...

anti-tank weapons and a

Heavy Machine Gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...

troop with 6 x 0.5in Heavy Machine Guns.

Timescale

The restructuring was to have completed by summer 2003.

External links

Commando 21 paperCommando 21 Orbat

References

{{refend Royal Marine formations and units Tables of Organisation and Equipment