The Merchant Navy Medal for Meritorious Service is a state award within the

British honours system In the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories, personal bravery, achievement, or service are rewarded with honours. The honours system consists of three types of award: *Honours are used to recognise merit in terms of achievement a ...

. The medal is awarded to no more than 20 recipients annually who are announced on Merchant Navy Day, 3 September. A 'Merchant Navy Medal' with the same criteria was awarded by the

Merchant Navy Welfare Board The Merchant Navy Welfare Board (MNWB) is a registered charity located in Southampton, England, that acts as the welfare umbrella for the United Kingdom Merchant Navy and fishing fleet charity sector. Its mission is "Improving the lives of seaf ...

from 2005, before being superseded by the state award in 2015.

Criteria

The medal may be awarded to those individuals who are serving, or have served, in the Merchant Navy or the

fishing fleet A fishing fleet is an aggregate of commercial fishing Ship, vessels. The term may be used of all vessels operating out of a particular port, all vessels engaged in a particular type of fishing (as in the "tuna fishing fleet"), or all fishing vessel ...

s of the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. Recipients must have shown particularly valuable devotion to duty and exemplary service so as to serve as an outstanding example to others. Recipients will typically have given 20 years of good conduct and exemplary service, although awards have also been made for brave conduct. Annually, no more than 20 medals are awarded. Recipients are entitled to use the

post-nominal letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters, or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, an academic degree, accreditation ...

of MNM.

Appearance

The medal is in diameter and struck in silver. The

obverse The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''obverse'' ...

bears the

Ian Rank-Broadley Ian Rank-Broadley Royal British Society of Sculptors, FRBS (born 1952) is a British sculpture, sculptor who has produced many acclaimed works, among which are several designs for British coinage and the Statue of Diana, Princess of Wales, memor ...

effigy of Her Majesty The Queen. The reverse depicts the badge of the Merchant Navy: the letters ''MN'' surrounded by a rope joined at the base by a

reef knot The reef knot, or square knot, is an ancient and simple binding knot used to secure a rope or line around an object. It is sometimes also referred to as a Hercules knot or Heracles knot. The knot is formed by tying a left-handed overhand knot ...

, a

naval crown The Naval Crown () was a gold crown surmounted with small replicas of the prows of ships. It was a Roman military award, given to the first man who boarded an enemy ship during a naval engagement. In heraldry a naval crown is mounted atop t ...

surmounts the rope, with the inscription 'FOR MERITORIOUS SERVICE'. The medal hangs from a ring suspension, with the wide ribbon made up of equal stripes of green at the edges, white in the centre, with red bordering the white stripe which represent marine navigational lights. The name of the recipient is impressed on the rim of the Medal. The previous Merchant Navy Medal displayed a portrait of

Lord Nelson Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte ( – 21 October 1805) was a Royal Navy officer whose leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories during the French ...

on the obverse with the Merchant Navy logo on the reverse. As it was not an official state award, it could not be worn in uniform alongside official medals.

Notable recipients

* Captain Richard Woodman, LVO. * Captain Belinda Bennett. * Captain Ian McNaught, KCVO.

References

External links

* * * * {{Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom Civil awards and decorations of the United Kingdom Awards established in 2015 2015 establishments in the United Kingdom Long and Meritorious Service Medals of Britain and the Commonwealth Decorations of the Merchant Navy