The University Royal Naval Units (URNU) ( , less commonly ) (formerly Universities' Royal Naval Units) are
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
training establishments under the command of
Britannia Royal Naval College
Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, also known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...
, who recruit
Officer Cadets from a
university
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
or a number of universities, usually concentrated in one geographical area. There are 17 URNUs in the UK, with each URNU having land-based facilities near the universities they recruit from, with the exception of URNU Virtual, whose drill nights are conducted virtually.
Students who join the URNU become members of
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...
and upon joining hold the rank of
Officer Cadet
Officer cadet is a rank held by military personnel during their training to become commissioned officers. In the United Kingdom, the rank is also used by personnel of University Service Units such as the University Officers' Training Corps.
Th ...
, Students of the URNU are classed as List 7 of the Royal Naval Reserve and as such have no call-out liability whilst in their University Unit.
Some members of the URNU go on to pass
Admiralty Interview Board and undertake Officer Training to Commission as a Royal Naval Officer or Royal Marines Officer, however there is no requirement to do so and URNU members have no obligation of further service after leaving University.
Each unit has an affiliated
P2000 ship, which is used for training Officer Cadets when not on duty with the
Coastal Forces Squadron.
Units
URNU ships are part of the
Coastal Forces Squadron, or "CFS". CFS is commanded by Commander CFS, who previously was also Commander URNU, Commander Universities now being a separate post. The mission statement of CFS is to provide high-quality sea training experiences in support of the URNU mission and to deliver P2000 operational capability in support of other fleet tasking.
History
1967 – 1999
The URNU programme was founded in 1967, with the formation of the
Aberdeen Universities' Royal Naval Unit (now URNU East Scotland) in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
,
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, to encourage
STEM undergraduates to join the Royal Navy from the
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...
and
Robert Gordon University
Robert Gordon University, commonly called RGU (), is a public university in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It became a university in 1992, and originated from an educational institution founded in the 18th century by Robert Gordon (philanthrop ...
.
This was followed 5 years later in 1972, with the introduction of Glasgow & Strathclyde URNU (Now URNU Glasgow) and Liverpool URNU, which also served universities with a high number of STEM undergraduates.
After being male-only units for their first 20 years, the URNUs finally allowed women to join their ranks in 1987, with the Aberdeen URNU being the first to do so.
In 1999, (then) Lt
Mel Robinson and (then) Lt Suzanne Moore became the first women to hold command of a Royal Navy vessel, with their commands of Cardiff URNU (now URNU Wales) and Bristol URNU, as well as their attached P2000s,
HMS ''Express'' and
HMS ''Dasher'' respectively.
2000 – present
In June 2017, OCs onboard HM Ships , , and , deployed to
the Baltic to take part in
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
's
BALTOPS exercise, the first time that Royal Navy P2000s have been involved in such an exercise. URNU Officer Cadets have been attending the exercise every year since, with the exception of 2022, due to increased tensions in the region following the re-escalation of the
Russo-Ukrainian War
The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...
.
Devon URNU was established in the autumn of 2017, catering to universities across the region. Devon was the first new unit formed since 1994.
In 2021 there was a further expansion of the URNU, with new units in East Midlands, Belfast, Solent and Virtual. Solent URNU was a merging of Southampton URNU and Sussex URNU, the unit more to a brand new location in Portsmouth where it could be inside
HMNB Portsmouth
His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is loc ...
. East Midlands URNU and Belfast URNU were both new units to cover holes in the coverage of URNU units where there are also large numbers of potential students. Virtual URNU was also setup after a year and half of online URNU to cater to those unable to get to a unit due to distance or any other issue.
In late 2021, there was a nation-wide naming change of the URNUs. They were formerly styled '
ocationURNU' (e.g. Edinburgh URNU), being changed by the end of the year to 'URNU
ocation (e.g. URNU Edinburgh).
In January 2022, after striking an agreement with
HMS Scotia, Tay Division, (the then) URNU Edinburgh opened a satellite division known now as
URNU East Scotland, Tayside Division (often abbreviated to Tay Div), named for the
Firth of Tay which runs just south of
Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
, the city in which the division is based. It is based out of a
Royal Marines Reserve base in the north of the city centre. Its foundation was a first for the URNU programme and has become the testbed for a potential scheme to extend the URNU footprint.
Membership
Command Structure & Staff
The URNUs are part of the
University Service Units
The University Service Units is the collective term used by the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence for the University Royal Naval Unit, the University Officers' Training Corps and the University Air Squadron. They are Volunt ...
, under the command of
Commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...
Universities. They fall under the overall jurisdiction of the Commanding Officer of
Britannia Royal Naval College
Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, also known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...
, Dartmouth,
Captain BRNC.
Each URNU is commanded by its
commanding officer
The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...
(CO), usually a full-time Royal Navy
Lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
,
Lieutenant Commander or
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 ...
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
. The remainder of its full-time staff consists of the unit
Coxswain
The coxswain ( or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the wiktionary:cockboat, cockboat, a ...
(Cox'n or Coxn), usually a full-time
Chief Petty Officer, Royal Marines
Colour Sergeant
Colour sergeant (CSgt or C/Sgt) is a rank of non-commissioned officer found in several armies and marine corps.
Australia
In the Australian Army, the rank of colour sergeant has only existed in the Corps of Staff Cadets at the Royal Military ...
or, exceptionally, a Royal Navy or Royal Marines
Warrant Officer
Warrant officer (WO) is a Military rank, rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ...
, as well as a Unit Administration Officer (UAO), who is a
civilian
A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is war crime, illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civi ...
and does not wear uniform.
Each unit also has the capacity for up to eight training officers, who may be ex-Navy, former URNU students, or civilians with relevant experience, who are appointed as honorary
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...
officers, though they do not hold a commission or require an
Admiralty Interview Board (AIB) pass.
The training staff of an individual unit consists of a
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...
Lieutenant as the unit's Senior Training Officer (STO) and a number of Training Officers (TOs), who vary between Royal Naval Reserve
Acting Sub-Lieutenants,
Sub-Lieutenants and Lieutenants. This format, with the exception of rank, roughly mirrors the training staff and format of BRNC.
Some are being given the opportunity to attend AIBs and pass out of the reserve's
Accelerated Officer Programme.
Officer Cadets
Undergraduates usually join for 3 years, with options to extend this membership to 4 or 5 years, providing they can sufficiently convince their Commanding Officer that their continued membership would be of value to the unit. Members are list 7B reservists and therefore there is no call-up liability and members may leave at any time.
Each URNU comprises 51 students, who usually join for the duration of their degree, with the option of taking a year out or leaving at any time. The URNU's also have attached cadets that are on
Navy sponsorship/cadetship programs.
Ranks
URNU OCs work through training logs and receive training credits (formerly task books) with certain points thresholds corresponding to URNU ranks.
Upon joining the unit, URNU students wear URNU tabs on their shoulders and are Acting Officer Cadets (A/OC). On completion of the first section of their task book, they receive a white officer cadet tab in addition to the URNU slide and are referred to as substantive
Officer Cadets (OC). Once a certain number of points has been acquired, students will wear
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...
rank slides in addition to URNU tabs and are referred to as Acting Midshipmen (A/Mid).
To achieve the substansive rank of Midshipman the URNU OC must pass out of BRNC via the reserve or regular courses.
Committee
Each URNU has a senior midshipman (SMid) and deputy senior midshipman (DSMid) (known as the Vice-President or 'VP' in URNU Glasgow due to their role as mess vice-president) supported by a committee, made up of various roles, which differ according to unit but will generally include a
treasurer
A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization.
Government
The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...
and sports and adventurous training officers alongside other roles.
This committee will take a leading role in programme planning and assist in the running of the unit.
Training and unit life
Training focuses on leadership,
navigation
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...
and
seamanship
Seamanship is the skill, art, competence (human resources), competence, and knowledge of operating a ship, boat or other craft on water. The'' Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford Dictionary'' states that seamanship is "The skill, techniques, o ...
, and this is put into practice during sea weekends, and longer deployments during the summer and Easter vacations. Drill nights also often include lessons on wider navy knowledge, drill practice, and visits from serving personnel and affiliated units as well as practical leadership tasks and team building. Units also frequently undertake visits to affiliated units and local training establishments to experience military life first hand.
There is also a significant and important social element to URNU life from formal mess dinners including the main naval formal event of the year,
Trafalgar Night, to informal socialising in the unit's mess which contribute to unit integration and may be coordinated by a dedicated social secretary. Additionally, Scottish and Northern Irish URNUs hold an annual
Burns night dinner.
There are sporting activities held within the URNU units, informal contests between the units and an annual sports weekend in Portsmouth between all units.
See also
*
University Officer Training Corps, the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
equivalent
*
University Air Squadron, the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
equivalent
*
Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
equivalent
*
Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme
References
External links
*
{{His Majesty's Naval Service, state=collapsed
Naval education and training in the United Kingdom
University Royal Naval Units