Royal Fleet Reserve

The Royal Fleet Reserve acted as a reserve of ratings and petty officers of the Royal Navy before the First World War.

Classes

There were two classes of men:

• Class A comprises long-service pensioners who are liable to go afloat in emergency , and who, as Royal Fleet Reserve men, submit to a week's training every year.

• Class B, comprises men who have left the Navy without pensions, and whose services were lost to the country until the establishment of this Reserve. Men under Class B also undergo a week's training annually in the fleets at sea until they attained fifty-five years of age.

The Navy obtains the services of these men, numbering 21,555, for a total expenditure of just over £129,000 annually; whereas the less efficient and less serviceable Royal Naval Reserve entailed an expenditure of nearly a quarter of a million annually.