King George V bestowed the title of "Merchant Navy"

[Administrator]

King George V bestowed the title of "Merchant Navy"
on the British merchant shipping fleets following
their service in the First World War; a number of
other nations have since adopted the title.

[Administrator]

The title 'Merchant Navy' was bestowed upon the Mercantile Marine by HM King George V in 1928 in honour of its service and sacrifice during the First World War. In the same year, the King appointed Edward, Prince of Wales, 'Master of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets', a title now held by HM The Queen. The MN has always supported a country and her armed forces. CHURCHILL: Wonderful exertions have been made by our Navy and Air Force, by the hundreds of mine-sweeping vessels which with their marvelous appliances keep our ports clear in spite of all the enemy can do, by the men who build and repair our immense fleets of merchant ships, by the men who load and unload them, and, need I say, by the officers and men of the Merchant Navy who go out in all weathers and in the teeth of all dangers to fight for the life of their native land and for a cause they comprehend and serve. Still, when you think how easy it is to sink ships at sea and how hard it is to build them and protect them, and when you remember that we have never less than 2,000 ships afloat and three or four hundred in the danger zone, when you think of the great armies we are maintaining and reinforcing in the east and of the world-wide traffic we have to carry on-when you remember all this can you wonder that it is the Battle of the Atlantic which holds the first place in the thoughts of those upon whom rests responsibility for procuring the victory?

PRIME MINISTER WINSTON CHURCHILL'S BROADCAST "REPORT ON THE WAR"

April 27, 1941

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