The Sea Cadets
The Sea Cadet Corps dates back to the Crimean War (1854-1856) when sailors returning home from the campaign formed Naval Lads' Brigades to help orphans in the back streets of sea ports, the first such Brigade being established in the Kent port of Whitstable.
The Corps’ founding premise was and remains “…to encourage valuable personal attributes and high standards of conduct, using a nautical theme based on the customs of the Royal Navy”.
A pressure group called the Navy League was formed in 1894 and had the aim of influencing maritime thinking in Parliament and reminding the country of its naval history and dependence on the Sea. In 1910 it decided to sponsor a small number of independent units as the Navy League Boys’ Naval Brigade.
In 1914 the Navy League applied to the Admiralty for recognition of its 34 Boys' Naval Brigades. This was granted in 1919 subject to an annual efficiency inspection by an officer on the staff of the Admiral Commanding Reserves, and the title Navy League Sea Cadet Corps was adopted.
In 1937 Lord Nuffield gave £50,000 (over £2 million in today's money) to fund the re-launch and expansion of the Sea Cadet Corps.
At the start of World War II (1939) here were almost 100 Sea Cadet Units in the UK with more than 10,000 Cadets
In June 1940 the Navy League purchased an old sailing vessel and renamed her TS Bounty. She was fitted out to accommodate 40 Cadets. In July weekly courses started for Cadets from all Units. These ended in September and the ship closed down.
In 1941 due to the shortage of visual and wireless ratings in the Royal Navy special three-week training courses were run on board TS Bounty for Sea Cadets, to qualify them more quickly for entry into the RN. This made good use of the training and skills they had already gained in the Cadets and meant a considerable saving in training time for the Admiralty.
The 1941 scheme had caught the Admiralty’s imagination. As a result, in 1942, the Admiral Commanding Reserves took over the training role, HM King George VI became Admiral of the Corps, Officers were granted appointments in the RNVR and the Corps was renamed the Sea Cadet Corps. A huge expansion to 400 Units and 50,000 Cadets coincided in many towns with Warship Weeks, so the newly formed Unit took the same name as the adopted warship. The Admiralty now paid for uniforms, equipment, travel and training, while the Navy League funded sport and Unit headquarters.
In the same year, the Girls’ Naval Training Corps was formed as part of the National Association of Girls’ Corps, with Units mainly in southern England.
The Sea Cadet Council was set up to govern the Corps in 1948, with membership from the Navy League and the Royal Navy, and a retired Captain took on the task of supervision, first as Secretary to the Council and later as Captain, Sea Cadet Corps.
In 1955 the Commandant General, Royal Marines asked permission to form a Marine Cadet Section that could be fitted into the existing organisation and the Council agreed to this. By 1964 the Section had expanded from the original five Detachments to 40. Today there are over 100.
The Girls’ Nautical Training Corps became affiliated to the Sea Cadet Corps in 1963, in many cases sharing the same premises with local Units.
In 1976 the Navy League was renamed the Sea Cadet Association since support of the Sea Cadets and Girls’ Nautical Training Corps had become its sole aims.
The admission of girls into the Sea Cadet Corps was approved in 1980 and the Girls’ Nautical Training Corps ceased to exist as a separate body.
Today the Corps consists of 387 independent charities with approximately 14,000 cadets.