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Maritime RA

The Maritime RA had its beginnings in the early part of the war when the Admiralty requested
the Regiment to provide 500, 2 man LMG teams for embarking on merchant coasters. Taking with them either Lewis
or Bren guns, they were to provide AA defence for the vessels.
With the increase in severity of attacks on shipping, the Maritime Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA was formed in 1941.

There were initially 3 LMG Regts each with 2 Btys and 1 Regt of 1 Bty of Bofors 40mm. Port detachments were formed to find pools of trained LMG gunners who could be embarked as required. The LMG’s were supplemented with Hotchkiss guns and eventually mostly replaced by Oerlikon’s and Bofors.
There was no higher formation, each CO reporting direct to RA6 at the War Office.

In Sept 42 a gunner Brigadier was appointed as commander. By the end of the year Btys and Troops were operating independently and in Jan 43 the regiment was re-titled Maritime Royal Artillery.

In March 43 numbers were increased and the regiment organised into 6 regiments and 24 port detachments in the UK. There were also 4 overseas Batteries at New York, Port Said, Bombay and South Africa and 4 independent Troops at Freetown, Sydney, Algiers and Haifa. A 5th Troop was added later at Naples.
Most of the principal ports throughout the world that were visited by allied shipping also had small detachments. Sometimes these could be as small as a single NCO.

Maritime Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery

Maritime Royal Artillery

At this time the strength of the regiment was 170 officers and 14,000+ other ranks.
Operationally the regiment came under the Royal Navy and they worked in close cooperation with the DEMS Branch (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships).
In Aug 45 the regiment was reorganised into 1, 4 & 5 Regiments each with an RHQ, Training Bty and Holding Bty. There was also 2 Regiment in India but this was not fully formed.

Operational Organisation