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Sea Cadet Corps Organisation

The Sea Cadet Corps is an uniformed youth organisation, that is not para-military nor pre-service. It is administered by the Sea Cadet Association and sponsored by the Ministry of Defence.

There are about four hundred Sea Cadet Units spread all over Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Units are grouped into Districts, containing between six and ten Units depending on distance. Each District has a name such as Sussex, Central, Fens, Grampian etc. Districts are grouped into Areas of which there six – Eastern, London, Northern, North West, Southern and South West. Each Area contains 60 to 85 Units. Each Area is administered by a serving Royal Navy or Royal Marine Officer and a small civilian staff. The Areas are administered by the Sea Cadet Headquarters in London under the Command of the Commodore of the Sea Cadet Corps.

About 90 Units have Marine Cadet Sections whose training is broadly based on a Royal Marines training syllabus.

Many Units have Junior Sea Cadet Sections, which are part of the Sea Cadet Corps but do not receive funding from the Ministry of Defence and are financed solely by the Unit.

History of the Sea Cadet Corps

The Corps probably has the longest continuous history of any youth organisation in the County, but like most British institutions it has evolved haphazardly. A few of the landmarks in it’s long development are summarised here:

1852	A Clergyman, who had returned from the Crimea War was so concerned at the number of single parent and orphaned boys which resulted from the loss of so many soldiers and sailors, that he established an orphanage in Whitstable enlisting the help of sailors who had also returned from the Crimea.
1856	A number of similar orphanages, Whitby, Brixham, Deptford to name but three, had been set-up around the country with the same purpose in mind. An organisation called the Naval Lad’s Brigade was formed and by the turn of the century had spread to other towns around the Country.
1899	Her Majesty Queen Victoria graciously presented a £10 note to the Windsor Unit for the purchase of uniforms. From 1999, the anniversary of this event, 25th June has been declared the Birthday of the Sea Cadets.
1910	The Navy League, a pressure group formed in 1895 with the aim of influencing maritime thinking in Parliament and reminding the Country of it’s naval history and dependence on the sea, decided to sponsor a small number of these Units as the Navy League Boys’ Naval Brigade.
1914	The Navy League applied to the Admiralty for recognition of it’s 34 Brigades.
1919	This was granted subject to an annual efficiency inspection by an Officer on the staff of the Admiral Commanding Reserves, the title Navy League Sea Cadet Corps was adopted.
1939	At the start of the 2nd World War, nearly 100 Units had been formed with some 10,000 boy Cadets.
1942	The Navy League’s scheme for training Sea Cadets as telegraphists and signalmen for service in the war time Navy caught the Admiralty’s imagination. The Admiral commanding reserves took over the scheme which became known as the "Bounty Boys’ Scheme", each Unit receiving a "bounty" for every boy it trained for service with the Royal Navy. HM King George VI became the Admiral of the Corps, Officers were appointed in the Royal Naval volunteer reserve (RNVR) and the Corps was renamed The Sea Cadet Corps. As a result of Towns and Cities around the country sponsoring the build and adoption of Warships, the Corps expanded to nearly 400 Units with some 50,000 Cadets. Many Units had adopted the name of the ship that the Town and City had sponsored, as they were formed, they were given a number, originally in alphabetical order "1 Aberdare, to 381 York" thereafter as they became affiliated to the Navy League rising to 430 Units by the end of the war. It was in 1942 that the Girls Naval Training Corps was formed as part of the National Association of Training Corps for Girls (NATCG) with Units mainly in southern England.

1947	Co-sponsorship of the Sea Cadet Corps by the Navy League and the Admiralty was embodied in an agreement known as the Sea Cadet Charter. The Admiralty undertook support of 22,000 Cadets to supply uniforms, boats, training facilities, travel expenses and limited pay for RNVR appointed adult staff.
1950	The Girls Naval Training Corps were now 50 Units strong and in the late 1950s changed their name to the Girls Nautical Training Corps (GNTC).
1955	After a request from the Commandant General Royal Marines, the Sea Cadet Council agreed to the formation of the Marine Cadet section.
1963	The Sea Cadet Council agreed to sponsor the GNTC and it became affiliated to the Sea Cadet Corps, in many cases sharing premises with local Units.
1964	The Marine Cadet section had increased it’s strength from 5 detachments to 40.
1976	The Navy League was renamed to the Sea Cadet Association since support of the Sea Cadet and Girls Nautical Training Corps and the Marine Cadet sections had now become it’s sole purpose. The demise of the Admiral Commanding Reserves saw the responsibility of the Corps pass to the Commander in Chief Naval Home Command (CINCNAVHOME) in Portsmouth, Sea Cadet Charter was revised and was replaced by the Memorandum of Agreement.
1980	On 31st March the Ministry of Defence (Navy) approved the admission of girls into the Sea Cadet Corps with the overall ceiling of numbers (22,000). The Girls Nautical Training Corps ceased to exist as a separate body and it’s Units were admitted to the Sea Cadet Corps to form Girls Nautical Training Contingents. The number of Units originally approved was 120, raised to 150.
1986	All limits on the number of contingents was removed by the MoD(N) and replaced by a limit of 35% of girls in the Corps overall.
1992	Over 300 Units contained girls. The successful integration of the girl and boy cadets and their adult leaders over the previous 11 years led to the logical step of discontinuing the separate Girls Nautical Training Contingents from 1st January. Sea Cadets, male and female, now became entitled to identical training; adult Sea Cadet staff, male and female, became entitled to the same opportunities, insignia, rank nomenclature and pay. In it’s Golden Jubilee year under this title the Sea Cadet Corps numbered some 400 Unit’s once more with rising total membership of around 16,000. Sea Cadet headquarters also retained a supervisory role over 3 Units in Bermuda and 1 in Malta. This year saw the formal introduction of Junior Sea Cadets aged from 10 to 12 years of age into the Sea Cadet Corps, however, the MoD(N) do not formally recognise them and the Junior sections are excluded from MoD(N) sponsorship. Funding therefore becomes a Unit’s Management Committee responsibility.
1994	The International Sea Cadet Association was formed to encourage International exchanged to foster the ethos world wide and to stimulate the formation of new Corps. Founder members were "United Kingdom, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, South Africa, Sweden and the United States of America".
1995	The Sea Cadet Association was reconstituted as a Company as well as a national charity.
1997	The Second Sea Lord approved the change of title of the Captain of the Sea Cadet Corps to Commodore Sea Cadet Corps, to bring the Sea Cadet Corps into line with the Army Cadet Force (ACF) and the Air Training Corps (ATC).