Warsailors Forums

Hi

I understand that one of my relations joined the Royal Navy at age 15 (this would be in 1940) but was rejected for operational service because of his age. He therefore 'tansferred' (?) to the Merchant Service where I know that he served from 1942-45 (aged 17 to 20).

Does this sound feasible ?
What was the minimum age for joining the Navy ?
And could such a 'transfer' actually happen ?

The question is "Was he actually in the Royal Navy?"

There is ample evidence of 14 year-olds joining the Merchant Navy. Billy McGee has written much on this

"They Shall Grow Not Old" and "Ropner's Navy"

Good hunting
Phil

The minimum age for Royal Navy entry was 15 yrs and 3 months, so I cannot see that he would have been 'rejected'. There was no 'transfer' between Royal and Merchant Navies

Thanks for the replies - I must say that it sounded dubious to me.

Perhaps he though that RN service sounded a bit more i.pressive.

That's fairly possible, he could have spent all of his time in the merchant fleet but told he was in the Royal Navy.
Or, here's another theory, he could have lied on his age to enter the RN before the age of 15 and 3 months, that was quite common as well.