I am writing this letter on 3 March, conscious that in exactly six months’ time, on 3 September, it will be Merchant Navy Day. The Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy have sailed side by side for hundreds of years. It is the proud duty of the Royal Navy to support and protect our civilian colleagues as they go about their business in great waters. Protection of trade is fundamental to the purpose of Her Majesty’s Fleet and the prosperity of our country depends on this relationship between the Royal and Merchant Navies. Forty years ago, without the Merchant Navy the Falklands War would have been l…
