Naval Review 111/3 Covering Letter

Thank you for the plethora of feedback we have received on the new versions of The Naval Review. We will continue to refine both the hard copy and the digital outputs, for example there have been recent improvements to both The Forum and the In Memory pages on the website.

In the many conversations I have enjoyed with members over the past year, I have been struck how often we end up talking about lack of time and that the NR is often at the bottom of the pile of a very long list of things to do. So to that end, I am very keen that we continue to evolve the Review to provide added value, particularly to the busy member. As a consequence, there are a number of projects which those of you who use the website will see over the coming months:

• We are just about to advertise and provide a link to The Naval Review from the ‘MyNavy’ App – the Royal Navy’s internal comms and admin app for serving personnel.
• Thanks to a new collaboration with BFBS their daily Defence News about the Navy and associated subjects (I sense you will be less interested in having stories about the other two Services at your fingertips) will be available to both watch or read about.
• We are talking to Lt Cdr Lawrie Philips and the publishers of The Royal Navy Day by Day to introduce a daily excerpt from his excellent book on 500 years of our history.
• There will also be a ‘Briefing Room’ where unclassified briefings on key Naval/military capabilities will be readily available. I am grateful to the CSG and JEF for starting the ball rolling. Please suggest subjects for inclusion, indeed even better please submit a one pager on that subject!
• As many of you know, in our Resources area we already publish the weekly Australian Naval Institute Newsletter and I am delighted to provide a similar service for the historians and arrange to link in historical societies and other like-minded organisations. The first of these is with the Society of Nautical Research and their magazine Topmast; we are also working closely with the 1805 Society. If there are other organisations you would like to see represented, please get in touch.

In order to keep spreading the message and encourage recruiting, especially within the younger serving community, we have introduced a ‘recommend a friend’ incentive. During the application process, potential new members will be asked if another member recommended them to join. We will pay a bounty equivalent to a year’s membership to any valiant Press Ganger who successfully encourages 10 new members to sign up!

Please keep your feedback coming in.

Yours aye,
Mike Beardall
Editor