The Fishery Protection Squadron is the oldest squadron of the Royal Navy and can be traced back to 1481, although some sources, including the Royal Navy, date it to 1379. Even before an organised navy was established, the
herring fishermen in
Great Yarmouth fought skirmishes with foreign fishermen, who would be hanged as pirates from the gallows at
Cross Sands if caught. Even today, on
Trafalgar Day, the
flag officer shaves with the same
cut-throat razor used by Nelson while he commanded
Albemarle.
19th century With historical rivalries between the U.S. and Britain in North America, the
fishery protection squadron in
Newfoundland and the surrounding area was seen as very important. At the time, the British hugely outnumbered the Americans in terms of fishery protection vessels, with 226 guns to 31 respectively. On 5 August 1853, contingents of the U.S. and British fishery protection squadrons for the area met at
Halifax, Nova Scotia for a goodwill visit. With these new arrivals and others, by the end of 1898 the entire squadron had been rebuilt with powerful, modern cruisers replacing the outdated corvettes previously seen. These powers were given to the captains by the Newfoundland government, granted via yearly act of the
Newfoundland Legislature.
1950s —from the Scottish region of the Fishery Protection Squadron—was sent to
Lossiemouth on 1 June 1953, to act as reviewing ship for a "Coronation fleet review" involving about 70 fishing vessels from the ports of
Hopeman,
Burghead and
Nairn, as well as Lossiemouth proper. A
Fleet Air Arm helicopter gave a demonstration of
air-sea rescue operations as part of the display. On 17 April 1957, the
Glasgow Herald reported that several
East Anglian herring drifters (based at
Aberdeen) were encountering trouble with
Russian fisherman, who were intentionally fouling the nets of the British in the fishing grounds 40 miles off the coast of
Norway. The
Ocean Starlight (Yarmouth) lost 50 nets, the
George Spashett (Lowestoft) lost 42, and the
Ocean Sunlight (Lowestoft) lost 14. The skippers lodged complaints with the Fishery Board Officer at Aberdeen, and it was considered "possible that a fishery protection vessel may be sent". About a year later, in April 1958, was sent to the northern fisheries to protect British trawlers against Russian incursions, and , a fishery protection vessel, was officially handed over to the
Burmese Navy to become a minesweeper and training vessel. The handover ceremony took place at the
Pool of London, and was presided over by the Burmese ambassador and
Earl Mountbatten.
First Cod War The Fishery Protection Squadron played a key part in the Cod Wars of the 1950s through the 1970s. During the first war, known by the Royal Navy as
Operation Whippet, two extra frigates and two minesweepers were sent to the squadron on 16 August 1958 to augment the defence against Iceland's unilateral tripling of its
territorial waters. Other countries, such as
West Germany, Holland and France intervened in the conflict. The squadron's task was to protect British trawlers from attacks by Icelandic trawlers and coast guard vessels. By 25 August, over 100 trawlers were on their way to fish in the area, protected by four armed ships from the Fishery Protection Squadron. —a from the
3rd Training Squadron commanded by Lieutenant Commander R C Mayne—was transferred to fishery protection duties. It left
Chatham on August 27, 1958, to keep the squadron at full strength after it had been depleted by other vessels being withdrawn for refits. Hostilities began on 4 September, four days after the extension came into effect. reported that the Icelandic gunboat
Aegir had attempted to ram her while she was escorting British trawlers in the disputed area. Two reports were received from the ship during the evening. The first, at 19:00
BST read, "Four gunboats in the area and plainly up to something. While covering trawlers from
Aegir she plainly tried to ram me." In another incident, on 7 October, naval surgeons managed to amputate six fingers from an injured fisherman from the trawler
Loch Inver. The operation was performed aboard , in the officer's mess, as Iceland had forbidden sick and injured men to be landed at Icelandic ports. By the end of the first war, the squadron was recorded to have given assistance on 360 occasions. The Icelandic Coastguard viewed this as a violation of international law, and took many photographs of the trawlers displaying these signs; including a picture taken on 5 September 1972 of a ship believed to be the trawler
Peter Scott (H103). Throughout 1972, 10 trawlers had their nets cut: nine British, and one West German. For the year of 1973, this had expanded to 60 British and 14 West German trawlers; a loss of hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of nets. • Using two trawlers to operate one trawl net. Both trawlers would sail in
line astern formation; the first would fish while the second would attempt to fend off Icelandic vessels. Unfortunately, this not only cut the number of vessels engaged in fishing in half: it was also ineffective against Icelandic vessels, as the high standard of seamanship required to steer a heavy, unwieldy trawler in tight formation in rough Atlantic seas was simply too much for a civilian fisherman.
Fishery Protection Squadron intervention After 19 May, three or four British frigates, four tugs, and as many as five
Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels were in the disputed area to protect an average of 46 trawlers from Icelandic harassment. Altogether, 14 'rammings' were recorded by the ICG between October 1972 and September 1973. ==Administration==