Our History

1850’s - Naval Boy’s Brigades were set up in port towns across England to help orphaned and destitute boys by offering them instruction on a naval theme.

1856 – The first Sea Cadet unit was recorded.

1899 - HM Queen Victoria helped establish the Windsor unit when she donated £10 for uniforms.

Sea Cadets History

1910 - The Navy League sponsored several Brigades, this grew to 34 by 1914.

1919 - The Admiralty granted official recognition and set up annual inspections and our name became the Navy League Sea Cadet Corps.

1927 – Cadets take part in the Lord Mayors Day Parade in London.

1936/7 - Sea Cadets was re-launched by the Navy League with generous corporate gifts and private donors, headed by Lord Nuffield who gave us £50,000.

Cadets in the Lord Mayors parade, London

1939 - There were 100 units and 10,000 cadets.

1939 – World War 2 was well underway by this point. Cadet training was seen as very important as they were the country’s future defence. Signalling was particularly important with many former cadets serving on the front line. 1940 - The Navy League bought an old sailing vessel, re-naming her TS Bounty. She took 40 cadets a week to sea during the summer.

‘Sea Cadets in war time’

1941- The shortage of ratings in the RN led to special three-week training courses onboard TS Bounty for Sea Cadets, for entry into the RN.

1942 – Our name changed to Sea Cadet Corps. HM King George VI became the first Admiral of the Corps and Officers were granted appointments in the RNVR.

1943 – Sea Cadet magazine was launched with the purpose that “various units will have a means of knowing what each individual unit is doing, and will thereby be in closer touch with each other”

The Sea Cadet magazine was launched

1942 - Each unit was given money for every boy it trained for service with the RN. Towns and cities sponsored units and adopted warships. The Sea Cadets grew to 400 units with 50,000 cadets. Each unit was affiliated to the Sea Cadet Corps and issued with a number in alphabetical order.

1942 - The Girls’ Naval Training Corps (GNTC) was formed as part of the National Association of Training Corps for Girls (NATCG).

1945 - At the end of the Second World War there were 430 units and 50,000 cadets.

1947 - The Admiralty and the Navy League sponsored the Sea Cadet Corps in a partnership. This meant the Admiralty would support 22,000 cadets by supplying uniforms, boats, training facilities, travel expenses and limited pay to adult staff.

1952 - HM The Queen became our Patron with HRH the Duke of Edinburgh as the Admiral of the Corps.

1954 – First National Regatta was held in Surbiton – Cadets from Twickenham won the Junior and Senior Trophies.

December 1954 - The first Marine Cadet detachment was opened in Bristol Adventure unit. Marine Cadets was formed for ‘..sturdy, adventurous boys…’

1955 - As Elvis Presley recorded his first hits in America, ‘Sea Cadet’ magazine reported on a speech given to London cadets about the dangers of this new style of music: “Have nothing to do with this rock and roll non-sense, you’ll get plenty of that at sea. I saw some of the stuff on TV, and it made me want to be thoroughly sea-sick.”

1955 - Sea Cadets celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, playing a key role in the parade in Trafalgar Square. (Image 7) The Navy League and then the Sea Cadets had lead Trafalgar celebrations since the 19th Century.

1956 - Cadets from Tooting unit featured in the Twentieth Century Fox film ‘Anastasia’, playing the Copenhagen boys’ marching band. The unit’s band played their own instruments and paraded for their part in the film, which starred Yul Brynner and Ingrid Bergman.

1964 in the Sea Cadets1964 - The Navy League sponsored the Girls Nautical Training Corps (GNTC) affiliating it to the Sea Cadet Corps.

Feb 1964 – a novel touch was given to a parade night in Walton on the Naze unit - small radioactive buttons were hidden in the pockets of two of the officers and the cadets had to identify them using Geiger counters.

June 1964 - The Chairman of Barnet unit praised Sea Cadets at their annual dinner for ensuring that at least there would be “20,000 young citizens going out into the world in the near future without Beatle Haircuts and without beatnik suits.”

July 1964 - A Sea Cadet Crew achieved victory in the International Sail Training Race from Plymouth to Lisbon. They sailed the Royal Yacht Bloodhound to come in 7 ½ hours before the next yacht in their class.

Nov 1964 - Three former Sea Cadets were selected to compete for Great Britain in the Tokyo Olympic Games. Having won every diving event in the area and national championships in 1959 and 1960, Billy Wood from Slough Unit went on to compete for his country. Boxer Brian Packer, from Dartford Unit and runner Billy McKim of Corby joined him there.

Billy McKim Billy Wood

March 1969 - The Sea Cadet magazine reported on the Apollo mission to the moon, explaining the take off and landing procedures with images.  

June 1969 - Teams of Sea Cadets walked from Lands End to John O’Groats, covering over 500 miles in eight days. Despite camping out and walking over 40 miles a day, the walkers were still marked every morning for dress and appearance.

1972 - Juniors were introduced to the Sea Cadets

1976 - The Navy League renamed itself as the Sea Cadet Association (SCA) since support of the SC and GNTC had become its sole aims.

1982 - GNTC joined with Sea Cadets, and for the first time all young people could be Sea Cadets.

2004 - Sea Cadets merged with the Marine Society. The Marine Society has similar beginnings to the Sea Cadets but now it mainly helps seafarers with access to education or books, many of its learners are RN personnel.

When the Society started in 1756 it took orphaned boys off the streets and trained them to work on the King’s ships. One of its early patrons was Admiral Lord Nelson, who, on one occasion when he was feeling unwell, sent a letter saying he couldn’t attend a meeting at the Charity but offered £5 to help with fundraising!

We still have the letter at Sea Cadet HQ, which we share with the Marine Society.

Sea Cadets Today

There are 14,000 Sea Cadets, Royal Marines Cadets and Juniors in 400 units across the UK and in Malta, Bermuda and the Falkland Islands, and 9,000 volunteers who help them.

What about our unit history?

Objectives

Q Explain two points of the SCC history to a non-member of the SCC.

Q In a group, present a five-minute talk about the unit history to other cadets with reference materials.