Talk:Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy

Coastal Forces WW2 -Polish Flotilla - Links and Pictures
My Father, Thomas William Lofthouse, served with Coastal Forces during WW2, but almost exclusively on MTB's with the Polish Flotilla: links and some rare pictures of these vessels available at    —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.77.43.67 (talk) 20:16, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

copyvio question
a lot of the text here resembles that of an information sheet of the Royal Navy Museum namely this. GraemeLeggett (talk) 12:44, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Article name
Since Coastal Forces lasted into the 50s but at a lesser scale I think rather than have two articles (Coastal Forces and its Second World War history) it would be better to rename this one to Royal Navy Coastal Forces.GraemeLeggett (talk) 09:17, 11 December 2007 (UTC)


 * But was there ever formally such an entity as "Royal Navy Coastal Forces"? Google throws up a miserly 50 entries for this, and another miserly 45 entries for "Royal Naval Coastal Forces". By contrast, for a legitimate entry such as "Royal Naval Patrol Service" Google presents 4680 entries, and for the often misnamed alternative "Royal Navy Patrol Service" it presents 833 entries. Coastal Force rapidly withered on the vine after WW2, as its equivalent did in other countries, and it was entirely defunct by 1956. In other words, it was basically an artifice of WW2. It seems to me that a postscript within the existing article would handle its rapidly vanishing presence after WW2. Or what's wrong with a separate article if you think it warrants it? Personally I prefer the title to remain as it is so it can brought into alignment with other articles such as "British Trawlers during World War II" and "British Minesweepers during World War II" which I am currently building, as well as parallel articles with other countries which already exist (such as New Zealand Coastal Forces of World War II) --Geronimo20 (talk) 13:15, 11 December 2007 (UTC)


 * To fit in with naming conventions you should be thinking along the lines of "(History of) World War II trawlers of the United Kingdom" rather than "British Trawlers during World War II". Which would also make for World War II Coastal Forces of New Zealand etc. While the direct phrase Royal Navy Coastal Forces is rare the capitalised Coastal Forces is common enough and the Royal Navy bit serves to disambiguate the other option would be Coastal Forces (Royal Navy) GraemeLeggett (talk) 15:55, 11 December 2007 (UTC)


 * I take your point about country-specific naming conventions. "Coastal forces" by itself is a very broad term implying a lot more than the article is really about (there is no suggestion it has anything to do with war, and it could be about erosion or the weather). Can we agree on: "Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy", "Coastal Forces of the Royal New Zealand Navy", "World War II Trawlers of the Royal Navy" and "World War II Trawlers of the Royal New Zealand Navy" --Geronimo20 (talk) 04:26, 12 December 2007 (UTC)


 * I thik your suggestions are as valid as any but I would lose the capital on "Trawlers" lest it be flagged up for speedy rename (Requested moves)

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Missing from the bibliography?
There is a conspicuous absence in the bibliography: that of the short history written in 1945 by the renowned ornithologist, the late Peter Scott (Lt Cdr, RNVR, DSC and Bar). The title is: "The Battle of the Narrow Seas - A History of the Light Coastal Forces in the Channel and North Sea, 1939 - 1945". The ISBN is: 0 85617 788 1 and it was re-published by White Lion in 1974. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ghisere Andy (talk • contribs) 11:06, 2 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks :) --Epipelagic (talk) 11:39, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

"Units and craft" section - complete?
The table in the "Units and craft" section of this article is missing information. This makes me wonder if the ship types listed there are the only ones, or may be more to add. Can anyone help here please? Thanks DPdH (talk) 03:01, 5 October 2014 (UTC)

BTW, the section only lists craft types, but no mention of the units that employed them. So I'll split the section in two. Regards, DPdH (talk) 03:44, 5 October 2014 (UTC)


 * I removed the empty section on "units". I have not noticed anything in the literature apart from "flotillas". A Coastal Forces flotilla usually consisted of a small group of boats all of the same type. They can be mentioned in the existing section on craft types. --Epipelagic (talk) 16:46, 5 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Well, if literature doesn't list the specific units (e.g.: flotillas) that employed these craft, agree that having an empty section for indefinite time doesn't make sense. Sadly I don't have access to any bibliography on this matter to help. Regards, DPdH (talk) 01:24, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

"Surviving craft" section - complete?
I'm a bit surprised that so few surviving examples exist from what I assume was a numerous force. Is the list in this section "complete"? Possibly not, so if this is the case this should be called out. Can anyone help clarify this please? Thanks, DPdH (talk) 13:02, 5 October 2014 (UTC)
 * What is a "surviving" craft? I could walk you out to a fair few piles of mouldering plywood in creeks around the south coast.  There were a lot more privately owned craft in the '70s, but age and rot really has caught up with these wooden craft and there are very few left in even recognisable shape. More than listed here, but unless a vessel was deliberately looked after (even as a static hulk houseboat) it's now at an age where decay will have caused physical collapse. Andy Dingley (talk) 13:16, 5 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Good question! My assumption is that the "survivors" that may be included in this section are those craft in good condition (seaworthy or not) that resemble in some way their original purpose even with modifications. But after going thru a few similar articles, I can't see that a common criteria has always been used. Regards, DPdH (talk) 01:20, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

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Capitalisation
Motor Launch vs. motor launch etc.

See WT:WikiProject Ships Andy Dingley (talk) 19:22, 8 January 2020 (UTC)

related draft article
I've been working on Draft:List of vessels of Royal Navy Coastal Forces which may be of use. GraemeLeggett (talk) 09:12, 19 February 2023 (UTC)