10537: Royal Navy Patrol Service

The Royal Navy Patrol Service, or Harry Tate’s Navy, as it was popularly known, was a branch of the Royal Navy active during both the First and Second World Wars; it was developed from the pre-Second World War Royal Naval Reserve Trawler Section. During the Second World War, its central depot was located at Lowestoft on the Suffolk Coast.

It was composed of requisitioned vessels such as trawlers, yachts, whalers, paddle steamers. The Service operated in every part of the world and was staffed largely by ex-fishermen undertaking dangerous duties such as mine-sweeping and anti-submarine work.