[DS?] Royal units (was: camo schemes for vehicles)

On Thu, 10 Dec 1998 08:37:13 +0000 Ground Zero Games
> <jon@gzero.dungeon.com> wrote:

> Just a little point -- though we have the ROYAL Air Force and the
:) <

I think it stems from the historical organisation of the service in question.
The Navy, once it became more than a loose collection of whoever had ships and
was willing to employ them in combat under some admiral's command (if there
wasn't something else to do that was more interesting, like plunder captured
ships), was a single fighting service, right from the start (Henry VIII?).

By contrast, the army began as a collection of units -- regiments,
etc., raised by various lords, squires, knights and the like, and the unit
names and designations reflected that, and still do, even though the
aristocratic connection is lost. The "Royal" units in the British
Army are the _regiments_ -- the Royal Armoured Regiment, the Royal
Artillery, etc. The Army is the super-authority that oversees the
operation of the regiments.

If it comes to that, the very word "army" is ambiguous. The Army has,
in the past, had several sub-armies -- the First Army, the Fifth Army,
the Eighth Army, etc. Navies don't do this -- there are _Fleets_, but
not Navies. It's interesting to note that the USAAF followed Army practice
during WW2 and had the Eighth, Fourteenth, etc., "Air Forces", and I think
that the USAF still does. The RAF, though, once it was
formed from two other "Royal" units -- the RFC and the RNAS -- kept the
Royal title for itself as a whole, as does the RN, and operates on a
Command basis -- Fighter/Bomber/Coastal/Training Commands, and today's
Strike Command.

Phil