British Coastal Forces of World War II

Coastal Forces
Active	1914-1918, 1939-1968
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy
Type	Naval force
Commanders
Ceremonial chief	Rear Admiral Coastal Forces

Coastal Forces was a division of the Royal Navy instially established during World War I and then again in World War II under the command of Rear-Admiral Coastal Forces. they existed in one form or another until 1968 when the last sailors to wear the "HM Coastal Forces" cap tally were the ship's companies of the inshore minesweepers that were taken out of reserve in 1968.

The Royal Navy had previously operated flotillas of small torpedo- and depth-charge-armed craft (Coastal Motor Boats) during World War I (1914-1918). They operated as often in action against the enemy coast as in defence of British coastal areas.

During World War II (1939-1945), the first Coastal Forces headquarters was set up at HMS Vernon in 1940 under Rear Admiral Piers Kekewich, Flag Officer Coastal Forces. The Chief Staff Officer to the Rear Admiral was Augustus Agar, VC, who had commanded coastal motor boats during World War I and in British operations in the Baltic Sea in 1918 and 1919 in support of White Russian forces during the Russian Civil War.

Royal Navy Coastal Forces craft operated mainly in the English Channel and North Sea waters, especially in the build up to the Normandy invasion of 1944. They were also used in the Mediterranean and off Norwegian coastline." They raided St. Nazaire and Dieppe. They were used to attack German convoys and their S-boat (known to the Allies as "E-Boat") escorts, carry out clandestine raids and landings, and pick up secret agents in Norway and Brittany. The coastal craft were manned by various Allied nationalities including Dutch, Norwegian, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealanders."

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