Commando 21 was the name given to the reorganisation of the

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

' (RM) two battalion-sized Commando units; namely 40 Commando; and 45 Commando. 42 Commando having converted to a specialised maritime unit in 2017.

The Commando 21 Organisation

Commando 21 organised each RM

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unit into six sub-units, styled companies. Each

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

was subdivided into

troops A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troop Ro ...

; note that a “

troop A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troop Ro ...

” is the RM nomenclature for a

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may range ...

rather than for an individual soldier. The new structure was presented as giving the RM more firepower, more mobility, more information, more flexibility and more fighting power. According to open-sources each Stand Off Combat Company was to have a field strength of five officers and 78 other ranks, and each Close Combat Company was to have five officers and 98 other ranks. Under the Commando 21 re-organisation the overall strength of each of the three units was originally stated to be 692 all ranks. The companies are: ;Command Company : Main HQ : Tactical HQ : Reconnaissance Troop (includes a sniper section) : Mortar Troop (9 Barrels of 81 mm) (Includes 4 MFC pairs) : Anti-Tank (AT) Troop (Milan—to be replaced by Javelin ATGW) : Medium Machine Gun Troop ;2X Close Combat Companies : Company Headquarters (Coy HQ) : 3X Close Combat Troops (Troop HQ, 3 Rifle Sections, Manoeuvre Support Section) ;2X Stand Off Companies : Company Headquarters (Coy HQ) : Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) Troop (0.5" heavy machine guns) : AT Troop : Close Combat Troop ;One Logistic Company : A Echelon 1 (A Ech1) : A Echelon 2 (A Ech2) : FRT : RAP : B Echelon (B Ech)

Command Company

The Command Company is responsible for command, control, communications, computation, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (C4ISR). It also was organised to include a machine gun troop, the unit’s mortar and anti-tank troops, together with the reconnaissance troop.

Logistics Support Company

The Logistic Support Company manages administrative and logistic activity.

Close Combat Companies

Each of the two Close Combat Company is similar to the previous RM rifle company, having 3 platoon sized troops, but each troop, in addition to three rifle sections, has a manoeuvre support section of five men equipped with

General Purpose Machine Gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered for ...

, Long Range Rifle and

81 mm Mortar An 81 mm mortar is a medium-weight mortar. It is a smooth-bore, muzzle-loading, high-angle-of-fire weapon used for long-range indirect fire support to light infantry, air assault, and airborne units across the entire front of a battalion zone of ...

Stand-Off Combat Companies

Each of the two Stand Off Combat Company has a Close Combat Troop identical to those in the Close Combat Companies. It also was organised to have an Anti-Tank Troop with 6

Javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...

anti-tank weapons and a

Heavy Machine Gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light machine gun, light, medium machine gun, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require weapon mount, mountin ...

troop with 6 x 0.5in Heavy Machine Guns.

Timescale

The restructuring was to have completed by summer 2003.

External links

Commando 21 paperCommando 21 Orbat

References

{{refbegin Royal Marines Military units and formations by size Tables of Organisation and Equipment