The Liverpool Naval Memorial, also known as the Memorial to the Missing of the Naval Auxiliary Personnel of the Second World War or the Merchant Navy War Memorial, is a war memorial at Pier Head beside the River Mersey in Liverpool, near to the Royal Liver Building and the Museum of Liverpool. It commemorates nearly 1,400 men from the British Merchant Navy who died on active service with Royal Navy in the Second World War, and who have no known grave. More than 13,000 officers and seamen of the Merchant Navy agreed to serve with the Royal Navy in the Second World War, serving mainly in auxiliary vessels such as

armed merchant cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

s, subject to military discipline but still receiving civilian pay. The depot for registration and administration of the naval auxiliaries from the Merchant Navy was established at Liverpool. After the Second World War, the Imperial War Graves Commission (later the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) organised a competition for a memorial, with a budget of £5,000, open to architects who had served in the armed forces. The winning design was created by architects Charles Frederick Blythin and Stanley Harold Smith, with sculpture by

George Herbert Tyson Smith George Herbert Tyson Smith (1883–1972) was an English sculptor born in Liverpool. He executed many works in the Liverpool and Merseyside area, in particular war memorials. He was the brother-in-law of fellow Liverpool sculptor Edward Carter Pr ...

. It was unveiled by Admiral of the Fleet

Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

on 12 November 1952. The memorial comprises a narrow cylindrical column of

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

topped by a glazed lantern, which has glass lenses with a reflective backing intended to resemble a lighthouse, which stands on a semicircular Portland stone platform surrounded by curved walls. The platform is reached by flight of six steps, and the walls support a pair of stone globes, one terrestrial and one celestial. The memorial bears the inscription "These officers and men of the Merchant Navy died while serving with the Royal Navy and have no grave but the sea 1939–1945". The names of the dead are inscribed on 25 bronze plaques arranged around the curved Portland stone walls of the memorial. It became a Grade II listed building in 2010. Among several other memorials at Pier Head are memorials to seamen from Norway, Poland, China, the Netherlands and Belgium who served in the Second World War, and a memorial dedicated to the Merchant Navy unveiled in 1998. There is a proposal to erect a large

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...

memorial nearby. Merchant seamen lost at sea in the First and Second World Wars are also commemorated by the Merchant Navy Memorial at Tower Hill in London. File:Norwegian servicemen memorial, Pier Head.jpg, Norway File:Chinese merchant seamen memorial, Pier Head, Liverpool.png, China File:Netherlands Merchant Navy plaque, Pier Head.jpg, Netherlands File:Belgian Merchant Navy Memorial, Pier Head, Liverpool.jpg, Belgium and Poland File:Merchant Navy Memorial, Pier Head 2.jpg, Merchant Navy Memorial

References

Liverpool Naval Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Memorial to the Merchant Navy
Liverpool World Heritage Site

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Merchant Navy WW2
Imperial War Museums War Memorials Register
CWGC Merchant Navy Memorial to the Missing WW2
War Memorials Online
Battle of the Atlantic memorial campaign
{{coord, 53.40349, -2.99667, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Naval monuments and memorials World War II memorials in England Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials Grade II listed buildings in Liverpool Grade II listed monuments and memorials