Many First World War Auxiliary Patrol vessels remained fishing craft operated by fishermen. A naval gunner and signaller could join the crew alongside a light gun and anti-submarine equipment. Merchant skippers could receive Royal Naval Reserve commissions so that an armed vessel firing on an enemy had recognized combatant status. The arrangement combined civilian hulls and local knowledge with a small naval complement. It expanded patrol and self-defence capacity without requiring a destroyer for every fishing area.
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How fishing trawlers became a wartime auxiliary patrol
Britain armed fishing vessels, supplied naval specialists, and commissioned merchant skippers to establish combatant status.