What was the difference between the RNR and RNVR, and why was the RNVR stopped?
Short answerIt was folded into the RNR, and some former RNVR culture survived; the reply does not fully explain their earlier recruitment differences.
NotesThe RNVR was folded into the Royal Naval Reserve, with distinctive volunteer-reserve traditions surviving in some units. Clarke gives a qualified anecdote about officers in unidentified units dressing as ratings to fill out ceremonial guards when there were too few sailors available. He explicitly says this was not a regular practice. His own time talking and working with HMS President supplies a separate recollection of reserve life. The earlier recruitment differences remain largely unexplained.