The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy (RN) in the United Kingdom. History The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 merging the original Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) founded under the Naval Reserve Act in 1859 as a reserve of professional seamen from the merchant service and fishing fleets and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR), a reserve of civilian volunteers founded later in 1903. The RNR was originally a reserve of seamen only but in 1862 this was extended to include recruitment and training of officers. From its creation, RNR officers wore a unique, distinctive lace consisting of stripes of interwoven chain. A number of drillships were established at the main seaports around the coast of Britain and Ireland and seamen left their vessels in the base ports to undertake gunnery training in a drillship for a period of one month annually. After initial s