Formation badge, Maritime Anti-Aircraft units, Royal Artillery, 1941 (c)

Square cotton and silk badge, with a red fouled anchor with a white rope set on a black square. This is the first pattern badge - later versions substituted the letters 'RA'.

The Maritime Royal Artillery came into being in 1941 and provided Anti-Aircraft gun crews which were allotted to the Royal Navy Defensively Equipped Merchant Shipping (DEMS) organisation. As well as the Army it included men from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. Their role included the defence of merchant ships from the air threat. They served in all types of ships ranging from troop ships to tankers and other cargo ships. They used guns ranging from the 40 mm Bofors gun down to light machine guns. The organisation was stood down at the end of World War Two (1939-1945).