A group of RNVR (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve) ratings raise a cheer on reaching Plymouth, England on the 'HMS Curacoa'. Officers and ratings of the RNVR (London and Sussex Divisions) are spending Easter afloat - they left Portsmouth for Plymouth and Torbay and are carrying out practical training including gunnery during their cruise. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)A group of RNVR (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve) ratings raise a cheer on reaching Plymouth, England on the 'HMS Curacoa'. Officers and ratings of the RNVR (London and Sussex Divisions) are spending Easter afloat - they left Portsmouth for Plymouth and Torbay and are carrying out practical training including gunnery during their cruise. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
A group of RNVR (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve) ratings raise a cheer on reaching Plymouth, England on the 'HMS Curacoa'. Officers and ratings of the RNVR (London and Sussex Divisions) are spending Easter afloat - they left Portsmouth for Plymouth and Torbay and are carrying out practical training including gunnery during their cruise. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

14 images show life in the Royal Navy in years gone

You will see reserves, cadets and sailors of the Royal Navy is this enlightening gallery of their lives.

Included in this selection are images of British sailors arriving at the Royal Naval Barracks in Portsmouth back in 1939, sea cadets enjoying a swim in the floating swimming pool alongside the battleship 'Implacable' in 1936.

Also in the set of photos there are ones showing the first of the naval reservists called-up in 1951, able seamen learning how to cope with gas warfare at the Royal Navy Anti-Gas School at Tipner in 1934, we also see them playing ball games wearing gas masks, to accustom them to carrying out strenuous tasks in respirators.

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