History UsefulNotes / BritsWithBattleships

* In two versions in ''VideoGame/ProjectReality'': one expands the original SAS from [[Battlefield 2: Special Forces]] into a more grounded infantry unit, fighting enemies across Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The ''Falklands'' update also added a 1980s version of the BAF, fighting Argentine forces in the Falklands island.

* ''Battlefield 1942'' and its ''Road to Rome'' and ''Secret Weapons of WWII'' expansions featured the British army, air force, and on one limited occasion, its navy as the Allied nation on some maps, though in the original game they almost always use standard (read: American) equipment and weapons, though they grow more diverse in the expansion. One or two of the multiplayer maps are the second time the British-Japanese front in India during WWII has ever been depicted in a video game.
** As well as ''Hidden and Dangerous'' 2, which featured the Japanese theatre of war in one of the campaigns. Also in H&D you play as, up to four, British SAS soldiers all throughout the game.

* In the aptly named ''British Armed Forces'' expansion for ''[[VideoGame/{{ARMA}} ARMA II]]'' adds the BAF as a playable factions, adding accurate weapons, uniforms and vehicles. The game also adds a campaign following British soldier Brian Frost as he helps the NATO colation secure [[{{Qurac}} Takistan]] from insurgent forces. The BAF also appears in ''ARMA III'' where a very shady clandestine UKSF group helping the NATO unit in Altis, and in in many occasions seem to be hindering the conflict against CSAT. [[spoiler:It's revealed later they aren't UKSF, but the "CTRG", a confidential NATO cyber-warfare group sent to Altis to recover the secret "Westwind device" at any costs]].
* In two versions in ''VideoGame/ProjectReality'': one expands the original SAS from [[VideoGame/Battlefield2 Battlefield 2: Special Forces]] into a more grounded infantry unit, fighting enemies across Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The ''Falklands'' update also added a 1980s version of the BAF, fighting Argentine forces in the Falklands island.

* Project Reality's SpiritualSuccesor ''VideoGame/{{Squad}}'' also has the British Armed Forces as one of the playable factions.

* In two versions in ''VideoGame/ProjectReality'': one expands the original SAS from [[VideoGameBattlefield2 Battlefield 2: Special Forces]] into a more grounded infantry unit, fighting enemies across Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The ''Falklands'' update also added a 1980s version of the BAF, fighting Argentine forces in the Falklands island.
* Project Reality's SpiritualSucessor ''VideoGame/{{Squad}}'' also has the British Armed Forces as one of the playable factions.

* The '''[=AS-90=]''' self propelled gun is the primary big gun of the British Army. With a [=155mm=] howitzer it may not stand out amongst the worldwide impressions of such things but it is just another one of those tough old proven designs that the British Army is rather happy with. Capable of launching projectiles many dozens of kilometres with unerring accuracy is still has a place today. The lack of any official nickname for the AS-90 resulted in an end to the [=WW2=]-era tradition that self-propelled artillery be named after church officials (Priest, Deacon, Abbot, etc).
** Had an upgrade concept called 'Braveheart' at one point which extended the gun to a 52 calibur length. This would have dramatically upgraded the range and enabled cross compatibility with the Navy. Unfortunately, this was during Labour's "a penny spend on defence is a penny wasted" stage and the upgrade was cancelled other than an export sale of the turret design to Poland for their Krab SPG

** One of the Royal Marines units is the FPG (Fleet Protection Group) whose task is to guard the UK's naval assets. Their primary task is guarding the [[UltimateDefenceOfTheRealm nuclear weapons]] but they are also stationed on ships to act as defence and boarding parties.

* The Rifles: another super-regiment formed by the merger of several older ones, The Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry, The Light Infantry, The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry and The Royal Green Jackets. Wears Green berets and black buttons and uses the old spelling of Serjeant. Has its own traditions separate from Infantry of the line as rifle regiments used to use a radically different drill. By standing strength is the largest regiment of infantry. The name dates back to when rifles were a relatively new weapon and only issued to elite units, meaning that they were the special forces and sharpshooters of their day - a reputation they lived up to, with one rifleman successfully scoring a kill during the Napoleonic Wars at 800 yards, ''four times'' the supposed range of the Baker Rifle. It's been well over a century and a half since the last smoothbore muskets were retired and rifles became something that ''all'' Infantry units have, but the name remains as a matter of tradition. Made famous by the fictional exploits of a certain [[Literature/{{Sharpe}} Richard Sharpe]]

Also despite the name of this page, not only does Britain not operate battleships anymore (neither does any other country), but there aren't any intact examples of a British battleship outside of wrecks. This is because Britain retired most of her battleship fleet after the second world war when it was too strapped for cash to turn down all that potential scrap metal money.

-->-- '''A Maharatta Chieftain''', after the Escalade of Ahmednuggur in the Second Anglo-Maharatta War.

Also despite the name of this page, not only does Britain not operate battleships anymore, but there aren't any intact examples of a British battleship outside of wrecks. This is because Britain retired most of her battleship fleet after the second world war when it was too strapped for cash to turn down all that potential scrap metal money.

* The Foot Guards (Grenadier/Coldstream/Scots/Irish/Welsh Guards): Five regiments. These are the ones who usually wear the [[NiceHat bearskin hats]], stand outside Buckingham Palace and get many a tourist [[BritishRoyalGuards trying to make them smile in fiction]]. Don't annoy them too much though, those rifles are real, are loaded and can fire full auto. Also, at the very least, they ''will'' give you a solid kick up the arse. The Irish lot recruit mostly from [[UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland Stroke Country]] and from the Irish diaspora in Great Britain (the major English and Scottish cities all have big Irish populations), but also do so from the Republic (unofficially). Definitely ''not'' just ceremonial units, they have fought in many areas around the world such as North Africa, Italy and western Europe in WWII, and managed to hold the Hougoumont farmhouse at Waterloo against 14,000 Frenchmen; All Guard Regiments have seen combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, including receiving battle honours in 2005. They can be distinguished via their button designs.

You are allowed to have [[SeadogBeard a beard]] if you're in the Royal Navy, unlike in the US... unless there's the possibility of making an acquaintance with war gases, since the beard prevents you getting a good fit with your gas mask. You're also allowed to raise a glass and toast your crowned Head of State and Commander in Chief while remaining seated, a privilege dating back to the days of wooden ships, where the wardroom ceilings were generally too low to permit anyone to stand to attention in a suitably dignified fashion. The traditional and much-loved rum ration, however, was abolished way back in 1970[[note]]Sailors are still given an allowance of two cans of beer a day[[/note]].

Also famous for H.M.S. ''Dreadnought'', arguably the only ship known to history that instantly rendered every other warship on the planet ''worthless'' the moment it was launched (for reference, she was, individually, and by a considerable margin, faster, more heavily armed, and more heavily armoured than any other warship ''anywhere''). To give you an idea of exactly how important ''Dreadnought'' was to the development of the battleship, every single type of battleship built before her has been retroactively referred to as a "pre-dreadnought" because the ''Dreadnought'' was so revolutionary.

** An off duty Gurkha was on a train when it was robbed by forty men and they [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty took a girl hostage]]. The Gurkha was armed only with his [[KnifeNut kukri.]] A few minutes later, several of the robbers were dead and the rest were running for their lives. It's safe to say that pretty much every single member of this regiment is a PintSizedPowerHouse and a OneManArmy on a scale that makes Rambo look pathetic.
*** Another thing of note is that Gurkhas tend to be rather humble about their badassery. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishnu_Shrestha Bishnu Shrestha]], the soldier who attacked the train robbers above, was contacted by the family of the girl he saved, who wished to reward him. He refused, saying that saving the girl was his duty as a human being.[[note]]He was even willing to surrender his valuables to the robbers before they crossed the GodzillaThreshold all at once.[[/note]]

A core feature of the British army - or at least of its fighting arms - is the Regimental system. The Regiments (typically one or two battalion formations) play a far greater part than they do for many foreign armies and are a soldier's primary point of attachment. A man belongs to his regiment first and foremost, wears its (usually historic) distinctive uniform and frequently adopts its traditions and rivalries. Whilst he remains a private then his job title may also depend on which regiment he belongs to - titles include Trooper, Rifleman, Fusilier, Kingsman and Guardsman. Other ranks may also be renamed in some rare cases[[note]]The Household Cavalry, for instance, uses variations of Corporal for its NCO ranks (e.g. Corporal of Horse for what would otherwise be known as a Sergeant in another unit). This is supposedly because the word "Sergeant" derives from ''serviens'', Latin for "servant". The Household Cavalry originally exclusively recruited from [[GentlemanRanker the gentry and aristocracy]] and these men wouldn't be caught dead being addressed in any way that would imply them to be servants.[[/note]]. TA personnel in frontline combat roles are divided between several regiments, usually forming one battalion. The advantage of the Regimental system is that it promotes a strong espirit de corps amongst its members, but it has a disadvantage in that inter-regimental relationships can resemble football rivalries - an anecdotal saying is that the British Army is made up of regiments opposed to one another, but united in loyalty to the Crown. Having said that, much of the tension fades away once the bullets start flying.

* The Special Air Service (SAS) regiment: The ''original'' [[UsefulNotes/TheModernDayRambo Special Forces]] unit; the people who rescue hostages from embassies and look cool doing it, as well as other, more sneaky, activities. Started out in the North African desert in WWII. With two former members both in the novels business, they get a lot of coverage. Their motto "Who Dares Wins" is used a lot by Del Boy in ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses''. They were the world's first Special Forces (as we would use the term today) and are still considered the best; all other Special Forces groups in the world are trained by the SAS or use the methods they developed. Despite their fame, very little is actually known about them and they like to keep it that way - their mere existence wasn't confirmed until the Iran Embassy crisis, forty years after their formation, and that was because even the British establishment couldn't deny their existence with a straight face. Occasionally fulfil a similar role to the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team, but contrary to popular belief, they only provide VIP escort duties under exceptional circumstances - though they can sometimes be found as part of close protection teams for senior British diplomats and their families in particularly dangerous areas. Once described by famed BBC war correspondent Kate Adie as being like Martians: quiet, watchful and wearing a lot of strange weaponry. Applicants are only allowed in after at least 3 years of good service with another regiment and undergoing an absurdly brutal Selection process, the very first phase of which (Six weeks of endurance training in the Brecon Beacons, a mountain range in North Wales. It's referred to as 'the Hill phase'. Yes, these people see mountains as hills. This tells you quite a lot about them) has been known to ''kill'' people and usually weeds out 15-20% of applicants. Only 30 out of about 200 applicants remain at the end, and even after, they spend a year on probation.

* The '''[=AS-90=]''' self propelled gun is the primary big gun of the British Army. With a [=155mm=] howitzer it may not stand out amongst the worldwide impressions of such things but it is just another one of those tough old proven designs that the British Army is rather happy with. Capable of launching projectiles many dozens of kilometres with unerring accuracy is still has a place today. The lack of any official nickname for the AS-90 resulted in an end to the WW2-era tradition that self-propelled artillery be named after church officials (Priest, Deacon, Abbot, etc).

* The Foot Guards (Grenadier/Coldstream/Scots/Irish/Welsh Guards): Five regiments. These are the ones who usually wear the [[NiceHat bearskin hats]], stand outside Buckingham Palace and get many an American tourist [[BritishRoyalGuards trying to make them smile in fiction]]. Don't annoy them too much though, those rifles are real, are loaded and can fire full auto. Also, at the very least, they ''will'' give you a solid kick up the arse. The Irish lot recruit mostly from [[UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland Stroke Country]] and from the Irish diaspora in Great Britain (the major English and Scottish cities all have big Irish populations), but also do so from the Republic (unofficially). Definitely ''not'' just ceremonial units, they have fought in many areas around the world such as North Africa, Italy and western Europe in WWII, and managed to hold the Hougoumont farmhouse at Waterloo against 14,000 Frenchmen; All Guard Regiments have seen combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, including receiving battle honours in 2005. They can be distinguished via their button designs.

* The Foot Guards (Grenadier/Coldstream/Scots/Irish/Welsh Guards): Five regiments. These are the ones who usually wear the [[NiceHat bearskin hats]], stand outside Buckingham Palace and get many an American tourist trying to make them smile in fiction. Don't annoy them too much though, those rifles are real, are loaded and can fire full auto. Also, at the very least, they ''will'' give you a solid kick up the arse. The Irish lot recruit mostly from [[UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland Stroke Country]] and from the Irish diaspora in Great Britain (the major English and Scottish cities all have big Irish populations), but also do so from the Republic (unofficially). Definitely ''not'' just ceremonial units, they have fought in many areas around the world such as North Africa, Italy and western Europe in WWII, and managed to hold the Hougoumont farmhouse at Waterloo against 14,000 Frenchmen; All Guard Regiments have seen combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, including receiving battle honours in 2005. They can be distinguished via their button designs.

* The Special Air Service (SAS) regiment: The ''original'' Special Forces unit; the people who rescue hostages from embassies and look cool doing it, as well as other, more sneaky, activities. Started out in the North African desert in WWII. With two former members both in the novels business, they get a lot of coverage. Their motto "Who Dares Wins" is used a lot by Del Boy in ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses''. They were the world's first Special Forces (as we would use the term today) and are still considered the best; all other Special Forces groups in the world are trained by the SAS or use the methods they developed. Despite their fame, very little is actually known about them and they like to keep it that way - their mere existence wasn't confirmed until the Iran Embassy crisis, forty years after their formation, and that was because even the British establishment couldn't deny their existence with a straight face. Occasionally fulfil a similar role to the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team, but contrary to popular belief, they only provide VIP escort duties under exceptional circumstances - though they can sometimes be found as part of close protection teams for senior British diplomats and their families in particularly dangerous areas. Once described by famed BBC war correspondent Kate Adie as being like Martians: quiet, watchful and wearing a lot of strange weaponry. Applicants are only allowed in after at least 3 years of good service with another regiment and undergoing an absurdly brutal Selection process, the very first phase of which (Six weeks of endurance training in the Brecon Beacons, a mountain range in North Wales. It's referred to as 'the Hill phase'. Yes, these people see mountains as hills. This tells you quite a lot about them) has been known to ''kill'' people and usually weeds out 15-20% of applicants. Only 30 out of about 200 applicants remain at the end, and even after, they spend a year on probation.

** Sold to Brazil in 2017 and commissioned into the Marinha do Brasil as PHM ''Atlântico'' in 2018, to replace an surplus French aircraft carrier they'd previously been suckered into buying despite it being too worn out to ever become operational.

The British Armed Forces (as a professional fighting force) began to appear during the English Civil War (1641-1651) with the New Model Army (with two regiments--the Coldstream Guards and the Blues and Royals[[note]]The Blues and Royals were formed from the Royal Horse Guards, or "Blues", and the Royal Dragoons, which were both New Model Army units granted the title "Royal" in the 18th century[[/note]]--in the present able to trace their roots to the force) and has since fought in many wars such as The Napoleonic Wars, The Boer War, The First World War, the Second World War, both Gulf Wars, and many others. Historically a home for "spare" male heirs to the throne, nearly every male member of the House of Windsor has served in some capacity, with several (most famously Princes Andrew and Harry) seeing action. The last time the ''monarch'' actually fought with their soldiers was at Dettingen in 1743, during the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheAustrianSuccession, when King George II led the Pragmatic Army's breakout from Bavaria. He won.

These days however, the situation is vastly improved. Full ceramic body armour called Osprey along with new Mk7 Helmets and a wider variety of squad weapons including significantly upgraded rifles, new sights, Glock 17 sidearms, Sharpshooter Rifles, Super M4 shotguns, underslung grenade launchers and even [[CrazyPrepared explosive resistant underwear.]]

* The Hawker Harrier - the famous 'Jump Jet', the first combat jet with VTOL capability, first commissioned in the late 60's, it served with distinction for forty years. Its retirement was met with mass dismay, because if there was one thing this jet was, it was ''cool.'' Because of the cool factor, it's featured in a number of fictional works, including as the morph for several Transformers, and in ''Film/TheLivingDaylights''. They are still flown by the Spanish and Italian Navies, as well as the US Marine Corps.

** Sold to Brazil in 2017 and commissioned into the Marinha do Brasil as PHM ''Atlântico'' in 2018.