Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity provide Christmas stockings to those serving under the sea.
For most of us, Christmas means time spent with loved ones, familiar comforts, and the warmth of home. For Submariners deployed throughout the festive period, those comforts feel much further away. While they continue their vital work, often in complete secrecy and far from shore, Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity make the commitment to ensure that Christmas still feels special.
For the last ten years, the team at SUBFLOT has quietly prepared Christmas Stockings for submarine crew deployed over the holiday season. Each stocking has a small but meaningful collection of treats and essentials: chocolate, branded toiletries, playing cards, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and a handwritten card from a local primary school child sending a message from home that often means more than anything inside.
Thanks to support from the RNRMC, these stockings continue to reach the sailors who miss Christmas year after year while delivering the UK’s Continuous at Sea Deterrent.
A previous beneficiary of a festive stocking, shared how much this support means:
“Christmas at sea delivering the UK’s Nuclear Deterrent is always strange. Christmas has always been a time to be surrounded by family; a privilege not afforded to us while deployed. Throughout a deployment, we all carry our loved ones close to our hearts, although the demands of the job require that we must put the safe operation of the Submarine first in our minds. This becomes especially difficult at Christmas; being aware that other sea-going units, both military and civilian, will likely be returning to home port for the festive period. Being aware that our families will be settling into the Christmas break and struggling with our absence. We allow ourselves the luxury of our families slipping firmly into the forefront of our minds, the result of this will always bring a range of emotions.
“The Christmas Stockings allow us all to share a flavour of the magic of Christmas. We wrote our thanks and praise to the schools who had had their children write Christmas cards to us – these messages from the outside world are so valuable. The stockings themselves were gratefully received and allow us the opportunity to engage in some seasonal silliness accompanied with some new home comforts. Couple this with the catering department working hard to put on an impeccable Christmas Dinner, RNRMC’s contribution makes Christmas at sea that bit more bearable and is deeply appreciated throughout the Ship’s Company.
“My thanks to RNRMC, and my thoughts to the crews at sea this Christmas and their families.” – Anonymous
His words reflect what these stockings truly represent: not just festive fun, but connection, care, and the reassurance that those serving far from home have not been forgotten.
To learn more about how our grants make a difference to serving personnel and their families, see this webpage for more information: Apply for a grant | The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity
