The Royal Naval Auxiliary Service Long Service Medal was an award of the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service. It instituted in July 1965 and was awarded to both officers and other ranks for 12 years of service, with bars being awarded for 12 subsequent years of service.

The Royal Naval Auxiliary Service (RNAS) founded in 1962, was formerly known as the Royal Naval Minewatching Service which was founded in 1952.

Description:

Materials: The majority of the British medals and clasps are made of solid silver, though some were issue in bronze versions, mainly to Indian non-combatants. The majority of the British campaign awards are circular, usually 36mm in diameter.

Ribbons: Medals are worn suspended from their own specific ribbons. These were first made of silk but cotton was increasingly used as the nineteenth century developed. Their own colours often have a symbolic significance: the equal stripes of the ‘1939 to 1945 Star,’ for example, are dark blue to represent the service of the Royal and Merchant Navies, red, to represent that of the Armies and light blue to represent that of Air Forces.

Ribbon width can vary slightly though it is generally 32mm wide.

Ribbon – Dark blue with a narrow green central stripe and broad white stripes at the edges bisected by thin dark green stripes

Royal Naval Auxiliary Service Long Service Medal ribbon

Suspender - Straight

Type – Long service medal

Eligibility – Members of the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service

Awarded for – At least 12 years of active service

Established – July 1965

Post nominals - None

Naming – Recipient's names are impressed upon the edge of the medal in capital letters

Clasps / Bars – bars being awarded for 12 subsequent years of service.

Description – 36 mm in diameter and made of cupro-nickel. The obverse depicts the crowned effigy of Elizabeth II. Around the edge are the words in relief ‘ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA F·D.’ The reverse bears a fouled anchor in an oak wreath surmounted by a naval crown. Around the edge are the words in relief ‘ROYAL NAVAL AUXILIARY SERVICE LONG SERVICE’.

This guide will help you through all the parts and descriptions of military medals

Sources:

< gov.uk/medals-campaigns-descriptions-and-eligibility>

Some of the material on this page was also partially derived from

<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Royal_Naval_Auxiliary_Service_Long_Service_Medal >

Which are released under the terms of

Creativecommons.org/licenses/by-s/3.0/.