The Royal Navy has a proud tradition as 'The Senior Service' dating back as an organised force - according to some historians - to Alfred the Great. In 1509, the newly-crowned King Henry VIII ordered a rearmament of the fleet and in this era great ships of 600 tonnes and more were built including the 'Mary Rose'. By the 17th century, King Charles I's major programme of warship building the Royal Navy had expanded further to become the most powerful in the world.
The Retail Stamp Book includes four First Class Definitives flanked by the two First Class commemorative stamps from the main issue featuring the 'Mary Rose' and HMS Queen Elizabeth - respectively the earliest and most recently commissioned of the Royal Navy ships featured in the issue.
The BLCS 5000 cover features HMS Queen Elizabeth with an image of HM The Queen at the official naming ceremony of Rosyth Dockyard on 4 July 2014 and a Greenwich handstamp.
