American Couple Reacts: Royal Naval Field Gun Competition! FIRST TIME REACTION! THIS IS SUPER HUMAN! 

This BLEW our minds 🤯 absolutely incredible!! Massive respect to these men! Please hold your comments until the end and hit the Like 👍🏻 button if you enjoyed this. How could you not?! Thanks so much for watching 🇺🇸❤️🇬🇧

Ladies, i was a memeber of the Fleet Air Arm crew in 1999. Unfortunately the 900lbs barrel hit me and i lost a leg below the knee. I managed to stay in the Navy & then went on to serve in Iraq & Afghanistan, leaving the RN after near 30 years service in 2019. In 2016 i competed in the Invictus games & then represented Wales in the 2018 commonwealth games & latterly Great britiain in 2023. Being a Field gunner is a point of extreme pride for me. These men are cut from a different cloth. Hearts of oak.

I watched this every year growing up when I was a kid and was mesmerized , it inspired me to Join the Royal Marine Commandos and I served over 15 years . It was an absolute tragedy when they cancelled this after so many years and I for one would love to see it's return .

I am an 86 year old ex matelot, who was running in the Chatham Field Gun team in 1958 at the Royal Tournament. During training at HMS Pembroke (Chatham Barracks) I recall that we had two fingers lost and a number of broken bones in the team. The local newspapers called use "the fittest men in Kent". Our mascot was a collie called "limber". What a pity the RN have done away with this fine tradition. It was real character building for young men, something sadly missing in todays society.

Throughout our history around the world our enemies used to dread the news that "The British are coming" as they knew that we were the best trained and equipped military and never give up and can solve problems on the run. Great reactions from you both.

The Royal Tournament was like nothing else in the world. It demonstrates the strength, coordination, precision & skill that is the British Armed Forces that is 2nd to none in the world. 🇬🇧

I ran for Portsmouth in the late 70’s and was at the final tournament in 99. Many tears were shed at the loss of Command field gun however budget cuts and lack of manpower caused the Royal Tournament to finish. A version of the race exists today and is a race held at HMS Collingwood every year between twenty or so crews from all services. Don’t listen to some comments on here it still takes loads of spare time training and the servicemen and women are supremely fit.

I cannot believe you dug this up! About 1975, I was taken to see the Royal Navy's "Gun Crew" in Portsmouth do this dangerous exercise. I was a young American woman who married a citizen of the UK. It turned out my brother-in-law was on the Gun Crew team. I had forgotten all about this unique RN tradition. I was surprised my brother-in-law could still walk unaided when it was over. Thank you for reminding me. I am the daughter of a WW2 infantryman who was at Omaha and the Bulge. I'm not military but I enjoy seeing your spirit for the colorful cultures so many have experienced, including the loud clanking of those big guns and the group effort it took to execute that task.

I'm proud to say my grandfather took part in this in 1923, having used his brothers birth certificate to join the Royal Navy at the age of 14 in 1916.

If you want to spot a Royal Navy field gunner...count the fingers.

The cool thing about this competition is that it was born from a real-life event. In 1899 during the Second Boer War in South Africa. A British Army garrison in Ladysmith South Africa found itself under siege by the Boers. To help the British Army garrison break the siege. The Royal Navy landed guns at the beach from HMS Terrible and HMS Powerful. The Royal Navy's gun crews then transported the guns by hand at speed across difficult terrain to the siege site. Very similar to how you've just seen it done in the competition. And then brought them into action against the Boers, relieving the British Army garrison and breaking the siege. One of the gun crews carried their 12-pounder gun for 2 miles after one of its wheels collapsed, due to the rough terrain.

I spent 22 years in the RN and I did security one year about 1996. It's amazing to watch live. They lose ends of fingers when putting the gear back together. The reason it stopped was because we couldn't afford to let people off front line ships to go train. It's such a shame, we lost quite a few iconic things like this due to Manning issues.

As a former nurse from a Royal Navy on both sides going back generations, I watched the sailor chests inspire and expire to get the maximum amount of oxygen into their bodies. I watched this as a kid but never really appreciated the incredible effort these men put out until I was older. Thank you, ladies for this content.

The results of this competition would be flashed to every ship in the fleet no matter where in the world they were.

I was part of the 1998 Devonport crew it is one of the highlights from my naval career 3 months of extremely hard training but very enjoyable. If you want to see some of the injuries sustained look up the 1998 field gun interviews.

This was one of the most important naval exhibition and competitive tests of strength and teamwork in its time. I was in the RN at the time and no matter where you were in the world on whatever ship, everybody waited to hear the result of the efforts of their division at the Earls Court runs as part of the annual combined services competitions. There were four separate sections (called home ports) that manned the large fleets that the UK ran in those days, Each RN sailor served on ships from one of the naval ports in either Portsmouth, Devonport, Chatham or the naval air service from their naval base in the South near Gosport, the Fleet Air Arm. I manned ships from Portsmouth until I joined the Submarine Service which was a combined manning separate from the home ports.. I did meet over the years some of the participants and listened with open mouths to their stories of how it all worked and the stories of the broken bones. The men were looked upon as heroes by the serving men and officers. They were specially selected and new participants were selected each year. and then spent half the year training for the runs in front of the public. They were the strongest and toughest guys you could imagine. When the number of home ports reduced, things changed and the runs were reduced because the manpower was not available to lose that many ratings to a non military purpose. The way the navy was organised lost us Devonport and Chatham yards and the increase in the submarine service and the move to Faslane plus the navy changing from blood and sweat to a highly technical service, changed everything.. Probably for the better but those were the good old days. No longer the biggest navy but we still believe we're the best.

Portsmouth crew 1981 ...i was20 yrs old

I was there, cheering on the Fleet Air Arm! Military men, and the public, were in tears knowing that it was the last run of the competition. The loss of the Royal Tournament and the Field Gun Competition was because of yet more cuts by our then government. The Government were not happy about the banners displayed by the gun crews but the public went wild for them. They fully deserved the reception they got: a full arena standing ovation.

Hello from England, love you for the respect you give, these guys are hard as nails, people have broken bones over this course and not realised until it is over, the adrenaline takes over, there is no second place, no silver, no bronze, just win or lose. These guys are absolute beasts, probably have half a cow for breakfast, the three teams were, Devonport and Portsmouth (navy sailers) and the fleet Air Arm (navy aviation), If you can find other footage of the Royal Tournament I think you would be amazed and love it. ❤🇬🇧🇺🇸🇺🇦💕

I've just watched this again just to watch your reaction, I can see that you really loved this. The best description of a Navy field gunner is... Strength of a Carthorse, speed of a Racehorse and brains of a Rocking horse...

My dad ran this race for two years in the 90s, he tells me so many stories of what it was really like!

Imagine back when this first happened - out of necessity. Cannons on ship, soldiers besieged miles from the ship, NO TRAINING TO DO WHAT THEY WERE ABOUT TO DO, through all terrains including crossing a river, having to carry/pull/disassemble and then reassemble the canon before firing them - all the while surrounded by the enemy! Thank you for your wonderful reactions . . . welcome back Debbie x

Love your videos! I'm an American who has lived in the UK for 20 yrs. I've seen demos of this competiton at drum corps shows and it's amazing live. Plus they tell you the history of why they do this. Britain is quite proud of their Naval history...even my hubby is, who is NOT a very patriotic Brit LOL.

I was lucky enough to be in the crowd that night! One of the most incredible spectacles ever. They say guys used to lose fingers and carry on!

My dad ran this in 1973/74/75 (fleet air arm). Those old boys still all meet up once a year for a good piss up.

I loved your reaction to this, I knew you would love this when I suggested it, this is an example of why we had an Empire, because we had men who could move mountains.!!

A good friend of mine, was in this footage somewhere. He was very proud of his involvement, not least he was on the winning side, which also holds the fastest time ever.

I am a kiwi who went to the Royal Tournament in 1979 with my then wife and parents while we were working in London and my parents were visiting. It was amazing! Thank you for another great video. All the best from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺

The field gun run is a tribute to the Royal navy's involvement in the relief of the town of Ladysmith in South Africa during the Boer War in 1900, when members of HMS Powerful's Naval Brigade hauled the ships guns by hand the 153 miles (246km) from the port of Durban to the town of Ladysmith, crossing several rivers in the process to lift the Boer siege of the town.

My brother did this for two years at the Royal Tournament for Devonport. He was the flying angel. Good memories watching him.

They once did a documentary on the race, but mainly the months of training. You would not believe the amount of injuries, big and small, mainly in the training. As you see, timing and concentration is everything throwing those massive awkward heavy weights about. So of course, when they are training, lots of things go wrong or are mistimed. Then it all comes together like a well oiled machine on the night. And yes, those guys are massive and extremely strong. You wouldn't get in the team if you wasn't. Absolutely brilliant. Thanks Natasha and Debbie for show casing this again.

Glad you enjoyed watching the Royal Naval Gun comp. Pretty brilliant isn't it?

My husband was in the RN in the 90's and 2000s and was the officer leading the team at one of the bases in Gosport.. They didn't get to the final (obviously) but the time and effort that was put in was amazing and he was so proud of their team.

I used to go with family to the Royal Tournament as a kid. This event was genuinely brutal, broken hands and fingers common , with very heavy parts being moved at lightning speed. No health and safety involved. Keep up your entertaining reviews. 🇺🇸🇬🇧👍

Thanks Natasha and Debbie, you guys recognise the best in people, which is what all decent folk do.

I had to laugh when you was amazed at them going over the wall. I thought, wait for the zip line lol.🇺🇸🇬🇧😀💜

Sailors volunteered to take part in the Field gun race, if selected they were taken off their ships and did 3 months of training , all teams kept a record of stitches put into the sailors through injuries. Unfortunately this type of race doesn't take place anymore, mainly down to shortage of men and replacing them on duties so they could train, also the sailors have changed now most ships need computer experts and not stokers or gun loaders. They still hold a version of this race but with a smaller size field gun and all skinny sailors taking part and even women.

Used to watch this every year when I was young, this is team work at it's best, there is no team Sport that comes close, well maybe Rugby but thats it, served in the RAF, so many thanks to comrades of all our Military Services around the World, and all the Veterans who gave us the freedom we have today, THANKS TO YOU ALL. 👍❤

I love you two! I'm from a military family too and I love the respect you show our military and all things British.

After I went to see this one year, I screamed myself hoarse and couldn’t speak for a week lol.. absolutely brilliant, I thought you would enjoy this 😊

We used to go to the Royal Tournament with the school every year when I was at school. This is epic, and only a fragment of the full show. It is greatly missed

My dad used to be in the Portsmouth field gun team, when he was in the navy, and lost his little finger during a run,, and carried on to the finish before getting medical attention. I think the field gun race still goes on, they only stopped it at the Royal Tournament but navy teams still compete against each other I think. It's high intensity training and yes injuries are frequent, my dad loved every minute of it. I used to go watch it with my dad even though he'd left the navy by then, but they had competitions in Portsmouth and it used to make my dad teary eyed watching them as he was desperate to get in there with them, it's spectacular to watch.

My grandfather was an English Royal Navy man.. he served and met my grandmother while making port in New Zealand. He travelled back and married my grandmother and they had 10 children and they all worked the land. I remember as a child, thinking how strong he was and growing into a teenager I realised just how strong he was. He farmed the land his entire life, doing everything he could, by hand, chop wood, built his own house, plow his land with horse and manual plow, just an absolute machine and strong as an ox well into his 80s, he was convinced by his second wife, not my maternal grandmother, at the ripe age of 97 (and still doing a full day's work) that it was time to relax and sell the farm and move into a smaller place.. they did so and he was in a wheel chair 6mnths later and passed away less than 2yrs later.. it's almost like he had given up having lost what he had worked so hard for or having nothing to do anymore.. Grampy I called him ❤❤

Always get a tear of pride watching this video. Absolutely fantastic! Bring it back!

You comment-"that was insane" is correct an incredible amount of training goes into these events, people lost their thumbs is what I have heard.. Your enthusiasm and loyalty to the military is great.

At the beginning they march on with " swagger" - a confident, arrogant and important manner. In one of Spike Milligan's war diaries he details that after liberating a town from the German army under Rommel they were asked to march through the town to be thanked. The soldiers had to wear their best battledress and were told to march with Swagger.

Hi, I'm 74 years old,and my mother and father took me every year from the late 1950s to the late 1960s to Earls Court in London from our home in Birmingham,and remember the Queen attending,great memories,thank you.

This actually a competion run every night with different teams and the results were signalled to the whole Navy fleet.

Use to love going to the Royal Tournament at Earls Court in London as a kid. This was the highlight.

Luckily I live in Plymouth which is steeped in Naval history and the Dockyard/Devonport team would hold a show each year and seeing this live was breath taking. These were serving men and unfortunately too many were getting serious injuries. I guess they deemed it a liability.

Hi ladies. Thanks for this, it brought back many happy memories. In 1975 I was in the Military Police stationed in London and it was part of our job to make sure all the Military personnel behaved themselves during the tournament. The Royal Tournament was one of my happiest times. The days were long and it was a very hot summer, the temperature inside the arena building could be unbearable at times (no such thing as air conditioning in 1970's London). I always stuck around to watch the field gun competition though. My Dad was an ex Navy man and also my Great Grandfather died at the seige of Ladysmith so it always meant a lot to me and my family. I'm glad you enjoyed this small piece of our history.

We do pomp and circumstance brilliantly, so proud of all military, it’s such a shame that we no longer do this and I would love to have this back. Great show as always, looking forward to Sundays episode xxx

You can find a documentary on RU-vid about their training, just type in Royal Navy Field Gun. By the way they disobeyed orders and wore black bands on their left arm as it was the last competition.

I watched this live in the mid-80s and it is spectacular. Several men were bandaged due to training injuries but you could not tell as they were just as skilled and quick!

my dad was a submariner in ww2...spent decades in the RN as Petty Officer..always watched this together..feeling tearfull now RIP dad xx

The cup was about to be presented by Princess Anne - the Queen's daughter. Awesome display and yes 100's of pounds weight of cannon parts is no easy feat to move over obstacles

I really loved the royal tournament. It was once a year at Earle’s Court. Full of military and was amazing

Going to the Royal tournament was a yearly event for us. My grandma would take seven children. All under the age eight to see this event we loved it. Unfortunately it was stopped due to cuts into military defence. Such shame because it was a fantastic show. Each year the Army Navy or RAF would be the main sponsor. Very proud to watch this.

God Bless the Senior Service. They did Her Majesty proud on the day we said farewell.

I was on the edge of my seat. I loved watching this when I was younger. Epic video ladies 😍

You mentioned Pomp & Circumstance, and how good we British are about it. It’s because there’s an historic reason or event that justifies celebrating and commemoration: Trooping the Colour, the Lord Mayor’s Parade, the annual weighing of the mayor in High Wycombe. Watch “In the Highest Tradition” for some of the weirder customs and traditions followed by British army regiments.

When I was growing up, the Royal Naval Field Gun Competition was staple fayre in every Royal Tournament. Without it, the event was no longer the same.

Awesome indeed. Thank you for featuring this. My father was part of the Fleet Air Team. He boxed and plagued rugby for the Navy and he never once spoke of bragged about this. Other servicemen who served with him had to tell me just a little of what it took. I watch them practice on a muddy field as a kid and it was terrifying to see how skilled and brutal it was done with such modesty and verve. You were exactly right about injuries. My mum said men would lose fingers and suffer fractures just in training. Their focus and training was relentless. Thank you.

Double rations and they needed it,often losing fingers with little sympathy,I spent my life in Plymouth Devon supporting the Devonport crew,they are unbelievable in the ring,so much discipline.

Next you should watch Royal Navy manning the mast

I ran for Portsmouth in 1986 & 89, it was by far the greatest part of my 14 yrs in the Royal Navy. The teamwork and effort that every man had to put in just to get into the “A”crew was phenomenal. Someone once said it was the “Toughest sport in the world ever” . It was and I’m proud and privileged to have been part of it.

I had the privilege of working and being in the Royal Tournament in the mid 90's, (not doing this). I've watched this live dozens of times. The video just cannot do what you just witnessed any sort of justice whatsoever. Absolutely amazing to watch. If you ever meet the guys. You will find that they are absolute gentlemen and a credit to the Royal Navy. The 'Gun Run' will be sadly missed.

Debbies back!!!!! In the words of Natasha that was freaking awesome!!! And yes the last time i saw that was when it was actually televised. Not seen anyone react to that, so glad you found it. Great reaction ladies. Loved it. We need this tournament back and on tv. Thank you both for reminding us brits we have all this great history. Love you both. ❤️🥰🇬🇧🇺🇸😎

As an Petty Officer RN Retired This is part of our history and culture. There were three teams one from Pompey one from Devenport and Fleet Air Arm. They still do this but just not in this tournament.. it is now open to Female sailors as well. They do this in their own time. The rivalry between Pompey and Devenport has been going on for hundreds of years. Respect to all those that took part, many broken bones as you can imagine. Respect to the USN

Great post and loving your reactions and respect ladies. The respect is mutual of course! US/UK, Allies as it should be. 👍❤ It's amazing to watch a Field Gun Run and on several occasions I was fortunate enough to be based at Naval Establishments where the teams trained and got to see it for real. Thank you so much and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Just as a side note, the Bugler was a Royal Marine in Dress Blues. The Field Gunners were dressed in what we called Half Blues with very very dark blue trousers and a 'white front' which is best described as a loose fitting cotton teeshirt with a square neck with blue trim. Full blues were trousers, white front, Seaman's Jumper with silk, lanyard and collar.

I stumbled upon this channel by accident and have become an avid viewer of the episodes ever since. Really interesting to hear these lovely Yankee ladies views on the British way of life, it must be such a contrast as to what goes on in the USA. Keep going girls, I am your biggest fan. Alan

Brilliant response, friends. Makes you wonder how we manage to maintain a corps of professionals ready to meet any crisis. And why the people who usually create the crises habitually respond by hobbling the professionals.

Growing up in the fifties this was compulsive viewing every year , never missed it . Great shame it was stopped due to military cutbacks .

You are absolutely correct, it "WAS" an absolute "BEAST" of a competition, it's dangers being ever present, and over the years many had teeth knocked out, broken fingers, wrists, legs, and even fingers chopped off. But, the mentality of the competitors was, "First, achieve the objective, then we'll go back and pick up the body parts left behind". Glad you enjoyed it...!

When I was a kid, this was one of the highlights of the Royal Tournament for me. Incredible to watch.

The limber (holds the ammunition, watch The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery the limber is in front of the gun) went over the wall first. I use to watch this on tv every year until they stopped doing it, there is a video of them training for this on RU-vid.

This was a family thing in our house watched this every year and was lucky enough to go and see it the atmosphere is electric. Loved your reaction girlies as usual. Theres also a tradition of climbing the ships mast there are videos of this which are worth a look. Great again xx

My Son is Fleet Air Arm. Stupid proud dad here. I also wish we still had the RN field Gun competition. For a crowd of ultra reserved Brits to be on their feet jumping up and down cheering them on shows how exciting a spectacle this was. It was truly Awsome !

Watched these guys behind closed doors and I can say that these guys are absolute beasts of men.

I'm glad you appreciated my countries military traditions, many of them.older than the USA. I was at that last show in 1999.

Another great reaction ladies, it really surprises me that u guys don't have anything like this in the US knowing how much Americans love their troops xx

So glad you did this video. I used to watch this every year with my grandad who was a retired naval man. Such awesome memories. Definitely look at the ‘mast manning’ ceremony, it’s just as insane.

Love your enthusiastic and honest reactions and your repect for all peoples. 💛

Another amazing video by you 2 amazing ladies. Ive never seen this before and wasnt aware that they had this as a competition. They must train so hard to do this.

​It's a re-enaction of the Royal Navy troops carrying naval cannons over the mountains to provide artillery support to relieve the siege of Ladysmith during the Boer war. Loved your reaction. The action that the event is based upon would have been many times more grueling.

Hi girls, I love that you've chosen to react to this video. My husband is a Fleet Air Arm veteran as was his Father before him and I was born in Portsmouth so I had a foot in both camps when this competition took place. 😬💕 we live on the South coast surrounded by Naval training camps and these competitions were always hugely popular at the local Navy days too.! My brother in law's (himself now a Royal Marine veteran) Step father was in the Fleet Arm Field Gun team and took part in these competitions. Such a pity when it all came to an end! ☹️ Love and respect to USA servicemen and their families for your memorial Day on Monday. 🇺🇸🇬🇧🙏

Thanks for running this. Used to love watching this when younger and watching it again now.

Been suggesting to reactors to watch for ages this but none have so far. So glad someone has.

As a kid, I used to go to see the Royal Tournament every year........the field gun competition was without doubt the highlight, I loved it!!......it was of supreme importance to the whole Royal Navy, with the daily results being signalled to every RN ship and overseas base in the world........being from Portsmouth, there's no need to guess who I supported , this is without doubt the toughest and fiercest competition ever.....our local newspaper also reported on the event every year, including the story of one of the Portsmouth crew who dropped a pin used to lock a wheel in place when the gun was re-assembled....apparently he held the wheel in place while they did the run-in by jamming his finger in the hole for the pin....sadly, not only did Portsmouth not win that particular run, but he also lost his finger..........injuries were commonplace, but those blokes would shrug off crushed fingers, cuts, bruises and abrasions, in order to knock half a second off the run time..........it was a national scandal that they decided to end it, believe me......

Just for info, it was calculated that each run was equivalent in energy expended to a four minute mile and we used to do ten runs a day in training.

I did a junior version of this as a Cadet, torn muscles, broken fingers and everyone had blood blisters of trapped fingers...... It was exhilarating and teaches pure teamwork.

Glad you enjoyed it. Dad was british army. Loved watching this growing up. Even more when i understood the history of it.

I watched this every year growing up. It was part of the Royal Tournament. When I got older read an article about it and you're right the training was full-on. Also the injuries were quite shocking in the event itself - plenty of fractured limbs and people losing fingers

A close friend and colleague took part in this event in the late 60's. Men have been seriously injured while training for the competition including the loss of an occasional finger.

This is one reason why the Royal Navy is called the Senior Service. I used to watch this during the 90;s after I left the Army ( Infantry ) after sering 30 PROUD YEARS. From an elderly PONGO. to All former and present serving Royal Navy Personel. I Salute You.

Holy Molly, I have so much pride running through me right now. The both of you are what this country needs to bring back every part of the traditions we have lost....I should have sent 1K 🙊🙊🙊

Imagine the thoughts of the two teams going into this knowing it's the last one, the last chance to win but at the end when the race was done, Both teams came and sat together as one Team. The Royal Navy Team

I used to love watching this tournament annually. As they displayed all aspects of the army forces. I would love to see return of this.

Love, love, love you ladies. I served in the Royal Navy for 38 years and although I never ran field gun I had many ‘oppos’ (pals) who DID run. Maximum respect to all who ran field gun. It does my heart so good to see and hear the love you so obviously have for all things British, I only wish my fellow Brits were as complimentary as you dear girls are towards my home country. I live in the US now and would live to meet up with you both at some time. Keep doing what you are doing girls and stay safe. Terry x

This was amazing, never seen this before so thank you for reacting to it! and to think they did this in battle as well. good to see Debbie back!