Royal Marine recruits at the Commando training centre in Lympstone, Devon, have increasingly been attending Christian services and, according to reporting in a UK tabloid, some have undergone full-immersion baptisms in a water tank on the assault course.
The Mail on Sunday and a Royal Marine magazine article, Globe and Laurel, reported that church attendance at the base has risen sharply over the past 18 months and has regularly exceeded the on-site chapel’s 150-person capacity. At least 26 recruits were said to have been baptised earlier this year in the training centre’s "Regain Tank," a four-foot-deep water tank used as part of the assault course and fitted with ropes that candidates traverse during training.
The Globe and Laurel piece described the trend as "The Quiet Revival" and included observations from a Royal Naval chaplain stationed at the base. The reporting linked the increase in religious observance to young recruits seeking meaning and direction rather than to fears about deployments or geopolitical tensions, citing recent studies by the Bible Society that suggest similar motivations among young people.
The baptisms reported at Lympstone were described as full immersion, a practice in which candidates are completely submerged. The Regain Tank is normally part of the amphibious elements of commando training; organisers and chaplaincy staff were reported to have used the facility to conduct religious rites when demand outstripped chapel capacity.
Royal Marine training at Lympstone culminates in the awarding of the green beret, and the recruits involved in the reported services are trainees preparing for commando qualification. The recent reports did not provide personal statements from those baptised, nor did they include official comment from the Ministry of Defence or the Royal Navy about the use of the assault-course facility for religious ceremonies.
Chaplains have long been part of British armed forces life, providing pastoral support, spiritual care and welfare services. Military chaplaincy operates alongside secular support systems and is regulated by service policies that seek to balance freedom of religion with the armed forces’ requirements and ethos. The reporting in Globe and Laurel framed the rise in attendance as part of a broader cultural shift among some recruits.
The Mail on Sunday article and the Royal Marine magazine did not publish figures on total chapel attendance over time beyond noting that regular services have frequently exceeded the chapel’s seating. Independent data on religious affiliation within recent intake cohorts at Lympstone were not provided in the reports. Studies cited by the coverage, including those by the Bible Society, have in recent years examined trends in religious practice among young people, identifying a range of motivations for increased church engagement.
Requests for comment sent to the Ministry of Defence and to chaplaincy representatives were not answered at the time of the report. The accounts in the military publication and national press underline an observable, locally reported increase in religious activity among some recruits at the Lympstone training centre during the past 18 months.