Naval General Service Medal (1847)

Naval General Service Medal
Obverse and reverse of the medal.
Type	Campaign medal
Awarded for	Campaign service
Description	Silver disk, 36mm diameter
Presented by	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Eligibility	Royal Navy
Campaign(s)	Naval Actions 1793–1840
Clasps	231 authorised, 221 issued
Established	1847
Total	20,933
Ribbon: 32mm, white with dark blue edges

The Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) was a campaign medal approved in 1847, and issued to officers and men of the Royal Navy in 1849. The final date for submitting claims was 1 May 1851.^[1] Admiral Thomas Bladen Capel was one of the members of the board that authorised the medal.

The NGSM was awarded retrospectively for various naval actions during the period 1793–1840, a period that included the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars and the Anglo-American War of 1812. Each battle or campaign covered by the medal was represented by a clasp on the ribbon. The medal was never issued without a clasp, 231 of which were sanctioned.^[2] The clasps covered a variety of actions, from boat service, ship to ship skirmishes, to major fleet actions such as the Battle of Trafalgar.

This medal and its army counterpart, the Military General Service Medal, were amongst the first real British campaign medals, issued to all ranks for serving in combat actions.^[3]