The University Royal Naval Units (URNU) ( , less commonly ) (formerly Universities' Royal Naval Units) are Royal Navy training establishments who recruit Officer Cadets from a university or a number of universities, usually concentrated in one geographical area. There are 17 URNUs in the UK, with each URNU having land-based facilities near the universities they recruit from, with the exception of URNU Virtual, whose drill nights are conducted virtually. Each unit has an affiliated P2000 ship, which is used for training Officer Cadets when not on duty with the Coastal Forces Squadron. Units URNU ships are part of the Coastal Forces Squadron, or "CFS". CFS is commanded by Commander CFS, who previously was also Commander URNU, Commander Universities now being a separate post. The mission statement of CFS is to provide high-quality sea training experiences in support of the URNU mission and to deliver P2000 operational capability in support of other fleet tasking. History 1967 – 1999 The URNU programme was founded in 1967, with the formation of the Aberdeen Universities' Royal Naval Unit (now URNU East Scotland) in Aberdeen, Scotland, to encourage STEM undergraduates to join the Royal Navy from the University of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University. This was followed 5 years later in 1972, with the introduction of Glasgow & Strathclyde URNU (Now URNU Glasgow) and Liverpool URNU, which also served universities with a high number of STEM undergraduates. After being male-only units for their first 20 years, the URNUs finally allowed women to join their ranks in 1987, with the Aberdeen URNU being the first to do so. In 1999, (then) Lt Mel Robinson and (then) Lt Suzanne Moore became the first women to hold command of a Royal Navy vessel, with their commands of Cardiff URNU (now URNU Wales) and Bristol URNU, as well as their attached P2000s, HMS Express and HMS Dasher respectively. 2000 – present In June 2017, OCs onboard HM Ships , , and , deployed to the Baltic to take part in NATO's BALTOPS exercise, the first time that Royal Navy P2000s have been involved in such an exercise. URNU Officer Cadets have been attending the exercise every year since, with the exception of 2022, due to increased tensions in the region following the re-escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Devon URNU was established in the autumn of 2017, catering to universities across the region. Devon was the first new unit