How do I send a letter to a military ship?

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Okay I might be being dense but I am very tired!

I want to send a card to a RN ship. How should it be addressed?

I think you need a BFPO number for the ship to write on your envelope.
Maybe you can find it out online?

I have been googling for 25 mins and still can't work it out...

So far, I have:

STAFF NUMBER, RANKING, NAME
SHIP NAME
BFPO NUMBER

Does that sound right?

I can’t remember exactly... 30 odd years ago I used to write to my friend on a ship!

There’s BFPO info on the gov.uk website that might help.

The gov website says I should also include the UNIT or REGIMENT and OPERATION

However I do not know any of these things... Will Service Number, Rank, Name, Ships Name and BFPO number be sufficient??

That sounds about right. Don't put where the ship is... The post goes to the military sorting office (near London if I recall correctly). Check size limits.

if you can possibly find out their regiment at least, that would speed things up for you. Without that info it would likely get there eventually but there may be quite a wait.

Thank you! Last question (probably how long is a piece of string....)

How long do letters usually take to get to the ship? Its an anniversary card but don't want to send it too soon!

Depends whether it goes by sea or air. I've had post take 6 weeks get to Cyprus... (And post that never arrived)

Also put it in a plain envelope, it's a couple of years ago but birthday cards were the most frequently lost items.

That's fab, thank you. Based on that I might be a bit late in sending it!!

My fiance is on his first deployment after a major career change so this is all a bit new to me!

There's still a good chance- we also had post arrive in less than a week (and a new passport in 10 days, but that was in the 'official' post- it did have to go both ways though!)

SERVICE NUMBER, RANK and NAME
UNIT or REGIMENT
OPERATION
BARRACKS or CAMP or RAF STATION or NAVAL SHIP (if applicable)
BFPO numberr_

You can find the BFPO number here www.gov.uk/government/publications/british-forces-post-office-locations

I was going to suggest in a bottle but my granny says that if you do that it doesn't always get to the right place.