TWO squadrons - 845 & 846
848 is a training / headquarters squadron and in a more honest time would have been numbered 7xx
847 is the old 3 CBAS and flies armed reconnaissance Lynx. Presumably one day they'll get marinised Apache.....not Merlin
Only time 845/6/7/8 were all Commando squadrons together was during the Falklands war when the Wessex 5 training squadrons were renumbered from 7xx to 84x overnight in an attempt to play with the Argies minds over how many front line squadrons we had.
If memory serves me correct, wasn't 849 also formed at Culdrose using spare stripped out SK Mk2 cabs which were awaiting conversion to Mk5?
As far as I can remember ALL the SK4 cabs were in 846, the other squadrons were Wessex 5. So effectively one squadron then held the entire current CHF SK4 fleet. now spread over two front line and one training squadrons. To me that sounds like a hidden reduction in capability