Operating a fleet of ships in all weathers and environments poses certain risks, and navigational incidents such as collisions, groundings and vessel strikings are bound to occur. The Royal Navy has always conducted extensive inquiries into the serious navigational incidents in order to establish the cause and so prevent reoccurrence. However, many less serious navigational incidents occur which, if collated and analysed on a database, could help better understanding of the nature of such incidents. This paper describes how a database that met these needs was designed and developed. Once completed, the database was analysed to compare trends between different vessel types and incident categories.