The Royal navy-From it’s beginnings to present day.

Why the royal navy had close to 1,000 years of naval dominance. The Royal Navy has played an important part in British history.. The first English king to order a fleet built was Alfred the Great, who in the 9th century used ships to defend England against the Danes. In the 15th century Henry VII built the first naval dockyard in Britain as England began exploring regions overseas. This helped Britain become a superpower. By exploring and claiming new lands they had control, of the sea and since there were no airplanes to ship stuff, if you had control of shipping routes, you had control of the world. Since Britain had naval dominance along with shipping dominance they controlled the world and there navy was the most powerful navy in the world until the end of world war 2.

The navy from its beginging-1599 The earliest naval battle in Britain was in 719. As I said before King Alfred is responsible for the creation of the royal navy. The navy’s first battle was in 882. In 897 the navy under King Alfred battled a Viking raiding force and won. His successors raised seaman and sailors from wealthy family’s. In 1016 under the rule of king Canute had the navy manned by mercenaries. In 1066 the navy was unable to repel William the conqueror. Around this time the kings did not car much about the navy so the fleet had few ships. Ship of the period were short fat sailings ships. The naval tactics of the time also involved boarding the enemy ship with weapons. In 1217 after the death of the unpopular king john the French navy helped support an uprising and during the battle the British navy, boarded and captured the French ships. Since the king had control supremacy the fleet was anamorphous up until Henry five maintained a navy and even had a very heavily armed ship of the line, which was like a battleship on those days. His successor sold off the navy. King Henry VII rebuilt the feet, with new ships of different types and sizes and the navy was known as navy royal. In 1546 a board was created to be an administrator for the navy. Elizabeth one only had 27 ships in the navy but she encouraged privatering so the fleet grew. As a result of this the English fleet beat the Spanish fleet in She ruled until 1603.

The navy from The navy changed little after queen Elizabeth 1 died until 1625 with king Charles 1. He built up the navy and it grew to a total of 50 ships although that number later shrunk due to financial problems. During the civil war in 1642 the fleet was starved however the new commonwealth government expanded the fleet. By 1652 the navy had 102 ships. When King Charles 2 came to power in 1666 the navy had grown to a fleet of 154 ships. The navy participated against the Dutch in wars from Samuel Pepys was head of the navy until During this period there was a series of wars in France. The navy did battle the French during this tine period. The navy battled the French navy in During the years of the French successfully launched campaigns against British trade.

The navy from During this time period the Royal Navy’s activity’s were mostly related to or against the French navy. The navy battled the French fleet in 1794 and Although the British fleet did see action against some American ships in the revolutionary war. Although France was once again a thorn in Britain's side because during the last years of the war France blockaded Britain form the colonies. The British navy did succeed at Les Saintes in the west Indies in The navy also captured Gibraltar in 1704 and preyed on Spanish trade in The navy also defeated the Spanish navy in Naval warships armaments in the navy greatly increased during this time period. Ships could from cannons. The fleet also increased in the amount of warships during the period there were 270 in 1700 and 500 in The men in the navy also increased during wars in there were 40,000 men and at the height of the Napoleonic wars there were 150,000 men.

The navy In 1805 one of the most famous naval battles in the royal navy occurred which was the battle of Trafalgar. France was still at war in the early 1800’s. So the Royal navy blockaded France so Napoleon couldn’t build up his navy. The British navy also saw action in the war of One the navy’s more peaceful tasks during this period was Captain James Cooks mapping expeditions of Australia and New Zealand and his discovery of Hawaii. The Royal Navy was the most powerful navy in the world during this time period. The first steam powered ship was built in In 1861 the first all metal ship was built for the royal navy. Towards the end of the 1800’s ships got thicker armor, bigger guns, and specially designed bows for ramming. Britain also built battleships around this time to protect trade routes. In the early 1800’s the navy had heavy shore bombardment campaigns during several wars. Torpedoes were invented by Robert Whitehead in the 1860’s. They navy acquired them. They did see action in 1877 when one was fired on an ironclad although it didn’t sink, it fueled interest in the weapon. In 1894 the first torpedo boats in the royal navy was built which were small fast boats that had guns and torpedoes. Overall the 18 th century brought new weapons to the navy like submarines and armored capital ships like cruisers, battleships, etc, and the trend of building big armored ships like the ones I mentioned was common up to the early 50’s.

The navy 1900-to present day. There were many reforms in the early 1900’s. Such as improved torpedoes and gun guidance technology. The Battleship HMS dreadnought was completed in 1905 and it was the most powerful battleship in the world. Ships with mixed gun sizes were suddenly obsolete. As a result of that many ships of the period had similar designs to the Dreadnought. In the early part of This century there was an arms race and the arms were battleships, which were symbols of a nations power. This is why by the time world war one occurred the British and German fleet were so huge and Germany had a large navy and Britain's competition. Britain also before world one scrapped obsolete ships and refurbished ships in reserve which is why it had naval dominance during world war one. During world war one the fleet had one the arms race. Throughout the war German submarines inflicted damage. The Germans and the British battled at the battle of Jutland. It experienced a defeat when the navy tried an amphibious landing at the Dardanelles which is in modern day turkey. During the postwar period there was almost an arms race but a treaty allowed Britain to keep and build some new ships. Overall the interwar period saw some naval expansion in the navy. The navy Damaged several capital ships during the second war like the Graff Spee and the Bismarck was damaged and sunk by the British navy. The navy had a bombing campaign in Norway in The navy also saw action in the Mediterranean against the Italians. The navy also saw action in the Atlantic and the pacific were several capitals ship were lost. The royal navy grew in ww2. Although by 1945 the US navy was more powerful and larger than the royal navy. The Royal navy saw action in the Korean war. There last battleship was scrapped in In 1962 the navy commissioned its first missile destroyer and a year later it first nuclear submarine, and all there submarines are nuclear today. The navy also participated in the Falklands war and in operation desert storm. Today the Royal navy is second in power to the US navy. It also has a modern force today which include nuclear, ballistic missile submarine, carriers, destroyers, frigates, etc.

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