Royal Navy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Naval Service

Components
Royal Navy Surface Fleet Fleet Air Arm Submarine Service
Royal Marines
Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Royal Naval Reserve
Royal Marines Reserve
History
History of the Royal Navy
Future of the Royal Navy
Ships
Current Fleet
Current deployments
Historic ships
Personnel
The Admiralty
Senior Officers
Officer rank insignia
Enlisted rate insignia

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). From the early 18th century to the middle of the 20th century, it was the largest and most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant power of the 19th and early 20th centuries. During the Cold War, it was transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines, mostly active in the North Atlantic Ocean. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, its role for the 21st century has returned to focus on global expeditionary (blue water) operations.

The Royal Navy is the second-largest navy in the world in terms of gross tonnage^{[citation needed]}. There are currently 91 commissioned ships in the Royal Navy, including aircraft carriers, submarines, mine counter-measures and patrol vessels. There are then further vessels of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

The Royal Navy is a constituent component of the Naval Service, which also comprises the Royal Marines, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and associated reserve forces under command. The Naval Service had 38,710 regular personnel as of November 2006.

Contents 1 Role 2 Command, Control and Organisation 2.1 History of the Commanders-in-Chief 3 Titles and naming 3.1 Of the Royal Navy 3.2 Of ships 4 History 4.1 England - Saxon navy (c. 800-1066) 4.2 England - Norman and pre-Tudor Medieval 4.3 England - The Tudors and the Royal Navy 4.4 1692-1815 4.5 1815-1914 4.6 The State of the Royal Navy in the Mid-1870s 4.6.1 Cost 4.6.2 Personnel 4.6.3 Governance 4.7 1615–1865 4.8 1914–1945 4.9 The Cold War 4.10 Operations since 1982 5 Composition of the Fleet Since 1960 6 The Royal Navy today 7 Current deployments 7.1 North Atlantic Tasks 7.2 Mediterranean Tasks 7.3 Caribbean Tasks 7.4 South Atlantic Tasks 7.5 East-of-Suez Tasks 8 Special Forces 9 Custom and tradition 9.1 Heraldry 9.2 Fleet reviews 9.3 Service nicknames 9.4 Naval salute 9.5 Affiliation 9.6 Naval slang 9.7 Uckers and Ucker 10 The Royal Navy in fiction 11 Royal Navy timeline and battles 12 Famous sailors of the Royal Navy 13 Famous People who Served in the Royal Navy 14 Famous ships of the Royal Navy 15 See also 16 References 17 Further reading 18 External links

[edit] Role

The role of the Royal Navy (RN) is to protect British interests at home and abroad, executing the foreign and defence policies of Her Majesty's Government through the exercise of military effect, diplomatic activities and other activities in support of these objectives. The RN is also a key element of the UK contribution to NATO, with a number of assets allocated to NATO tasks at any time. These objectives are delivered via a number of capabilities:

• Maintenance of the UK Nuclear Deterrent through a policy of Continuous at Sea Deterrence
• Delivery of the UK Commando force
• Contribution of assets to Joint Force Harrier
• Contribution of assets to the Joint Helicopter Command
• Maintenance of standing patrol commitments; Atlantic Patrol Task (North), Atlantic Patrol Task (South), Persian Gulf patrols etc.
• Delivery of Mine Counter Measures capability to UK and allied commitments
• Provision of Hydrographic and meteorological capabilities deployable worldwide
• Protection of UK and EU fisheries

[edit] Command, Control and Organisation

The Royal Navy is established under the Royal Prerogative, hence members of the Navy (unlike the British Army and Royal Air Force) have never been required to take the oath of allegiance to the Sovereign. The head of the Royal Navy is the Lord High Admiral, a position which has been held by the Sovereign since 1964 (the Sovereign is the overall head of the Armed Forces).

The professional head of the service is the First Sea Lord, who is a member of the Defence Council and of the Admiralty Board, which undertakes the management as delegated by the Defence Council. The Navy Board, a sub-committee of the Admiralty Board, is responsible for the running of the Naval Service. These are all based in Ministry of Defence Main Building in London, where the First Sea Lord is supported by the Naval Staff Department.

Full command of all deployable fleet units, including the Royal Marines and the Fleet Auxiliary, is delegated to Commander-in-Chief Fleet (CINCFLEET), with a Command Headquarters at HMS Excellent in Portsmouth and an Operational Headquarters at Northwood, Middlesex, co-located with the Permanent Joint Headquarters and a NATO Regional Command, Allied Maritime Component Command Northwood. CINCFLEET is also Commander AMCCN.

CINC is supported by:

• Second Sea Lord, based in HMS Excellent, Principal Personnel Officer for the Naval Service. Also Rear Admiral Fleet Air Arm.
• Deputy CINC, based in HMS Excellent, who commands the HQ.
• Commander Operations, based at Northwood, responsible for operational command of RN assets. Also Rear Admiral Submarines and Commander Submarine Allied Forces North (NATO).
• Commander UK Maritime Forces, the deployable Force Commander responsible for the Maritime Battle Staffs; UK Task Group, UK Amphibious Task Group, UK Maritime Component Command.
• Commander UK Amphibious Force / Commandant General Royal Marines.

The three Naval Bases - Portsmouth, Clyde and Devonport - each host a Flotilla Command under a Commodore, or in the case of Faslane a Captain, responsible for the provision of Operational Capability using the ships and submarines within the flotilla. 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines is similarly commanded by a Brigadier and based in Plymouth.

The purpose of CINCFLEET is to provide ships and submarines and commando forces at readiness to conduct military and diplomatic tasks as required by the UK government, including the recruitment and training of personnel.

Significant numbers of naval personnel are employed within the Ministry of Defence, Defence Logistics Organisation, Defence Procurement Agency and on exchange with the Army and Royal Air Force. Small numbers are also on exchange within other government departments.

In earlier times the office of Lord High Admiral was delegated to a naval officer. The office later came to be frequently put into commission, during which time the Royal Navy was run by a board headed by the First Lord of the Admiralty. In 1964 the functions of the Admiralty were transferred to the Secretary of State for Defence and the Defence Council of the United Kingdom. Since then, the historic title of Lord High Admiral has been restored to the Sovereign.

As of January 2007, the following persons were in office:

• Lord High Admiral: Queen Elizabeth II.
• First Sea Lord: Admiral Sir Jonathon Band
• Commander-in-Chief Fleet: Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent

[edit] History of the Commanders-in-Chief

Historically, the Royal Navy has usually been split into several commands, each with a Commander-in-Chief, e.g. Commander-in-Chief Plymouth, Commander-in-Chief China Station, etc. There now remain only two Commanders-in-Chief, Commander-in-Chief Fleet and Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command.

In 1971, with the withdrawal from Singapore, the Far East and Western fleets of the Royal Navy were unified under the Commander-in-Chief Fleet (CINCFLEET), initially based in HMS Warrior, a land base in Northwood, Middlesex. This continued the trend of shore-basing the home naval command that had started in 1960 when the Home Fleet command was transferred ashore. The majority of the staff have transferred to a new facility in HMS Excellent.

The Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command (CINCNAVHOME) has traditionally also been known as the Second Sea Lord (2SL) and is responsible for the shore-based establishments and manpower of the Royal Navy, and is based in Portsmouth. The Second Sea Lord and his staff were resident in Victory Building, Portsmouth Dockyard, and he formally flies his flag aboard HMS Victory.

In 2006 the staffs of CINCFLEET and 2SL merged, with the majority of 2SL's staff joining the CINCFLEET staff in Excellent.

[edit] Titles and naming

[edit] Of the Royal Navy

The British Royal Navy is commonly referred to as the "Royal Navy" both in the United Kingdom and other countries. Commonwealth navies also include their national name e.g. Royal Australian Navy. Some navies of other monarchies, such as the Koninklijke Marine (Royal Netherlands Navy) and Kungliga Flottan (Royal Swedish Navy), are also called "Royal Navy" in their own language.

[edit] Of ships

Main article: List of ships of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy ships in commission are prefixed with Her Majesty's Ship (His Majesty's Ship), abbreviated to HMS e.g. HMS Ark Royal. Submarines are styled HM Submarine, similarly HMS. Names are allocated to ships and submarines by a naming committee within the MOD and given by class, with the names of ships within a class often being thematic (e.g. the Type 23 class are named after British Dukes) or traditional (e.g. the Invincible class all carry the names of famous historic aircraft carriers). Names are frequently re-used offering a new ship the rich heritage, battle honours and traditions of her predecessors.

See also: Naming conventions for destroyers of the Royal Navy

See also: Type system of the Royal Navy

As well as a name each ship, and submarine, of the Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary is given a pennant number which in part denotes its role.

[edit] History

Main article: History of the Royal Navy

See also: British military history

(all headings after 1603 and the Union of the Crowns apply to the United Kingdom)

The Royal Navy has historically played a central role in the defence and wars of England, Great Britain and later the United Kingdom. As Britain is an island, invasion requires an enemy to cross the sea; in bellicose times Britain is reasonably safe from invasion only with naval superiority over all possible combinations of enemies. Moreover, a large navy was vital in maintaining the security of supply and communication with the Empire.

[edit] England - Saxon navy (c. 800-1066)

England's first navy was established in the 9th century by Alfred the Great but, despite inflicting a significant defeat on the Vikings in the Wantsum Channel at Plucks Gutter near to Stourmouth, Kent, it fell into disrepair. It was revived by King Athelstan and at the time of his victory at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937, the English navy had a strength of approximately 400 ships. When the Norman invasion was imminent, King Harold had trusted to his navy to prevent William the Conqueror's invasion fleet from crossing the Channel. However, not long before the invasion the fleet was damaged in a storm and driven into harbour, and the Normans were able to cross unopposed and defeat Harold at the Battle of Hastings.

[edit] England - Norman and pre-Tudor Medieval

The Norman kings created a naval force in 1155, or adapted a force which already existed, with ships provided by the Cinque Ports alliance. The Normans are believed to have established the post of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

During the Hundred Years' War, the French fleet was initially stronger than the English fleet, but was almost completely destroyed at the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Much later the English navy suffered disastrous defeats off La Rochelle in 1372 and 1419 to Franco - Castilian fleets, and English ports were ravaged by fleets commanded by Jean de Vienne and Fernando Sánchez de Tovar. However, the French monarchy did not understand the strategic importance of naval power and did not allocate sufficient resources to their navy, letting what they had gained at sea slip back into English hands.

King John had a fleet of 500 sails. In the mid-fourteenth century Edward III's navy had some 712 ships. There then followed a period of decline.

[edit] England - The Tudors and the Royal Navy

see also: Henry VIII

The first reformation and major expansion of the Navy Royal, as it was then known, occurred in the 16th century during the reign of Henry VIII, whose ships Henri Grâce a Dieu ("Great Harry") and Mary Rose engaged the French navy in the battle of the Solent in 1545. By the time of Henry's death in 1547 his fleet had grown to 58 vessels.

In 1588 the Spanish Empire, at the time Europe's superpower and the leading naval power of the 16th century, threatened England with invasion and the Spanish Armada set sail to enforce Spain's dominance over the English Channel and transport troops from the Spanish Netherlands to England. The Spanish plan failed due to English harrying, blocking actions by the Dutch, and bad weather. However, the bungled Drake-Norris Expedition of 1589 saw the tide of war turn against the Royal Navy. Under the reign of Elizabeth I England raided Spain's ports and Spanish ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean, but suffered a series of defeats to a reformed Spanish navy.

[edit] 1692-1815

A permanent Naval Service did not exist until the mid 17th century, when the Fleet Royal was taken under Parliamentary control following the defeat of Charles I in the English Civil War. This second reformation of the navy was carried out under 'General-at-Sea' (equivalent to Admiral) Robert Blake during Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. (Unlike the Royal Navy, the land forces are descended from a variety of different sources, including both royalist and Parliamentary forces.)

After defeats in the second and third Anglo-Dutch wars the Royal Navy gradually developed into the strongest navy in the world. From 1692 the Dutch navy was placed under the command of the Royal Navy's admirals (though not incorporated into it) by order of William III following the Glorious Revolution. In 1707, the Royal Navy absorbed the Royal Scots Navy per the Acts of Union. The early 18th century saw the Royal Navy with more ships than other navies, although it suffered severe financial problems throughout this period, and was heavily in debt, which affected its operations and administration. During the 18th century the government developed improved means of financing the Royal Navy through bonds. With improved cash flow, the Royal Navy began to develop the strategic ability to counter the movements of other countries' naval forces by the means of blockades, supported by more resources, the gradual development of superior naval tactics and strategy, and consistently high morale. This eventually led to almost uncontested power over the world's oceans from 1805 to 1914, when it came to be said that "Britannia ruled the waves". Even before 1805, the Royal Navy suffered only one strategic defeat—during the American Revolution at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781 against a French fleet commanded by the able Comte de Grasse. The Napoleonic Wars saw the Royal Navy reach a peak of efficiency, dominating the navies of all Britain's adversaries. The height of the Navy's achievements came on 21 October 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar where a numerically smaller but more experienced British fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson decisively defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet.

The victory at Trafalgar consolidated the United Kingdom's advantage over other European maritime powers. By concentrating its military resources in the navy it could both defend itself and project its power across the oceans as well as threaten rivals' ocean trading routes. Britain therefore needed to maintain only a relatively small, highly mobile, professional army that sailed to where it was needed, and was supported by the navy with bombardment, movement, supplies and reinforcement. The Navy could cut off enemies' sea-borne supplies, as with Napoleon's army in Egypt. Other major European powers had to divide their resources between large navies, large armies, and fortifications to defend their land frontiers. The domination of the sea therefore allowed Britain to rapidly build its empire after the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) and throughout the 19th century, giving it enormous military, political and commercial advantages.

Unlike the navy of pre-revolutionary France, the highest commands of the Royal Navy were open to all within its ranks showing talent. This greatly increased the number of talented men available, although there was always a bias towards the upper class. The French revolution's anti-aristocratic purges caused the loss of most of the French navy's experienced commanders, increasing the Royal Navy's advantage over France.

Despite the success of the Royal Navy during this period, the conditions of service for ordinary seamen—no increases in pay for a century, late payment of wages, maintaining ships in commission for years without shore leave, harsh and arbitrary discipline—eventually resulted in serious mutinies in 1797 when the crews of the Spithead and Nore fleets refused to obey their officers and some captains were sent ashore. This resulted in the short-lived "Floating Republic" which at Spithead was quelled by promising improvements in conditions, but at the Nore resulted in the hanging of 29 mutineers.

Napoleon acted to counter Britain's maritime supremacy and economic power, closing European ports to British trade. He also authorised many privateers, operating from French territories in the West Indies, placing great pressure on British mercantile shipping in the western hemisphere. The Royal Navy was too hard-pressed in European waters to release significant forces to combat the privateers, and its large ships of the line were not very effective at seeking out and running down fast and manoueverable privateers which operated as widely spread single ships or small groups. The Royal Navy reacted by commissioning small warships, of traditional Bermuda design. The first three ordered from Bermudian builders, HMS Dasher, HMS Driver and HMS Hunter, were sloops of 200 tons, armed with twelve 24-pounder guns. A great many more ships of this type were ordered, or bought from trade, primarily for use as couriers. The most notable was HMS Pickle, the former Bermudian merchantman that carried news of victory back from Trafalgar.

In the years following the battle of Trafalgar there was increasing tension at sea between the Britain and the United States. American traders took advantage of their country's neutrality to trade with both the French-controlled parts of Europe and Britain. Both France and Britain tried to prevent each other's trade, but only the Royal Navy was in a position to enforce a blockade. Another irritant was the suspected presence of British deserters aboard US merchant and naval vessels. Royal Navy ships often attempted to recover these deserters. In one notorious instance in 1807, otherwise known as the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, HMS Leopard fired on USS Chesapeake causing significant casualties before boarding and seizing suspected British deserters.

In 1812, while the Napoleonic wars continued, the United States declared war on the United Kingdom and invaded Canada. At sea, the war was characterised by single-ship actions between small ships, and disruption of merchant shipping. The better-designed American frigates were heavier and faster than their British counterparts, and were handled well by volunteer crews. As a result, a number of British ships were defeated and, mid-way through the war, the Admiralty issued the order not to engage American frigates individually. There were also significant losses of merchant shipping to American privateers, 866 merchant vessels; however, the Royal Navy gradually reinforced the blockade of the American coast, virtually halting all trade by sea, capturing many merchant ships, and forcing the US navy frigates to stay in harbour or risk being captured.

By this time, the Royal Navy had begun building a naval base and dockyard in Bermuda, which replaced Newfoundland as the winter location of the Admiralty. The Royal Navy had begun development after American independence had deprived it of bases on most of the North American seaboard. In time Bermuda became the headquarters for Royal Naval operations in the waters of southern North America and the West Indies. During the War of 1812 the Royal Navy's blockade of the US Atlantic ports was coordinated from Bermuda and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The blockade kept most of the American navy trapped in port. The Royal Navy also occupied coastal islands, encouraging American slaves to defect. Units of Royal Marines were raised from these freed slaves. After British victory in the Peninsular War, part of Wellington's Light Division was released for service in North America. This 2,500-man force, composed of detachments from the 4, 21, 44, and 85 Regiments with some elements of artillery and sappers and commanded by Major-General Ross, arrived in Bermuda in 1815 aboard a fleet composed of the 74-gun HMS Royal Oak, three frigates, three sloops and ten other vessels. The combined force was to launch raids on the coastlines of Maryland and Virginia, with the aim of drawing US forces away from the Canadian border. In response to American actions at Lake Erie, however, Sir George Prevost requested a punitive expedition which would 'deter the enemy from a repetition of such outrages'. The British force arrived at the Patuxent on 17 August and landed the soldiers within 36 miles of Washington DC. Led by Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn, the British force drove the US government out of Washington, DC. Ross shied from the idea of burning the City, but Cockburn and others set it alight. Buildings burned included the US Capitol and the US President's Mansion.

Between 1793 and 1815 the Royal Navy lost 344 vessels due to non-combat causes: 75 by foundering, 254 shipwrecked and 15 from accidental burnings or explosions. In the same period it lost 103,660 seamen: 84,440 by disease and accidents, 12,680 by shipwreck or foundering, and 6,540 by enemy action.

[edit] 1815-1914

During the 19th century the Royal Navy enforced a ban on the slave trade, acted to suppress piracy, and continued to map the world. To this day, Admiralty charts are maintained by the Royal Navy.

Royal Navy vessels on surveying missions carried out extensive scientific work. Charles Darwin travelled around the world on HMS Beagle, making scientific observations which led him to the theory of evolution.

Life in the early Royal Navy would be considered harsh by today's standards: discipline was severe and flogging was used to enforce obedience to the Articles of War. The law allowed the navy to use the unpopular practice of impressment, forcing men to serve in the Navy during times of manpower shortage, usually in wartime. However, unlike most other major European powers, Britain did not need to employ conscription for its relatively small standing army. Impressment reached its peak in the 18th and early 19th century, but was abandoned after the end of the Napoleonic Wars as the peacetime navy was smaller.

During the latter half of the 19th century, ships of the Royal Navy were used for what has ironically been called 'gunboat diplomacy'. Large, heavily armed boats with shallow draught were employed in coastal areas in the far reaches of the Empire, to demonstrate Britain's power to local populations and rulers, and to intervene where the UK's perceived interests were at stake.

By the end of the 19th century the Royal Navy, despite being the largest in the world, was not as powerful as it seemed to be. It was a collection of new, powerful steam pre-Dreadnoughts such as the Royal Sovereign Class, older steam ironclad vessels, and sailing ships several decades old. First Lord of the Admiralty John Arbuthnot Fisher retired, scrapped, or placed into reserve many of the older vessels, making funds and manpower available for newer ships. He was also the main force behind the development of the HMS Dreadnought, the first all-big-gun ship and possibly one of the most influential ships in naval history. At one stroke, this ship rendered all other battleships then existing obsolete, and started an arms race in which Great Britain had a lead over all others. Fisher was also a proponent of submarines, and bought a few based on John Holland's design from Vickers.

Admiral Percy Scott introduced new gunnery training programs and a central fire control station, greatly improving accuracy and ship effectiveness in battle. Telegraphs were introduced onto flagships, and the Parson Turbine and experimentation with oil as fuel led to greatly increased range and speed.

[edit] The State of the Royal Navy in the Mid-1870s

"The total strength of the British navy in 1877 was 533 vessels, of 677,883 tons, and which carried 5080 guns, some being of the enormous weight of 81 tons. It should be explained, however, that more than half of these were returned as ‘in reserve and building’, the number in commission being 230 ships, with a tonnage of 307,072 tons and 1939 guns. The ironclad fleet comprised 61 vessels, many of which were of far more powerful construction than those of any other nation in the world. … There served in the fleet in commission 25,500 officers and men, 2854 boys, and 6385 marines, being a total naval complement of 34,770."^[1]

[edit] Cost

"The cost of the navy in 1877, as will be seen below, was about £10,700,000, as compared with about £6,000,000 in France, £4,000,000 in the United States, £2,500,000 in Russia, and £1,600,000 in Germany. The naval charges in the case of France, however, include those for the administration of the colonies, both being under the same minister."^[2]

"The cost of the British navy in 1850 was £6,492,397; 1854-55 (during the Russian war), £14,490,105; 1856, £19,754,585; 1859, £9,215,487; 1861, £13,331,668; 1863, £11,370,588; 1867, £10,676,101; and in 1872 £9,900,486. The estimates for 1877-78, as compared with those of the previous year, were:-"^[3]

Naval Estimates[4]	1876-77	1877-78
Wages to seamen and marines	£2,634,904	£2,684,048
Victuals and clothing for ditto	£1,153,367	£1,178,610
Admiralty office	£189,820	£193,890
Coast guard service, royal naval coast volunteers, and royal naval reserve	£210,230	£207,900
Scientific branch	£109,194	£109,002
Dockyards and naval yards at home and abroad	£1,323,750	£1,341,680
Victualling yards at home and abroad	£76,400	£76,930
Medical establishments at home and abroad	£65,830	£66,150
Marine divisions	£20,053	£21,316
Naval stores for the building, repair and outfit of the fleet and coast guard, steam machinery, and ships built by contract:
Naval stores	£1,261,320	£1,207,300
Steam machinery, and ships built by contract	£1,353,600	£1,042,000
New works, building, machinery and repairs	£569,249	£545,715
Medicines and medical stores	£76,230	£78,010
Martial law and law charges	£15,114	£8,147
Miscellaneous services	£135,547	£130,134
Total for the effective service	£9,194,608	£8,890,832
Half-pay, reserved half-pay, and retired pay to officers of the navy and royal marines	£888,472	£880,796
Military pensions and allowances	£726,136	£759,940
Civil pensions and allowances	£282,176	£279,981
Total for the naval service	£11,091,392	£10,811,549
For the service of other Departments of Government:-
Army department (conveyance of troops)	£197,480	£168,280
Grand total	£11,288,872	£10,979,829

[edit] Personnel

"The number of seamen annually voted for the navy is as near as possible 60,000, including 14,000 marines and 3,000 boys for training. In addition to this number there are 7,000 seamen employed in the coast-guard service – 3,000 afloat and 4,000 ashore."^[5]

"Within the last few years there has been a very marked improvement in the character and general intelligence of the men in the royal navy, a result doubtless partly due to the far higher standard of education now fixed for naval officers. Till 1873, the only effort to encourage scientific study among naval offices was due to a small college at Portsmouth; but thanks to the energy and persistent efforts of Dr. Wooley, the late director of education to the Admiralty, scientific education in the navy, conducted continuously and efficiently is now considered essential, instead of being as formerly permissive. The necessary machinery for carrying this into effect is supplied at Dartmouth by the Britannia, for the instruction of cadets before they go to sea, by the appointment of naval instructors while they are at sea, before receiving their commissions, and by the Naval College, which completes their training and offers them afterwards when on half-pay the opportunity of voluntary study."^[6]

"The naval force, the army of the united Kingdom, is recruited by voluntary enlistment, but at the breaking out of a war, or any other emergency, impressment may be resorted to. The antiquity and legality of this practice cannot be questioned; but very great and serious doubts have been entertained as to its expediency. Foreigners are the only persons exempted at common law from impressments; but other exemptions have been created by Act of Parliament in favour of various classes, as landsmen, apprentices, seamen employed in the fisheries, watermen in the service of fire insurance companies, and some other occupations."^[7]

[edit] Governance

"The navy is governed by a Board of Admiralty, at the head of which is a cabinet minister, who is called the first lord, with a salary of £4500 per annum; associated with him are four other members, called lords by courtesy, three with salaries of £1000 per annum, and one with £1200. The first secretary has £2000, and the second secretary £1500 per annum. Under the board are the following great departments:- Hydrographic department; controller of the navy; contract and purchase department; accountant general; controller of victualling; naval store department; director of transports; and director general of the medical department."^[8]

"The authority of Parliament in control of the navy was first exercised in 1661, by an enactment of 13 Charles II., passed to regulate the government of the fleet. This act was repealed by the 22 Geo. II. c. 23, which was explained and amended by 19 Geo. III. c. 17. These two latter statutes form the permanent code under which the navy is governed."^[9]

[edit] 1615–1865

A permanent Naval Service did not exist until the mid 17th century, when the Fleet Royal was taken under Parliamentary control following the defeat of Charles I in the English Civil War. This second reformation of the navy was carried out under 'General-at-Sea' (equivalent to Admiral) Robert Blake during Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. (Unlike the Royal Navy, the land forces are descended from a variety of different sources, including both royalist and Parliamentary forces.)

After defeats in the second and third Anglo-Dutch wars the Royal Navy gradually developed into the strongest navy in the world. From 1692 the Dutch navy was placed under the command of the Royal Navy's admirals (though not incorporated into it) by order of William III following the Glorious Revolution. In 1707, the Royal Navy absorbed the Royal Scots Navy per the Acts of Union. The early 18th century saw the Royal Navy with more ships than other navies, although it suffered severe financial problems throughout this period, and was heavily in debt, which affected its operations and administration. During the 18th century the government developed improved means of financing the Royal Navy through bonds. With improved cash flow, the Royal Navy began to develop the strategic ability to counter the movements of other countries' naval forces by the means of blockades, supported by more resources, the gradual development of superior naval tactics and strategy, and consistently high morale. This eventually led to almost uncontested power over the world's oceans from 1805 to 1914, when it came to be said that "Britannia ruled the waves". Even before 1805, the Royal Navy suffered only one strategic defeat—during the American Revolution at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781 against a French fleet commanded by the able Comte de Grasse. The Napoleonic Wars saw the Royal Navy reach a peak of efficiency, dominating the navies of all Britain's adversaries. The height of the Navy's achievements came on 21 October 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar where a numerically smaller but more experienced British fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson decisively defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet.

The victory at Trafalgar consolidated the United Kingdom's advantage over other European maritime powers. By concentrating its military resources in the navy it could both defend itself and project its power across the oceans as well as threaten rivals' ocean trading routes. Britain therefore needed to maintain only a relatively small, highly mobile, professional army that sailed to where it was needed, and was supported by the navy with bombardment, movement, supplies and reinforcement. The Navy could cut off enemies' sea-borne supplies, as with Napoleon's army in Egypt. Other major European powers had to divide their resources between large navies, large armies, and fortifications to defend their land frontiers. The domination of the sea therefore allowed Britain to rapidly build its empire after the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) and throughout the 19th century, giving it enormous military, political and commercial advantages.

Unlike the navy of pre-revolutionary France, the highest commands of the Royal Navy were open to all within its ranks showing talent. This greatly increased the number of talented men available, although there was always a bias towards the upper class. The French revolution's anti-aristocratic purges caused the loss of most of the French navy's experienced commanders, increasing the Royal Navy's advantage over France.

Despite the success of the Royal Navy during this period, the conditions of service for ordinary seamen—no increases in pay for a century, late payment of wages, maintaining ships in commission for years without shore leave, harsh and arbitrary discipline—eventually resulted in serious mutinies in 1797 when the crews of the Spithead and Nore fleets refused to obey their officers and some captains were sent ashore. This resulted in the short-lived "Floating Republic" which at Spithead was quelled by promising improvements in conditions, but at the Nore resulted in the hanging of 29 mutineers.

Napoleon acted to counter Britain's maritime supremacy and economic power, closing European ports to British trade. He also authorised many privateers, operating from French territories in the West Indies, placing great pressure on British mercantile shipping in the western hemisphere. The Royal Navy was too hard-pressed in European waters to release significant forces to combat the privateers, and its large ships of the line were not very effective at seeking out and running down fast and manoueverable privateers which operated as widely spread single ships or small groups. The Royal Navy reacted by commissioning small warships, of traditional Bermuda design. The first three ordered from Bermudian builders, HMS Dasher, HMS Driver and HMS Hunter, were sloops of 200 tons, armed with twelve 24-pounder guns. A great many more ships of this type were ordered, or bought from trade, primarily for use as couriers. The most notable was HMS Pickle, the former Bermudian merchantman that carried news of victory back from Trafalgar.

In the years following the battle of Trafalgar there was increasing tension at sea between the Britain and the United States. American traders took advantage of their country's neutrality to trade with both the French-controlled parts of Europe and Britain. Both France and Britain tried to prevent each other's trade, but only the Royal Navy was in a position to enforce a blockade. Another irritant was the suspected presence of British deserters aboard US merchant and naval vessels. Royal Navy ships often attempted to recover these deserters. In one notorious instance in 1807, otherwise known as the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, HMS Leopard fired on USS Chesapeake causing significant casualties before boarding and seizing suspected British deserters.

In 1812, while the Napoleonic wars continued, the United States declared war on the United Kingdom and invaded Canada. At sea, the war was characterised by single-ship actions between small ships, and disruption of merchant shipping. The better-designed American frigates were heavier and faster than their British counterparts, and were handled well by volunteer crews. As a result, a number of British ships were defeated and, mid-way through the war, the Admiralty issued the order not to engage American frigates individually. There were also significant losses of merchant shipping to American privateers, 866 merchant vessels; however, the Royal Navy gradually reinforced the blockade of the American coast, virtually halting all trade by sea, capturing many merchant ships, and forcing the US navy frigates to stay in harbour or risk being captured.

By this time, the Royal Navy had begun building a naval base and dockyard in Bermuda, which replaced Newfoundland as the winter location of the Admiralty. The Royal Navy had begun development after American independence had deprived it of bases on most of the North American seaboard. In time Bermuda became the headquarters for Royal Naval operations in the waters of southern North America and the West Indies. During the War of 1812 the Royal Navy's blockade of the US Atlantic ports was coordinated from Bermuda and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The blockade kept most of the American navy trapped in port. The Royal Navy also occupied coastal islands, encouraging American slaves to defect. Units of Royal Marines were raised from these freed slaves. After British victory in the Peninsular War, part of Wellington's Light Division was released for service in North America. This 2,500-man force, composed of detachments from the 4, 21, 44, and 85 Regiments with some elements of artillery and sappers and commanded by Major-General Ross, arrived in Bermuda in 1815 aboard a fleet composed of the 74-gun HMS Royal Oak, three frigates, three sloops and ten other vessels. The combined force was to launch raids on the coastlines of Maryland and Virginia, with the aim of drawing US forces away from the Canadian border. Following American atrocities at Lake Erie, however, Sir George Prevost requested a punitive expedition which would 'deter the enemy from a repetition of such outrages'. The British force arrived at the Patuxent on 17 August and landed the soldiers within 36 miles of Washington DC. Led by Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn, the British force drove the US government out of Washington, DC. Ross shied from the idea of burning the City, but Cockburn and others set it alight. Buildings burned included the US Capitol and the US President's Mansion.

Between 1793 and 1815 the Royal Navy lost 344 vessels due to non-combat causes: 75 by foundering, 254 shipwrecked and 15 from accidental burnings or explosions. In the same period it lost 103,660 seamen: 84,440 by disease and accidents, 12,680 by shipwreck or foundering, and 6,540 by enemy action.

[edit] 1914–1945

During the two World Wars the Royal Navy played a vital role in keeping the United Kingdom supplied with food, arms and raw materials and in defeating the German campaigns of unrestricted submarine warfare in the first and second battles of the Atlantic.

During the First World War the majority of the Royal Navy's strength was deployed at home in the Grand Fleet in an effort to blockade Germany and to draw the Hochseeflotte (the German "High Seas Fleet") in to an engagement where a decisive victory could be gained. Although there was no decisive battle, the Royal Navy and the Kaiserliche Marine fought many engagements: the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the Battle of Coronel, the Battle of the Falkland Islands, the Battle of Dogger Bank and the Battle of Jutland. This last was the best-known battle. The Royal Navy suffered heavier losses, but succeeded in its strategic goal: the Hocheseeflotte never again put to sea.

The Royal Navy was also heavily committed in the Dardanelles Campaign against the Ottoman Empire. During the war, the Navy contributed the Royal Naval Division to the land forces of the New Army.

See also: Naval warfare of World War I

In the inter-war period the Royal Navy was stripped of much of its power. The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 imposed limits on individual ship tonnage and gun calibre, as well as total tonnage of the navy. The treaty, together with the deplorable financial conditions during the immediate post-war period and the Great Depression, forced the Admiralty to scrap all capital ships from the Great War with a gun calibre under 15 inches and to cancel plans for new construction. Three planned units of the G3 Hood class of battlecruiser and the N3 class of 16-inch battlecruisers and 18-inch battleshipswere cancelled. Also under the treaty, three "large light cruisers"—Glorious, Courageous and Furious—were converted to aircraft carriers. New additions to the fleet were therefore minimal during the 1920s, the only major new vessels being two Nelson class battleships and fifteen County and York class heavy cruisers.

The London Naval Treaty of 1930 deferred new capital ship construction until 1937 and reiterated construction limits on cruisers, destroyers and submarines. As international tensions increased in the mid-1930s the Second London Naval Treaty of 1935 failed to halt the development of a naval arms race and by 1938 treaty limits were effectively ignored. The re-armament of the Royal Navy was well under way by this point however, with the 1936 King George V class of 1936, limited to 35,000 tons and 14-inch armament, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, and the Illustrious class carriers, the Town and Crown Colony classes of light cruiser and the Tribal class destroyers. In addition to new construction, several existing old battleships, battlecruisers and heavy cruisers were reconstructed, and anti-aircraft weaponry reinforced.

As a result, the Royal Navy entered the Second World War as a heterogeneous force of World War I veterans, inter-war ships limited by close adherence to treaty restrictions and later unrestricted designs. It remained a powerful force, though smaller and relatively older than it was during World War I.

During the early phases of World War II, the Royal Navy provided critical, if depressing, cover during British evacuations from Dunkirk and Crete. In the latter operation Admiral Cunningham ran great risks to extract the Army, and saved many men to fight another day. The prestige of the Navy suffered severe blows when the battlecruiser HMS Hood was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck, and the Repulse and Prince of Wales were sunk by Japanese air attack. The Bismarck was sunk a few days later, though public pride in the Royal Navy was severely damaged as a result of the loss of mighty Hood.

The Royal Navy was also vital in guarding the sea lanes that enabled British forces to fight in remote parts of the world such as North Africa, the Mediterranean and the Far East. From 1942, responsibility for the protection of Atlantic convoys was divided between the various allied navies: the Royal Navy being responsible for much of the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Suppression of the U-boat threat was an essential requirement for the invasion of northern Europe: the necessary armies could not otherwise be transported and resupplied. During this period the Royal Navy acquired many relatively cheap and quickly-built escort vessels.

Naval supremacy was vital to the amphibious operations carried out, such as the invasions of Northwest Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Normandy. During the war however, it became clear that aircraft carriers were the new capital ship of naval warfare, and that Britain's former naval superiority in terms of battleships had become irrelevant. Britain was an early innovator in aircraft carrier design, in place of the now obsolete and vulnerable battleship, although the Royal Navy was now dwarfed by its ally, the United States Navy.

The successful invasion of Europe reduced the European role of the navy to fire support of troops near the coast as at Walcheren, during the battle of the Scheldt. Despite opposition from the U.S. naval chief, Admiral Ernest King, the Royal Navy sent a task force to the Pacific (British Pacific Fleet). This required the use of wholly different techniques, requiring a substantial fleet support train, resupply at sea and an emphasis on naval air power and defence.

See also: Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II

See also: British World War II destroyers

[edit] The Cold War

After World War II, the decline of the British Empire and the economic hardships in Britain at the time forced the reduction in the size and capability of the Royal Navy. The increasingly powerful U.S. Navy took on the former role of the Royal Navy as a means of keeping peace around the world. However, the threat of the Soviet Union and British commitments throughout the world created a new role for the Navy. In the 1960s, the Royal Navy received its first nuclear weapons and was later to become responsible for the maintenance of the UK's nuclear deterrent. In the latter stages of the Cold War, the Royal Navy was reconfigured with three anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft carriers and a force of small frigates and destroyers. Its purpose was to search for and destroy Soviet submarines in the North Atlantic.

[edit] Operations since 1982

The most important operation conducted predominantly by the Royal Navy after the Second World War was the defeat in 1982 of Argentina in the Falkland Islands War. Despite losing four naval ships and other civilian and RFA ships the Royal Navy proved it was still able to fight a battle 8,000 miles (12,800 km) from Great Britain. HMS Conqueror is the only nuclear-powered submarine to have engaged an enemy ship with torpedoes, sinking the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano. The war also underlined the importance of aircraft carriers and submarines and exposed the service's late 20th century dependence on chartered merchant vessels.

The Royal Navy also took part in the Gulf War, the Kosovo conflict, the Afghanistan Campaign, and the 2003 Iraq War, the last of which saw RN warships bombard positions in support of the Al Faw Peninsula landings by Royal Marines. Also during that war, HM submarines Splendid and Turbulent launched a number of Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets in Iraq.

In August 2005 the Royal Navy rescued seven Russians stranded in a submarine off the Kamchatka peninsula. Using its Scorpio 45, a remote-controlled mini-sub, the submarine was freed from the fishing nets and cables that had held the Russian submarine for three days.

The Royal Navy has deployed a number of Naval Task Groups to the Far East including "NTG 03" in 2003, HM ships Exeter, Echo, RFAs Diligence and Grey Rover in 2004 and HMS Liverpool and RFA Grey Rover in 2005.

[edit] Composition of the Fleet Since 1960

RN Surface Fleet Since 1960. (data at 5 year intervals)[10]

RN Submarine Fleet Since 1960. (data at 5 year intervals)[11]

Year	Submarines			Carriers		Assault Ships	Cruisers	Destroyers	Frigates	Mine Counter Measure Vessels	Patrol Ships and Craft
	SSBN	SSN	SS & SSK	CV	CV(L)
1960	0	0	48	6	3	0	6	55	84
1965	0	1	46	4	2	0	5	36	76
1970	4	3	35	3	2	2	4	19	74
1975	4	8	20	1	2	2	2	10	60	43	14
1980	4	11	17	0	3	2	1	13	53	36	22
1985	4	14	15	0	4	2	0	15	41	45	32
1990	4	17	10	0	3	2	0	14	35	41	34
1995	4	12	0	0	3	2	0	12	23	18	32
2000	4	12	0	0	3	3	0	11	21	21	23
2005	4	11	0	0	3	2	0	9	19	16	26
2006	4	10	0	0	3	3	0	8	17	16	22

Data taken from UK defence statistics and Conways All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995.

[edit] The Royal Navy today

At the beginning of the 1990s, the Royal Navy was a force designed for the Cold War with a focus on blue water anti-submarine warfare. Its purpose was to search for and destroy Soviet submarines in the North Atlantic, and to operate the nuclear deterrent submarine force. However, the Falklands War proved a need for the Royal Navy to regain an expeditionary and littoral capability which, with its resources and structure at the time, would prove difficult.

UK foreign policy after the end of the Cold War has given rise to a number of operations which have required an aircraft carrier to be deployed globally such as the Adriatic, Peace Support Operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, Sierra Leone, the Persian Gulf. Destroyers and frigates have been deployed against piracy in the Malacca Straits and Horn of Africa. Consequently in the 1990s the navy began a series of projects to modernise the fleet and convert it from a North Atlantic-based anti-submarine force to an expeditionary force.^[12]

See also: Current Royal Navy ships

See also: Royal Navy in the 21st century

[edit] Current deployments

The Royal Navy is currently deployed in many areas of the world, including a number of standing Royal Navy deployments.

[edit] North Atlantic Tasks

Fleet Ready Escort

Mine Countermeasures Force (Group 1) HMS Brocklesby

Fishery Protection Squadron River class patrol vessel and rotation of Hunt class MCMV

[edit] Mediterranean Tasks

Standing NRF Maritime (Group 2) HMS Montrose

Mine Countermeasures Force (Group 2)

[edit] Caribbean Tasks

Atlantic Patrol Task (North) HMS Lancaster, RFA Wave Ruler

[edit] South Atlantic Tasks

Atlantic Patrol Task (South) HMS Edinburgh, RFA Gold Rover

Falkland Islands Patrol Vessel HMS Dumbarton Castle

Ice Patrol Ship HMS Endurance

[edit] East-of-Suez Tasks

Armilla Patrol HMS Sutherland, HMS Cornwall, HMS Campbeltown, RFA Bayleaf

Far-East/Pacific Tasking HMS Monmouth, HMS Echo

[edit] Special Forces

The Royal Navy provides the Special Boat Service (SBS), one of the three Special Forces units within the United Kingdom Special Forces group.

The SBS is a naval Special Forces unit and is an independent part of the Royal Marines. It is made up of 4 operational squadrons and an SBS Reserve (SBS(R)), and is based at Royal Marines Poole, in Poole, Dorset.

It has roles in naval special operations such as combat swimmer missions, small boat operations, amphibious raids and Maritime Counter-Terrorism. As a Special Forces unit, its role is not limited to water-borne operations. It also conducts operations on land, either as the Special Forces element of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines, or separately.

The SBS Reserve provides individual members of the Royal Marines Reserve to serve alongside the regular SBS.

[edit] Custom and tradition

[edit] Heraldry

Main article: British Naval ensigns

Commissioned ships and submarines wear the White Ensign at the stern whilst alongside during daylight hours and at the main-mast whilst under way. When alongside, the Union Jack (as distinct from the Union flag, often referred to as the Union Jack) is flown from the jackstaff at the stem, and can only be flown under way either to signal a court-martial is in progress or to indicate the presence of an Admiral of the Fleet on-board (including the Lord High Admiral, the Monarch).^[13]

[edit] Fleet reviews

The Fleet Review is an irregular tradition of assembling the fleet before the monarch. For example, at the most recent Review on 28 June 2005 to mark the bi-centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar, 167 ships of the RN, and 30 other nations, were present.

[edit] Service nicknames

Nicknames for the service include "The Andrew" (of uncertain origin, possibly after a zealous press ganger^[14][15]) and "The Senior Service".^[16][17] It has also been referred to as the "Grey Funnel Line" in joking comparison with the commercial Blue Funnel Line.

[edit] Naval salute

Originally subordinates would uncover (remove their headgear) to a superior. In a book called New Art of War, printed in 1740, it is stated that;

When the King or Captain General is being saluted each Officer is to time his salute so as to pull off his hat when the person he salutes is almost opposite him.

Queen Victoria instituted the hand salute in the Navy to replace uncovering when she sent for certain officers and men to Osborne House to thank them for rendering help to a distressed German ship, and did not like to see men in uniform standing uncovered.^{[citation needed]}

The personal salute with the hand is borrowed from the military salute of the Army, and there are various theories concerning its origin. There is the traditional theory that it has been the custom from time immemorial for a junior to uncover to a superior, and even today men on Captain's Defaulters remove their hats. In this theory, the naval salute is merely the first motion of removing one's head dress. It was officially introduced into the Navy in 1890, but during the First World War a large number of old retired officers were in the habit of doffing their head gear instead of saluting, this, of course, being the method to which they were accustomed.

Another theory holds that in the age of sail, hemp ropes were preserved in tar, causing the sailor's hands to become stained. It would have been a discourtesy to show the dirty palm to one's superior, therefore the naval salute differs from the military salute in that it has the palm turned down, rather than outwards.^[18] The Royal Marines, with their military origin, use the military rather than the naval salute.

[edit] Affiliation

Ships will engage in a number of affiliations with cities, e.g. HMS Newcastle with Newcastle upon Tyne, elements of the other forces, e.g. HMS Illustrious with 30 Signal Regiment, schools, cadet units and charities.

[edit] Naval slang

The RN has evolved a rich volume of slang, known as "Jack-speak". Nowadays the British sailor is usually "Jack" (or "Jenny") rather than the more historical "Jack Tar", which is an allusion to either the former requirement to tar long hair or the tar-stained hands of sailors. Nicknames for a British sailor, applied by others, include "Matelot" (pronounced matlow), derived from French or "Limey".^[16] Royal Marines are fondly known as "Bootnecks" or often just as "Royals".^[16]

See also: Covey Crump

[edit] Uckers and Ucker

Uckers is a four player board game similar to Ludo that is traditionally played in the Royal Navy. It is fiercely competitive and rules differ between ships and stations (and between other services). Ucker, pronounced you-ker, is a card game also played on board ships and in naval establishments. It is similar to Trumps, is highly competitive and extremely difficult to learn.

[edit] The Royal Navy in fiction

• The Napoleonic campaigns of the navy have been the subject of many novels including Patrick O'Brian's series featuring Jack Aubrey, C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower, and Alexander Kent's Richard Bolitho.

• Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series though primarily involving the Peninsular War of the time, includes several novels involving Richard Sharpe at sea with the Navy.

• Alexander Kent is a pen name of Douglas Reeman who, under his birth name, has written many novels featuring the Royal Navy in the two World Wars.

• Noel Coward directed, and starred in his own film In Which We Serve, which tells the story of the crew of the fictional H.M.S Torrin during World War II, it was intended as a propaganda film and was released in 1942. Coward starred as the ships Captain, with supporting roles from John Mills and Richard Attenborough.

• Other well known novels include Alistair MacLean's HMS Ulysses, Nicholas Monsarrat's The Cruel Sea, and C.S. Forester's The Ship, all set during World War II.

• The Royal Navy has also been the subject of an acclaimed 1970s BBC television drama series, Warship.

[edit] Royal Navy timeline and battles

• 1340 Battle of Sluys
• 1350 Battle of Les Espagnols sur Mer
• 1372 Battle of La Rochelle
• 1588 The Spanish Armada
• 1589 The English Armada
• 1652 Battle of Dungeness
• 1690 Battle of Beachy Head
• 1692 Battle of La Hougue
• 1692 Battle of Plaisance (Placentia)
• 1759 Battle of Quiberon Bay and Battle of Lagos
• 1762 Battle of Signal Hill
• 1780 Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780)
• 1781 Battle of the Chesapeake and Battle of Dogger Bank (1781)
• 1782 Battle of St. Kitts and Battle of the Saintes
• 1794 The Glorious First of June
• 1797 Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797)
• 1798 Battle of the Nile
• 1801 Battle of Copenhagen
• 1805 Battle of Trafalgar
• 1808–1814 Peninsular war
• 1812–1814 War of 1812
• 1821 First steam paddle ships for auxiliary use (tugs etc.)
• 1827 The Battle of Navarino is the last fleet action between wooden sailing ships.
• 1839-1842 Opium War First Anglo-Chinese war.
• 1840 First screw driven Steamship, Rattler
• 1853–1856 Crimean War
• 1860 First Iron-hulled armoured battleship, Warrior
• 1902 First Royal Navy submarine, Holland 1
• 1905 First Steam turbine and all big-gun battleship, Dreadnought
• 1914–1918 First Battle of the Atlantic
• 1914 Battle of Heligoland Bight, Battle of Coronel, Battle of the Falkland Islands
• 1915 Battle of Dogger Bank (1915) and Dardanelles Campaign
• 1916 Battle of Jutland
• 1918 First true aircraft carrier is commissioned as the HMS Argus (I49).
• 1919 Russian Civil War
• 1931 Invergordon Mutiny
• 1939–1945 Second Battle of the Atlantic
• 1939 Battle of the River Plate
• 1940 Operation Dynamo (Dunkirk)
• 1941 Battle of Cape Matapan
• 1941 Sinking of HMS Hood and the German battleship Bismarck
• 1943 Battle of North Cape is the last action between battleships in European waters.
• 1944 Operation Tungsten
• 1944 Operation Neptune (Normandy)
• 1946 Mining of Saumarez and Volage in the Corfu Channel Incident
• 1949 Amethyst incident on the Yangtze River
• 1950 Korean War begins
• 1956 Suez campaign
• 1959 The last battleship, HMS Vanguard (23), is decommissioned.
• 1962 Indonesian Konfrontasi begins in Borneo
• 1963 First British nuclear submarine, Dreadnought
• 1965 Beira Patrol against Rhodesia begins
• 1980 Armilla Patrol in the Persian Gulf begins
• 1982 Falklands War
• 1991 Gulf War
• 1999 Kosovo conflict
• 2000 Operation Palliser
• 2001 Afghanistan Campaign
• 2003 Iraq War

[edit] Famous sailors of the Royal Navy

In approximate chronological order.

Sir Humphrey Gilbert Sir Martin Frobisher Sir Francis Drake Robert Blake George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle James, Duke of York William Penn Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich George Anson, 1st Baron Anson Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke John Benbow Edward Boscawen George Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe Samuel Barrington Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood Richard Kempenfelt John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent James Cook James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson Admiral Sir James Stirling

Sir Sidney Smith Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald Sir James Vashon George Vancouver William Bligh Sir John Franklin Charles Robert Malden Jackie Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher Robert Falcon Scott John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty William Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope James Somerville Bertram Ramsay Max Horton Philip Vian Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma Frederic John Walker Sir John "Sandy" Woodward Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Charles, Prince of Wales Prince Andrew, Duke of York

[edit] Famous People who Served in the Royal Navy

• Alec Guinness, actor, served during World War II, initially as a rating but later commissioned.
• Ralph Richardson, actor, served as a Lieutenant-Commander during World War II.
• Sir Laurence Olivier, actor, served in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II, rasing to the rank of Lieutenant.
• Harry H. Corbett, actor, famous for Steptoe and Son, served in the Royal Marines during later part of World War II.
• Peter O'Toole, actor, served as a Radioman during his National Service.
• Sean Connery, actor, served in the Royal Navy during his National Service.
• Sir Ludovic Kennedy, journalist, broadcaster and author served in the Royal Navy during World War II.

[edit] Famous ships of the Royal Navy

For a full list, see List of Royal Navy ship names

• Mary Rose — sank in 1545 off Portsmouth
• Golden Hind — flagship of Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation and raid on Spanish shipping.
• Ark Royal — flagship of English Fleet against the Spanish Armada. As of 2005, the current Ark Royal is an Invincible-class aircraft carrier that saw action in the 2003 Iraq conflict
• Revenge — actively engaged Spanish Armada; later became the subject of a poem by Lord Tennyson detailing her heroic fight against a large Spanish force in 1591.
• Bounty — scene of the famous mutiny.
• Victory — Nelson's flagship. This ship is still officially in service and is the world's oldest commissioned warship and the flagship of the Second Sea Lord
• Beagle — carried Charles Darwin on his voyage.
• Warrior — Britain's first iron hulled, armoured battleship
• Dreadnought — first "all big-gun" battleship
• Warspite — fought at Jutland and through the Second World War
• Hood — battlecruiser destroyed by the Bismarck
• Vanguard — last battleship built for the Royal Navy & also ran aground in Portsmouth Harbour
• Dreadnought — first British nuclear-powered submarine
• Resolution — first British strategic ballistic missile submarine
• Invincible — light aircraft carrier
• Conqueror — The first, and so far only, nuclear powered submarine to sink an enemy ship.

[edit] See also

Comparative military ranks Royal Navy officer rank insignia Royal Navy enlisted rate insignia Navy List List of senior officers of the Royal Navy List of fleets and major commands of the Royal Navy Department of Naval Intelligence Royal Navy Dockyard

Royal Canadian Navy Royal New Zealand Navy Royal Australian Navy Royal Indian Navy South African Navy The Royal British Legion Rule, Britannia! Heart of Oak — the official Royal Navy march Warship, a BBC television drama series.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Arthur Herman, To Rule The Waves: How The British Navy Changed The World, Harpercollins (October, 2004), hardcover, 528 pages, ISBN 0-06-053424-9
• N. A. M. Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain from 660 - 1649,
• N. A. M. Rodger, The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain from 1649 - 1815, Penguin (2004), paperback, 907 pages, ISBN 0-14-028896-1
• The National Encyclopaedia, Library Edition, pub William Mackenzie, mid-1870s, Volume IX

[edit] External links

• Official Website of the Royal Navy
• Institute of Naval History, Online community of Royal Naval and Royal Commonwealth History.
• The Navy List 2006 - list of all serving officers.
• Sea Your History Website from the Royal Naval Museum - Discover detailed information about the Royal Navy in the 20th Century.
• Navy News - Royal Navy Newspaper
• UK Military News & Information Portal
• The Marine Society College of the Sea
• The service registers of Royal Naval Seamen 1873 - 1923
• Royal Navy in World War 1, Campaigns, Battles, Warship losses
• Royal Navy in World War 2, Campaigns, Battles, Warship losses
• Royal and Dominion Navies, Victoria Cross at Sea, 1940-45

Commissioned Royal Navy Ships

Aircraft carriers Invincible-class HMS Illustrious | HMS Ark Royal Submarines Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarine HMS Vanguard | HMS Victorious | HMS Vigilant | HMS Vengeance Swiftsure-class fleet submarine HMS Superb | HMS Sceptre Trafalgar-class fleet submarine HMS Trafalgar | HMS Turbulent | HMS Tireless | HMS Torbay | HMS Trenchant | HMS Talent | HMS Triumph Destroyers Type 42 (Sheffield/Manchester-class) HMS Exeter | HMS Southampton | HMS Nottingham | HMS Liverpool | HMS Manchester | HMS Gloucester | HMS Edinburgh | HMS York Frigates Type 22 (Broadsword-class) HMS Cornwall | HMS Cumberland | HMS Campbeltown | HMS Chatham Type 23 (Duke-class) HMS Argyll | HMS Lancaster | HMS Iron Duke | HMS Monmouth | HMS Montrose | HMS Westminster | HMS Northumberland | HMS Richmond | HMS Somerset | HMS Sutherland | HMS Kent | HMS Portland | HMS St Albans Landing vessels Albion-class Landing Platform, Docks HMS Albion | HMS Bulwark Landing Platform, Helicopter HMS Ocean Mine countermeasures vessels Sandown-class HMS Walney | HMS Penzance | HMS Pembroke | HMS Grimsby | HMS Bangor | HMS Ramsey | HMS Blyth | HMS Shoreham Hunt-class HMS Ledbury | HMS Cattistock | HMS Brocklesby | HMS Middleton | HMS Chiddingfold | HMS Atherstone | HMS Hurworth | HMS Quorn Patrol vessels Antarctic ice-patrol ship HMS Endurance River-class HMS Mersey | HMS Severn | HMS Tyne | HMS Clyde Castle- class HMS Dumbarton Castle Archer-class HMS Archer | HMS Biter | HMS Smiter | HMS Blazer | HMS Puncher | HMS Charger | HMS Ranger | HMS Trumpeter | HMS Express | HMS Example | HMS Explorer | HMS Exploit | HMS Tracker | HMS Raider | HMS Pursuer | HMS Dasher Scimitar-class HMS Scimitar | HMS Sabre Survey vessels Ocean-going survey vessel HMS Scott Coastal survey vessel HMS Roebuck Echo-class multi-role survey vessel HMS Echo | HMS Enterprise Survey launch HMS Gleaner Miscellaneous vessels Type 82 destroyer HMS Bristol (Static training vessel) C class cruiser HMS Caroline (Shore establishment) First-rate ship of the line HMS Victory (Flagship of the Second Sea Lord)

List of Royal Navy ships

British Armed Forces
Royal Navy | British Army | Royal Air Force