Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the "senior service" of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. From approximately 1692 until World War II, the Royal Navy was the largest and most powerful navy in the world. The navy helped establish the United Kingdom as the dominant military and economic power of the 18th century and the 19th century, and was essential for maintaining the British Empire. Although the Royal Navy is now much smaller, it remains the largest Western European navy, the second largest navy in the world in terms of gross tonnage, and one of the world's most technologically advanced. It formed the basis for most other navies with few exceptions, and many sailors from Commonwealth and NATO Navies attend Royal Naval Training Programmes in Britain. The end of the Cold War with the collapse of the Soviet Union has precipitated a restructuring of the Royal Navy's role as a major naval player in the 21st century, from that of a deterrence force to a navy capable of extending British foreign policy worldwide.

Naval service

Officially, the Royal Navy is properly only one of the components of the Naval Service, which also includes the Royal Marines, the Royal Naval Reserve, etc. In common usage, however, the whole service is referred to as the Royal Navy; so while it is technically incorrect to say, for example, that the Royal Marines are part of the Royal Navy, it is good enough for most purposes (although possibly unwise within earshot of a bootneck).

History

Main article: History of the Royal Navy

The Royal Navy has historically played a central role in the defence and warfare of Britain. Because Britain is surrounded by seas, any enemy power (at least, before aircraft) would have had to cross by sea in order to attack. Attainment of naval superiority by any hostile power would have placed the nation in great peril. Moreover, a strong navy was vital in maintaining the security of supply and communication links with distant locations in the Empire.

England (c. 800 to c. 1700)

England's first navy was established in the 9th century by Alfred the Great, but soon 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. The Norman kings started an equivalent in 1155 with the creation of the Cinque Ports alliance and the establishment of the post of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. King John had a fleet of 500 sail. In the mid-fourteenth century Edward III's navy had some 700 ships. There then followed a period of decline.

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 great superpower, 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. However, the armada failed, due to a combination of repeated successful attacks by the Royal Navy of England, bad weather and a revolt by the Dutch in Spain's territories across the Channel. The defeat of the armada is the first major victory by the English at sea. However the Drake-Norris Expedition of 1589 saw the tide of war turn against the Royal Navy. England continued to raid Spain's ports and ships travelling across the Atlantic Ocean under the reign of Elizabeth I but was to suffer a series of damaging defeats against a reformed Spanish navy.

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 Admiral Robert Blake during Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. The incorporation of the Royal Navy was in contrast to the land forces, which are descended from variety of different sources including both royal and anti-royal Parliamentary forces.

After having suffered defeats in the second and third Anglo-Dutch wars the Royal Navy was the strongest navy in the world from 1692 to 1940 (the Dutch navy being placed under control of the Royal Navy by William III's command following the Glorious Revolution), with almost uncontested power over the world's oceans from 1805 to 1914, when it came to be said that Britain ruled the waves. In that time, the Royal Navy suffered only one major defeat—the battle of the Chesapeake against France in 1781—and was able to defeat all challengers, as at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 where a combined French and Spanish fleet was decisively beaten by a smaller but more experienced British fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. The victory at Trafalgar consolidated Britain'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 or disrupt rivals' ocean trading routes. Britain therefore only needed to maintain a relatively small, highly mobile, professional army that could be dispatched to where it was needed by sea, as well as be given support by the navy both with bombardment, movement, supplies and reinforcement. Meanwhile rivals could have their sea-borne supplies cut off, as occurred with Napoleon's army in Egypt. Other major European powers were forced to split their resources between maintaining both a large navy and enormous armies and fortifications to defend their land frontiers. The domination of the sea therefore allowed Britain to rapidly build its empire, especially from the Seven Years War (1756-1763) and throughout the 19th century, giving Britain enormous military, political and commercial advantages.

File:HMS Lively.jpg

38 gun Frigate Lively

1815-1914

During the 19th century the Royal Navy was also busy in enforcing the ban on the slave trade and the suppression of piracy. Another task the Royal navy was given during the 19th century (and before and after as well), was to map the world. Mostly, this involved the seas and oceans, recording every coast line in a scrupulous effort to provide this information for humanity. To this day, Admiralty charts are continuously updated by the Royal Navy, as they always have been.

In addition, Royal Navy vessels on such surveying missions carried out extensive scientific work. On one such voyage, Charles Darwin traveled around the world on the Beagle, making scientific observations which later influenced his development of 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 where seamen were forced to serve in the Navy during times of manpower shortage, usually in wartime. 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.

File:HMS Dreadnought 1906 H63367.jpg

HMS Dreadnought

During the later half of the 19th century, ships of the Royal Navy were used for "Gunboat Diplomacy". For this, large, heavily armed gunboats with shallow draught were employed in coastal areas in the far reaches of the Empire, to mostly assure the local population/ruler of Britain's power, and to also interfere where Britain's interests were at stake.

File:British Grand Fleet 2.jpg

Grand Fleet during WWI

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 it fought in several sea battles, Battle of Heligoland Bight, Battle of Coronel, Battle of the Falkland Islands, Battle of Dogger Bank and Dardanelles Campaign, but the Battle of Jutland is the most well known. 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. Naval supremacy was vital to the amphibious operations carried out, such as the invasions of Northwest Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Normandy. See British military history of World War II.

File:HMS Warspite (Valiant-class submarine).jpg

HMS Warspite, The Royal Navy's third nuclear-powered submarine

The Cold War

After World War II, the growing power of the United States and the decline of the British Empire reduced the role of the Royal Navy. However the threat of the Soviet Union and continuing British commitments throughout the world created a new and important role for the Navy. In the 1960s, the Royal Navy received its first nuclear weapons and was later to become the sole carrier of the UK's nuclear deterrent. In the latter stages of the Cold War, the Royal Navy was reconfigured with three anti-submarine warfare aircraft carriers and a force of small frigates and destroyers. Its purpose was to search for and, if necessary, destroy Soviet submarines in the North Atlantic.

Recent operations

File:HMS Hermes (R12) (Royal Navy aircraft carrier.jpg

HMS Hermes, Flagship of the British Task Force sent to recover the Falkland Islands.

The most important post-war operation conducted solely by the Royal Navy was the defeat in 1982 of Argentina in the Falkland Islands War. Despite losing 4 naval ships and other civilian and RFA ships as well as having other ships damaged to a greater or lesser extent, the Royal Navy proved it was still able to fight a battle 8,000 miles (12,800 km) from the British mainland. The war also underlined the critical importance and power of aircraft carriers and submarines, and exposed the service's late 20th century dependency on chartered merchant vessels.

The Royal Navy also participated 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 on a variety of targets in Iraq.

The Royal Navy today

File:HMS Endurance.jpg

HMS Endurance in Antarctica

At the beginning of the 1990s, the Royal Navy was a force designed for the Cold War - with its three 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. However, the Falklands War proved a need for the Royal Navy to regain a bluewater capability which, with its resources at the time, would prove difficult. This has been shown even more so with the number of operations the Royal Navy has conducted that have required a carrier to be sent all over the world (the Adriatic for service in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, off the coast of Sierra Leone, the Persian Gulf). So, over the course of 1990s, the navy has begun a series of projects to enhance and rebuild its fleet, with a view to bringing its capabilities into the 21st century and allow it to turn from a North Atlantic, anti-submarine force into a true Blue water navy.

Current Deployments

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

North Atlantic Tasks

Fleet Flagship HMS Illustrious (R06)

Fleet Ready Escort HMS Westminster (F237)

Mine Countermeasures Force (Group 1) Sandown class minehunter

Fishery Protection Squadron River class patrol vessel

Mediterranean Tasks

Standing NRF Maritime (Group 2) HMS Nottingham (D91)

Caribbean Tasks

Atlantic Patrol Task (North) HMS Southampton (D90)

South Atlantic Tasks

Atlantic Patrol Task (South) HMS Liverpool (D92)

Falkland Islands Patrol Vessel HMS Dumbarton Castle (P265)

Ice Patrol Ship HMS Endurance (A171)

East-of-Suez Tasks

Armilla Patrol HMS Montrose (F236), RFA Diligence (A132)

Far-East/Pacific Tasking HMS Bulwark (L15), HMS Enterprise (H88)

Names

Nicknames for the Royal Navy include "The Mob", "The Andrew", and "The Senior Service". Nowadays the British sailor usually refers to himself as "Jack" rather than "Jacktar". Foreign nicknames for a British sailor are "Limey". In port towns like Portsmouth and Plymouth they are often referred to as "Matelots" (pronounced 'matloes' the French word for sailor) or more derogatively as "skates" (due to the alleged sexual abuse of these fish). Royal Marines are fondly known as "Bootnecks" or often just referred to as "Royal"

The British Royal Navy is commonly referred to as "The Royal Navy" both inside and outside the United Kingdom. Commonwealth navies also include their national name e.g. Royal Australian Navy. However, there are other navies, such as the Koninklijke Marine (Royal Netherlands Navy) which are also simply called the "Royal Navy" in their own language.

The book Jackspeak by Rick Jolly [1] and illustrated by the cartoonist Tugg provides an informal history of naval lanuage.

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.

Ships of the Royal Navy

see main article at: List of ships of the Royal Navy

Commissioned (surface) ships of the Royal Navy are accorded the prefix HMS which stands for Her Majesty's Ship (alternatively, His Majesty's Ship), for example HMS Ark Royal. Submarines on the other hand are styled HM Submarine, though still abbreviated HMS. Fleet support units, usually manned by civilians are given the prefix RFA or Royal Fleet Auxiliary, such as RFA Sir Galahad.

The Royal Navy has the following classes of vessel in use today:

Class	Type	Quantity	Year	Details
Invincible	Aircraft Carrier	3	1977	Light aircraft carrier flying Sea Harrier FA2 and GR7 Harrier aircraft, Merlin, Chinook and Sea King helicopters.
Ocean	Amphibious assault ship	1	1999	A Landing Platform, Helicopter carrier, carrying up to 18 helicopters and 4 landing craft.
Albion	Landing Platform Dock	2	2003	Used for amphibious assault, capable of carrying 4 landing craft, and up to 325 men.
Type 42 (Sheffield)	Destroyer	8	1975	Anti-aircraft destroyer, carries the Sea Dart anti aircraft missile. Due to be replaced by the Type 45 Destroyers.
Type 23 (Duke)	Frigate	13	1989	Anti-submarine/general purpose frigate. Carries the Harpoon missile for anti-ship warfare, and Sea Wolf for air defence. Capable of holding one Lynx helicopter with Sea Skua missiles, Stingray torpedoes or depth charges or a Merlin Mk 1 helicpoter.
Type 22 (Broadsword)	Frigate	4	1979	Anti-submarine/general purpose frigate. Carries the Harpoon missile for anti-ship warfare, and Sea Wolf for air defence. Capable of holding two Lynx helicopters with Sea Skua missiles, Stingray torpedoes or depth charges.
Endurance	Antarctic patrol vessel	1	1991	Icebreaker patrol vessel for deployment in the Antarctic.
Vanguard	SSBN	4	1993	Nuclear ballistic missile submarines, carrying the Trident missile, the UK's nuclear deterrent.
Swiftsure	Submarine	2	1974	Nuclear powered fleet submarines, carrying torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Trafalgar	Submarine	7	1985	Nuclear powered fleet submarines, carrying torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Sandown and Hunt	Minesweeper	16	1970s	Minesweepers with secondary patrol vessel role.
Castle and Archer	Patrol vessel	18	1970s	Patrol vessels for coastal defence and surveillance.

• HMS Invincible, Invincible-class aircraft carrier
  HMS Invincible, Invincible-class aircraft carrier
• 
  HMS Illustrious, Invincible-class aircraft carrier
• HMS Ocean, Landing Platform Helicopter
  HMS Ocean, Landing Platform Helicopter
• 
  HMS Albion, Landing Platform Dock
• HMS Manchester, Type 42 Destroyer
  HMS Manchester, Type 42 Destroyer
• HMS Kent, Type 23 Frigate
  HMS Kent, Type 23 Frigate
• HMS Cornwall, Type 22 Frigate
  HMS Cornwall, Type 22 Frigate
• HMS Leeds Castle, Castle-class patrol boat
  HMS Leeds Castle, Castle-class patrol boat
• HMS Bristol, Type 82 destroyer
  HMS Bristol, Type 82 destroyer
• HMS Vanguard, Vanguard-class submarine
  HMS Vanguard, Vanguard-class submarine
• HMS Sceptre, Swiftsure-class submarine
  HMS Sceptre, Swiftsure-class submarine
• HMS Echo, survey vessel
  HMS Echo, survey vessel

Command of the Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is established under the royal prerogative, and the head of the Royal Navy, known as the Lord High Admiral, is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (who is the overall head of the UK Armed Forces).

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.

The functions of the Defence Council that concern the administration of the Naval Service are formally delegated to an Admiralty Board and its sub-committee, the Navy Board, which is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Royal Navy.

The professional head of the Royal Navy is the First Sea Lord (who also holds the title of Chief of the Naval Staff). The current incumbent is Admiral Sir Alan West.

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, and it is planned that these two commands will soon amalgamate.

In 1971, with the withdrawal from Singapore, the Far East and Western fleets of the Royal Navy were unified into one command under the Commander-in-Chief Fleet (CINCFLEET). It was initially based at Northwood in Middlesex, continuing the tradition of basing the home naval command there that had started in 1960 when the Home Fleet command had been transferred ashore. Recently most of CINCFLEET's staff has transferred to a new facility in Portsmouth. However, CINCFLEET himself and a small staff remain at Northwood.

The Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command (CINCNAVHOME) also known as the Second Sea Lord, is responsible for the shore-based establishments and manpower of the Royal Navy, and is based in Portsmouth, flying his flag aboard HMS Victory. This role is currently held by Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent.

Royal Navy timeline and battle honours

The Battle of Copenhagen

The Battle of the Nile

The Battle of Trafalgar

• 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
• 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.)
• 1839 Opium War First Anglo-Chinese war.
• 1840 First screw driven Steamship, Rattler
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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 Sierra Leone
• 2001 Afghanistan Campaign
• 2003 Iraq War

Famous sailors of the Royal Navy

In approximate chronological order / seniority. 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 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 Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth Sir Sidney Smith Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald Sir James Vashon George Vancouver William Bligh 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 Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope James Somerville Max Horton Philip Vian Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma Frederick John Walker Sir John "Sandy" Woodward Admiral Sir James Stirling Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Charles, Prince of Wales Prince Andrew, Duke of York

File:FrancisDrake.jpg Sir Francis Drake, c. 1540–1596. James Cook, 1728–1779. Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1758–1805

Famous ships of the Royal Navy

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

HMS Victory.

• Mary Rose — sank in 1545 off Portsmouth
• 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
• 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.
• Beagle — carried Charles Darwin on his voyage.
• Warrior — one of the first ironclad warships
• 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
• Dreadnought — first British nuclear-powered submarine
• Resolution — first British strategic ballistic missile submarine
• Invincible — light aircraft carrier
• Conqueror — nuclear attack submarine, responsible for the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War.

See also

• The Admiralty
• Comparative military ranks
• Admiral
• "Heart of Oak" — the official Royal Navy march
• Navy List
• Covey Crump
• Pink gin
• List of fleets (includes British fleets of the two World Wars)
• List of senior officers of the Royal Navy
• List of Royal Navy ships
• British Naval ensigns
• Department of Naval Intelligence
• British military history
• Royal Naval Division
• Royal Navy Dockyard
• Standing Royal Navy deployments
• UK topics
• The Royal British Legion
• "Rule Britannia"
• University Royal Naval Units
• Warfare Officer
• Engineer Officer
• Logistics Officer

Further reading

• Arthur Herman, To Rule The Waves: How The British Navy Changed The World, Harpercollins (October, 2004), hardcover, 528 pages, ISBN 0060534249
• 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 0140288961

External links

• Official Website of the Royal Navy
• Navy News - Royal Navy Newspaper
• Cook's Navy in 1770
• Royal Navy 1793/1815
• Women in the armed forces
• WOMEN'S POWER MAGAZINE