The Royal navy-From it

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The Royal navy-From its beginnings to present
day.
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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.

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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 navys 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 familys.
  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 1509. 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 1588. She ruled until 1603.

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The navy from 1600-1699

• 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
  1664-1674. Samuel Pepys was head of the navy
  until 1688. 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 1692. During the years of
  1689-1697 the French successfully launched
  campaigns against British trade.

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The navy from 1700-1789
During this time period the Royal Navys
activitys were mostly related to or against the
French navy. The navy battled the French fleet in
1794 and 1798. 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 1782. The navy
also captured Gibraltar in 1704 and preyed on
Spanish trade in 1739. The navy also defeated the
Spanish navy in 1797. Naval warships armaments
in the navy greatly increased during this time
period. Ships could from 60-100 cannons. The
fleet also increased in the amount of warships
during the period there were 270 in 1700 and 500
in 1793. The men in the navy also increased
during wars in 1739-1748 there were 40,000 men
and at the height of the Napoleonic wars there
were 150,000 men.
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The navy 1800-1899
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
1800s. So the Royal navy blockaded France so
Napoleon couldnt build up his navy. The British
navy also saw action in the war of 1812. One the
navys 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 1859. In 1861
the first all metal ship was built for the royal
navy. Towards the end of the 1800s 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 1800s the navy had heavy
shore bombardment campaigns during several
wars. Torpedoes were invented by Robert Whitehead
in the 1860s. They navy acquired them. They did
see action in 1877 when one was fired on an
ironclad although it didnt 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 18th 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
50s.
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The navy 1900-to present day

There were many reforms in the early 1900s. 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 1940. 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 1960.
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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The end