Royal Navy

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Royal Navy

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, "senior service", of the British armed services. From late 17th century to World War II, it was the largest and most powerful navy in the world, helping to establish the British Empire as the dominant power of the 18th, to early 20th centuries. During the Cold War, it was transformed into an anti-Soviet force, being mostly active in the North Atlantic Ocean. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, its role for the 21st century has returned to a global operations, albeit at a much reduced capacity as to the days of the Empire.

Currently the Royal Navy (RN) is the second largest in the world in terms of gross tonnage; the US Navy (USN) remaining the world’s largest navy with a tonnage greater than that of the next 17 largest combined. The Royal Navy is currently the second largest in western Europe in terms of personnel, after the French Marine Nationale.

The Naval Service, also includes the Royal Marines (RM), the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR), etc. as well as the Royal Navy. In common usage, however, the whole service is referred to as the Royal Navy. The Naval Service had 36,320 regular personnel as at April 2005.

History

Main article: History of the Royal Navy

(all headings after 1601 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 the United Kingdom. As Britain is an island nation, any enemy power would have to cross the sea to invade. Attainment of naval superiority by a hostile power would have placed the nation in great peril. Moreover, a large navy was vital in maintaining the security of supply and communication with the Empire.

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 at Stourmouth, Kent (now silted up in Romney Marsh), 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.

England - Norman and Medieval, to 1485 - The Cinque Ports

Saxon naval forces having failed to prevent William the Conqueror from crossing the channel and winning the Battle of Hastings, the Norman kings started an equivalent force in 1155, with ships provided by the Cinque Ports alliance (possibly created by Norman, possibly pre-existing then developed by them for their own purposes). The Normans probably did establish 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 712 ships. There then followed a period of decline.

England - 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, 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 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 'General-at-Sea' (equivalent to 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 royalist and Parliamentary forces.

After defeats in the second and third Anglo-Dutch wars the Royal Navy became 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). The late 17th and early 18th century saw the Royal Navy with a superior number of ships to contemporary navies, although it suffered severe financial problems throughout this period, and found itself in heavy debt, which affected most of its operations and administration. As the 18th century drew on 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 counteract the movements of other county's naval forces by the means of blockades, supported by unprecedented naval logistics. 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 that time, the Royal Navy suffered only one major defeat—the battle of the Chesapeake against France in 1781 (although in 1796 a French invasion fleet was prevented from landing in Bantry Bay, Ireland only by the weather) 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 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. The United Kingdom therefore needed to maintain only 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 with bombardment, movement, supplies and reinforcement. Meanwhile rivals could have their sea-borne supplies cut off, as had 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 the United Kingdom to rapidly build its empire from the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) and throughout the 19th century, giving it enormous military, political and commercial advantages.

Unlike the French 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 pool available, even if there was a bias towards the upper class. Furthermore, 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.

Despite the success of the Royal Navy during this period, the conditions of service for ordinary seamen, including no increases in pay for a century, late payment of wages and maintaining ships in commission for years without shore leave, all set against the background of 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 unleashed a storm of privateers, operating from French territories in the West Indies, which placed 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. Its large ships-of-the-line were not useful, in any case, for seeking out and running down the nimble privateers, which operated individually, or in small numbers, scattered far-and-wide. 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 each sloops of 200 tons, armed with twelve 24-pounders. A great many more ships of this type were ordered, or bought up from trade, primarily for use as advice ships. The most notable was HMS Pickle, the former Bermudian merchantman that carried news of victory back from Trafalgar.

In the years following 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 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 counterparts, and handled well under volunteer crews. As a result a number of British ships were defeated and mid-way through the war, the Admiralty was forced to issue the order to not engage American frigates individually. Additionally, there were also significant merchant 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 and 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 had become the winter location of the Admiralty previously based in Newfoundland. The Royal Navy had begun development after American independence had deprived it of bases on most of the North American seaboard. In time, Bermuda would become 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 orchestrated 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 Major-General Ross and detachments from the 4, 21, 44, and 85 Regiments, with some elements of artillery and sappers, arrived in Bermuda in 1815 aboard a fleet composed of the 74-gun HMS Royal Oak, three frigates, three sloops and ten other vessels. It had been thought to use the combined force 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. It landed the soldiers within 36 miles of Washington DC. Led by Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn, the 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.

Between 1793 and 1815 the Royal Navy lost 344 vessels 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.

1815-1914

During the 19th century the Royal Navy enforced a ban on the slave trade and the suppression of piracy. Another job of the Royal navy was given during the 19th century (and before and after as well), was to map the world. Mostly, this involved recording every coastline to provide this information for humanity. To this day, Admiralty charts are maintained by the Royal Navy.

Royal Navy vessels on surveying missions carried out extensive scientific work. On one voyage, Charles Darwin traveled around the world on the Beagle, making scientific observations which later influenced his 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.

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

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 several 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.

In the interwar period, the Royal Navy lost much of its power. The Washington Naval Treaty imposed limits on individual ship tonnage and gun calibre size, as well as total tonnage size of the navy, forcing the Admiralty to scrap several battleships from the Great War (they lacked resources to maintain and update them anyway) and to cancel plans for various ships, such as the planned class of Hood battlecruisers, and a class of superdreadnoughts carrying 16-inch or 18-inch guns. Due to the treaty, there was little capital ship construction, although this can be attributed to the deplorable financial conditions during the immediate post-war period and the Great Depression. However, there was some significant construction, such as that of HMS Ark Royal and the Nelson class of battleships. Several changes were made to many ships, such as the addition of anti-aircraft weaponry. Despite this, the Royal Navy entered the war as a powerful force, though smaller than during World War I.

During the earlier 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, but saved many men to fight another day. It suffered a massive blow however, when the battlecruiser HMS Hood was sunk by the DKM Bismarck. The Bismarck was also sunk a few days later, though public pride in the Royal Navy was damaged as a result of the loss of 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. 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.

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 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 aircraft carriers and a force of small frigates and destroyers. Its purpose was to search for and destroy Soviet submarines in the North Atlantic.

Recent operations

The most important post-war operation conducted predominantly by the Royal Navy 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 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 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 today

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 seek 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 rebuild its fleet, with a view to bringing its capabilities into the 21st century and allow it to turn from a North Atlantic-based anti-submarine force into a Blue water 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 (or His Majesty's Ship), for example HMS Ark Royal. Submarines are styled HM Submarine, also abbreviated HMS. Fleet support units, usually staffed by civilians, are given the prefix RFA, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, such as RFA Sir Galahad. Ships and submarines are also given a pennant number.

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, and overall head of the Armed Forces, is the British Sovereign.

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 Jonathon Band.

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). It was initially based in HMS Warrior, a land base in Northwood, Middlesex. This continues the tradition of basing the home naval command 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 and a small staff remain at Northwood. The current CINCFLEET is Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent.

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 Vice-Admiral Adrian Johns.

Conventional Naming

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 called the "Royal Navy" in their own language.

Current Deployments

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

Fleet Ready Escort HMS Northumberland (F238)

Mine Countermeasures Force (Group 1) Sandown class minehunter

Fishery Protection Squadron River class patrol vessel

Standing NRF Maritime (Group 2) HMS York (D98)[link]

Atlantic Patrol Task (North) HMS Iron Duke (F234), RFA Wave Knight (A389)

Atlantic Patrol Task (South) HMS Chatham (F87)

Falkland Islands Patrol Vessel HMS Dumbarton Castle (P265)

Ice Patrol Ship

Armilla Patrol HMS Kent (F78), RFA Diligence (A132)

Far-East/Pacific Tasking HMS Bulwark (L15), Fleet Flagship HMS Illustrious (R06), HMS Gloucester (D96), RFA Fort Victoria (A387), HMS Westminster (F237)

Naval Slang

The RN has evolved a rich volume of slang. Nicknames for the service include "The Andrew" (of uncertain origin, possibly after a zealous Press Ganger Admiralty Manual of Seamanship, 1964, HMSO. http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.17840 National Maritime Museum) and "The Senior Service" Jackspeak, Rick Jolly, Maritime Books Dec 2000, ISBN 0951430521http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.3804 Naval Slang. It has also been referred to as the "Grey Funnel Line". Nowadays the British sailor is usually "Jack" (or "Jenny") rather than the more historical "Jack Tar", which is an allusion to the former requirement to tar long hair.

Royal Marines are fondly known as "Bootnecks" or often just as "Royal".

Nicknames for a British sailor, applied by others, include "Matelot" (pronounced matlow), derived from French or "Limey".

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.

Royal Navy timeline and battles

• 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.)
• 1839-1842 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 Operation Palliser
• 2001 Afghanistan Campaign
• 2003 Iraq War

Famous sailors of the Royal Navy

In approximate chronological order / seniority. 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 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 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 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

Famous Ship's names 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 — 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 & 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.

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 and major commands of the Royal Navy
• 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 Auxiliary Service
• Royal Naval Division
• Royal Navy Dockyard
• Royal Navy officer rank insignia
• Royal Navy enlisted rate insignia
• Royal Navy surface fleet
• Royal Navy Submarine Service
• Standing Royal Navy deployments
• UK topics
• The Royal British Legion
• Rule, Britannia!
• Warfare Officer
• Engineer Officer

References

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]
• [The Royal Naval Patrol Service of World War II]
• [Defence Talk - Global Defence Affairs]
• [Navy News - Royal Navy Newspaper]
• [The Marine Society & Sea Cadets]
• [Cook's Navy in 1770]
• [Royal Navy 1793-1815]
• [Women in the armed forces, magazine]
• [An unofficial Royal Navy forum]
• [RUM RATION - Another unofficial Royal Navy forum]
• [The service registers of Royal Naval Seamen 1873 - 1923]

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

 

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