History of the Royal Navy (before 1707)

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the later history of the Royal Navy, see History of the Royal Navy (after 1707).

United Kingdom
His Majesty's
Naval Service
of the British Armed Forces
Components
  • Special Forces
History and future
Ships
Personnel
Auxiliary services

The official history of the Royal Navy began with the establishment of the

Restoration of King Charles II to the throne. However, for more than a thousand years before that there had been English naval forces varying in type and organisation. In 1707 it became the naval force of the Kingdom of Great Britain after the Union between England and Scotland which merged the English navy with the much smaller Royal Scots Navy, although the two had begun operating together from the time of the Union of the Crowns
in 1603.

Before the creation of the Royal Navy, the English navy had no defined moment of formation; it started out as a motley assortment of "King's ships" during the Middle Ages assembled only as needed and then dispersed, began to take shape as a standing navy during the 16th century, and became a regular establishment during the tumults of the 17th century.

England before 1603

Early English kingdoms

Some evidence of English ship construction in the

Anglo-Saxon period is available from the boat burials at Snape (about 550) and Sutton Hoo (about 625), though warships would probably have been larger than the vessels interred there. There is little evidence of the naval activities of the English kingdoms before the mid-9th century, but King Edwin of Northumbria (616/7–633/4) conquered the Isle of Man and Anglesey, and another King of Northumbria, Ecgfrith, sent a military expedition to Gaelic Ireland in 684.[2]

The threat from

Æthelstan and Ealdorman Ealhere at Sandwich, Kent, capturing nine ships.[4]

The Danish "

Solent later that year saw nine of his new ships defeat six Danish ships.[7]

United England (927–1066)

Naval operations are glimpsed again in 934, when

Edgar (959–975) the kings of Scotland, of Cumbria and of four other kingdoms would regularly swear to be King Edgar's faithful allies by land and sea.[9]

The renewal of serious Viking attacks in the reign of

Olaf Tryggvason, but amid confusion and alleged treachery the English fleet suffered heavy losses. In 1008, Æthelred ordered a new programme of naval construction, under which one warship was to be provided for every 310 hides of land in the kingdom. In 1009 the king took the new fleet out to Sandwich, Kent to guard against the threat of invasion (this port, near the junction of the North Sea and the English Channel and lying within the sheltered offshore anchorage of the Downs, appears frequently in the sources for this period as a position where fleets were stationed on guard). However, this deployment ended in disaster due to internal dissension. Accusations against the great Sussex thegn Wulfnoth (probably the father of Godwin, later Earl of Wessex) led to his flight from the fleet with 20 ships manned by his supporters. A force of 80 ships sent after him was wrecked by a storm and the beached ships burnt by Wulfnoth, after which the remainder of the fleet dispersed in confusion.[10]

English naval forces were supplemented by Scandinavian mercenaries. Directly after the fiasco of 1009 a new invasion force led by the Danish warlord

Cnut, whose invasion force had been joined by 40 ship-loads of Danish mercenaries who defected from Æthelred's service. Having secured the throne, Cnut dismissed the bulk of his fleet, but maintained a standing force of 40 ships, funded by national taxation. In 1025 Cnut led an Anglo-Danish fleet to campaign against his enemies in Scandinavia, and in 1028 he conquered Norway with a force including 50 English ships. The standing fleet was in time reduced to 16 ships, but increased again after Cnut's son Harthacnut brought a fleet from Denmark to claim the throne in 1040.[11]

The early years of

Henry III. In 1050 Edward reduced the standing force, then numbering 14 ships, to five. After a political crisis in 1051 saw Earl Godwin and his sons driven into exile, Edward sent out a force of 40 ships to Sandwich to guard against their return. However Godwin, returning with ships from Flanders, eluded them, and he and his son Harold, coming from Ireland, gathered a powerful fleet from the "butsecarles" (literally "boatmen") of the Earldom of Wessex. With this fleet and an army also gathered from Wessex, Godwin came to London and confronted the king, who was supported by an army and a fleet of 50 ships. The crisis ended with the negotiated reinstatement of Godwin and his sons to their former possessions and power.[12]

In 1063 Earl Harold Godwinson led a fleet to Wales against Gruffydd ap Llywelyn of Gwynedd, while his brother Tostig invaded by land. Harold put Gruffydd to flight and destroyed his fleet and his residence at Rhuddlan, defeats which led to Gruffydd's murder by his own people in order to end the war. King Edward installed Gruffydd's half-brothers in his place, and they swore to serve him "on water and on land", suggesting that England's native naval forces could be supplemented by tributary contingents from neighbouring dependent territories as well as by foreign mercenaries.[13]

In 1066, following Edward's death and his own election as king, Harold assembled a powerful army and fleet in the

William of Normandy. However, having waited all summer without the Normans appearing, their provisions were exhausted and Harold was forced to dismiss them; many of the ships were wrecked on the way back to London. William was then able to cross unopposed.[14]

House of Normandy (1066–1135)

English naval power seemingly declined as a result of the

Doomsday Book was completed, it had apparently ceased to exist.[16]

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in 1068,

Harald, Cnut, and Bjorn. In addition to the ravaging of the English townships of Dover, Sandwich, Ipswich, and Norwich, the Danes connected with the aetheling (Anglo-Saxon Heir to the crown) Edgar and rebels in Northumbria. William chased Edgar and the rebels to Scotland, but could not defeat the Danes, causing him to resort to the old Anglo-Saxon practice of paying them off.[18]

Though William the Conqueror caused a massive decline in English naval practices, he did occasionally assemble small fleets of ships, but only for limited activities. Most of these limited actions also did not involve direct combat at sea. An example of this was when the rebellious Anglo-Saxon Earl Morcar and his ally Bishop Æthelwine of Durham sought refuge on the Isle of Ely in 1071. According to Florence of Worcester reported, "The king [William the Conqueror] hearing of this, blocked up every outlet on the eastern side by means of boatmen [butescarls], and caused a bridge two miles long to be constructed on the western side." The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle also confirms these events. Though William used ships for blockading purposes and for important strategic engagements, his infrequent use of an established navy promoted a damaging practice of infrequent maritime operations, which his successors would practice on a frequent basis.[19]

House of Anjou (1154–1216)

In 1141

King John ordered 54 royal galleys to be constructed and between 1207 and 1211 £5000 was spent on the royal fleet. The fleet also started to have an offensive capability, as in 1213 when ships commanded by the Earl of Salisbury raided Damme in Flanders, where they burned many ships of the French fleet.[20]

When King John’s campaign to recover Normandy from the French was at a breaking point, the northern barons of England began to rise in revolt. Forced by the insurrection, John signed Magna Carta on 15 June 1215, in hopes of satisfying the barons to buy time for Pope Innocent III to excommunicate the rebellious barons and condemn Magna Carta. From this, the barons revolted, commencing the First Barons' War with the capture of Rochester Castle. Grasping, however, that they (the barons) were outmatched by royalists and King John, the barons decided to turn to France for assistance. Realising the baron's intentions, John attempted to assemble a Navy, to prevent the arrival of the French.[21] France, who saw this as a fortunate opportunity, decided to assist the barons, with Phillip II's (King of France) son Dauphin Louis, later known as Louis VIII of France, to invade England. With John unable to swiftly build up his navy, due to the adopting of infrequent maritime operations from William the Conqueror, the French Navy under Louis invaded and landed at Sandwich unopposed in April 1216.[21] With Louis near London, John fled to Winchester, where he would stay until his death on 19 October 1216, having his nine-year-old son Henry III as heir to the throne.[22]

House of Plantagenet (1216–1399)

Paradoxically, John's death turned the tide against Louis, the rebellion in England, and the development of the English navy. William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who became regent to the son of the recently deceased English king, began to regain the loyalties to the royalist cause through a regimen of compromise. Among these were the Cinque Ports, who had substantial amounts of maritime ships. With the English now having a substantial number of vessels, Louis returned to France to gather reinforcements and more maritime vessels. Though he succeeded, English vessels began to blockade and harass French shipping, trade, and blockaded multiple French-controlled English ports.[23]

By mid-1217, English royalists began to gain the advantage over the rebellious Barons and their French allies. Again needing more troops, Louis requested from his wife Blanche of Castile to assemble more troops for him. Up to the task, Blanche assisted in gathering forces for her husband, with a massive French force being assembled by August 1217, at the port of Calais. At the head of the French transports was Eustace the Monk, Louis’ best naval commander, who had helped Louis escape many English blockades, such as the one in Winchelsea  in January 1217.[24]

The subsequent encounter between the two fleets came in the Downs off Sandwich, known as the Battle of Sandwich. For the first time in northern waters a decisive naval battle was fought on the open sea. The battle was dominated by the English, with French losing almost all of their ships, including Eustace the Monk who was killed in the action that took place. With the death of Eustace the Monk and the defeat of the French at Sandwich, William Marshal was able to isolate Louis in London, compelling him to renounce his claim to the English throne and force him to return to France.[25]

Later in the 13th century ships begin to be mentioned regularly as support for various campaigns under

John de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp de Warwick, as High Admiral of England was appointed by Edward III. Although each of these held the title of Admiralis Angliae, the civil jurisdiction of their offices was never used, nor did they officially receive letters patent from the monarch.[26]

In 1321 Sir

King Richard II in 1385.[28] In the early 13th century English admirals tended to be knights or barons, and their role was essentially administrative, not operational. In 1294 Edward I divided the English Navy into three geographical 'admiralties' each assigned a fleet and each of them administered by an admiral:[29] they were the Admiral of the Northern Fleet, the Admiral of the Western Fleet and the Admiral of the Southern Fleet; they were each responsible for managing and enforcing admiralty jurisdiction in their respective areas and raising and administering the ships. It also allowed Edward I to mount expeditions to Brittany, Flanders or Scotland with greater ease.[29]

The English and French navies at the Battle of Sluys in 1340

The

Les Espagnols sur Mer, fought in the Channel off Winchelsea in 1350, is possibly the first major battle in the open sea in English history; the English captured 14 Spanish ships. The 14th century also saw the creation of the post of Clerk of the King's Ships, who appears from 1344 on as in charge of some 34 royal vessels. At one point in the mid-14th century Edward III's navy had some 700 ships in service overall.[30] In 1364 the Northern and Western admiralties and fleets were combined commanded by the Admiral of the North and West, and remained so on an ad hoc basis until 1414.[31]

Houses of Lancaster and York (1399–1485)

great ships", increasing the fleet from six in 1413 to 39 in 1417/8. These included the 1,400-ton Grace Dieu (which still exists, buried in the Hamble estuary), and won victories in the Channel, reaching a high point in 1417 when the French fleet was destroyed. An invasion of France took place in 1415 which led to the capture of Harfleur and the victory at Agincourt. A second invasion, beginning in 1419, led to the conquest of the Channel coast of France, almost eliminating any seaborne threat to England and enabling the running down of Henry's naval forces.[32]

Dealing with the matter of naval administration during the 15th century the most significant development was the establishment of the first Admiralty of England. This was brought about in 1412 when the remaining geographic 'admiralties' (the Northern Admiralty and Western Admiralty) were abolished and their functions were unified under a single administrative and operational command, the Admiralty Office, later called the Admiralty and Marine Affairs Office.[33]

There was no significant new construction until the 1480s, by which time ships mounted guns regularly; the Regent of 1487 had 225 serpentines, an early type of cannon. Henry VII deserves a large share of credit for the establishment of a standing navy. Although there is no evidence for a conscious change of policy, Henry soon embarked on a programme of building larger ships than previously. He also invested in dockyards, and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth.[34]

House of Tudor, 1485–1603

Main article: Tudor navy

The fleet began to increase in size under

French navy raided the Isle of Wight and was then fought off in the Battle of the Solent in 1545, before which Mary Rose sank.[36]

In the year following the battle,

Office of the Council of the Marine. This consisted of the Chief Officers of the Admiralty who acted as advisers to the Lord Admiral of England. In 1576 it moved to Deptford Strand, where it became part of the Navy Office.[38]

In the 1550s English gentlemen opposed to the Catholicism of Philip and Mary took refuge in France and were active in the English Channel as privateers under letters of marque from the French king. Six of their vessels were captured off Plymouth in July 1556.[39] In 1580 Spanish and Portuguese troops were sent to Ireland, but were defeated by an English army and naval force.[40]

Henry Grâce à Dieu, from the Anthony Roll.
"Peter Pomegranate" sister ship of the "Mary Rose"
Mary Rose, from the Anthony Roll
A small four-masted sailing vessel with a small lizard-like sculpture in its bow.
The Salamander, a galleass captured from the Scots and one of only three ships in the Anthony Roll which has an identifiable figurehead.
A colourful image of a one-masted vessel propelled by a large group of rowers. Toward the back of the ship a man is holding a raised baton, urging the rowers on.
The Galley Subtle, a Mediterranean-type galley which formed the centrepiece of the three combined rolls and the illustration that displays the highest artistic quality.

Spanish Armada (1588) and English Armada (1589)

Sir Francis Drake

While Henry VIII had launched the Royal Navy, his successors Edward VI and Mary I had neglected it, and it was little more than a system of coastal defence. Elizabeth made naval strength a high priority.[39][41] She risked war with Spain by supporting the "Sea Dogs", such as John Hawkins and Francis Drake, who preyed on the Spanish merchant ships carrying gold and silver from the New World. The Navy yards were leaders in technical innovation, and the captains devised new tactics. Parker (1996) argues that the full-rigged ship was one of the greatest technological advances of the century, and permanently transformed naval warfare. In 1573 English shipwrights introduced designs, first demonstrated in the Dreadnaught, that allowed the ships to sail faster and manoeuvre better, and permitted heavier guns.[42] Whereas before warships had tried to grapple with each other so that soldiers could board the enemy ship, now they stood off and fired broadsides that would sink the enemy vessel.[43]

Under

Duke of Medina Sedonia. The Armada consisted of 130 ships, including transports and merchantmen, and carried about 30,000 men. It was to go to Flanders and from there convoy, the army of the Duke of Parma, to invade England. It set out from Lisbon in May 1588 but was forced into A Coruña by storms and did not set sail again until July.[45]

A late 16th-century painting of the Spanish Armada in battle with English warships

The Armada was first sighted by the English off Lizard Point, in Cornwall, on 19 July, and the first engagement took place off Plymouth on 21 July. In four hours the Spanish fired 720 round shot and the English 2,000 rounds, but little real damage was done to either side.[46] In fighting off Portland Bill on 23 July, some 5,000 shots were discharged by the rival fleets. Spanish casualties were about 50 killed and 70 wounded.[47] After another engagement off the Isle of Wight on 24 July, in which the Armada lost another 50 men slain, Medina Sedonia steered for Calais to replenish his empty powder and shot stocks from Parma's ammunition depots. Parma, however, blockaded in Bruges by 60 Dutch ships, was unable to come to the Armada's assistance. After an indecisive engagement with the English off Gravelines, the Armada ran out of ammunition. The Spanish had expended 125,000 cannonballs against the English. Consequently, the Spanish commander decided to retreat to Spain by going north around Scotland and Ireland. The Spanish ships were dispersed by storms; their provisions gave out, and many of those who landed in Ireland were killed by English troops. Only about half the fleet reached home. An English Armada sent to destroy the port at A Coruña and land in Lisbon in 1589 was itself defeated with 40 ships sunk and 15,000 men lost.[48] The Spanish victory marked a revival of Philip II's naval power through the next decade.[49] In October 1596, another Armada left Lisbon. The invasion fleet numbered 126 ships and carried 9,000 Spaniards and 3,000 Portuguese. The Royal Navy was unprepared, but England was saved by stormy seas that wrecked 72 ships and drowned 3,000 sailors and soldiers.[50] The following year, in October 1597, yet another Armada was sent out, but this also was blown back.[51]

The destruction of the Spanish Armada marked the high point of Elizabeth's reign, but the loss of the English Armada (or Counter Armada) the following year discouraged further joint stock adventures on such a scale.[52][53] Technically, the Spanish Armada failed because Spain's over-complex strategy required coordination between the invasion fleet and the Spanish army on shore. But the poor design of the Spanish cannons meant they were much slower in reloading in a close-range battle, allowing England to take control. Spain and France still had stronger fleets, but England was catching up.[54][55]

Scotland before 1603

Main article: Royal Scots Navy
The Scottish Red Ensign, flown by ships of the Royal Scots Navy

The Royal Scots Navy (or Old Scots Navy) was the navy of the Kingdom of Scotland until its merger with the Kingdom of England's Royal Navy in 1707 as a consequence of the Treaty of Union and the Acts of Union that ratified it. From 1603 until 1707, the Royal Scots Navy and England's Royal Navy were organised as one force, though not formally merged.[56]

There are mentions in medieval records of fleets commanded by Scottish kings including

Hakon Hakonsson's Kristsúðin, built at Bergen from 1262–63, which was 260 feet (79 m) long, of 37 rooms.[60] In 1263 Hakon responded to Alexander III's designs on the Hebrides by personally leading a major fleet of forty vessels, including the Kristsúðin, to the islands, where they were boosted by local allies to as many as 200 ships.[61] Records indicate that Alexander had several large oared ships built at Ayr, but he avoided a sea battle.[57] Defeat on land at the Battle of Largs and winter storms forced the Norwegian fleet to return home, leaving the Scottish crown as the major power in the region and leading to the ceding of the Western Isles to Alexander in 1266.[62]

English naval power was vital to King

Robert I's success was his ability to call on naval forces from the Islands. As a result of the expulsion of the Flemings from England in 1303, he gained the support of a major naval power in the North Sea.[63] The development of naval power allowed Robert to successfully defeat English attempts to capture him in the Highlands and Islands and to blockade major English controlled fortresses at Perth and Stirling, the last forcing King Edward II to attempt the relief that resulted at English defeat at Bannockburn in 1314.[63] Scottish naval forces allowed invasions of the Isle of Man in 1313 and 1317 and Ireland in 1315. They were also crucial in the blockade of Berwick, which led to its fall in 1318.[63]

After the establishment of Scottish independence, King

Earls of Lennox in the 17th century.[65]

King

letters of marque that allowed him to gain compensation for the capture of his vessels by the Portuguese by capturing ships under their colours. These letters would be repeated to his three sons John, Andrew and Robert, who would play a major part in the Scottish naval effort into the 16th century.[67] In his struggles with his nobles in 1488 James III (r. 1451–88) received assistance from his two warships the Flower and the King's Carvel also known as the Yellow Carvel, commanded by Andrew Wood of Largo.[64] After the king's death Wood served his son James IV (r. 1488–1513), defeating an English incursion into the Forth by five English ships in 1489 and three more heavily armed English ships off the mouth of the River Tay the next year.[68]

James IV put the Royal Scots Navy on a new footing, founding a harbour at Newhaven in May 1504, and two years later ordering the construction of a dockyard at the Pools of Airth. The upper reaches of the Forth were protected by new fortifications on Inchgarvie.[69] Scottish ships had some success against privateers, accompanied the king in his expeditions in the islands and intervened in conflicts in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea.[64] Expeditions to the Highlands to Islands to curb the power of the MacDonald Lord of the Isles were largely ineffective until in 1504 the king accompanied a squadron under Wood heavily armed with artillery, which battered the MacDonald strongholds into submission. Since some of these island fortresses could only be attacked from seaward, naval historian N. A. M. Rodger has suggested this may have marked the end of medieval naval warfare in the British Isles, ushering in a new tradition of artillery warfare.[66] The king acquired a total of 38 ships for the Royal Scottish Navy, including Margaret, and the carrack Michael or Great Michael, the largest warship of its time (1511).[70] The latter, built at great expense at Newhaven and launched in 1511, was 240 feet (73 m) in length, weighed 1,000 tons, had 24 cannon, and was, at that time, the largest ship in Europe.[70][71] It marked a shift in design as it was crafted specifically to carry a main armament of heavy artillery.[66]

An English ship battles with a Barbary ship and two galleys in Tripoli in 1676

During the Rough Wooing, the attempt to force a marriage between James V's heir

English marine force and burnt. Salamander and the Scottish-built Unicorn were captured at Leith. The Scots still had two royal naval vessels and numerous smaller private vessels.[73]

When, as a result of the series of international treaties, Charles V declared war upon Scotland in 1544, the Scots were able to engage in a highly profitable campaign of privateering that lasted six years and the gains of which probably outweighed the losses in trade with the Low Countries.[74]

The Scots operated in the

Sir John Clere of Ormesby was killed, but none of the English ships were lost.[78]

The Scottish Reformation in 1560 established a government that was friendly to England and this resulted in less military necessity to maintain a fleet of great ships. With the Union of the Crowns in 1603, the incentive to rebuild a separate royal fleet for Scotland diminished further since James VI now controlled the powerful English Royal Navy, which could send ships north to defend Scottish interests, and which now opened its ranks to Scottish officers.[79]

After Union of the Crowns, 1603–1707

Sovereign of the Seas

After 1603 the English and Scottish fleets were organised together under

James I but the efficiency of the Navy declined gradually, while corruption grew until brought under control in an inquiry of 1618. James concluded a peace with Spain and privateering was outlawed. Notable construction in the early 17th century included the 1,200-ton HMS Prince Royal, the first three-decker, and HMS Sovereign of the Seas in 1637, designed by Phineas Pett.[80]

During the early 17th century, England's relative naval power deteriorated, and there were increasing raids by

Cadiz in 1625, and La Rochelle in 1627/8 being expensive failures.[84]

Charles I (1625–1649)

In the 1620s, Scotland found herself fighting a naval war as England's ally, first

major expedition to Biscay.[88] The Scots also returned to the West Indies, with Lochinvar taking French prizes and founding the colony of Charles Island.[75] In 1629, two squadrons of privateers led by Lochinvar and William Lord Alexander, sailed for Canada, taking part in the campaign that resulted in the capture of Quebec from the French, which was handed back after the subsequent peace.[89]

Charles I levied "ship money" from 1634 and this unpopular tax was one of the main causes of the first English Civil War from 1642–45. At the beginning of the war the navy, then consisting of 35 vessels, sided with Parliament. During the war the royalist side used a number of small ships to blockade ports and for supplying their own armies. These were afterwards combined into a single force. Charles had surrendered to the Scots and conspired with them to invade England during the second English Civil War of 1648–51. In 1648 part of the Parliamentary fleet mutinied and joined the Royalist side. However, the Royalist fleet was driven to Spain and destroyed during the Commonwealth period by Robert Blake.[90]

Commonwealth (1649–1660)

The Interregnum saw a considerable expansion in the strength of the navy, both in number of ships and in internal importance within English policy. The execution of Charles I forced the rapid expansion of the navy, by multiplying England's actual and potential enemies, and many vessels were constructed from the 1650s onward under a reformed institution.

His Majesty's Ship" was not official usage at the time.) The new regime, isolated and threatened from all sides, dramatically expanded the Commonwealth Navy, which became the most powerful in the world.[93]

The Commonwealth's introduction of

1656 and 1657, but also the devastation of English merchant shipping by the privateers of Dunkirk, until their home port was captured by Anglo-French forces in 1658.[97]

The Battle of Scheveningen, 10 August 1653

Restoration (1660–1688)

Restoration. While it was Pepys' diary that made him the most famous of all naval bureaucrats, his nearly thirty years of administration were crucial in replacing the ad hoc processes of years past with regular programmes of supply, construction, pay, and so forth. He was responsible for introduction of the "Navy List" which fixed the order of promotion.[101]

In 1664 the English captured

Admiralty under both King Charles II and subsequently King James II, were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy.[105]

As a result of their defeat in the First Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch transformed their navy, largely abandoning the use of militarised merchantmen and establishing a fleet composed mainly of heavily armed, purpose-built warships, as the English had done previously. Consequently, the

Louis XIV of France against the Dutch, but the combined Anglo-French fleet was fought to a standstill in a series of inconclusive battles, while the French invasion by land was warded off.[108]

The Dutch Raid on the Medway in 1667 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War

During the 1670s and 1680s, the English Royal Navy succeeded in permanently ending the threat to English shipping from the Barbary corsairs, inflicting defeats which induced the Barbary states to conclude long-lasting peace treaties.

Barbary pirates and started a campaign against the Spanish in the Caribbean, capturing Jamaica.[111]

Battle of Barfleur
in 1692

Glorious Revolution and capture of Gibraltar 1688–1707

The

La Hougue in 1692.[112]

By 1697 the English Royal Navy had 323 warships, while Scotland was still dependent on merchantman and privateers. In the 1690s, two separate schemes for larger naval forces were put in motion. As usual, the larger part was played by the merchant community rather than the government. The first was the

fifth rate and two smaller ships, Royal Mary and Dumbarton Castle, each of 24 guns, generally described as frigates.[114]

The Battle of Cape Passaro, 11 August 1718

Naval operations in the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–13) were with the Dutch against the Spanish and French. They were at first focused on the acquisition of a Mediterranean base, culminating in an alliance with Portugal and the capture of Gibraltar (1704).[115]

English navy/Royal Navy timeline and battles

See also

Notes

  1. ^
    ISBN 9781473819924
    .
  2. ^ Swanton, p. 39
  3. ^ Savage, p. 84
  4. ^ Savage, p. 86
  5. ^ Savage, p. 93
  6. ^ Savage, p. 107
  7. ISBN 9787800603488
    .
  8. ^ Sarah Foot, Æthelstan: the first king of England (2011). p. 165
  9. ^ Swanton, p. 119
  10. ^ Swanton, p. 138
  11. ^ Swanton, p. 160
  12. ^ Swanton, p. 168
  13. ^ Swanton, p. 190
  14. ^ Swanton, p. 196
  15. ^ Rodger, Safeguard, pp. 35–49.
  16. ^ Roger, N. (1997). The Safeguard of the Sea, A Naval History of Britain 660–1649. London: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. pp. 38–39.
  17. ^ Stanton, Charles (2015). Medieval Maritime Wartime. South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Maritime. pp. 225–226.
  18. ^ Michael, Swanton (1069). Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. London. pp. 202–204.
  19. ^ Stanton, Charles (2015). Medieval Maritime Warfare. South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Maritime. p. 226.
  20. doi:10.1080/00253359.1930.10655564
    .
  21. ^ a b Roger of Wendover (1849). Flowers of History. Translated by Giles, J. A. London: Henry G. Bohn Publishing. pp. 308, 329, 334–339, 340–341.
  22. ^ Michel, F. (1840). Historie des Dues de Normandie et des Rois d'Angleterre. Paris. pp. 172–177.
  23. ^ Historie des Ducs de Normandie. pp. 183–185.
  24. ^ Stanton, Charles (2015). Medieval Maritime Warfare. Pen & Sword Maritime. p. 232.
  25. ^ Historie des Ducs de Normandie. pp. 198–205.
  26. ^
    ISBN 9781584775126
    .
  27. ^ "The National Archives : Trafalgar Ancestors: Glossary: Admiral of the Fleet". www.nationalarchives.gov.uk. The National Archives UK. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  28. ISBN 9783845710778
    .
  29. ^
    ISBN 9780393319606
    .
  30. ^ Graham Cushway, Edward III and the War at Sea: The English Navy, 1327–1377 (Boydell Press, 2011)
  31. ^ Nicolas, Sir Nicholas Harris (1847). A History of the Royal Navy, from the Earliest Times to the Wars of the Roses. Richard Bentley. p. 529.
  32. ^ Wagner, p. 322
  33. ISBN 9781317145035
    .
  34. ^ Arthur Nelson, The Tudor navy: the ships, men and organisation, 1485–1603 (2001) p. 36
  35. ^ "A History of South London Suburbs". Ideal Homes. Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  36. ^ "The Mary Rose". Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Archived from the original on 4 April 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  37. ^ Rodger, Safeguard, pp. 221–237.
  38. ISBN 9780140297249
    .
  39. ^ a b David Loades, and Charles S. Knighton, eds. The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I (Ashgate, 2013).
  40. ^ Coyne, J. Stirling; Willis, N.P. (1841). "The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland".
  41. ^ Julian S. Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy, With a History of the Rise of England as a Maritime Power (2 vol 1898) online
  42. ^ Geoffrey Parker, "The 'Dreadnought' Revolution of Tudor England", Mariner's Mirror, Aug 1996, Vol. 82 Issue 3, pp 269–300
  43. ^ Rodger (1997), pp. 312, 316
  44. ^ Rodger, Safeguard, pp. 238–253, 281–286, 292–296.
  45. ^ "Spanish Armada set sail". History. Archived from the original on 25 January 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  46. ^ Clodfelter, p. 19.
  47. ^ Clodfelter, p. 20.
  48. ^ Fernández Duro, Cesáreo (1972). Armada Española desde la Unión de los Reinos de Castilla y Aragón. Museo Naval de Madrid, Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval, Tomo III, Capítulo III. Madrid. p.51
  49. ISBN 9780631217800
    .
  50. ^ Clodfelter 2017: 21
  51. doi:10.1093/ehr/118.478.855
    .
  52. ISBN 978-1-000-34165-2
    .
  53. ^ Wagner, John A. (2002). Historical Dictionary of the Elizabethan World: Britain, Ireland, Europe, and America. New York: Checkmark Books. p. 242.
  54. ^ Geoffrey Parker, "Why the Armada Failed", History Today, May 1988, Vol. 38 Issue 5, pp 26–33
  55. ^ Hutchinson, The Spanish Armada (2014).
  56. ^ Winfield, xviii
  57. ^ a b P. F. Tytler, History of Scotland, Volume 2 (London: Black, 1829), pp. 309–310.
  58. ISBN 1-78057-006-6
    , pp. 106–111.
  59. ISBN 0-7509-2977-4
    , p. 147.
  60. ISBN 0-14-191257-X
    , pp. 74–75.
  61. ISBN 0-7864-4038-4
    , p. 157.
  62. ISBN 0-7509-2977-4
    , p. 153.
  63. ^ a b c d N. A. M. Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain. Volume One 660–1649 (London: Harper, 1997) pp. 74–90.
  64. ^ a b c d J. Grant, "The Old Scots Navy from 1689 to 1710", Publications of the Navy Records Society, 44 (London: Navy Records Society, 1913–14), pp. i–xii.
  65. ISBN 90-04-18568-2
    , p. 10.
  66. ^ a b c Rodger Command, pp. 166–167
  67. ISBN 110802629X
    , pp. 19–20.
  68. ISBN 1906476683
    .
  69. ISBN 0859766632
    , p. 235.
  70. ^
    ISBN 0-85976-338-2
    , p. 45.
  71. ^
    ISBN 90-04-18568-2
    , pp. 33–34.
  72. ^ M. Merriman, The Rough Wooings (Tuckwell, 2000), p. 181.
  73. ISBN 9004185682
    , p. 50.
  74. ISBN 0748614559
    , pp. 181–182.
  75. ^
    ISBN 90-04-18568-2
    , p. 172.
  76. ISBN 0140297243
    , p. 197.
  77. ^ John Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. 3, part 2 (Oxford, 1822), p. 81.
  78. ^ John Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. 3 part 2 (Oxford, 1822), pp. 67–69, 86–87, and G. Buchanan, History of Scotland, trans Aikman, vol. 2 (1827), 396, bk. 16, cap. 19: R. Holinshed, Raphael, Chronicles: Scotland, vol. 5 (1808), p. 585.
  79. ^ Wills, pp. 27-28
  80. ^ Lavery, Ships of the Line vol. 1, p. 158.
  81. ^ Rodger, Safeguard, pp. 349–363.
  82. ^ Rodger, Safeguard, pp. 379–394, 482.
  83. ^ Rodger, Safeguard, pp. 395–398; Rodger, Command, pp. 33–55, 95–122 Ollard, 1984, ch.16;
  84. ^ Fissel, p. 126-127
  85. ISBN 90-04-18568-2
    , p. 169.
  86. ISBN 90-04-18568-2
    , p. 168.
  87. ^ M. Oppenheim. "The Royal Navy under Charles I". (1894-07). in The English Historical Review. Vol 9, no. 35, p. 481. The Internet Archive website Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  88. ISBN 0199261490
    , p. 118.
  89. ISBN 90-04-18568-2
    , p. 174.
  90. ^ "Prince Rupert in the Mediterranean". British Civil War Project. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  91. ^ "General-at-Sea Robert Blake 1599-1657". National Archives. Archived from the original on 13 November 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  92. ^ John Barratt, 2006, Cromwell's Wars at Sea. Barnsley, South Yorkshire; Pen & Sword; pp.
  93. ^ Rodger, Command, pp. 2–3, 216–217, 607.
  94. ^ Rodger, Command, pp. 6–8.
  95. ^ Rodger, Command, pp. 12–16.
  96. ^ Rodger, Command, pp. 16–18.
  97. ^ A. P. van Vliet, "The influence of Dunkirk privateering on the North Sea (herring) fishery during the years 1580–1650", in J. Roding and L. Heerma van Voss (eds.), The North Sea and Culture (1550–1800) (Leiden 1996), 150–165, esp. 156.
  98. ISBN 978-0-85989-385-5
    .
  99. ^ "Complement numbers of the Restoration". British History.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 July 2007.
  100. ^ Derrick, Charles (1806). "Memoirs of the rise and progress of the Royal Navy". Archived from the original on 30 December 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  101. S2CID 163008417
    .
  102. ^ Rodger 2004, pp. 76–7
  103. Fall of Singapore
    in 1942 for the unenviable distinctor of being the most humiliating defeat suffered by British arms." – Charles Ralph Boxer: The Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th Century, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London (1974), p.39
  104. ISBN 0-85937-275-8
  105. ^ Ollard, 1984, ch.16
  106. ^ Rodger, Command, pp. 67–76.
  107. ^ Rodger, Command, pp. 76–77.
  108. ^ Rodger, Command, pp. 80–85.
  109. ^ Rodger, Command, pp. 88–91.
  110. ^ Rodger, Command, pp. 142–152, 607–608.
  111. ^ Coward 2002, p. 134
  112. ^ Pemsel, p. 59
  113. ISBN 900414711X
    , p. 349.
  114. ^ J. Grant, "The Old Scots Navy from 1689 to 1710", Publications of the Navy Records Society, 44 (London: Navy Records Society, 1913–14), p. 48.
  115. ^ "Why is Gibraltar British?". The Great Siege Gibraltar. Gibraltar Heritage Trust. Retrieved 2 August 2018.

Sources

Further reading

Historiography

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_the_Royal_Navy_(before_1707)&oldid=1217553224"