Breadth - The Navy Flashcards
Changing Ship Types
Race built Galleon 1500’s - small, easy to maneuver, fast, powered by wind, couldn’t fit many people
HMS Victory 1765 - Larger ship with more sails, harder to maneuver, had more cannons and people but it was slower moving to have more firepower
HMS Warrior 1860 - 1st iron clad by the Royal Navy, bigger with huge sails, cannons all the way around, chimneys (hybrid ship)
HMS Dreadnought 1906 - not as tall making it a smaller target, purely powered by steam, propellers, bigger cannons which were more accurate and could travel a further distance. Designed by Admiral Fisher in the years leading up to the Great War with his creating a more powerful and professional Royal Navy
John Fisher became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1904 and began a huge modernisation programme where he scrapped old ships and concentrated the fleet in Europe – no more successful than the two-power standard as Germany and the USA built their own dreadnoughts.
By 1914, the Royal Navy was still the world’s strongest but was no longer unchallenged
Holland 1 (or HM submarine Torpedo Boat No 1) is the first submarine commissioned by the Royal Navy in 1901 - added a new dimension to the effectiveness of the Royal Navy
Significance - technological developments in the 1500s led to the Royal Navy in 1763. As a result of technological development war tactics changed
The events at the Battle of Trafalgar
1805
Led by Horatio Nelson and the leading ship HMS Victory
HMS Africa was separated from the British fleet before the battle instead arriving from a different direction and did not know the battle plan Nelson devised
The majority of the fleet engaged the combined Franco-Spanish fleet in a pell-mell battle, Digby sailed the Africa down the line of enemy ships in a parallel fashion exchanging broadsides- suppressive fire
Both the British and French/Spanish were under 1commander each - Nelson and Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
The British tactic was to break the line my going down the middle splitting them into 2 smaller groups
The French commander recalls French ships back who rely on the wind to get them there
The ships engaged closely which went back to more mediaeval tactics due to how close the ships were
What was needed to win a naval battle?
Strong leadership- assured and take risks, don’t want to be cautious with clever tactics
Weather conditions- strong wind but needs to be in your favour (direction)
Large sails to make the most of the wind to move quickly
Need a good/tactical ship crew to manage the guns and sails
The best ships needed a balance between cannons and maneuverability
New Technology on Ships - explosive shells
The Napoleonic War 1803-1815 was won at sea by cannons (age of sail)
Shell firing guns with the flat trajectory needed to hit an enemy ship at sea were not produced until the 1820s by the French who used it first then other navies followed
The new guns could easily destroy wooden ships and there was concern over the destruction that would occur in a major battle with these ships - resulted in the need for iron clad ships
New Technology on Ships - iron cladding
After the introduction of explosive shells, iron plates were attached to wooden ships sides
The French Navy was the 1st to have an iron clad wooden ship (1859), but the British was quick to imitate with HMS Warrior in 1861
By 1862, the use ironsides became common as seen in the AWI
New Technology on Ships - Technology vs Skills
As technology improved, the need for skilled sailors was less required
In 1873 the British abandons the use of sails in favour of fully steam-powered steams which eliminated one of Britain’s advantages – superior seamanship
The Royal Navy prided itself on the crews ability to sail their ships better than anyone else – had the largest number of experienced sailors and by far the biggest merchant fleet to draw replacements
1870s onwards – naval strength was derived from the number and quality of ships not seamanship
The development allowed powers with a limited maritime tradition but an advanced industrial economy (Germany and Japan) to produce strong fleets capable of rivalling established naval powers
New Technology on Ships - bigger heavier ships reliant on engines
HMS Devastation 1873 marked the end of sails – symbolised a turning point for Britain embracing the benefits of industrialisation pursuing naval dominance
The end of the age of sail had major implications for the network of ports acquired as supply stations across the world especially those on trade routes to India and the East indies as they were vital stopping points for steamers.
Devastation carried 1,350 tonnes of coal and had no other means of movement without friendly deep-water ports where they can stock up on coal - could not do long sea voyages
Was the same for all the new warships and a fleet of coal transporting merchant ships began to sail between the Empire’s main ports to ensure a continuous supply was available
This was a great challenge for the British because of the extent of Britain’s empire
New Technology on Ships - Naval tactics
In battles, fleets approached the enemy in a long line which had the advantage of:
Enabling sustained bombardment – could fire a broadside as they passed an enemy without hitting friendly ships - instead of previously boarding and capturing an enemy
Reduced the exposure of vulnerable bows and sterns to enemy fire as only the bow of the leading ship and the stern of the last ship were exposed
Improved the speed and effectiveness of signaling by flags between the admiral’s ship and the rest of the fleet
If a fleet could sail across the enemy line, it could concentrate fire at the point of the intersection while getting limited fire returned
British captains and admirals were trained and encouraged to adopt hyper-aggressive tactics – seek to break the enemy line and engage at close range. - proved decisive at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805
The impact of steam power
Positives
Steamships became effective in river systems – hybrid ships with sails were produced for ocean travel and paddles for river navigation – used to tow warships upriver which opened up a previously inaccessible inland areas to naval forces
The shift from sail to steam brought great advantages, e.g. greater speed, and removed dependence on the weather
In the 19th century there was an increasing development of small ships to protect trading interests
By the Opium war, guns mounted on the sail steamer Nemesis were adequate to dispatch multiple Chinese junks as well as towing more powerful sail ships upriver
Negatives
Early ones were slow, unreliable, and consumed massive amounts of coal, difficult to protect from cannon fire
1816 – Demologos (American) 1st steam powered warship but it was simply a floating gun battery and never used in action - The first steam-propelled frigates were launched by Britain in 1843 and France in 1845.
Royal Navy ship rankings
1st and 2nd ships – 3 gundecks and 80-120 cannons
3rd rate ships – backbone of the fleets – 64-80 cannons on 2 gundecks and a crew of around 500 men – 76% of the Royal Navy in 1794 and 80% in 1814
4th rate ships – under 64 cannons – phased out late-18th century because of lack of firepower
5th and 6th rate ships – frigates – smaller more maneuverable
The Royal Navy - recruitment
Living conditions – were cramped and there was harsh discipline like flogging for small offences
The pay was modest 1794 £14 a year – same as a male servant working in a landowner’s home in Durham in the same year
Risk of death and injury made recruitment difficult – relied on the use of impressment (forcible recruitment)
The burden of impressment was felt less if the navy was drawing its labour from many civilian ships, so a large merchant navy was encouraged.
Blue water policy (17th century) – the merchant fleet and the Royal Navy were seen as mutually sustainable - seen when the Royal Navy captured 1,165 French merchant ships in the Seven Years’ War) reinforced through the Navigation Acts of the 1660s
The Royal Navy - protecting growing commerce
The navy protected merchants and captured foreign merchantmen during wars – made trade routes safe for English merchants and dangerous for their foreign competitors; captured 1,165 French merchant ships in the Seven Years’ War, totally disrupting French trade to the considerable advantage of English merchants.
By contrast, British merchant shipping was expected to provide thousands of skilled sailors to the Royal Navy, and trade profits increased revenue to the Exchequer, indirectly funding the expansion of the navy.
Government policy supported it through the Navigation Acts of the 1660s – mandated that trade between Britain and its colonies must be carried in British ships. In addition, the Royal Navy was empowered to press civilian sailors into service against their will, ensuring a continuous flow of men from the merchant fleet onto naval ships.
Role - developed from a mutually beneficial exchange of protection for workforce with British merchant ships to the ultimate guarantor of Britain’s free-trade Empire.
The Royal Navy - protecting the Slave Trade
By the late 18th century, the slave trade was the most lucrative trade route for British shipping
The West Indies were an important source of income financing wars with France. In each of the 4 major wars between Britain and France from 1756-1815, fleets were dispatched to the West Indies as France and Britain invaded each other’s colonies – Britain lost thousands of men to combat and disease defending plantation colonies in the West Indies.
Supporters of slavery argued the slave trade was the ‘nursery of the Royal Navy’ due to experienced sailors recruited by the Royal Navy from slaving ship .
However, Thomas Clarkson produced figures in 1788 showing that of the 5,000 men leaving Britain on slaving voyages in 1785, only 2,329 returned due to diseases.
In passing legislation to abolish the slave trade in 1807, the Royal Navy became the enemy of the slavers.
The Royal Navy - suppressing/disrupting the Slave Trade
The problem - Estimated annual number of slaves shipped increased from 80,000 in 1800 to 135,000 in 1830. Slavery, but not the slave trade, was still legal and many were smuggled into British plantations
A new squadron in 1808 to stop the slave trade, but only 2 ships were dispatched to patrol 5,000 km of West African coastline – enforcement was not a priority; by 1821, there were 6 ships and in 1831 it was 7.
Slavers could often operate with immunity by carrying papers and flying the flag of nations the Royal Navy could not seize. The Presidenté was captured in 1828 after flying a Buenos Aires flag and then a French flag - its crew spoke English
The squadron eventually grew to 32 warships in 1847. Through negotiation successive British foreign secretaries used the country’s strong diplomatic position to create a series of treaties which allowed the Royal Navy to board and seize foreign slaving ships. Allowed some leeway but were still restrictive; typically, the navy could only act if slaves were being carried - no action could be taken against ships merely equipped as slavers
Sometimes, horrible scenes, such as the Spanish slavers Regulo and Rapido throwing 150 chained slaves overboard in 1831 while being chased by the Royal Navy. Sometimes permitted to act unilaterally against ships from weaker countries like Portugal in 1839 and Brazil in 1845, but treaties had to be strictly followed with American and French ships
End of Slave Trade
Both sides used innovations: Navy began to use steam to follow slavers into rivers and slavers used clippers to outrun blockades
Navy captured and freed 150,000 slaves 1810-1860-only about 10% of those transported to the Americas. Most of the 10% were taken ashore at Freetown
The transatlantic slave trade only ended when slavery itself was ended in the Americas- in British colonies in 1833 and after the American Civil War in 1865
The East African slave trade continued and Britain used diplomatic pressure (e.g. in Zanzibar) to press local rulers to ban it. Infrequent slave patrols continued until the early 20th century in the Indian Ocean.
