British Empire - Navy

Question 1

What were the characteristics of British ships during the age of sail?

Answer 1

• Age of sail 1763
• Everyone had the same ships and relied on different tactics to defeat each other
• Relied on discharge of up to 60 broadside cannons on each side loading 2-3 cannon balls
• Success depended on speed of hulls, amount of cannons and proficiency of sailing crew allowing the crossing of the T

Question 2

What are some naval tactics used in the age of sail?

Answer 2

Fleets approached in straight lines in order to:

• Sustained bombardment due to straight line firing one after the other
• Friendly ships wouldn’t fire on eachother
• Reduced exposure of the the stern and bow due to boats covering the front and back of each other
• Improved speed of signalling flags from the admirals ship

This led to indecisive battles but British admirals were hyper-aggressive leading to victories such as Trafalgar in 1805 due to the ‘cutting the line’ breaking up the enemy fleet

Question 3

What type of ships were ships of the line during the age of sail?

Answer 3

• In order to be a ship of the line the ship needed to have a good mix of speed and firepower. Ships were long to increase amount of cannons allowed, deep hulls to cut through water and 3 masted sails

The Royal Navy classed ships based on power into 4 different classes.

• 1st and 2nd rate, three gun decks and 80-120 cannons. Used as flagships by admirals such as Nelson’s 100 gun Victory. Few were made due to them being top heavy and slow
• 4th rate, sub 64 cannons were phased out from late 18th century due to being weak
• 3rd rate, backbone of fleets, between 64 and 80 cannons with 500 men, made up 80% of the navy in 1814 and 76% in 1794

Question 4

What influence did ships of the line have in the age of sail?

Answer 4

• These tactics were used during 1763 and 1805 against other European powers. The battle of Trafalgar meant the defeat of the Franco-Spanish fleet and Global supremacy of the royal navy

Question 5

What are the disadvantages of ships of the line?

Answer 5

• Extra firepower and gun decks meant less speed and agility
• This meant ships of the line could not be sailed near shores and couldn’t catch smaller ships such as merchant ships
• Rarely used in duties such as patrolling, destroying blockades and escorting friendly shipping

Question 6

What type of ships were out of fleet ships during the age of sail?

Answer 6

• 5th and 6th rates, known as frigates, slightly shorter than ships of the line but only 1 gun deck meaning faster, more agile and sailing closer to the shore
• This made them good for independent and small squadron missions such as searching for enemy shipping to gain prize money.
• 1 ship capture meant 1 year’s wages so young captains found it appealing as cruisers and convoys act of 1708 permitted taking of cargo

Question 7

What are some examples frigates during the age of sail?

Answer 7

• Speedy captured or destroyed 53 French ships over 13 months 1800-1801
• French built 59 fast frigates 1777-1790 raiding British shipping after the battle of Trafalgar despite Britain’s naval superiority
• Highest British losses in 1810 during the Napoleonic wars. 619 ships were lost when French frigates despite Britain’s naval superiority

Question 8

How did the napoleonic wars influence the Royal Navy?

Answer 8

• Royal navy retained 214 ships of the line and 792 frigates which was reduced to 100 ships and 162 frigates in 1815
• Further reductions to 58 operational line ships in 1835
• The royal navy gained the ability to rebuild quickly and retained dominance as no other countries built navies

Question 9

How did hegemony influence naval technological advancement?

Answer 9

• Little desire to experiment with new ships as this could upset the hegemonic power of the British navy in producing ships
• Most naval innovations during the 19th century came from rival powers and the Royal navy adopted them

Question 10

What early influence did steamships have on the Royal Navy?

Answer 10

• FIrst instance named Kent in 1794 having little impact on frigates and ships of the line for decades
• Early steam engines were unreliable, slow with high coal consumption.
• They gave up valuable broadside space, propellers were unsuitable for heavy seas and difficult to protect from cannons
• 1816, Demologos in America was the first steam warship but stayed in the New York harbour never to be used

Question 11

When did Steamships first become effective?

Answer 11

The age of hybridisation

• To navigate river systems, boats were armed with sails for open sea and paddles for rivers
• Were initially used to tow British war ships upstream but by 1840 in the opium wars steamships, like the nemesis were armed with guns to dispatch Chinese ships but did not challenge the superiority of sail ships

Question 12

When did steamships become usable in battle?

Answer 12

• The invention of a more powerful propeller screw in the late 1830s meant steam ships could now tread oceans
• The gave greater maneuverability as they could move in any direction without relying on wind
• Steam propelled frigates were launched in Britain in 1943 and France in 1845

Question 13

What ended the superiority of sail ships?

Answer 13

• The French realised the potential of steamships faster than the British launching the 90 gun Napoleon in 1850 capable of 26km an hour without wind
• This started a naval arms race until 1914 when WW1 began
• In the 1850’s Britain built 18 battleships and converted 41 and France built 10 and converted 28

Question 14

What new technology signified the end of cannon superiority?

Answer 14

• Previous vertical artillery land guns had been developed by the French in the 1820’s to shoot horizontally by Henri Paixhans fitting them to ships in 1841
• The royal Navy soon copied meaning both sides needed to defend against the explosive damage with iron plates fitted to wooden ships in the 1950s making the hybrid wooden steamships obsolete without ever being used
• These ships were known as Ironclads

Question 15

What are some examples of ironclads?

Answer 15

• French ships La Goire was the first in 1859
• The British copied in 1861 with all ships being commissioned being ironclads with the first British one being the HMS warrior in 1861
• 1862, profficiency of ironclads in the American civil war stopped powers producing unarmoured wooden steamships

Question 16

What technology superseded Ironclads?

Answer 16

• The late 19th century, previous ironclads such as the La Gloire and the Warrior became obsolete due to a decade of technological development
• This included the further development of steam engines, naval guns and armour plating
• Due to reliance on engines, ships became much larger and heavier ,sails were abandoned in 1873 with the launch of the HMS devastation. which was 87m long and armed with 2 35 ton guns protected by 250-300mm thick hull armour
• This shows the end of sail and the introduction of the benefits of industrialisation

Question 17

How does the end of the age of sail mean the end of British naval advantage?

Answer 17

• The superiority and greater number of British sailors meant very little once traditional sailing techniques became a thing of the past
• 1870’s onward the power of a fleet was decided by the technological prowess of the fleet as well as the quality and quantity a power could produce allowing the nautical rise of industrialised countries such as Japan and Germany

Question 18

What is the two power standard and how did it lead to development of rival power’s navies?

Answer 18

• The belief that in order to achieve naval dominance the 1st power must have the combined naval force of the 2nd and the 3rd
• Britain would commit to this in the form of the Naval defence act 1889 calling for 70 new ships costing 21.5 million by 1893-94 under the assumption that this increase in power would deter rival powers

Question 19

Did the two power standard work and what were the effects?

Answer 19

• It did not work with France and Russia joint production outproducing the British by 2 battleships

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Question 20

What were living conditions like for Royal Navy volunteers and how did this affect volunteering rates?

Answer 20

• Living conditions were cramped and frequently harshly disciplined through methods such as flogging for minor offences
• High wage of £14 by 1794 but due to high risk of death or injury at sea the navy struggled to find volunteers

Question 21

How did the Royal Navy initially deal with the lack of volunteers?

Answer 21

• Impressment, forcible recruitment of sailors to the navy through press gangs promising gold, getting sailors drunk and kidnapping them
• Impressment also allowed the Royal Navy to stop civilian ships and take men off to serve the Royal Navy

Question 22

How did the policy of impressment lead to a strong relationship between navy and trade?

Answer 22

• Due to the Royal Navy relying on impressing merchant ships, a large merchant navy was encouraged
• Due to this, a blue water policy was adopted from the 17th century where merchant and Royal Navy became mutually sustainable
• This led to the navy protecting seas for merchantmen and capturing foreign merchant ships during wars making the sea safe for English merchants and dangerous for foreign ones
• This resulted in the capture of 1165 French merchant ships in the Sevens years war
• In exchange, the merchant navy was expected to provide tens of thousands of sailors, trade profits and indirectly fund the navy through increased profits

Question 23

How did government policy support the relationship between the royal and merchant navy?

Answer 23

• The navigation acts of the 1660’s stated that trade between Britain and its colonies must be carried by British ships
• Legislation also empowered the Royal Navy to press civilians into serving the royal navy ensuring a continuous flow of sailors from the merchant to the royal navy.

Question 24

How prominent was the slave trade in the late 118th century and what role did the Royal Navy play in it?

Answer 24

• The most lucrative and biggest trade route for British shipping and provided the Exchequer with funds to fund the wars with France
• French and British fleets invaded each other’s colonial possessions in the West Indies between 1886-1915 during the 4 major wars between the 2 powers resulting in the death of 1000’s of men

Question 25

How did the high naval casualty rate of protecting colonies contribute to the abolition of the slave trade?

Answer 25

• Supporters of the slave trade argued that the trade trained sailors who would go on to strengthen the royal navy
• This argument was less persuasive due to the thousands of casualties caused by protecting the slave colonies in times of war
• Abolitionist Thomas Clarkson calculated that there were 2671 casualties on slaving voyages between 1785 and 1788 caused by tropical diseases caught in West Africa and the West Indies depriving the navy of manpower
• This undermined the argument that the slave trade trained manpower for the royal navy and after 1807 the royal navy became the enemy of slavers

Question 26

Initially, what did the British do to enforce abolition and how successful were their effforts?

Answer 26

• The Napoleonic wars (ending in 1815) left few resources to enforce abolition but a new squadron of only two ships was dispatched to patrol 5000km of West African coastline in 1808
• 1821, resources were freed but the squadron only increased by 4 ships and increased again by 1 in 1831 showing enforcement was not the priority
• As a result of underinvestment slave ships across the Atlantic by 55,000 between 1800 and 1830 and due to the slave trade and not slavery itself being illegal in British colonies many saves weer smuggled into British plantations

Question 27

What was the West African Squadron and what context does it provide for the lack of enforcement of abolition?

Answer 27

• The most undesirable post for naval officers as it meant no cities, long sea travel, mosquitoes and equatorial heat causing mass disease killing roughly 25% of the squadron in 1829 alone making it hard to police slavers and find willing people to join the squadron

Question 28

What terms of engagement limited the extent of enforcing abolition after the Napoleonic war?

Answer 28

• During the war Royal Navy ships were able to board and seize ships at will but regulations began again after peace in Europe allowing slavers to carry papers and fly a flag of foreign ships to avoid seizure
• The Presidente slaver ship was seized after flying a a French and Buenos Aires flag despite the Crew speaking British and having Anglicised names

Question 29

How did the West African Squadron overcome the terms of engagement restricting widespread enforcement of abolition?

Answer 29

• 1847, the squadron grew to 32 warships which gained the power to board and seize foreign slave ships after consistent negotiation aided by Britain’s strong diplomatic position but ships could only be seized if they were carrying slaves at the time
• This led to slaves being thrown overboard such as Spanish slavers throwing 150 chained slaves overboard in 1831
• This led to the abolitionist foreign secretaries encouraging the royal navy to act outside of the treaty when dealing with weaker countries such as Brazil and Portugal but they would act within the treaty with stronger countries such as France and the Americans

Question 30

How did the West African Squadron’s attempts of abolition lead to technological development of naval powers?

Answer 30

• 1840’s the Royal Navy began using paddle streamers in order to follow slavers up river systems leading to the HMS hydra capturing 4 slave ships between 1844-1846
• Slavers began using clipper ships of 200 tons to focus purely on speed which could outrun ships of the line putting the West African Squadron at a disadvantage until some were captured and used including the black joke which captured 11 slave ships in a year.

Question 31

How successful as a whole were the West African squadron in enforcing abolition and what influenced the end of the slave trade?

Answer 31

• 1810-1860, the royal navy freed 150,00 slaves and placed them at a naval base in freetown Sierra Leone becoming the capital and Britain’s main colony in West Africa
• This did not stop the Atlantic slave trade and the freed slaves only made up 10% of slaves shipped to Africa and only ended when ownership became illegal in America beginning in the West Indies in 1833 and ending in the Southern states in 1865
• Slavery continued on the African East Coast but was abolished in Zanzibar but still remained in the red sea and Indian Ocean patrolled only be infrequent royal navy