Navy Flashcards
What was the main purpose of the navy from 1763-75 and who was instrumental in this?
Mostly for exploration and mapping, this was mainly done by Captain james Cook
Describe the 3 main expeditions of Captain Cook
- HMS Endeavour (1768-71): Mapped the entirety of New Zealand as well as the East Coast of Australia, in particular discovering Botany Bay
- HMS Resolution (1771-75): Successfully disproved the existence of a Southern supercontinent
- HMS Resolution (1776-79): Attempted to find a Northwest Passage over Canada but got blocked by ice at the Bering Strait, killed in Hawaii on the way back
What were some flaws of the British Navy in 1780
- The AWOI had proved it can be stretched thin
- It took 5 years and 2000 trees to build just one warship
- The current ships needed to be improved
- In warmer waters like Africa or the Caribbean, shipworm was prevalent and slowed and deteriorated the structure of many ships
How did Britain counter the weakness and slowness of the ships as well as ending Shipworm
Copper Plating the underside of ships, which stopped shipworm and made the ships faster
Why was Britain so far ahead of other powers to copper plate ships
Britain used their own copper (could produce 5 million tonnes a year) and coal and were the only country with the necessary level of industrial infrastructure to copper plate enough ships.
How many tons of copper were needed per ship and how many could Britain plate per year
15 tonnes and 51 ships per year
Name an example of a battle that Britain won due to the advantage provided by Copper Plating and the story of the battle
Battle of the Saintes, 9-12th April 1782
The French were trying to take British colonies lik the Windward Islands and Jamaica but Britain met the French fleet in battle and won
The advantage of the copper plating was described in the quote by Admiral Rodney who led the British: “The French ships were like tortoises chasing stags”
What were the naval tactics used in the 1700s
- Approached the enemy in a long line
- Enabled sustained bombardment and avoided friendly fire
- Improved communication between boats
- However battles were often indecisive
What types of ships were there in the navy in the late 1700s
In pitched, battles, ‘ships of the line’ were used, which were long, deep and narrow to build speed
- First and Second rate had 80-120 cannons like the HMS Victory
- Third Rate Ships were the backbone of the fleet and supported with fire (76% of the fleet in 1794 and 80% in 1814)
- Fourth rate ships had existed but were phased out due to a lack of firepower
- Fifth and Sixth rate ships were frigates which were used for patrolling instead of fighting
Give an example of the domination of the British boats and commanders over others
From 1800-1801, Captain Cochrane on the HMS Speedy sunk 53 French boats
How did the Battle of Waterloo affect the size of the navy
Decreased the size as the need for a strong navy was reduced
- 1815: 214 ships of the line, 792 frigates
- 1816: 100 ships of the line, 162 frigates
- 1835: 68 ships of the line
How did the decreasing size of the navy after 1815 affect sailors
Many become unemployed and homeless, especially bad in an already receding economy. Only veterans were allowed to beg on the street and th 1824 Vagrancy Act allowed the police to clear camps of ex-sailors with no income or shelter and prosecute them
Why did the navy change its method of recruitment after the Battle of Waterloo
The combination of wages of only £14 per year as well as the danger associated, people did not want to join the navy after 1815.
This meant that impressment was used to recruit people (getting them blackout drunk and essentially kidnapping them onto a ship)
Officers were less of an issue as meritocracy ensured officers were willing and high quality
How many ships were involved in the triangular slave trade before its abolition
150
Give an example of battle where the royal navy protected the Slave Trade
Battle of the Saintes
What was created in 1808 to enforce the ban on the slave trade and how many ships covered
How many ships were there stopping the slave trade in 1831 and 1847
what does this lead us to infer
West Africa Squadron, had 2 ships to cover 5000km of coastline, then 7 in 1831 then 32 in 1847
The government did not actually really care too much about stopping the slave trade until after slavery itself was banned
What enforced the slave trade ban throughout the rest of Europe
The Congress of Vienna 1815 leading to all signatories (UK, France, Prussia, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Russia, Austria) condeming slavery as against human rights
From 1808-1830, what did the number of slaves being shipped across the Atlantic change from
1808: 80,000
1830: 135,000
From 1810-60 what % of slaves did the West Africa Squadon prevent being shipped and what number was this
6% or 150,000 from 1810-60
Where did piracy most commonly affect Britain
Indian Ocean (French Pirates)
Red Sea (Aden Pirates)
Strait of Malacca (Chinese Pirates)
North Africa (Berber Pirates)
What was the relevance of North African Ports to the UK after the Battle of Waterloo
During the battle they were useful for preventing Napoleon’s expansion but they were no longer needed
Slavery was a huge problem, with up to 1.25 million Europeans enslaved there from the 16th-19th century
Once, the USA were forced to pay a $1 million ransom to Berber pirates
Cause for the 1816 bombing of Algiers
The UK asked the Deys (leaders) of Tunis, Tripoli and Algiers to end slavery. Tunis and Tripoli immediately agreed but Algiers was more reluctant
Following the negotiations, Britain thought they had got Algeria to agree to end slavery and return enslaved Christians to Europe but the Algerian troops were confused and massacred 200 enslaved fishermen from Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily who were under British protection
Describe 1816 bombing of Algiers
19 Royal Navy ships bombarded the port of Algiers on the 27th August 1816, forcing Algiers to surrender
The Dey freed 1083 Christian Slaves and repaid ransom money they had taken totallin about £80,000 to the UK. Over 3000 slaves were later freed
What was the impact of the development of steam powered boats
Allowed the navy to access previously inaccessible areas as they could now access rivers which was helpful for accessing many major inland cities
When was the first British steampowered frigate and when was the first French one
UK: 1843 (HMS Penelope)
FR: 1845
What did steam power in navy create between Britain and France
A naval arms race where both countries kept building bigger and better steam powered ships
Which country created shells and in which decade
France in the 1820s
Why were shells useful and what development was made to counter them
They could be fired further and more accurately than cannons due to its flat trajectory
This forced ships to become ironclad to reduce shell damage
Name 2 early ironclad ships and how long they were useful
La Gloire (FR) - 1859
HMS Warrior (UK) - 1861
Both ships became obsolete in around a decade due to the rapid development of navy
What two major impacts did the abandonment of sail have on navies around the world and when did Britain abandon sail
Britian abandoned sail in 1873
The two main impacts are:
- Increased global need for coal to supply larger ships
- Reduced the importance of the training and skill of sailors, giving the naval advantage singularly to the country with the biggest navy and best ships rather than best trained sailors
Give statistics about the HMS Devastation
- built in 1871
- 2 x 35 ton shell firing guns
- 87m long and 3m of cladding
- Needed 1350 tons of coal and constant resupply
When was the last major naval battle and what does it show about the development of the navy
1916 Battle of Jutland (UK vs Germany WW1)
Germany were much better tactically and had the better strategy but the sheer navy size and strength of Britain meant the winner was unclear whereas Germany would have won easily before
3 ways the British maintained naval supremacy in 1900
- 1889 Naval Defence Act pledged to the creation of 10 battleships, 42 cruisers and 18 torpedo boats
- Jackie Fisher modernised the navy in 1900
- The creation of the HMS Dreadnought made all other ships obsolete
Give statistics about HMS Dreadnought
- Built 1906
- 22 knots
- 5 guns that could fire a 385kg shell 5 miles
