英国海军简史

1、 What is the Royal Navy？ How many years of history does the Royal Navy have？ Which countries used to be the enemies of the Royal Navy? How was the Royal Navy influenced by the 2 world wars? Does the Royal Navy have any famous battles? Whats the condition of the Royal Navy now?The Royal NavyNaval mil

2、itary organization of the United Kingdom, charged with the national defense at sea, protection of shipping, and fulfillment of international military agreements. Different flag in different time period：White Ensign： (Until 1707) (17071800) (since 1801) Naval Jack：The History of the Royal Navy can be

3、 traced back to before the ninth century AD. However, the present Royal Navy was formally created as the national naval force of the Kingdom of England in 1660, following the Restoration of King Charles II to the throne. In 1707 it became the naval force of the Kingdom of Great Britain after the Uni

4、on 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.The English Navy had no defined moment of formation; it started out as a motley assortment of Kings shi

5、ps 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. The Navy grew considerably during the global struggle with France that started in 1690 and

6、 culminated in the Napoleonic Wars, a time when the practice of fighting under sail was developed to its highest point. The countries that used to be the Royal Navys enemies：France，Spain，Netherlands，the USA，India，China. During the two World Wars, the Royal Navy played a vital role in keeping the Uni

7、ted 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 most of the Royal Navys strength was deployed at home in the Grand Fleet, confronting the German H

8、igh Seas Fleet across the North Sea. A few inconclusive clashes took place between them, chiefly the Battle of Jutland in 1916. These exposed the deficiencies of a British approach to capital ship design which prioritised speed and firepower, as against the German emphasis on resilience, as well as

9、the inadequacies of Britains hastily assembled munitions industry. However, the Germans were repeatedly outmaneuvered and the British numerical advantage proved insurmountable, leading the High Seas Fleet to abandon any attempt to challenge British dominance.Upon entering the First World War, the Br

10、itish immediately established a blockade of Germany. The Navys Northern Patrol closed off access to the North Sea, while the Dover Patrol closed off access to the English Channel. The Navy also mined the North Sea. As well as closing off the Imperial German Navys access to the Atlantic, the blockade

11、 largely blocked neutral merchant shipping heading to or from Germany. The blockade was maintained eight months after the war had ended to force Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles.At the start of Second World War in 1939, the Royal Navy was still the largest in the world, consisting of 15 batt

12、leships and battlecruisers with 5 under construction, 7 aircraft carriers, 66 cruisers with 23 more under construction, 184 destroyers with 52 under construction, 45 escort and patrol vessels with 9 under construction and 1 on order, and 60 submarines with 9 under construction. During the early phas

13、es of the Second World War the Royal Navy provided critical cover during British evacuations from Dunkirk. At the Battle of Taranto, Admiral Cunningham commanded a fleet that launched the first all-aircraft naval attack in history. Later Cunningham was determined that as many Commonwealth soldiers a

14、s possible should be evacuated after their defeat on Crete. When army generals feared he would lose too many ships, he famously said, It takes the Navy three years to build a new ship. It will take three hundred years to build a new tradition. The evacuation will continue.”The Royal Navy suffered hu

15、ge losses in the early stages of the war, including HMSCourageous, HMSGlorious, and HMSHood in the European Theatre, and HMSHermes, HMSRepulse and HMSPrince of Wales in the Asian Theatre. Of the 1,418 men on the Hood, only three survived. Over 3,000 people were lost when the converted troopship Lanc

16、astria was sunk in June 1940, creating the greatest maritime disaster in Britains history. There were, however, early successes against enemy surface ships, at the Battle of the River Plate in 1939, and off Norway; by 1941, with the sinking of the Bismarck, Germany effectively lost her surface ship

17、capabilities. As well as providing cover in operations, it 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 in the Atlantic was vital to the amphibious operations carri

18、ed out, such as the invasions of Northwest Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Normandy. Royal Navy ships also provided an important role in escorting convoys across the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, and o other countries on the allied side, protecting them from air, surface and submarine attack. The German ba

19、ttleship Scharnhorst was one capital ship sunk while trying to attack an allied convoy in 1943. Post-War period, 1945-1956：After World War II, the decline of the British Empire and the economic hardships in Britain at the time forced the reduction in the size and capability of the Royal Navy. Navy p

20、lanners expected to maintain unrealistically high force levels, and were eventually constrained to be a medium power, relying on the Americans to be the primary defence against Soviet threats. The increasingly powerful U.S. Navy took on the former role of the Royal Navy as a means of keeping peace a

21、round the world. Cold War period, 1952-1990：The role of the Navy continued to be debated, and in 1957 the Defence White Paper of Duncan Sandys emphasised reliance on nuclear weapons while leaving the Navys future uncertain.The 1960s saw the peak of the Royal Navys capabilities in the post-war era. T

22、he two Audacious-class fleet carriers HMS Ark Royal, HMS Eagle, the rebuilt HMS Victorious and the four Centaur-class light carriers gave the Royal Navy the most powerful carrier fleet outside the United States. The navy also had a large fleet of frigates and destroyers. New, more modern units like the County-class destroyers and Leander-class