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Royal NavyRoyal Navy Pictures
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We British are of course an island race. The seas around us, especially those 22 miles that separate us from our historic rivals in France, have served as an impenetrable barrier since 1066. The Royal Navy, Britain's Senior Service (ie oldest service) has patrolled those waters and projected Britain's power across the globe. Even now, when Britain's global influence and economic power are substantially diminished, the Royal Navy is the second largest in NATO (after the USA of course).
With such a long history we can discuss only a few of the most important episodes. Probably the first that any English schoolboy is taught (if he receives a traditional education, that is) is the Spanish Armada of 1588. With typical phlegm Sir Francis Drake famously continued his bowls game on Plymouth Hoe in Devon, saying that there was plenty of time to finish the game and defeat the Spanish while the enemy fleet made its way up the Channel. The Navy then supported British imperial expansion, coming into conflict with the fleets of many other nations, the most important of which was, naturally, the French, especially in the Napoleonic Wars. A number of battles reached a climax in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 which established Britain as the pre-eminent global naval power. It was at Trafalgar that Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson was fatally wounded. A memorial, the 169 feet tall Nelson's Column, stands in Trafalgar Square in London. To this day, on 21st October each year, the Royal Navy toasts Nelson's 'immortal memory'. It amuses us to think of French tourists arriving at Waterloo station and visiting Trafalgar Square. I suppose it's not a lot different to an Austrian tourist turning up at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris or using Gare d'Austerlitz to visit wine country around Bordeaux. It wasn't all sweetness and light, though. The Press Gang forced unsuspecting civilians into service, conditions below decks were horrendous, the food was often riddled with maggots and weevils. and Heaven help you if you were wounded. And those bell bottoms - call that fashion? In the Great War British naval power was so dominant (despite the naval arms race that preceded the conflict) that the German fleet was effectively bottled up in port. There was one major battle, the Battle of Jutland, which was inconclusive. World War Two was much more of a challenge to the Navy. Naval technology had advanced so much that submarines (U-boats) posed a much greater threat than they had during WWI and the Navy was slow to recognise, exploit and defend against air power. The Navy's efforts in the Battle of the Atlantic (in which the mariners of the Merchant Navy played a brave and often understated part) were vital in keeping Britain's supply lines open. Subsequently (if we ignore Korea and Suez) the Navy's activities focused on the Cold War issue of anti-submarine warfare against the Soviet nuclear-armed fleet. Despite this it managed to mount a more traditional expeditionary action to recapture the Falkland Islands in 1982 - even using cruise liners the QE2 and Canberra as transports. Since the end of the Cold War support of land-based actions has resumed its importance for the Navy in both humanitarian and peace-keeping roles. 'Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.' Winston Churchill | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
