Royal Navy

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The White Ensign of the Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces (and is therefore known as the "Senior Service“).

People of the Royal Navy

Main category: People of the Royal Navy

Elizabethans

Dismissed as ill disciplined pirates the swashbuckling Elizabethan navy protected the nation from invasion and filled its coffers.

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  John Hawkins
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  Sir Francis Drake
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  Sir Walter Raleigh

Generals at Sea

Usually written out of the history of the Royal Navy are Cromwell's Generals at Sea. It was the Roundhead navy especially their defeat of the Dutch, that began the pre-eminence of the British at sea.

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  Robert Blake, "Father of the Royal Navy"

Admirals of the Royal Navy

Benson and Anson, Hood and Rodney, Howe, Nelson and Collingwood revered and honoured names in the Royal Navy.

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  John Benbow
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  Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood
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  Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe
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  George Anson, 1st Baron Anson
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  Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson

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  HMS Benbow
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  HMS Hood
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  HMS Howe
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  HMS Anson
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  HMS Nelson

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  HMS Benbow
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  HMS Hood
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  HMS Howe
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  HMS Anson
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  HMS Nelson

Recruiting poster for the Royal Naval Division

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  Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood
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  George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney

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  HMS Collingwood

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  HMS Collingwood
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  HMS Rodney

Science and exploration

Not all of the Royal Navy's heroes have been the product of conflict. The Royal Navy has always had a place for exploration, technological innovation and science.

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  Thomas Button
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  James Cook
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  John Franklin
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  Clements Markham
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  Harrison's chronometer

Ratings

Often faceless and nameless in the history books the Royal Navy owes her success to the many thousands of ordinary sailors who have served in her ranks.

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Ships of the Royal Navy

Main category: Royal Navy ships

surface fleet

Main gallery: Royal Navy/Surface Fleet (current).

The Royal Navy still possesses considerable fire-power in her Surface Fleet. It's main ships are the three aircraft carriers and type 42 destroyers. In the past, the Royal Navy was mainly known for its powerful battleships, especially during the first half of the 20th century.

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  The British navy defeats the Spanish Armada in 1588.
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  The Royal Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805.
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  The Victorian navy bombs the fortress of Sebastopol during the Crimean War in 1854.
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  1881
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  HMS Dreadnought, the ship that started the naval race in the years leading to World War One.
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  The 2nd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet during World War One.
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  The battlecruiser HMS Hood, lost during World War Two.
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  HMS Prince of Wales, battleship of the George V-class, one of the strongest Royal Navy classes ever built.
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  HMS Ark Royal, British aircraft carrier during World War Two.
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  Current HMS Ark Royal, current flagship of the Royal Navy.
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  Proposed Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier, to be the new leading ships of the Royal Navy.
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  HMS Prince of Wales
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  HMS Prince of Wales

submarine

Initially dismissed as "Underhand" and "un-English" the submarines of the Royal Navy Submarine Service, the Silent Service has become the main striking arm of the Royal Navy. The battleships of the 21st Century the nuclear hunter-killer submarines of the Royal Navy are as potent an offensive force as she has ever possessed.

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  Holland class
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  A class
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  E class
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  T class
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  Amphion class
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  Oberon class
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  Valiant class
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  Churchill class
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  Trafalgar class
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  Astute class

With the retirement of the RAF's nuclear strike role the strategic missile boats of the Royal Navy has been the keeper of the United Kingdom's strategic deterrent.

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  Model of HMS Resolution
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  HMS Vanguard

Conflicts

Royal Naval Brigades

With its pre-dominance at sea, for much of the 19th Century the Royal Navy faced very little in the way of ship to ship action, instead its sailors and gunners participated in land actions in Royal Navy Brigades, culminating in the Royal Naval Division that would fight in the trenches of the First World War.

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Falklands War

Caught by surprise and fought 8000 miles from home the Falklands War showed the prowess (and limitations) of British forces and the Royal Navy.

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The Future

The Royal Navy is currently being refreshed with new programs that will see it change from being primarily an anti-submarine Cold War force to one structured for expeditionary warfare. Key to this will be the new amphibious assault ships, the Queen Elizabeth II class aircraft carriers together with the escorts to protect them.

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  HMS Prince of Wales
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  HMS Prince of Wales
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  HMS Queen Elizabeth

related property

• British Armed Forces
  • British Army
  • Royal Air Force