Tudor navy The Tudor navy was the navy of the Kingdom of England under the ruling Tudor dynasty 1485 - 1603 . The period involved important and critical changes that led to the establishment of a permanent navy and laid the foundations for the future Royal Navy . Henry VII . Henry VII deserves a large share of credit in the establishment of a standing navy . Although there is no evidence for a conscious change of policy , Henry soon embarked on a program of building ships larger than heretofore . He also invested in dockyards , and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth . Henry VIII . Henry VIII inherited a force of some 15 ships , and continued expansion in " great ship s " ( e . g . , the " Mary Rose " ) , with cannon firing through gunport s in the sides of a ship , an idea taken from Portuguese and Spanish shipbuilding ; infrastructure ( including Trinity House ) and facilities apace in expectation of war with France . In 1512 Sir Edward Howard took over as Lord Admiral , and attacked on 10 August , with inconclusive results despite a memorable slugging match between the English " Regent " and the French " Cordelière " resulting in the destruction of both . Additional combat in 1513 resulted in the death of Sir Edward , and his brother Thomas Howard took his place . In 1514 the 1 , 500 - ton carrack " Great Harry " was launched , the first English two - decker and one of the earliest warships equipped with gunports and heavy bronze cannon . Henry also commissioned the Anthony Roll ( now in the Pepys Library ) , a survey of his navy as it was c . 1546 , from which comes much of the pictorial evidence for his ships . Henry VIII initiated the casting of cannon in England . By the late Elizabethan age ( see the Aldernay wreck survey ) English iron workers using blast furnace s developed the technique of producing cast iron cannons which , while not as durable as the prevailing bronze cannons , they were much cheaper and enabled England to arm its navy more easily . In the end , the chief result of the war with France was a decision to keep the 30 ships active during peacetime . This entailed the establishment of a number of shore facilities , and the hiring of additional administrators ; a royal shipwright appears in 1538 . By 1540 the navy consisted of 45 ships , and in 1545 Lord Lisle had a force of 80 ships fighting a French force of 130 attempting to invade England at the Battle of the Solent . In the same year a memorandum established a " king ' s majesty ' s council of his marine " , a first formal organization comprising seven officers , each in charge of a specific area , presided over by " Lieutenant " or Vice - Admiral Sir Thomas Clere . When war was not at hand the Navy was mostly occupied in chasing pirates . Edward and Mary . Edward VI and Mary I added little new to their father ' s navy . Although the navy was involved in the maneuverings following the death of Henry VIII , it was ineffective . Mary maintained the building program , the navy performed satisfactorily if not outstandingly ( it did not prevent the loss of Calais ) in the war with France of 1557 to 1559 . However , the marriage of Mary I and Philip II led to trade with Spain , allowing English shipwrights to examine and adapt modern Spanish galleon design to the needs of the English Navy as English ports were soon visited by both Spanish warships and merchantmen . This would later prove crucial to the growth and development of the race - built galleon and the Elizabethan Navy that would triumph against the Spanish Armada during the war between Protestant England and Catholic Spain . Elizabeth I . While Henry VIII had launched the Royal Navy , his successors King Edward VI and Queen Mary I had ignored it and it was little more than a system of coastal defense . Elizabeth made naval strength a high priority . She risked war with Spain by supporting the " Sea Dogs , " such as John Hawkins and Francis Drake , who preyed on the Spanish merchant ships carrying gold and silver from the New World . A fleet review on Elizabeth I ' s accession in 1559 showed the navy to consist of 39 ships , and there were plans to build another 30 , to be grouped into five categories ( a foreshadowing of the rating system ) . Elizabeth kept the navy at a constant expenditure for the next 20 years , and maintained a steady construction rate . By the 1580s , tensions with Spain had reached the breaking point , exacerbated by Elizabeth ' s support for the privateer ing expeditions of Hawkins , Drake , and others , and capped by the Cadiz raid of 1587 , in which Drake destroyed dozens of Spanish ships . In 1588 , Philip II of Spain launched the Spanish Armada against England , but after a running battle lasting over a week , the Armada was scattered and limped home . These famous battles were early actions in the long and costly Anglo - Spanish War of 1585 – 1604 . Technological advances . The Navy yards were leaders in technical innovation , and the captains devised new tactics . Parker ( 1996 ) argues that the full - rigged ship was one of the greatest technological advances of the century and permanently transformed naval warfare . In 1573 English shipwrights introduced designs , first demonstrated in the " Dreadnought " , that allowed the ships to sail faster and maneuver better and permitted heavier guns . Whereas before warships had tried to grapple with each other so that soldiers could board the enemy ship , now they stood off and fired broadsides that would sink the enemy vessel . When Spain finally decided to invade and conquer England it was a fiasco . Superior English ships and seamanship foiled the invasion and led to the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588 , marking the high point of Elizabeth ' s reign . Technically , the Armada failed because Spain ' s over - complex strategy required coordination between the invasion fleet and the Spanish army on shore . But the poor design of the Spanish cannons meant they were much slower in reloading in a close - range battle , allowing the English to take control . Spain and France still had stronger fleets , but England was catching up . Legacy . Important though this period was , it represents a soon - lost high point . After 1601 the efficiency of the Navy declined gradually , while corruption grew until brought under control in an inquiry of 1618 .