Royal Navy

The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force and a component of His Majesty's Naval Service. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.
From the middle decades of the 17th century, and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid-18th century until the Second World War, it was the world's most powerful navy. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing and defending the British Empire, and four Imperial fortress colonies and a string of imperial bases and coaling stations secured the Royal Navy's ability to assert naval superiority globally. Owing to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, to refer to it as "the Royal Navy" without qualification. Following World War I, it was significantly reduced in size,Rose, Power at Sea, p. 36 although at the onset of World War II it was still the world's largest. During the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines and mostly active in the GIUK gap. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, its focus has returned to expeditionary operations around the world and it remains one of the world's foremost blue-water navies.Hyde-Price, European Security, pp. 105–106.
The Royal Navy maintains a fleet of technologically sophisticated ships, submarines, and aircraft, including 2 aircraft carriers, 2 amphibious transport docks, 4 ballistic missile submarines (which maintain the nuclear deterrent), 6 nuclear fleet submarines, 6 guided missile destroyers, 11 frigates, 7 mine-countermeasure vessels and 26 patrol vessels. As of January 2024, there are 68 commissioned ships (including submarines as well as one historic ship, ) in the Royal Navy, plus 13 ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA). There are also five Merchant Navy ships available to the RFA under a private finance initiative, while the civilian Marine Services operate auxiliary vessels which further support the Royal Navy in various capacities. The RFA replenishes Royal Navy warships at sea, and augments the Royal Navy's amphibious warfare capabilities through its three vessels. It also works as a force multiplier for the Royal Navy, often doing patrols that frigates used to do.
The Royal Navy is part of His Majesty's Naval Service, which also includes the Royal Marines and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord who is an admiral and member of the Defence Council of the United Kingdom. The Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The Royal Navy operates from three bases in Britain where commissioned ships and submarines are based: Portsmouth, Clyde and Devonport, the last being the largest operational naval base in Western Europe, as well as two naval air stations, RNAS Yeovilton and RNAS Culdrose where maritime aircraft are based.
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== References ==
==Bibliography==
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==Further reading==
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* Clark, Stephen M., Dieu Hack-Polay, and P. Matthijs Bal. "Social Mobility and Promotion of Officers to Senior Ranks in the Royal Navy: Meritocracy or Class Ceiling?" Armed Forces & Society (2020): 0095327X20905118 online .
* Crimmin, Patricia K. "The Supply of Timber for the Royal Navy, c. 1803–c. 1830." The Naval Miscellany (Routledge, 2020) pp. 191–234.
* Glaser, Darrell, and Ahmed Rahman. "Between the Dockyard and the Deep Blue Sea: Retention and Personnel Economics in the Royal Navy." (2021). online
* Harding, Richard. "The royal navy, history and the study of leadership." in Naval Leadership in the Atlantic World: The Age of Reform and Revolution, 1700–1850 (2017): 9+ online.
* Houlberg, Kristian, Jane Wickenden, and Dennis Freshwater. "Five centuries of medical contributions from the Royal Navy." Clinical Medicine 19.1 (2019): 22+. online
* Kennedy, Paul. The rise and fall of British naval mastery (Penguin UK, 2017).
* LeJacq, Seth Stein. "Escaping court martial for sodomy: Prosecution and its alternatives in the Royal Navy, 1690–1840." International Journal of Maritime History 33.1 (2021): 16–36.
* Lincoln, Margarette. Representing the Royal Navy: British Sea Power, 1750–1815 (Routledge, 2017).
* Neufeld, Matthew. "The biopolitics of manning the Royal Navy in late Stuart England." Journal of British Studies 56.3 (2017): 506–531.
* Roberts, Hannah. The WRNS in wartime: the Women's Royal Naval Service 1917–1945 (IB Tauris, 2018)
* Seligmann, Matthew S. "A Service Ready for Total War? The State of the Royal Navy in July 1914." English Historical Review 133.560 (2018): 98–122. online
* Underwood, Patrick, Steven Pfaff, and Michael Hechter. "Threat, Deterrence, and Penal Severity: An Analysis of Flogging in the Royal Navy, 1740–1820." Social Science History 42.3 (2018): 411–439.
* Wilson, Evan. "Particular skills: Warrant officers in the Royal Navy, 1775–1815." in A new naval history (Manchester University Press, 2018).
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== External links ==
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* Sea Your History – Royal Naval Museum
* List of sunken ships of the Royal Navy on the wrecksite
* Navy News – Royal Navy Newspaper
 
Category:16th-century establishments in England
Category:1660 establishments in England
Category:1707 establishments in Great Britain
Category:British Armed Forces
Category:Military of the United Kingdom
Category:Military units and formations established in 1707
Category:Organisations based in the United Kingdom with royal patronage