Navy

The navy is the part of a country's military that fights on water using boats. People in the navy are called sailors. The navy is mostly made up of warships. It may also have its own air force and soldiers. It may have special boats that can go underwater, called submarines, or another kind of special boat that is meant to carry airplanes, called aircraft carriers. 

 History 
Originally, naval war was fought by ramming other ships and then jumping onto them to fight the crew. In Ancient Greece and Rome, the ships were usually powered by oars. During the Middle Ages, the cannon was invented. It could be shot at other ships from a great distance. Warships around this time also began to use sails instead of oars for power.

In the mid-19th century, ships began to be plated in armor for protection. Steam engines allowed them to move while they carried the armor, and better ones soon made them much faster. Those early warships, called ironclads, are thought to have begun the type of naval warfare used today. Ships and guns soon became much larger than before.

 Related pages 

 Royal Navy
 United States Navy
 Royal Australian Navy
 Royal New Zealand Navy

 Other websites 
 Navy -Citizendium