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See also:HISTORY OF NAVIES Every See also:navy was at its beginning formed of the fighting men of the tribe, or See also:city, serving in the See also:ship or large See also:boat, which was used indifferently for fishing, See also:trade, See also:war or piracy. The development of the warship as a See also:special type, and the formation of organized bodies of men set aside for military service on the See also:sea came later. We can follow the See also:process from its starting-point in the See also:case of the See also:naval See also:powers of the dark and See also:middle ages, the Norsemen, the Venetians, the See also:French, the See also:English See also:fleet and others. But centuries, and indeed millenniums, before the See also:modern See also:world emerged from darkness the nations of antiquity who lived on the shores of the Mediterranean had formed navies and had seen them culminate and decline. The adventures of the See also:Argonauts and of Ulysses give a legendary and poetic picture of an " See also:age of the Vikings " which was coming to an end two thousand years before the Norsemen first vexed the See also:west of See also:Europe. At a See also:period anterior to written history See also:necessity had dictated the formation of vessels adapted to the purposes of the See also:warrior. See also:Long See also:ships built for See also:speed (µaKpai vies, naves longae) as distinguished from See also:round ships for See also:burden (orpoyy0tae vies, naves onerariae) are of extreme antiquity (see SHIP). See also:Greek tradition credited the See also:Corinthians with the invention, but it is probable that the Hellenic peoples, in this as in other respects, had a Phoenician See also:model before them. So little is known of the other See also:early navies, whether Hellenic or non-Hellenic, that we must be content to take the Athenian as our example of them all, with a See also:constant recognition of the fact that it was certainly the most highly See also:developed, and that we cannot safely argue from it to the See also:rest. The Athenian navy began with the See also:provision of warships by the See also:state, because private citizens could not See also:supply them in sufficient See also:numbers. The approach of the See also:Persian attack in 483 B.C. drove See also:Athens to raise its establish- Athenian. ment from 50 to 100 long ships, which were paid for out of the profits of the mines of Moroneia (see See also:THEMISTOCLES). The Persian danger compelled the Greeks to See also:form a See also:league for their See also:common naval See also:defence. The League had its first headquarters at See also:Delos, where its See also:treasury was guarded and administered by the `EXXi voratetat (Hellenotamiai), or trustees of the Hellenic fund. Her superiority in maritime strength gave Athens a predominance over the other members of the League like that which See also: But these voluntary gifts were insufficient to maintain a See also:great navy. The necessity which compelled modern nations to form permanent state navies, instead of relying on a See also:levy of ships from the ports, and such vessels as English nobles and gentlemen sent to fight the See also:Armada, prevailed in Athens also. The organization of the crews See also:bore a See also:close resemblance in the general lines to that of the English navy as it was till the 16th and even the 17th century. The trierarch, either the See also:citizen named to See also:discharge the duty, or some one whom he paid to replace him, answered to the See also:captain. There was a sailing See also:master (KU(3epvilrns), a See also:body of See also:petty See also:officers, mariners and oarsmen (inrnpeaia), with the soldiers or See also:marines (kt 3&See also:rat). As the ancient warship was a See also:galley, the number of rowers required was immense. A hundred triremes would require twenty thousand men in all, or more than the See also:total number of crews of the twenty-seven See also:British See also:line of battleships which fought at See also:Trafalgar. And yet this would not have been a great fleet, as compared with the Roman and Carthaginian forces, which contended with hundreds of vessels and multitudes of men, numbering one hundred and fifty thousand or so, on each See also:side, in the first Punic War.
Until the u'se of See also:broadside See also:artillery and the See also:sail became universal at the end of the 16th century, all navies were forcibly organized on much the same lines as the Athenian, even in the western seas. In the Mediterranean the See also:differences were in names and in details. The war fleets of the successors of See also: A few words may, however, be said of Rome, which transmitted the tradition of the ancient world to See also:Constantinople, and of the Constantinopolitah or See also:Byzantine navy, which in turn transmitted the tradition to the Italian cities, and had one See also:peculiar point of See also:interest. As a trading city Rome was early concerned in the struggle for predominance in the western Mediterranean between the Etruscans, the Greek colonies and the Carthaginians. Rome. Its care of its naval interests was shown by the See also:appointment of navy commissioners as early as 311 B.C. (See also:Duoviri navales). In the first Punic War it had to raise great fleets from its own resources, or from the dependent Greek colonies of See also:southern See also:Italy. After the fall of Carthage it had no opponent who was able to force it to the same efforts. The prevalence of piracy in the 1st century B.C. again compelled it to attend to its navy (see See also:PoMPEY). The See also:obligation to keep the peace on sea as well as on See also:land required the emperors to maintain a navy for See also:police purposes. The organization was very See also:complete. Two See also:main fleets, called the Praetorian, guarded the coasts of Italy at See also:Ravenna and See also:Misenum (classes Praetoriae), other squadrons were stationed at See also:Forum Julii (See also:Frejus), See also:Seleucia at the mouth of the See also:Orontes (Nahr-el-Asy), called the classis Syriaca, at See also:Alexandria (classis See also:Augusta Alexandriae), at Carpathos (Scarpanto, between See also:Crete and See also:Rhodes), See also:Aquileia (the classis Venetum at the See also:head of the Adriatic), the See also:Black Sea (classis Pontica), and See also:Britain (classis Britannica). See also:River flotillas were maintained on the See also:Rhine (classis Germanica), on the See also:Danube (classis Pannonica and Maesica) and in later days at least on the See also:Euphrates. All these squadrons did not exist at the same time. The station at Forum Julii was given up soon after the reign of See also:Augustus, and the classis Venetum was formed later. But an organized navy always existed. A body of soldiers, the classici, was assigned for its service. The See also:commander was the Praefectus Classis. When See also:Constantine founded his New Rome on the site of Byzantium, the navy of the Eastern Empire may be said to have Byzantine. begun. Its history is obscure and it suffered several eclipses. While the Vandal See also:kingdom of Carthage lasted (428-534), the eastern emperors were compelled to attend to their fleet. After its fall their navy fell into neglect till the rise of the See also:Mahommedan power at the end of the 7th century again compelled them to guard their coasts. The eastern caliphs had fleets for purposes of See also:conquest, and so had the emirs and caliphs of See also:Cordova. The Byzantine navy reached its highest point under the able sovereigns of the Macedonian See also:dynasty (867-1056). It was divided into the imperial fleet, commanded by the Great Drungarios, the first recorded See also:lord high See also:admiral, and the provincial or thematic squadrons, under their strategoi. Of these there were three, the Cibyrhaeotic (See also:Cyprus and Rhodes), the Samian and the See also:Aegean. The thematic squadrons were maintained permanently for police purposes. The imperial fleet, which was more powerful when in commission than all three, was kept for war. A peculiar feature of the Byzantine navy was the presence in it of a See also:corps answering to the See also:seaman gunners and gunnery officers of modern navies. These were the siphonarioi, who worked the siphons (o q &ves) used for discharging the " Greek See also:fire." When the See also:Turkish invasions disorganized the Eastern Empire in the 12th century, the Byzantine navy withered, and the emperors were driven to rely on the help of the Venetians. The Italian republics of the middle ages, and the monarchical states bordering on the Mediterranean, always possessed fleets which did not differ in essential particulars from that 'See also:medieval. of Athens. There is, however, one fact which must not be overlooked. It is that the See also:seamen of some of them, and more especially of See also:Genoa, served the powers of western Europe from a very early date. Diego Gelmirez, the first See also:archbishop of See also:Santiago in Gallicia, employed Genoese to construct a dockyard and build a See also:squadron at See also:Vigo in the 12th century. See also:Edward III. of See also:England employed Genoese, and others were engaged to create a dockyard for the French See also:kings at See also:Rouen. By them the naval See also:science of the Mediterranean was carried to the nations on the shores of the See also:Atlantic. The Mediterranean navies made their last great See also:appearance in history at the See also:battle of See also:Lepanto (1571). Thenceforth the main See also:scene of naval activity was on the ocean, with very different ships, other armaments and organizations. The great navies of modern history may best be discussed by taking first certain specially important See also:national navies in their earlier See also:evolution, and then considering those which are of present See also:day interest in their relations to one another. The British Navy. The Royal Navy of Great Britain stands at the head of the navies of the modern world, not only by virtue of its strength, but because it has the longest and the most consistent See also:historical development. The Norse invasions of the 9th century forced the English See also:people to provide for their defence against attack from oversea. Though their efforts were but partially successful, and great Norse settlements were made on the eastern side of the See also:island, a national organization was formed. Every See also:shire was called upon to supply ships " in proportion to the number of hundreds and from the produce of what had been the See also:folkland contained in it " (See also:Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. 116). See also:Alfred and his successors had also ships of their own, maintained out of the royal See also:revenue of which they had complete See also:control. Before the Conquest the See also:system of contribution by the shires had largely broken down. Yet in its main lines the method of providing a navy adopted by Alfred and his immediate successors remained in existence. There were the people's ships which represented the naval side of the See also:fyrd—i.e. the general obligation to defend the See also:realm; and there were the See also: But a feudal array is wholly See also:alien in See also:character to a national force. The Cinque Ports, after playing a prominent part in the 13th century, sank into in-significance. They were always inclined to piracy at the expense of other English towns. In 1297, during one of the expeditions to See also:Flanders, they attacked and burnt twenty ships belonging to See also:Yarmouth under the eyes of Edward I. (1272-1307). The national militia had a longer See also:life. The obligation of the coast towns and counties to provide ships and men for the defence of the realm was enforced till the 17th century. Nor did the method of enforcing that obligation differ materially. In the reign of King See also: These embargoes inflicted heavy loss even when they were honestly imposed, and loud complaints were heard in See also:Parliament from the later years of Edward III. (1327-1377) that they afforded the king's officers many openings for oppression and corruption.
The true ancestors of the modern navy must be sought in the third See also:element of the navy of the middle ages—the king's ships and his " mercenaries." Under King John we find the full See also:record of a See also:regular organization of a Royal Navy as apart from the feudal array of the Cinque Ports or the fyrd. In 1205 he had in all 50 " galleys "—long ships for war—distributed in various ports. See also: The crusade of 1190 doubtless made Englishmen acquainted with the See also:title of " admiral "; but it was not till much later that the word became, first as " admiral and captain," then as " admiral " alone, the title of an officer commanding a squadron. The first admiral of all England was See also:Sir John See also:Beauchamp, appointed for a year in 1360. The permanent appointment of a lord admiral See also:dates from 1406, when John See also:Beaufort, natural son of John of Gaunt, and See also:marquess of See also:Somerset and See also:Dorset, was named to the See also:post. The crews consisted of the two elements which, in varying proportions and under different names, have been and are common to all navies—the mariners whose businessit was to navigate the ship, and the soldiers who were put in to fight. Until the See also:vessel had been developed and the See also:epoch of ocean voyages began, the first were few and subordinate. As the seas of Britain were See also:ill adapted for the use of the galley in the proper sense, though the French employed them, English ships relied mainly on the sail. They used the See also:oar indeed but never as a main resource, and had therefore no use for the " turma " (ciurma in Italian, chiourme in French, and chusma in See also:Spanish) of rowers formed in the Mediterranean See also:craft. Crews were obtained partly by See also:free enlistment, but also to a great extent, by the See also:press (see See also:IMPRESSMENT). The See also:code of naval discipline was the See also:laws of See also:Oleron (see SEA LAWS), which embodied the general " See also:custom of the sea." By the reign of Edward III, (1327-1377) the duties and See also:jurisdiction of the admiral were fixed. He controlled the returns of the ships made by the reeves, selected them for service, and chose his officers, who had their commission from him. A rudimentary code of signals by See also:lights or flags was in use. The history of the middle ages bears testimony to the general efficiency and See also:energy of the navy. Under weak kings, and at certain periods, for instance in the latter years of Edward III. and the reign of his See also:grandson Richard II. (1377-1399), it fell into decay, and the coast was ravaged by the French and their allies the Basque seamen, who manned the navy of See also:Castile. Henry IV. (1399-1413), though an astute and vigorous ruler, was driven to make a See also:contract with the merchants, mariners and shipowners, to take over the duty of guarding the coast in 1406-1407. Their admirals Richard Clitherow and See also:Nicholas See also:Blackburne were appointed, and exercised their commands. But the experiment was not a success, and was not renewed. Apart from these periods of See also:eclipse, the navy in all its elements, feudal, national and royal, was more than a match for its enemies. The destruction of the fleet prepared by See also: (1485-1509) made little use of his fleet in war, he built ships. His son Henry VIII. (1509-1547) took a keen interest in his navy. See also:Shipbuilding was improved by the importation of Italian workmen. The large resources he obtained by the See also:plunder of the Church enabled Henry VIII. to spend on a See also:scale which had been impossible for his predecessors, and was to be impossible for his successors without the aid of grants from Parliament. But the most vital service which he rendered to the navy was the formation of, or rather the organization of existing officials into, the navy office. This measure was taken at the very end of his reign, when the board was constituted by letters patent dated 24th of See also:April 1546. It consisted of a See also:lieutenant of the admiralty, a treasurer, a See also:comptroller, a surveyor, a clerk of the ships, and two officials without special title. A master of the See also:ordnance for the ships was also appointed. Henry's board, commonly known as the navy board, continued, with some periods of suspension, and with the addition of different departments--the victualling board, the transport board, the pay office, &c., added at various times—to be the administrative machinery of the navy till 1832. They were all theoretically subject to the authority of the lord high admiral, or the commissioners for discharging his office, who had the military and See also:political control of the navy and issued all commissions to its officers. In practice the boards were very See also:independent. The See also:double See also:government of the navy, though it lasted long, was undoubtedly the cause of much See also:waste—partly by the creation
of superfluous officials, but more by the opening it provided for corruption.
The 16th century in England as elsewhere saw a great development in the size and capacity of ships, in the length of voyages, and consequently in the sciences of See also:navigation and See also:seamanship, which brought with them the predominance of the seaman element hitherto subordinate. In the reign of Henry VIII., when a squadron was commissioned in 1512, out of a total of 3000 men, 1750 were soldiers. By the end of the reign of his daughter See also: , It sank somewhat during the agitated reigns of his successors Edward VI. (1547–1553) and See also:Mary (1553–1558). By Elizabeth it was well restored. In See also:mere numbers her navy never equalled her See also:father's. At the end of her reign it was composed of 42 vessel's, but they were of 17,055 tons, and therefore on the See also:average much larger. The military services rendered by the great See also:queen's fleet were brilliant. No organic change was introduced, and fleets continued to be made up by including vessels belonging to the different ports.
The two most notable advances in organization were the See also:establishment of a graduated scale of pay by See also:rank in 1582, and the formation of a fund for the See also:relief of sick and wounded seamen. This was not a See also: It was between the See also:accession and the fall of the See also:House of See also:Stuart (1603–1688) that the navy became a truly national force, maintained out of the revenue voted by parliament, and acting without the co-operation of temporary levies of trading ships. The reign of See also: The ships in commission at that time during peace were confined to the diminutive See also:winter and summer See also:guards, whose duty was to transport ambassadors to and fro across the Channel and to See also:hunt the pirates who still swarmed on the coast. See also:Buckingham See also:left the administration of the navy in the hands of the commissioners, who by dismissing superfluous officers and paying better salaries had by 1624 fulfilled their promise to restore the fleet. The establishment they proposed was only of 30 ships, but they were larger in aggregate See also:tonnage by 3050 tons than Queen Elizabeth's.
See also: Vessels of good quality were built for the king, and he showed a real understanding of the necessity for maintaining a strong fleet. But the time was coming when the hereditary royal revenue was no longer adequate to meet the expense of a navy. By the middle of the 17th century a costly warship, far larger than the trading-ship in size and much more strongly built, had been developed. The See also:extension of British See also:commerce called for See also:protection which an establishment of 40 to 50 vessels could not give. When the Great See also:Rebellion See also:broke out in 1641 the navy of King Charles consisted of only 42 vessels of 22,411 tons. At the Restoration (166o) it had grown to 154 ships for sea service, of 57,463 tons. Such a force could only be maintained out of taxes granted by the parliament. The efforts of King Charles to obtain funds for his navy had a large See also:influence in provoking the rebellion (see SHIP MONEY). The government of the navy during this reign remained in the hands of the committee of 1618, under the lord high admiral Buckingham, till he was murdered in 1628. It was then entrusted to a special commission, who were to have held it till the king's second son James, duke of See also:York, was of age. In 1638 the king restored the office of lord high admiral " during See also:pleasure " in favour of Algernon See also:Percy, loth See also:earl of See also:Northumberland, by whom the fleet was handed over to the parliament. During the Great Rebellion and the See also:Protectorate the navy was governed by See also:parliamentary committees, or by a committee named by the See also:Council of State, or by See also:Cromwell. The need, first for cutting the king off from See also:foreign support, and then for conducting successive struggles in See also:Ireland, or with the king's partisans on the sea, with the Dutch and with the Spaniards during the Protectorate, led to a great increase in its size. These, too, were years of much See also:internal development. See also:Blake and the other parliamentary officers found that the pressed or hired See also:merchant ships were untrustworthy in See also:action. The ships were not strong enough, and the officers had no military spirit. Parliament therefore provided its own vessels and its own officers. The staff was strengthened by the appointment of second lieutenants. The Dutch War of 1652–53 may be said to have seen the last of the national militia, fyrd or levy of ships from the ports for warlike purposes. After the war a code of " fighting instructions " was issued. During it a code of discipline in 39 articles was established. Both embodied ancient practices rather than new principles, yet it marked a notable advance in the progress of the navy towards complete organization that it should pass from the state of being governed by traditional use and wont, or by the will of the commander for the time being, to the condition of being ruled by fixed and published codes to which all were subject. The high military command during the See also:interregnum 1649–166o was entrusted to committees of admirals and generals at sea. With the restoration of Charles II. (1660-1685) the modern period in the history of the navy began. The first steps were taken to form a corps of officers. Lads of See also:gentle See also:birth were sent on board ships in commission with a See also:letter of service—from which came their popular name of " king's letter boys "—to the captain, instructing him to treat them on the footing of gentlemen and See also:train them to become officers. After the Dutch War of 1664-67 a body of See also:flag-officers were retained by fixed allowances from the See also:crown. This was the beginning of the See also:half-pay See also:list, which was extended by successive steps to include select bodies of captains and lieutenants, and then all commissioned officers. The process of forming the corps was not complete till the end of the reign of Queen See also:Anne (1702-1714). Special training and a right to permanent See also:payment are the essentials of a state service. The fleet was, at least in the earlier part of the reign, used for the promotion of British interests and the protection of trade in distant seas. One squadron was sent to take See also:possession of Bombay, which formed part of the See also:dower of Queen See also:Catherine. See also:Tangier, which was acquired in the same way, was occupied as a naval station till the cost of maintaining it proved excessive and it was evacuated in 1685. A See also:series of effective attacks was made on the Barbary pirates, and ships were stationed in the West Indies to check piracy and buccaneering. Until 1673, when he was driven out of office by the Test See also:Act, the king's See also:brother James, duke of York, afterwards James II., held office as lord high admiral. He proved an able See also:administrator. The navy office was thoroughly organized on the lines laid down by the earl of Northumberland, and revised " sailing and fighting instructions," as well as a code of discipline, were issued. During the latter years of the reign of Charles II. the administrative corruption of the time affected the navy severely. The fixed See also:charge for ordinary and extraordinary expenses which had risen to £300,000 a year was mostly wasted, under the lax or dishonest supervision of the commission appointed by the king after his brother left office. James II. (1685-1688), who kept the admiralship in his own hands and governed largely through his able secretary, the diarist See also:Samuel See also:Pepys, did much to restore its efficiency. The navy he left was estimated to consist of 173 ships of 101,892 tons carrying when in commission 42,003 men and armed with 693o guns. The evolution of the navy was completed by the Revolution of 1688. It now, though still called royal, became a purely national force, supported by the yearly votes of parliament, and governed by parliamentary committees, known as the commission for discharging the office of lord high admiral. A lord high admiral has occasionally been appointed, as in the case of See also:Prince George of See also:Denmark, See also:husband of Queen Anne, or the duke of See also:Clarence, afterwards King William IV. But these were formal restorations. As no organic change was made till 1832, it will now be enough to describe the organization as it was during this century and a half. The discipline of the navy was based on the Navy Discipline Act of 1660 (13th of Charles II.). The act was found to require amending acts, and the whole of them were combined, and revised by the 22nd of George II., passed in 1749. Some scandals of the previous years had caused great popular anger, and the alternative to death was taken from the See also:punishment threatened against officers who failed to show sufficient zeal in the presence of the enemy. It was under this severe code that Admiral Byng was executed. In 178o an amending act was passed which allowed a See also:court See also:martial to assign a lighter See also:penalty.
The government, political and military, was in the hands of the admiralty. The administration was carried on in subordination to the admiralty by the navy board and the other civil departments, the victualling board, the board of transport, the pay office, the sick and hurt office and some others. At the head were the flag-officers, who were divided as follows:
Admiral of the Fleet. See also:Vice-Admiral Red. See also:Rear-Admiral Red.
See also: „ White. „ See also:Blue. „ Blue. Blue. The Red, White and Blue squadrons had been the divisions of the great fleets of the 17th century, but they became formal terms indicating only the seniority of the flag-officers. It was the intention of parliament to confine the flag list to these nine officers, but as the navy grew this was found to be impossible. The rank of admiral of the fleet remained a solitary distinction. The captains, commanders and lieutenants were the commissioned officers and received their commissions from the admiralty. Promotion from them to flag rank was not at first limited by strict rules, but it tended to be by seniority. During the war of the See also:Austrian See also:Succession, in 1747, a regular system was introduced by which when a captain was promoted for active service—to hoist his flag, as the phrase went—he was made rear-admiral of the Blue squadron. Captains See also:senior to him were promoted rear-admiral in general terms, and were placed on the retired list. They were familiarly called " yellow " admirals, and to be promoted in this way was to be " yellowed.” See also:Pro-See also:motion to a lieutenant's commission could be obtained by any one who had served, or whose name had been on the books of a sea-going ship, for five years. Whether he entered with a king's letter of service or from the naval See also:academy at See also:Portsmouth, as a sailor or as a ship's boy, he was equally qualified to hold a commission if he had fulfilled the necessary conditions and could pass an examining board of captains, a test which in the case of lads who had interest was generally a pure formality. He was supposed to show that he knew some navigation, and was a See also:practical sea-man who could See also:hand, See also:reef and See also:steer. As captains were allowed a See also:retinue of servants, a custom arose by which they put the names of absent or imaginary lads on the books as servants and See also:drew the pay See also:allowance for them. It was quite illegal, and constituted the offence known as " false musters,” punish-able by dismissal from the service. But this regulation was even less punctually observed than the See also:rule which forbade the carrying of See also:women. Till the beginning of the 19th century many distinguished officers were See also:borne on a ship's books for two or three years before they went to sea. The navigation was en-trusted to the sailing-master and his mates. He had often been a merchant captain or sailor. The captains and lieutenants were supposed to understand navigation, but it was notorious that many of them had forgotten the little they had learnt in See also:order to pass their qualifying examination. As the navy was cut down to the See also:quick in peace, the supply of officers was in-sufficient at the beginning of a war, and it was found necessary to give commissions to men who were illiterate but were good practical seamen. Officers who had not begun as gentlemen " on the See also:quarter deck " were said to have come in " through the hawse hole "—the hole by which the See also:cable runs out at the See also:bow. Some among them See also:rose to distinction. The accountant's work was done by the See also:purser, who in See also:bad times was said to be often in league with the captain to defraud both the government and the See also:crew. The medical service in the navy during the 18th century was bad. The position of the surgeons who were appointed by the navy office was not an enviable one, and the medical staff of the navy was much recruited from licentiates of See also:Edinburgh, or Apothecaries See also: The pay of a seaman only for See also:harbour work, or ordered to be built, but not actually in was 225. 6d. a month for able seamen, the rate fixed in the reign of Charles II., and 19s. for ordinary seamen. This sum was not paid at fixed dates, but at first only at the end of a commission, and after 1758 whenever a ship which had been a year in commission returned See also:home—up to six months before the date of her arrival, the See also:balance being kept as a See also:security against See also:desertion, which was then incessant and enormous. As men were often turned over from ship to ship they had a sheaf of pay notes to present on reaching home. The task of making up accounts was slow, and the men were often driven to sell their pay notes to low class speculators at a heavy See also:discount. Discipline was mainly enforced by the lash, and the abuse of their power by captains was often See also:gross. These grievances led to a long series of single ship mutinies, which culminated in the great See also:mutiny of 1797. The fleets at Spithead, the See also:Nore, See also:Plymouth, the South of Ireland and Cape of Good See also:Hope mutinied one after another. The government had aggravated the danger by drafting numbers of the United Irish into the fleet, and the quotas from the counties contained many dangerous characters. The crisis which seemed to threaten the See also:country with ruin passed away. Concessions were made to the just claims of the men. When political See also:agitators endeavoured to make use of the discontent of the sailors for See also:treason-able ends, the government stood See also:firm, and the patriotism of the great bulk of the men enabled it to restore discipline. The " See also:breeze at Spithead," as the mutiny was nicknamed in the navy, was the beginning of the reforms which made the service as popular as it was once hateful.
The administration of the navy throughout the 18th century, and in a less degree after 18o6 up to 1832, was in many respects slovenly, and was generally corrupt. The different branches, military and civil, were scattered and worked in practical See also:independence, though the board of admiralty was supposed to have See also:absolute authority over all. The admiralty was at White-hall, the navy office in Seething See also:Lane near the See also:Tower, and after 178o at Somerset House. The victualling office was on Tower See also: Much remained to be done. There was no strict See also:appropriation of money. Accounts were kept in complicated, old-fashioned ways which made it impossible to strike a balance. In 1832 Sir James See also:Graham, first lord in Earl See also:Grey's administration, obtained the- support of parliament for his policy of sweeping away the double administration of the navy, by admiralty and navy office, and combining them into one divided into five departments. With this great organic change the navy entered on its modern See also:stage. - Subject to the warning that for the reason given above, the figures do not deserve absolute confidence, the material strength of the British navy from the death of Queen Anne to the fall of See also:Napoleon was:— Ships. Tons. At the death of Queen Anne, 1714 . 247 167,219 233 170,862 412 321,104 617 500,781 411 402,555 George I., 1727 George II., 1760 In 1783 In 1793 In 1816 . 776 724,810 The figures for 1783, and for 1816, are swollen by prizes and worn out ships. All the figures include vessels unfit for service, or useful existence. The number of men varied enormously from a peace to war establishment. Thus in 1755 on the See also:eve of the Seven Years' War parliament voted 12,000 seamen. In 1762 the See also:vote was for 70,000 men, including 19,061 marines—the corps having been created in the See also:interval. In 1775, on the eve of the See also:American War of Independence, the vote was for 18,000 men for the sea service, including 4354 marines. At the close of the war in 1783 the vote was for 110,000 men, including 25,291 marines, from which it fell in 1784 to 26,000 (marines 4495 included) and in 1786 to 18,000 men, of whom 386o were marines. In 1812, when the navy was at the highest level of strength it reached, the vote was for 113,000 seamen and 31,400 marines. From this level it fell in 1816 to 24,000 seamen and 9000 marines. These figures represent See also:paper strength. Owing to the prevalence of desertion, and the difficulty of obtaining men, the actual strength was always appreciably See also:lower.
The French Navy.
Before the French See also:monarchy could possess a fleet, its early kings, whose rule was effective only in the centre of the country, had first to conquer their sea coast from their great vassals. Philip Augustus (1180-1223) began by expelling King John of England from See also:Normandy and See also:Poitou. The process was not completed until See also: (1498-1515) united the duchy of See also:Brittany to the crown by his See also:marriage with the duchess Anne. Long before the centralization of authority had been completed the French kings possessed a fleet, or rather two fleets of very distinct character. Her See also:geographical position has always compelled France to draw her navy from two widely different See also:sources—from the Channel and the coast of the Atlantic on the See also:north and west and on the south from the Mediterranean. This separation has imposed on her the difficult task of concentrating her forces at times of crisis, and the concentration has always been hazardous. Like their English rivals, the French kings of the middle ages drew their naval forces from the feudal array, the national levy and their own ships. But the proportion of the elements was not the same. Many of the great vassals owed the service of ships, and their obedience was always less certain than that of the Cinque Ports. The trading towns were less able, and commonly less willing, than the English to supply the king with ships. He was thus driven to See also:trust mainly to his own vessels—and they were drawn at first exclusively, and always to a great extent, from the Mediterranean seaboard. His own territories in the south were insufficiently provided with seamen, and the French king had therefore to seek his captains, his men and his vessels by See also:purchase or by subsidies from Genoa, or in a less degree from Aragon. When See also:Saint Louis (1226-r 270) sailed on his first crusade in 1249, he formed the first French royal fleet, and created the first French dockyard at Aigues Mortes. Ships and dockyard were bought from, or were built by, the Genoese at the king's expense. 
His admirals, the first appointed by the French crown, Ugo Lercari and Jacobo di Levante, were Genoese. Saint Louis created the office of admiral of France. When in later times Aigues Mortes was cut off from the sea by the encroachment of the land, See also:Narbonne and See also:Marseilles were used as ports of war. This fleet was purely Mediterranean in character. It consisted of galleys, and though the sail was used it was dependent on the oar, and therefore on the " turma " (chiourme) of rowers, who in earlier times were hired men, but from the middle of the 15th century began to be composed of galley slaves—prisoners of war, slaves See also:purchased in See also:Africa, criminals and vagabonds condemned by the See also:magistrate to the See also:chain and the oar. Philip IV. le See also:Bel (1285-1314) was led by his rivalry with Edward I. of England to create a naval establishment on the Channel. He found his materials in the existing Mediterranean fleet. A dockyard was built for him at Rouen, again by the Genoese Enrico Marchese, See also:Lanfranc Tartaro and Albertino See also:Spinola. It was officially known as the Tersenal or Dorsenal, but was commonly called the dos See also:des gallees or galley yard, and it existed from 1294 to 1419. The French navy has always suffered from alternations of See also:attention and neglect. In times of disastrous wars on land it has fallen into confusion and obscurity. Except when See also:Francis I. (1515-1547) made a vig-See also:rous See also:attempt to revive it at the very close of his reign, the French navy languished till the 17th century. Its very unity of administration disappeared in the 15th century, when the jurisdiction of the admiral of France was invaded and defied by the admiralties of Guyenne, Brittany and the See also:Levant. These local admiralties were suppressed by Francis I. See also:Richelieu, the great See also:minister of Louis XIII., found the navy See also:extinct. He was reduced to seeking the help of English ships against the See also:Huguenots. From him dates the creation of the modern French navy. In 1626 he abolished the office of admiral of France, which had long been no more than a lucrative place held by a See also:noble who was too great a man to obey orders. He himself assumed the title of See also:grand maitre et surintendant de la navigation, and the military command was entrusted to the admirals du Ponant, i.e. of the west or Atlantic and Channel, and du Levant, i. e. of the Mediterranean. But Richelieu's establishment shrivelled after his death. It was raised from its ruins by the See also:pride and policy of Louis XIV. (1643-1715). Under his direction a numerous and strongly organized navy was created. A very full code of laws—the ordonnance—was framed by See also:Colbert and Lyonne with the See also:advice of the ablest officers, and was promulgated on the 5th of April 1689. Though modified by other ordonnances in 1765, 1772, 1774, 1776 and 1786, in the main lines it governed the French navy till the Revolution. By this code the French navy was based on the Inscription maritime, a very severe See also:law of compulsory service, affecting the inhabitants of the coast and of the valleys of See also:rivers as far up as they were capable of floating a lighter. The whole body of officials and officers was divided into the civil See also:branch known as la plume, and the military branch called l'See also:epee. The first had the entire control of the finances, and the dockyards of See also:Toulon, See also:Brest and Rochfort, with an See also:intendant de la marine at the head of each. The general chief was the sous secretaire au departement de la marine, the title of the French minister of marine till the Revolution. Under Louis XIV. a civil officer, the intendant des armees navales, who ranked as an admiral, sat on See also:councils of war and reported on the conduct of the naval officers. He must not be confused with the intendant de la marine. The military branch had at its head the admiral of France, the office having been re-created in 1669 by Louis XIV. in favour of his natural son the duc de See also:Vermandois. In theory the admiral was the administrative military and judicial head of the admiralty. In practice the admirals were princes of the See also:blood, who drew pay and fees, but who never went to sea, with the one exception of the count of See also:Toulouse, another natural son of Louis XIV. Two vice-admirals of France du Ponant and du Levant commanded in the Mediterranean and on the ocean. A third office of vice-admiral of France was created for Suffren. The lieutenant general (vice-admiral) came next, and below him the chef d'escadre (rear-admiral), capitaine de vaisseau (post captain), capitaine de brillot (See also:fireship) or de fregate (commander), and the See also:major, a chief of the staff on board who commanded all landing parties. There was no permanent body of marines in the French navy, the infanterie de la marine being troops for service in the colonies, which were administratively connected with the navy and governed by naval officers. The lieutenant needs no explanation, and the enseigne was a sub-lieutenant. The corps of officers was recruited from See also:les See also:garden de la marine, answering more or less to the English midshipmen—who received a careful professional See also:education and were required to be of noble birth. Besides the grand corps de la marine there was a fleet of galleys with a general at its head, and a staff of officers also of noble birth. It was suppressed in 1748 as being a useless expense. Officers not belonging to the grand corps were sometimes taken in from the merchant service. They were known as officiers bleus, because their See also:uniform was all blue, and not, as in the case of the noble corps, blue and red. On paper the organization of the French royal navy was very thorough. In reality it worked ill; the severity of the inscription maritime made it odious, and owing to the prevailing See also:financial embarrassment of the crown after 1692 the sailors were ill-paid, ill-fed and defrauded of the See also:pensions promised them. They fled abroad, or went inland and took up other trades. The military and civil branches were always in a state of hostility to one another, and their pay also was commonly in arrears. The noble corps was tenacious of its privileges, and extremely insolenttowards the officiers bleus. By Louis XV. (1715-1774) the navy was neglected till the last years of his reign, when it was revived by the duc de See also:Choiseul. Under Louis XVI. (1774-1792) when the Revolution broke out the long accumulated hatred See also:felt for the noble officers had free See also:play. Louis XVI. had indeed relaxed the rule imposing the presentation of proofs of See also:nobility on all naval officers, but the change was made only in 1786 and it came too See also:late. The See also:majority of the noble officers were massacred by the See also:Jacobins or driven into See also:exile. The Revolution subjected the French navy to a series of disorganizations and reorganizations by which all tradition and discipline were destroyed. Old privileges and the office of Grand Admiral were suppressed. The attempt to revive the navy in the See also:face of the See also:superior power of England was hopeless. Neither the See also:Republic nor the Empire was able to create an effective navy. They had no opportunity to form a new body of officers out of the lads they educated. The strength of the French Royal Navy is difficult to estimate, since for long periods of the 18th century it was rotting in harbour and its ships were rarely commissioned. Louis XIV. is credited with 95 ships of the line and 29 frigates, together with many smaller vessels, in 1692. At the close of the Seven Years' War it had sunk to 44 ships of the line and 9 frigates. By 1778 the French navy had risen to 78 of the line with frigates and smaller vessels which brought the total to 264. In 1793 on the outbreak of the revolutionary war, it was estimated to consist of 82 ships of the line, mostly See also:fine vessels, and of frigates with lesser craft which brought it to a total of 250. Under Napoleon the mere number was very much more considerable and included ships built in the annexed territories, but they were largely constructed of See also:green See also:timber, were meant merely to force England to maintain blockades, and were never sent to sea. Spanish Navy. The administrative history of the Spanish navy is singularly confused and broken. It might almost be said that the country had no navy in the full sense of the word—that is to say, no organized maritime force provided and governed by the state for warlike purposes only—until one was created on the French model by the sovereigns of the See also:Bourbon dynasty i.e. after 1700. Yet the kings of the Spanish See also:peninsula, whether they wore the crown of Castile and See also:Leon or of Aragon, had fleets, formed, like all the others of the middle ages, partly of ships supplied by the coast towns and populations, partly of the royal vessels. Aragon was a purely Mediterranean power. Its fleets, which were chiefly supported by See also:Barcelona, a flourishing commercial city, were composed of galleys. With the See also:union of the crown in 1479 Aragon fell into the background, and its navy continued to be represented only by a few galleys, for service in the Mediterranean against the pirates. The dominions of Castile stretched from the See also:Bay of See also:Biscay to the Mediterranean. Its kings, therefore, had need both of ships (naos) and galleys. The first beginnings of the Castilian navy were not due to the king, but to the foresight and enterprise of Diego Gelmirez, See also:bishop and afterwards first archbishop of Santiago in Gallicia. In or about 1120 he employed the Genoese Ogerio to form a dockyard at Iria, and to build vessels. The naval activity of the coast of the Bay of Biscay developed so rapidly that in 1147 a squadron from the See also:northern ports took part in the conquest of See also:Almeria by Alfonso VII. (1120-1157) in See also:alliance with the Pisans. A century later (1248) another squadron constructed at the expense of the king Fernando III. El Santo (1217-1252), and commanded by Count Ramon Bonifaz of See also:Burgos, the first admiral of Castile, took a decisiv e part in the conquest of See also:Seville. The See also:annexation of Andalucia and the necessity for guarding against invasions from Africa called for a great extension of the navy of Castile. Alfonso X. El Sabio (1252-1284) founded the great galley dockyards of Seville—the arenal. It was also the work of Genoese builders and administrators. In the course of the 13th century the towns of the northern coast formed one of the associations so common in Spanish history, and known as hermandades (brother-hoods). The first See also:meeting of its delegates took place at Castrourdiales near See also:Bilbao in 1296, when the towns of See also:Santander, See also:Laredo, Bermeo, Guetaria, See also:San See also:Sebastian and See also:Vitoria were represented. The See also:hermandad de la marisma (of the seafarers)
of Castile supplied the squadrons which took an active part in the wars of the 14th and 15th centuries between France and England as allies of the French. Its history is obscure, and it came to an end with the establishment of the full authority of the crown by the See also:Catholic sovereigns See also: Thus it was mainly concerned for long to obtain the lumbering and roomy vessels called " galleons," first designed by Alvaro de Bazan, marquess of See also:Santa Cruz, which were rather armed traders than real warships. The crown did not build its own ships, but contracted for them with its admirals. The American convoys sailed from and returned to the Bay of See also:Cadiz. One squadron, the /Iota, carried the trade, was navigated by the admiral, with whom was associated a general, who commanded the few warships proper, and was answerable for the protection of the whole. Another squadron, called of Cantabria, was maintained on the north coast, and was employed to see the See also:convoy on its way and meet it on its return home. It had its own admiral and general. The ships were always treated as if they were transports for carrying soldiers. The seamen element was neglected. The command was divided between the capitan de See also:mar (sea captain) who was responsible for the navigation and the capitan de guerra (soldier captain) who fought the ship. The same See also:division went through all ranks. The soldiers would neither help to work the ship nor fight the guns. They used musketry only, or relied on a See also:chance to board with See also:sword and See also:pike. Properly speaking there was no class of naval officers, and the overworked and depressed seamen could not supply good gunners. No general naval administration existed. The office of admiral of Castile became purely ornamental and hereditary in the See also:family of Henriquez. It was not replaced by a navy office. One of the innumerable juntas or boards, through which the Spanish kings governed, looked after the making of contracts, and co-operated with the council of the Indes which was specially concerned with the American convoys. After the disasters of the later years of Philip II. (see ARMADA) some efforts at improvement were made. Better ships were built, and something was done to raise the condition of the seamen. But no thorough-going organization was ever created, and in the utter decadence of the 17th century the Spanish navy and seafaring See also:population alike practically disappeared. Under the Bourbon dynasty which attained the throne in 1700 the Spanish navy was revived, or rather a navy was created on the French model. See also:Don Jose Patino, a very able man,- was named intenders.#e de la marina in 1715, and in 1717 he drew up a draft naval organization and code, founded on the French ordonnance of 1689. Patino's draft was the basis of the ordenanzas generales (general code) issued in 1748. The Spaniards even set up a squadron of galleys with a See also:separate staff of officers, also on the French model, which was, however, suppressed in the year of the issue of the ordenanzas generales. Fine arsenals were organized at See also:Ferrol and Carthagena. The navy thus created produced some distinguished officers, and fought some brilliant single ship actions. But the embarrassments of the treasury, the tendency of several of the kings to See also:sacrifice their navy to political schemes requiring mainly the employment of troops and the ruin of the seafaring population during the 17th century, prevented it from ever attaining to a high levelof efficiency. During the See also:Peninsular War the new navy all but disappeared as the old had done. The want of pecuniary resources and internal instability have prevented its revival on any considerable scale. The navy created by Patino consisted in 1737 of 56 ships in all, of which 28 were of the line, of from 5o to 8o guns, with one of 114 guns. In 1746 the number of ships of the line had increased to 37. In 1759 the list of line of battle ships was 50—of whiclzlthe majority, if not all, had been constructed by English shipbuilders, in the service of the Spanish government. In 1778, when at the height of its power, it contained 62 ships of the line. Dutch Navy. The Dutch fleet arose out of the great struggle with Spain in the 16th century. The Netherlanders had been a maritime people from the earliest antiquity. Under their medieval rulers, the See also:counts of Holland and of Flanders and the House of See also:Burgundy, they had rendered service at sea. The freemen owed the service known as the riemtal (riem, an oar). An admiralty office was established in 1397. But during the revolt against Philip II. of Spain, new naval forces were formed which had no connexion with the medieval navy, See also:save in so far as the governments established in the different states which afterwards formed the Seven Provinces took possession of the jurisdiction and the dues of the medieval admiralty. The naval part of the war with Spain was for long conducted by the adventurers known as the " beggars of the sea," and was mainly confined to the coasts and rivers. In 1597, when the See also:Confederation was formed and had provided itself with a common government in the states-general, the need for a regularly organized sea-going fleet was felt. In that year the banner of the states-general, the red lion with the arrows in its paw, was first hoisted during the expedition to Cadiz in alliance with England. On the 13th of See also:August 1597 the states-general issued the See also:decree (Instructie) which regulated the naval administration of the Republic until 1795. The See also:attachment of the Netherlanders to their local franchises was too strong to permit of the establishment of a central authority with absolute powers. It was therefore necessary to make a See also:compromise by which some measure of unity was secured while the freedom of the various confederate states was effectually guarded. Five boards of admiralty (Admiraliteits collegien) were recognized. They were: South Holland, or the See also:Maas, sitting at See also:Rotterdam; North Holland, or See also:Amsterdam; Westfriesland (the western side of the Zuyder Zee), at See also:Hoorn or See also:Enkhuizen on alternate years; See also:Zealand at Middleburg; and See also:Friesland at Dokhum, or after 1645 at See also:Harlingen. These bodies enjoyed all the rights of the admiralty and collected the port dues, out of which they provided for the current expenses of their respective squadrons. Extra-ordinary charges for war were met by grants from the See also:province to which each board belonged. Some measure of unity was secured among these five independent authorities by three devices. Each board consisted of seven persons, of whom four were named by the province and required See also:confirmation by the states-general, while three were chosen from other provinces to secure a See also:representation of the See also:commonwealth. The members of the boards took an See also:oath of fealty to the states-general. The See also:stadtholder was admiral-general. He presided at the board, and commanded the squadron. In his See also:absence his place was taken by his lieutenant admiral-general. An oath of fealty was also taken to him, and all armed ships whether men-of-war or privateers sailed with his commission. He chose the captains from two candidates presented to him by the board. Delegates from the boards met twice a year to consult on the general interest. When the stadtholdership was suspended in r65o the powers of the admiral-general were absorbed by their high mightinesses (Hunne Hogen Mogen) of the states-general. The staff of officers began with the lieutenant admiral-general and descended through the vice-admiral, the quaintly named Schout-bij-nacht, who was and is the rear-admiral, and whose title means " commander by See also:night." These flag officers were named by the admiral-general or states-general. The captain (Zeecapitan) was selected from the provincial list. The lieutenants were appointed by the local boards. No regular method of recruiting the corps of officers existed. This compromise was in itself a bad system. With the exception of the board of North Holland, which was supported by the See also:wealth of Amsterdam, the admiralties were commonly distressed for money. Unity of action was difficult to obtain. Much of the work of convoy which the state squadrons should have perfori ied was thrown in the 17th century on directorates (Direction) of merchants who fitted out privateers at their own expense. When there was no stadtholder, the local governing bodies trenched on the authority of the states-general, and indulged in a great See also:deal of favouritism. In one respect the navy of the Dutch republic might have been taken as a model by its neighbours. The feeding of the crews was contracted for by the captains, who were required to enter into securities for the See also:execution of the contract, and who had a reputation for probity. The Dutch crews, being better fed and looked after than the English, suffered less from disease. The clumsy organization of the Dutch navy put it at a disadvantage in its wars with England, but the seamanship of the crews, their good gunnery, and the great ability of many of their admirals made them at all times formidable enemies. No organic change was made till 1795, when the victories of the French revolutionary armies led to the formation of the Batavian republic. The five admiralties were then swept away and replaced by a committee for the direction of naval affairs, with a unified administration, organized by Pieter See also:Paulus, a former See also:official of the board of the Maas. As Holland was now swept into the general convulsion of the French Revolution, it followed the fortunes of France. Its navy, after belonging to the Batavian republic, passed to the ephemeral kingdom of Holland, created by Napoleon in favour of his brother Louis in 1806 and annexed to France in 181o. The Dutch navy then became absorbed in the French. After the fall of Napoleon a navy was created for the kingdom of the See also:Netherlands out of the Dutch fragments of the Imperial force. The United Stales. The American navy came into existence shortly after the See also:Declaration of Independence. As early as See also:October i775 See also:Congress authorized the construction of two national cruisers, and, at the same time, appointed a marine committee to administer naval affairs. The first force, consisting of purchased vessels, badly fitted and built, and insufficiently equipped and manned, embraced two ships of 24 guns each, six brigs carrying from 10 to 12 guns, two schooners each with 8 guns, and four sloops, three of to guns and one of 4 guns. On See also:December 22nd a personnel of officers was selected, one of the lieutenants being the well-known See also:Paul See also: See also:Bancroft. The war See also:college for officers at Coasters Harbor, See also:Newport, R.I., dates from 1884. The Balance of Navies in History. The five navies above discussed claim special See also:notice on various grounds: the British, Dutch and French because they have been leaders and See also:models; the Spanish because it has been closely associated with the others; the American because it was the first of the extra-See also:European sea forces. But these great examples by no means exhaust the list of navies, old and new, which have played or pow play a part. Every state which has a coast has also desired to possess forces on the sea. Even the papacy maintained a fighting force of galleys which took part in the naval transactions of the Mediterranean for centuries. The Turkish sultans have fitted out fleets which once were a menace to southern Europe. But in a survey of general naval history it is not necessary to give all these navies special mention, even though some of them have a certain See also:intrinsic interest. Some, the Scandinavian navies for instance, have been confined to narrow limits, and have had no influence either by their organization, nor, save locally, by action. Others again have been the purely artificial creation of governments. Instances of these on a small scale are the navies of the grand duchy of See also:Tuscany, or of the Bourbon kings of Naples. A much greater instance is the navy of See also:Russia. Founded by See also:Peter the Great (1689-1725), it has been mainly organized and has been most successfully led by foreigners. When Russia. the See also:Russian government has desired for political reasons to make a show of naval strength, it has been numerous. In 1770, during the reign of Catherine II. (1762-1796), a Russian fleet, nominally commanded by the empress's favourite Orloff, but in reality directed by two former officers of the British navy, John Elphinston (1722–1785) and Samuel Greig (1735-1788), gained some successes against the See also:Turks in the Levant. But when opposed to formidable enemies, as in the See also:Crimean War, it has either remained in port, or has, as in the case of the war with See also:Japan (1904-1905), proved that its vitality was not in proportion to its size. The innumerable navies of South American republics are small copies of older forces. The loth century did indeed see the rise of three navies, which are of a very different character—the Italian, which was the result of the unification of Italy, the See also:German, which followed Italy, the creation of the German Empire, and the See also:Japanese. See also:Germany, But all three are contemporary in their origin, and Japan, have inevitably been modelled on older forces—the See also:Austria. British and the French. With them must go the Austrian navy, excellent but unavoidably small. If we look at the relations which the navies of the modern world have had to one another, it will be seen that the great discoveries of the later 15th century shifted the seat of naval power to the ocean for two reasons. In the Influence first place they imposed on all who wished to sail the °See also:flea power. wider seas opened to European enterprise by Vasco de Gama and See also:Columbus the obligation to use a vessel which could carry See also:water and provisions sufficient for a large crew during a long voyage. The Mediterranean states and their seamen were not prepared by resources or See also:habit to meet the See also:call. But there was a second and equally effective reason. The powers which had an Atlantic coast were incomparably better placed than the Italian states, or the cities of the Baltic, to take See also:advantage of the maritime discoveries of the great epoch which stretches from 1492 to 1526. In the natural course the leadership fell to See also:Portugal and Spain. Both owed much to Italian science and See also:capital, but the profit fell inevitably to them. The reasons why Spain failed to found a permanent naval power have been given, and they apply equally to Portugal. Neither achieved the formation of a solid navy. The claim of both to retain a See also:monopoly of the right to See also:settle in, or trade with, the New World and See also:Asia was in due course contested by neighbouring nations. France was torn by internal dissensions (the Wars of See also:Religion and the See also:Fronde) and could not compete except through a few private adventurers. England and Holland were able to prove the essential weakness of the Spaniards at sea before the end of the 16th century. In the 17th century the late allies against Spain now fought against one another. Her insular position, her security against having to See also:bear the immense burden of a war on a land frontier, and the superiority of her naval organization over the divided administration of Holland, gave the victory to Great Britain. She was materially helped by the fact that the French monarch attacked Holland on land, and exhausted its resources. Great Britain and France now became the competitors for superiority at sea, and so remained from 1689 till the fall of Napoleon in 1815. During this period of a century and a quarter Great Britain had again the most material advantage: that her enemy was not only contending with her at sea, but was engaged in endeavouring to establish and maintain a military preponderance over her neighbours on the See also:continent of Europe. Hence the necessity for her to support great and costly armies, which led to the sacrifice of her fleet, and drove Holland into alliance with Great Britain (Wars of the League of See also:Augsburg, of the Spanish Succession, of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War). During the War of American Independence France was in alliance with Spain and Holland, and at peace on land. She and her allies were able to impose terms of peace by which Great Britain surrendered positions gained in former wars. But the strength of the British navy was not broken, and in quality it was shown to be essentially superior. The French Revolution undid all that the government of France had gained between 1778 and 1783 by attention to its navy and See also:abstinence from wars on land. The result of the upheaval in France was to See also:launch her into schemes of universal conquest. Other nations were driven to fight for existence with the help of Great Britain. In that long struggle all the navies of Europe disappeared except the French, which was broken by defeat and rendered inept by inaction, and the victorious British navy. When Napoleon fell, the navy of Great Britain was not merely the first in the world; it was the only powerful navy in existence. The pre-eminent position which the disappearance of possible rivals had given to Great Britain lasted for several years unchallenged. But it was too much the consequence of a combination of circumstances which could neither recur nor endure. The French navy was vigorously revived under the Restoration and the government of Louis Philippe (the periods from 1815 to 183o and 183o to 1848). The See also:emperor Nicholas I. of Russia (1825–1855) built ships in considerable numbers. As early as 1838 the fear that the naval superiority of Great Britain would be destroyed had already begun to agitate some observers. The " extremely reduced state " of the British navy, and the danger that an overwhelming force would be suddenly thrown on the English coast, were vehemently set forth by Commander W. H. See also:Craufurd, and by an See also:anonymous flag-officer. The peril to be feared, it was argued, was an alliance between France and Russia. In 1838 the British navy contained, built and building, go ships of the line, 93 frigates and 12 war steamers; the French, 49 of the line, 6o frigates and 37 war steamers, including armed packets; Russia, 50 of the line, 25 frigates and 8 steamers; the United States, 15 of the line, 35 frigates and 16 war steamers. The agitation of 1838 passed away, and the Crimean War, entailing as it did the destruction of a great part of the Russianfleet at Sebastopol, and proving the weakness of the Baltic fleet, and having, moreover, been conducted by an tlliance of France and Great Britain against Russia, would seem to have shown that the anxieties of 1838 were exaggerated. But the rivalry which is inherent in the very position of states possessing sea coasts and maritime interests could not cease. The French imperial government was anxious to develop its navy, By the construction of the armoured floating batteries employed in See also:bombardment of Kinburn in October 1855, and by the launch of the first seagoing ironclad " La Gloire " in 1859, it began a new See also:race for superiority at sea, which has shown no sign of slackening since. The launch of the " Gloire " was followed by political events in Europe which brought forward new competitors, while great navies were developed in America and Asia. The year 1871 was the beginning of a vast growth of naval armaments. It saw the completion of the unity of Italy and the formation of the German empire, two powers which Growth of could not dispense with strong fleets. But for some modern years the Italian and German navies, though already rivalry In in existence, were still in a youthful stage. The rapid "ma-growth of the United States navy dates from about menu. 1890, and the Japanese is a few years younger. France, Russia and Great Britain, in See also:answer to them, began the race in which the efforts of each had a stimulating effect on the others. Though the alliance between France and Russia was not formed till later, their common interests had marked them out as allies from the first, and it will be no less convenient than accurate to treat Great Britain and the partners in the Dual Alliance as for some time opposed to one another. In the general reorganization of her armaments undertaken by France after the war of 1870-71, her navy was not neglected. Large schemes of construction were taken in hand. England The instability of French ministries, and the differences and the of principle which divided the authorities who favoured Dual the construction of battleships from those who were Alliance. partisans of cruisers and See also:torpedo-vessels, militated against a coherent policy. Yet the French navy grew in strength, and Russia began to build strong vessels. As early as 1874 the approaching launch of a coast-defence ironclad at See also:Kronstadt (the " Peter the Great " designed by the English constructor Sir E. J. See also:Reed) caused one of the successive " naval scares " which recurred frequently in the coming years. It was, however, largely fictitious, and passed away without producing much effect. In 1878 the prospect of a war arising out of the Russian and Turkish conflict of that year, again stirred doubts as to the sufficiency of her naval armaments in England. Yet it was not till about 1885 that an agitation for the increase of the British fleet was begun in a consistent and continuous way. The controversy of the succeeding years was boundless, and was perhaps the more heated because the controversialists were not See also:con-trolled by the necessity for using terms of definite meaning, and because the lists published for the purpose of making comparisons were inevitably of doubtful value; when ships built, building and ordered to be built, but not begun, were counted together—or as not infrequently happened, were all added on one side, but not on the other. The belief that the British navy was not so strong as it should be, in view of the dependence of the British empire on strength at sea, spread steadily. See also:Measures were first taken to improve the opportunities for practice allowed to the fleet by the establishment of yearly. naval manoeuvres in 1885, and the lessons they afforded were utilized to enforce the necessity for an increase of the British fleet. In 1888 a committee of three admirals (Sir W. Dowell, Sir Vesey See also: The united French and Russian fleets had 22 of 150,653 tons: of these 17 were French, 7 being vessels of See also:wood plated with iron and therefore of no value when exposed to the fire of modern ex-See also:plosives. This is but one of many examples which might be given of the fallacious character of mere lists of figures. In 1894, when the Naval Defence Act had produced its effect, the See also:comparative figures were: for Great Britain, 46 ironclads (or battle-ships) of 441,640 tons, and for the Dual Alliance 35 of 270,953-in which, however, the seven wooden vessels were still included. France and Russia had then large schemes of new construction—60,30o tons of ships over 10,000 tons for France, and 78,000 tons for Russia. The British figure was 70,000 tons. But the French and Russian list included mere names of vessels, of which the plans were not then drafted. The rivalry in building went on as eagerly after 1894 as before. At the beginning of 1904 Great Britain had 67 battleships of 895,370 tons, as against 57 of 635,500 belonging to the pcwers of the Dual Alliance. The difference in favour of Great Britain was therefore ro battleships, and 259,870 tons. Vessels not ready for service were included in the list, which therefore includes potential as well as actual strength. The balance in favour of Great Britain was less in 1904 than it had been in 1885 in mere numbers. During this period the naval See also:budget of Great Britain had risen from £12,000,000 in 1885 to £34,457,500 in 1903-1904. The number of men employed had grown from 57,000 to 127,000. The figures for the Dual Alliance cannot be given with equal confidence. France had transferred the troupes de la marine or colonial troops from the navy to the army, which introduced a confusing element into the comparison, and the figures for Russian See also:expenditure are very questionable. The total See also:credit demanded for the French navy in 1890, the year after the passing of the British Naval Defence Act, was frs. 217,147,462. By 1903 the sum had risen to frs. 351,471,524. The Russian figures for 1890 are not attainable, but her budget for 1903 was £11,067,889 See also:sterling. A comparison in numbers of men available is wholly misleading, since the British navy contains a large number of voluntarily enlisted men who serve for many years, and a small voluntary reserve, while France and Russia include all who are liable to be called out for compulsory service during a See also:short period. There is no equality between them and the highly trained men of the British navy. The immense increase in its staff represents an addition to real power to which there is nothing to correspond in the case of continental states. While this vast growth of naval power was going on in Great Britain, France and Russia, other rivals were entering into the lists with various fortunes. Italy may be said to have been the first corner. Her national navy, formed out of the existing squadrons of See also:Sardinia, Tuscany and Naples, had stood the strainof war in 1866 very ill. The conditions in which the unity of the country had been achieved during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, together with the obvious need for a navy compettin the case of a nation with a very extended sea coast, tton of animated the Italians to great and even excessive new efforts. Their pclicy was controlled by the knowledge navies: that they could not hope to See also:rival France in numbers, 11a17. and they therefore aimed at obtaining individual vessels of a high level of strength. Italy may be said to have set the example of building See also:monster ships, armed with monster guns. But she was unable to maintain her position in the race. The too hopeful See also:finance in which she had indulged in the first See also:enthusiasm of complete political unification led to serious embarrassment in 1894. Her naval budget sank from £4,960,000 in 1891 to £3,776,845 in 1897-1898, and only rose slowly to £5,037,642 in 1905-1906. As a See also:candidate in the race for naval strength she necessarily held a subordinate place, though always to be ranked among the important sea powers. In 1903, when the rivalry of Great Britain and the Dual Alliance was at its height, her strength in battleships was 18, of 226,630 tons. In number, therefore, they did more than cover the balance in favour of Great Britain as against the Dual Alliance, but not in tonnage, in which the difference in favour of Great Britain was 259,870. The history of the German navy is one of foresight, calculation, consistency and therefore steady growth. The small naval force maintained by See also:Prussia became the navy of the North Germany. German Federation after the war of 1866, and the Imperial navy after 1871. Until 1853 it had been wholly de-pendent on the war office. In that year an admiralty was created in favour of Prince Albrecht, but this office was abolished in 1861, and the navy was again placed under the war office. The first ministers of the navy under the North German Federation were generals; so was the first imperial minister, General Stosch (1871). Admiral Tirpitz, appointed in 1897, was the first minister who was bred a seaman. His predecessor, General Stosch, had been an excellent organizer and had done much for the efficiency of the service. It has been the rule of the German government, both before and since the foundation of the empire, to advance by carefully framed plans, without adhering to them pedantically when circumstances called for a modification of their lines. As early as 1867 a See also:scheme had been formed for the construction of a navy of 16 ironclads and 50 smaller vessels, at a cost of £5,395,833. It was not sufficiently advanced in execution to allow Germany to make any efforts at sea in the war of 1870-71. In 1872 a supplementary grant of £3,791,666 was made for construction in view of the increased cost of See also:armour and armaments. In 1882 a revised scheme was made which contemplated the construction of See also:loo vessels, and it was completed in 1888 by another which provided for the construction of 28 vessels, of which 4 should be battleships of the largest size, within the next six years. In 1894 and for some years afterwards the Reich-See also:stag showed itself hostile to a heavy expenditure on the navy, and refused many votes asked for by the government. Under the pressure of ambition and of the real needs of a nation with an extensive and growing maritime commerce, the expenditure grew in spite of the opposition of the Reichstag. Between 1874 and 1889 it rose from £1,950,000 to £2,750,000, and was increased in the following year to £3,600,000, from which figure it advanced by 1898 to £5,756,135. Another building scheme was framed in that year, but it was swept aside in 1900, under the combined influence of the exhortations of the emperor William II., and of the anger caused in Germany through the See also:arrest by a British cruiser of a German steamer (the " Bundesrath ") on the coast of Africa on a charge of carrying See also:contraband of war to the Boers. The emperor was now able to obtain the consent of the Reichstag to an extended Naval Defence Act. By the terms of this measure it was proposed to spend £74,000,000 on construction, and £20,000,000 on the dockyards. With this money, by the year 1917 Germany was to be provided with a fleet of 38 battleships, together with a proportionate number of cruisers and other smaller vessels. Rapid progress was made not only with the See also:programme itself but with the equipment of German dockyards and other establishments for providing the materiel of a great navy. In the See also:spring of 1909 the serious menace to British supremacy at sea, represented by the growth of the new German fleet of battleships, led in England to a " scare " which recalled that of 1888, and to an energetic See also:campaign for additional expenditure on the British navy. During the years following on the American Civil War (1862— 66) the United States paid small attention to the navy. In 1881 a board was appointed to advise on the needs of the navy, and in 1890, the board recommended the formation of a fleet of too vessels of which 20 should be battleships of the largest class. The reviving interest in the navy was greatly stimulated by the See also:diplomatic difference oath See also:Groat Britain l,c}vrh arose rarer the frnntter nnaatinn hatnrpen ships of the line; France 49; Russia 50; the United States 15. In 1903 the number of vessels recognized as battleships, possessed by the great powers, was for Great Britain 67; for France 39; for Russia 18; for the United States 27; for Germany 27; for Italy 18; for Japan 5. At the first date the British fleet was among great powers as 90 to 114. At the latter it was as 6.7 to 134. Such comparisons, however, as these become much more complicated in later years, when the importance of the preponderance of " Dreadnoughts "—the new type of battleship—(see SHIP and SHIPBUILDING)—WaS realized. By the invention of this type Great Britain appeared to obtain a new See also:lead; and in 1907, when it was calculated that by 1910 there would be -ten British "T1rearinnoi¢htcrtiialb.r insnmmissi~n while United States. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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