navy

1. All of a nation's warships.
2. often Navy A nation's entire military organization for sea warfare and defense, including vessels, personnel, and shore establishments.
3. A group of ships; a fleet.
4. Navy blue.

[Middle English, from Old French navie, from Latin nāvigia, pl. of nāvigium, ship, from nāvigāre, to sail. See navigate.]

Navies are the means whereby naval power may be exerted. A handful of ancient and medieval powers (notably Athens and Venice) were able to maintain something like a national navy for long periods, while others assembled squadrons of warships, often privately owned, for particular campaigns, or improvised fleets out of merchant ships carrying soldiers. The only true warships were galleys, fitted with rams in classical times, but in the Middle Ages essentially fast troop-carriers were mainly used for short-range amphibious operations. In northern waters a similar style of warfare was conducted by the Vikings over much longer ranges, using ships owned by individuals or localities but sometimes assembled in national fleets. Outdated in Scandinavia by the 14th century, such ‘Viking’ ships were still active in the Hebrides in the 17th century. Elsewhere on the Atlantic coasts of Europe, France, Castile, and Portugal at various periods in the 13th and 14th centuries maintained galley squadrons, but the ‘navies’ of most countries were improvised from armed merchantmen.

With the adoption of heavy guns, first in galleys in the late 15th century, and later in sailing ships, the cost of navies rose markedly. The possession of modern warships was a primary mark of power and status in Renaissance Europe, but even the richest princes struggled to organize and finance a permanent fleet, which presented challenges financial, technical, and managerial which strained the resources of the early-modern state to the limits. At the end of the 16th century only Venice, Denmark, England, and (on a small scale) the papacy possessed permanent state navies with effective infrastructure. Spain, the superpower of the age, had several regional squadrons, but did not succeed in establishing a permanent national fleet until the 18th century. The Dutch became the leading naval power of the 17th century by assembling provincial, local, and private fleets into a national navy. In England the financial and political strains of sustaining a navy contributed to the fall of the Stuarts, and it was the fleet built by the military regime of the 1650s which gave England the status of a great power. Soon afterwards Louis XIV of France began the construction of a navy more or less from nothing, which by the 1690s was briefly the most powerful in the world. The strain of war revealed that this imposing force lacked the necessary financial, political, and industrial foundations, and by the Peace of Utrecht it was in rapid decline.

By then it was clear that the possession of a modern navy was essential to participation in the rich oceanic trade which was transforming the advanced economies of Europe. For Britain, alone among European states, the navy was also a guarantor of national integrity. Politically unstable, with an apparently weak government and an undoubtedly weak army, Britain had no real defence apart from her navy. For this reason all parties united in supporting it, and the British navy enjoyed a solid, long-term political commitment unequalled in any other country. To sustain an effective fleet required heavy investment in dockyards, stores, and industrial plants spread over many years; it called for a ceaseless effort of shipbuilding to match the continual decay of wooden ships; and all this would be useless without a large seafaring population to provide skilled crews for the ships. With the largest merchant fleet and the most resilient system of public credit in Europe and above all with the political will to sustain a powerful navy, Britain was able to win a decisive victory in the naval arms race of the late 18th century. Having beaten off a dangerous challenge from the united fleets of France and Spain during the American independence war, the Royal Navy enabled Britain not only to survive but to prosper while every other European state was more or less devastated during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.

The other major 18th-century navies all suffered from a lack of one or more of the basic components of naval power. The Dutch fleet, still in the first rank in 1688, declined rapidly after 1715 for want of adequate funds. The French navy, painfully rebuilt in the 1770s and 1780s, suffered badly from the effects of the French Revolution. At its best it was always beset by industrial and financial weakness, inconsistent state policy, and inadequate skilled manpower. The Spanish navy grew to be in many respects a formidable force by the 1780s, but was always crippled by shortage of seamen. Other 18th-century navies, notably those of Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, Algiers, and the Two Sicilies, belonged to the second rank, exercising an important influence only in particular areas and periods.

The basic unit of sea power was the ship of the line or battleship, mounting a minimum of 40 or 50 guns (in 1688), and 100 or more (by 1815), capable of taking its place in the line of battle. Because warships mounted almost all their guns on the broadside, and were vulnerable to fire from ahead or astern, actions were usually fought in line ahead. This was a strong defensive formation, especially as ships' means of propulsion (masts and sails) were much more exposed than their hulls, and they were often stopped or disabled before they could come to close quarters. The meeting of two competent fleets in roughly equal numbers usually resulted in an inconclusive action. Ultimate victory tended to go to the navy which could mobilize and deploy overwhelming numbers fastest, which placed a premium not only on numbers of ships, but on logistical and technical resources, on reserves of skilled manpower and the means to draw on them, and on the political will to begin the very lengthy mobilization process in good time. Only during the Naploleonic wars did new tactical methods allow equal or even inferior fleets to win overwhelming victories, and these were developed by the Royal Navy, drawing on a strength of seamanship and morale conferred by overall strategic naval dominance.

Fleets and squadrons were employed to escort convoys of merchant ships; to cover raiding, expeditionary, and invasion forces; and in the case of Britain in particular, to defend the country against threats of invasion. Where the only main roads ran along the coast (notably in the western Mediterranean), naval gunfire might hinder or even block the movements of armies ashore. Lesser squadrons and individual ships fulfilled some of the same functions, besides cruising for the defence and attack of trade, and assuring supplies to any place accessible by sea. Smaller warships such as frigates and sloops were employed as cruisers, escorts, and scouts for the battle squadrons; bomb vessels deployed heavy mortars for shore bombardment; schooners and cutters maintained communications; gunboats of various types operated inshore; and a huge fleet of storeships, transports, hospital ships and other auxiliaries supplied and sustained the fleets.

In all its aspects naval warfare was above all the warfare of technology and capital, and its characteristic form was attrition. Decisive battles were difficult to achieve, and did not confer control of the sea in the way a victory on land might gain territory, but when ships were more often captured than destroyed, a victory might sharply alter the balance of forces, and enormously speed the process. The costs of maintaining even a small fleet greatly exceeded those of a large army ashore, they had to be borne over a much longer period to achieve useful results, and they called for the resources of an advanced economy. The number of men in a fleet, though not negligible (a fleet of 30 sail in the 1780s called for about 25, 000), was small by comparison with armies, but a large proportion of them were highly skilled and scarce. The firepower of a single battleship exceeded that of all the artillery of a large army, and on the occasion when naval gunfire support could be given to land operations, the results were usually decisive. The flexibility and power of navies, capable of being deployed over huge distances, presented problems of strategy, command, and communications many of which the 18th century never completely solved.

For states with the capacity to develop effective naval power, a navy offered opportunities as a diplomatic instrument in peacetime, as well as a means of waging war, which even the largest army could not equal. Limited or altogether useless against landlocked powers, navies could be used effectively and sometimes decisively against any state with a coast, and especially any which depended to any extent on foreign trade or colonies. As the world economy grew more connected and sophisticated during the 18th century it depended increasingly on seaborne trade as an engine of prosperity in general, and a generator of liquid investment capital in particular. Naval power enabled states to gain access to this means of economic growth, and eventually enabled Britain to dominate the world economy in the 19th century. The Royal Navy for most of this century maintained only small seagoing forces (except briefly during the Crimean war), backed with large reserves and sustained expenditure on infrastructure, research, and development. During the 1840s and 1850s the British fleet was entirely reconstructed, all classes being fitted with auxiliary screw steam propulsion. At the same time large ‘steam factories’ were added to the major dockyards. Starting in 1860, Britain and France began to build armoured battleships, breech-loading guns firing explosive shell were introduced about the same time, and over the next 30 years warship design evolved very rapidly. The introduction of compound engines in the 1870s made it possible for seagoing warships to dispense with masts and sails. At the same period the early Whitehead torpedoes offered the possibility of striking armoured warships at their most vulnerable point—below the waterline; new types of small warship and new tactical methods were developed to exploit it. In the 20th century the submarine was to prove the most effective of them all.

Until about 1890 British technical superiority was never effectively challenged, and British private shipyards built a high proportion of the world's warships. At that time an unprecedented peacetime naval arms race hugely increased the size of the Royal Navy, which remained more than equal to its two nearest rivals (France and Russia) combined. In the long term Britain's strategic situation was fatally undermined by the rise of major naval powers outside Europe. This meant that for the first time in 300 years, the fleet maintained in home waters for home defence could not at the same time ensure superiority worldwide. In the short term an alliance with Japan and friendship with the USA sufficed to maintain Britain's position and allow a concentration against Germany. After WW I Britain was forced to choose between the USA and Japan, opening the possibility of having to fight a war in Europe and the Far East simultaneously. That threat became a reality in 1941.

By 1945 the USA represented nearly half the productive economy of the world, and the US navy was clearly the major world fleet, as it has remained. It has not been able to assume the position formerly held by the Royal Navy, since with significant naval powers in every part of the world, global superiority can only be maintained by a global system of alliances. In other respects the fundamentals of naval power remain in the late 20th century much as they always have been. Aircraft and missiles enable land forces to project power seaward and warships to strike further inland than before. The economic importance of seaborne commerce and the economic dominance of coastal over inland regions has greatly increased as the bulk of the world's population comes to work in trade and industry rather than on the land. Modern warships are widely available even to relatively minor powers, as they were even in the 18th century, but effective navies, whether on a large or small scale, still require years of sustained investment in training and infrastructure. The expense and difficulty of maintaining an effective navy remain as great as they have ever been, but the rewards in terms of direct control of the world's trade, and indirect power over a large proportion of its population and economic resources, continue to justify the effort.

— N. A. M. Rodger

n. pl. -ies 1. (often the navy or the Navy) the branch of a nation's armed services that conducts military operations at sea.

2. the ships of a navy: a 600-ship navy.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

For more information on navy, visit Britannica.com.

Britain's place in the ‘Viking World’ was rendered most definitive through the person of Cnut (1016-35). King, or overlord, also in Denmark (1019) and Norway (1028), no English monarch had such distant dominions again until Charles II in the later 17th cent. Cnut's navy seems not to have been a personal apanage but an auxiliary. In 1051 it was dispensed with by Edward the Confessor out of economy. William I had continuous trans-channel ferry needs during his reign, after the first crucial shipment of an army to Pevensey in September 1066; and he, William II, and Henry I may have made some 40 Channel crossings in all. Portsmouth, a nascent naval base by the reign of John (1199-1216), or Southampton were their usual destinations. By the end of the 12th cent. the Cinque Ports had long enjoyed privileges from the crown in return for an annual provision of ships and men. Through the 13th cent. these ports, joined by Winchelsea and Rye, provided the ‘drive’ for assembling royal fleets. By this time the oared single sail ‘long ship’ or galley was ceding place to wider-beamed and higher-sided vessels, furnished with fore and stern castles. These were more difficult to manœuvre than galleys, but they could carry bowmen and projectiles in their castles and were more suitable for boarding an enemy. Edward III's victory over the French at Sluys in 1340 must have featured such ships; and before the 14th cent. was out there was vital development of the three-masted ship. The age-old side rudder also gave place to the stern-post rudder aligned on the keel, facilitating steering a few points off the wind.

The evolution of the navy in the 15th cent. has to be seen in the context of an ever-increasing volume of trading voyages, to Iceland, the Baltic ports, to the Basque coast and Portugal, and then the Newfoundland Banks. More distant trades made big ships economic. The three great ships of Henry V were each over 550 tons; the Grace Dieu of 1420, whose timbers yet lie in the Hamble river, was of over 1, 000. But around 170 years later, when England faced the Armada in 1588, only 14 of the 177 private ships enlisted for service were over 200 tons, and only 5 of the 34 ‘Queen's Ships’ exceeded 500 tons. The late medieval small ship had a durable progeny in the navy of the Tudors, the dynasty which truly founded the navy with its yards at Portsmouth, Chatham, Deptford, and Woolwich. In 1546, Henry VIII's last year, the Navy Board was formed from the navy's principal officers: it was destined to serve as the executant of the fleet's construction, maintenance, and supply, the country's largest industrial undertaking until the 19th cent. The critical change in warship design came during the 40 years before 1588, the removal of the medieval ‘castles’ in favour of a lower superstructure, with ships' sides pierced for guns on wheeled carriages. Through to the coming of the steam-powered‘ironclad’ this was the basic character of the warship; the teamwork, ensuring high rates of fire, made a singular contribution to Britain's awesome repute at sea in the century of Vernon, Hawke, Rodney, and Nelson.

At long last, and following Trafalgar, the book was closed on one of the most abiding and distracting of Britain's strategic preoccupations: the security of the West Indies possessions had exercised the minds of all thinking naval officers since the age of William III. This concern lay close to the beginnings of Britain's commercial empire in the 16th and 17th cents.—the Levant Company 1592, the Virginia Adventurers 1609, the Royal Africa Company 1660, above all the East India Company 1600—all undertakings calling for ships which must dwarf the warships of Elizabeth I. By the time of Pepys's ‘30 ship’ building programme of 1677 there may have been an average burthen tonnage of 1, 200 for ships of over 70 guns as against 940 in 1660. The navy finally became ‘royal’ in name under Charles II.

The first steam-powered vessels in the navy were the paddle-driven frigates/sloops of the 1820s, but the navy's ships in the Crimean War did not look much different from those of 75 years before. Even Warrior, Britain's first screw-driven ironclad (1860), retained sail-power after modifications in 1887. During the incipient naval race with Germany in the 1890s there emerged, in the fascinating and powerfully prophetic educator John Arbuthnot Fisher, the man who drove the navy into the 20th cent. What has to be understood about his 18, 000-tons displacement Dreadnought, with her 21-knot speed (launched February 1906), is that such a ship was waiting to be built: turbine and not reciprocated engine driven, and with a provision of uniformly heavy guns ensuring straddling salvoes of the highest possible accuracy. Yet Dreadnought was rapidly overtaken by more powerful and faster sisters, and she herself played little part in the First World War. But at the end of his life (1920) Fisher was convinced that air power was inseparable from sea power in any future conflict, and that the capital ship had had her day—a glimpse of what was to happen in the Second World War to the Prince of Wales, Repulse, and Hood. The mine, the torpedo, and the submarine had already set the pace of change; and at the Coronation Review of 1953 only one British battleship remained, the 42, 000-ton Vanguard, which had never seen action.

Up to the late fifteenth century, permanent navies with ships built only for warfare were unimportant in Europe. Wars at sea were fought with infantry weapons and they could be used on merchantmen temporarily armed for war. Maritime cities with many large cargo carriers could rapidly form powerful navies, and mercantile power was easily converted into sea power. The only specialized warships were the oared galleys, but they could be built quickly in large numbers when a war began. The sea power of a state became visible only during wars. One part of this system was retained in most early modern navies as, to a considerable extent, they were manned with seamen recruited from the mercantile marines. In peacetime, only a nucleus of seamen was employed by the navies. Permanency was created by warships, dockyards, and cadres of leaders, which gradually became corps of officers.

The introduction of heavy guns able to damage ships at a distance stimulated the development of specialized, heavily built, sailing warships that could carry such guns, use them efficiently in combat, resist gunfire, and stay at sea during long periods of time. Guns and specialized warships were expensive, and only states were able to make major naval investments. The size of the permanent navies became increasingly important for the control of the sea for offensive and defensive purposes and for diplomatic influence. Guns and warships also gave states a new role as the most efficient protectors of private shipping. The growth of the European navies reflected both the improved efficiency of a specialized technology and the increased centralization of resources to the states.

Galleys and sailing warships had different capabilities, and they were often regarded as parts of different organizations. Most Mediterranean galleys were of about the same size in all navies. There was a general rise in their size from the mid-sixteenth century to the early seventeenth century, but otherwise galley navies can be measured by number of galleys. In contrast, sailing warships were built in widely different sizes at the same time and size increased over time. The average size of European ships-ofthe-line grew from around 1,200 modern displacement tonnes in 1680 to 2,400 displacement tonnes in 1790. Consequently, the number of ships is of limited value in comparing the navies.

The displacement, that is, the weight of the ship including stores, began to be used to measure size in the eighteenth century. For earlier centuries, approximate displacements can be calculated from dimensions, contemporary tonnage calculations, or the size of crews. This makes it possible to compare different navies and measure fluctuations over time with one measurement that reflects fighting power and manpower requirements. Typically, galleys that relied on muscle power for their propulsion had about one man per tonne displacement. Sailing warships in the latter half of the seventeenth century had manning establishments that required around one man to three tonnes displacement while eighteenth century warships normally had around one man to four tonnes.

Mediterranean Galley Navies

The early permanent navies in the Mediterranean developed with the traditional galleys as the main component. Their rise was closely connected with the power struggles for control of the Greek archipelago and Italy and trade in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1450, only Venice had a major peacetime galley navy. Up to about 1500 the Ottoman and Venetian navies increased in size during the struggle for control of Greece. After that, the Italian Wars (1494–1559) stimulated the growth of the French and Spanish galley navies. The latter included the naval resources of Sicily and Naples. The Papal States, Tuscany, Genoa, and the Order of St. John on Malta developed minor galley navies. Finally, from the 1540s to the 1570s, the great contest between Spain and the Ottomans led to a dramatic increase in the galley navies. In terms of manpower (including chained oarsmen) and requirement of provisions, they were the largest concentrated military forces of the sixteenth century. Logistical problems often made them sluggish in operation.

The end of the imperial contests in the Mediterranean around 1580 was followed by a major reduction

of the galley navies, which continued during the seventeenth century. The limited utility of oared forces was revealed during two wars between Venice and the Ottomans (1644–1669 and 1684–1699), and both powers reduced the number of galleys. They were now primarily used for routine patrols and transfer of troops, and all major Mediterranean powers created sailing navies as their main force at sea during the seventeenth century. In the first half of the eighteenth centuries galleys were abolished or cut down to insignificant numbers, and by the end of the century they had disappeared in the Mediterranean.

Early Sailing Navies, 1500–1650

Sailing warships with guns began to be built by several states in the decades around 1500. They were few in number and major fleets were still formed by requisitioned or hired merchantmen. Merchantmen often protected themselves by sailing in convoys. Early sailing, gun-armed navies were developed primarily by states without strong mercantile marines: Portugal, France (Brittany), England, Denmark, and Sweden. They were closely related to royal ambitions to explore new technology in order to control coasts, territories, and trade routes, but a sailing navy was not regarded as necessary for great power status. The Habsburgs, who controlled Spain and the Netherlands with their large mercantile marines, for a long time did not develop naval power in the Atlantic, and for the French kings the sailing navy usually had a low priority. The Mediterranean powers preferred galleys, which at least up to the mid-sixteenth century proved viable as a weapons system in competition with sailing warships, which were still in their infancy.

The sailing navies grew during the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth century without entirely replacing temporarily armed merchantmen as an important instrument of warfare. Experience of war such as the Anglo-French contests up to 1559, wars in the Baltic in the 1530s and 1560s, and the Anglo-Spanish confrontation from 1585 to 1603 showed that specialized gun-armed warships had considerable advantages over traditional great cargo carriers provided with infantry and a few guns, which were gradually abolished as combatants. Merchantmen built to carry a substantial number of guns, and specialized for trade in contested waters such as the Mediterranean and the East and West Indies, became useful as temporary warships from the late sixteenth century up to the 1650s and 1660s. The English, Dutch, Danish, Spanish, and Swedish navies were reinforced by considerable numbers of armed merchantmen during major wars, and Venice fought the war with the Ottomans from 1644 to 1669 with hired English and Dutch merchantmen. Armed merchantmen were used for the European penetration of the Indian Ocean and the China Seas, and they remained the main European

force at sea in this area until the early nineteenth century.

It is not meaningful to look for a European balance of power at sea in this period, but powers who were antagonists, such as Denmark and Sweden in the Baltic and Spain and the Dutch in Western Europe, attempted to balance each other. The English and French navies were primarily maintained for control of the Channel, although the French civil wars rendered France almost powerless at sea from the 1560s to the 1620s. The absence of a French threat gave the English the opportunity to deploy the navy in the Atlantic during the war against Spain (1585–1603). The sixteenth-century Portuguese navy, of which too little is known to quantify its size, was primarily developed for control of the sea route to India. When Portugal was united with Spain in 1580, it formed the nucleus of a new Habsburg navy.

The European Battle Fleets, 1650–1790

The three Anglo-Dutch maritime wars from 1652 to 1674 and the rise of the new strong monarchy in France was the start for a major growth and transformation of the European fleets. Armed merchantmen were still chartered in large numbers during the first Anglo-Dutch Wars, but they proved deficient in combat with major warships. The English and the Dutch fought several intense battles for control of the Channel and the North Sea. It became obvious that fewer large ships with heavier guns had an advantage over more numerous smaller ships. This realization resulted in a long-term increase in the size of warships and made it uneconomical to use armed merchantmen in naval warfare. Tactics changed to make full use of large ships, which could continuously fire heavy broadsides and resist enemy gunfire. Growing corps of sea officers developed professionalism and a new doctrine that emphasized disciplined battle lines and well-drilled gun crews. Improved foundry technology made it possible to produce cheap iron guns that reduced the cost of permanent naval armament.

The naval conflicts between England and the Dutch were influenced by competition about trade and colonies. The French fleet expanded dramatically in the 1660s mainly as a result of increased royal power. It gave France naval supremacy over its traditional antagonist Spain as the Spanish navy declined

to a medium-sized force in the latter half of the seventeenth century. France could also challenge the two great maritime powers at sea in conflicts that predominantly were Continental. However, the combined Anglo-Dutch navies gained superiority at sea over France in the 1690s and could use their navies to support allies in the Mediterranean and for military actions on the Iberian peninsula in the early 1700s. French naval power collapsed in the 1710s and Great Britain emerged as the dominant sea power. Britain retained this position until the twentieth century, and other great powers were reduced to more or less successful challengers of British supremacy over the European and transoceanic sea-lanes.

The first of these challenges came from a new combination of naval powers, France and Spain, which began to act as allies in the eighteenth-century struggle over colonies and trade in America and Asia. The new Bourbon regime in Spain launched an ambitious Atlantic naval policy that made Spain into the third largest naval power in Europe for most of the century. During the war of 1739–1748, both Bourbon powers were defeated by Britain at sea. They started major programs of new construction, but the war of 1756–1763 resulted in a victory for Britain, partly because Spain joined the war after France already had suffered large losses at sea. During the 1760s and 1770s French and Spanish battle fleet strength outpaced the British by a wide margin, and during the War of American Independence the combined Bourbon navies were frequently able to place severe limits on British operational freedom on sea and on land. France and Spain continued with large shipbuilding programs in the 1780s, with the intention to renew the challenge against Britain in future contests in the Atlantic.

The other two Atlantic powers, Portugal and the Dutch Republic, preferred neutrality during most of the eighteenth century. Both were primarily interested in defense of their worldwide empires of trade and colonies, but not in expansion. Portugal had maintained a navy of around 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes after it regained independence in 1640, increasing it to 25,000 to 35,000 tonnes in the eighteenth century. The Dutch navy was kept steady at a level of 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes from the 1720s to about 1780. The failure of the Dutch policy of neutrality in the War of American Independence forced the Dutch to join the Atlantic naval race and increase the navy to around 120,000 tonnes during the 1780s.

In the Baltic, Denmark and Sweden remained the only major naval powers up to the early 1700s, when Russian conquests of Swedish-controlled territories made it possible for Russia to build a navy. Sweden and Denmark traditionally regarded it as important that the other power should not be able to control the Baltic Sea, and this shaped their naval policy. Russia under Peter I rapidly created a major navy and for most of the eighteenth century, the Danish, Swedish, and Russian navies were of the same magnitude. Denmark usually had the largest battle fleet, but the other two navies also maintained large oared flotillas of galleys, oared frigates, and, by the 1780s, gunboats. By 1790, the Swedish navy had to a considerable extent become an archipelago fleet. Oared vessels were intended for cooperation with the army along archipelagic coasts, not for the open sea. From around 1780, the Russian navy began to expand and created a new fleet in the Black Sea. This was a part of Catherine II's expansionist policy in the Balkans, and it was the beginning of a period when Russia was a major European power at

sea, replacing Spain in the nineteenth century as owner of the third largest battle fleet.

In the Levant, Venice and the Ottomans began to build sailing navies in the 1670s, although information about the latter navy is incomplete. Both navies had reached a size of around 40,000 tonnes by 1700. The Venetian navy did not expand further but the Ottoman navy grew to one of the largest in Europe, with a strength of around 60,000 tonnes in the 1720s. Both navies were gradually reduced as a result of the long period of peace in the eastern Mediterranean after 1718, and the Ottoman navy was unprepared for the new challenge from Russia in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea from 1768 on. The Turks responded with a new expansion from a low level to about 70,000 tonnes in 1790. Russia had by then a fleet of around 45,000 tonnes in the Black Sea, while Venice since the mid-eighteenth century had maintained a navy of around 20,000 tonnes.

The total size of the European sailing navies was around 200,000 tonnes in 1650, around 750,000 tonnes in both 1700 and 1750, and almost 1.7 million tonnes in 1790. After that they declined markedly. Rising timber costs and reduced naval ambitions in several European states in the wake of a series of British naval victories during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars limited further growth.

Bibliography

Acerra, Martine. Rochefort et la construction navale française, 1661–1815. 4 vols. Paris, 1993. Broad survey of French naval administration, shipbuilding and technology.

Bruijn, Jaap R. The Dutch Navy of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Columbia, S.C., 1993. A comprehensive synthesis of modern scholarship.

Dull, Jonathan R. The French Navy and American Independence: A Study of Arms and Diplomacy, 1774–1787. Princeton, 1975. Emphasizes the importance of naval strength.

Glete, Jan. Navies and Nations: Warships, Navies and State Building in Europe and America, 1500–1860. 2 vols. Stockholm, 1993. Navies and naval technology as parts of the state formation process. Displacement calculations in this article are from this book.

Guilmartin, John Francis, Jr. Gunpowder and Galleys: Changing Technology and Mediterranean Warfare at Sea in the Sixteenth Century. London and New York, 1974. A reevaluation of galley warfare and the introduction of guns at sea in general.

Harding, Richard. Seapower and Naval Warfare, 1650–1830. London, 1999. Broad survey of the role of the sailing battle fleets in history.

Lavery, Brian. The Ship of the Line: Vol. 1, The Development of the Battlefleet, 1650–1850; Vol. 2, Design, Construction and Fittings. London, 1983–1984. British battleship development in its technological, administrative and political framework with a list of British ships-ofthe-line.

Lyon, David. The Sailing Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy: Built, Purchased and Captured, 1688–1860. London, 1993. A detailed and intensively researched work of reference.

Modelski, George, and William R. Thompson. Seapower in Global Politics, 1494–1993. Seattle, 1988. A quantitative approach to long-term trends and fluctuations of political power.

Phillips, Carla Rahn. Six Galleons for the King of Spain: Imperial Defense in the Early Seventeenth Century. Baltimore, 1986. Spanish warship technology and naval administration in the seventeenth century and its institutional framework.

Symcox, Geoffrey. The Crisis of French Sea Power, 1688–1697: From the Guerre d'Escadre to the Guerre de Course. The Hague, 1974. The critical phase in European naval history when France lost the initiative to the maritime powers.

Teitler, Gerke. The Genesis of the Modern Professional Officer Corps. Translated by Mrs. C. N. Ter Heide-Lopy. Beverly Hills, Calif., 1977. The development of sea officer corps in the largest navies.

—JAN GLETE

For other uses, see Navy (disambiguation).

"Naval" redirects here. For other uses, see Naval (disambiguation).

"Naval force" redirects here. For the military unit, see task force.

A rare occurrence of a 5-country multinational fleet, during Operation Enduring Freedom in the Oman Sea. In four descending columns, from left to right: ITS Maestrale (F 570), De Grasse (D 612); USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), Charles De Gaulle (R 91), Surcouf (F 711); USS Port Royal (CG-73), HMS Ocean (L 12), USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67), HNLMS Van Amstel (F 831); and ITS Luigi Durand de la Penne (D 560).

A navy is the branch of a nation's military forces principally designated for naval warfare and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includes anything conducted by surface ships, amphibious ships, submarines, and seaborne aviation, as well as ancillary support, communications, training, and other fields; recent developments have included space related operations. The strategic offensive role of a navy is projection of force into areas beyond a country's shores (for example, to protect sea-lanes, ferry troops, or attack other navies, ports, or shore installations). The strategic defensive purpose of a navy is to frustrate seaborne projection-of-force by enemies. The strategic task of the navy also may incorporate nuclear deterrence by use of nuclear missiles.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 3 Operations 4 Traditions 5 Naval organization 5.1 Ships 5.2 Boats 5.3 Units 5.4 Ranks 6 Marine troops 7 Additional reading 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

Etymology

A Royal Thai Navy (RTN) Sikorsky S-76B helicopter, during CARAT Exercise 2001.

"Navy" came from ancient India's Indus Valley Civilization word 'Nav" which means boat through Old French from Latin navigium = "fleet of ships" from navis = "ship" and agere = "to drive" (as in driving a herd of animals) or "to get something done".

"Naval" came from Latin navalis = "pertaining to ship" (which it means in the biological name Teredo navalis), but due to resemblance became changed to "pertaining to navy".

History

Main article: Naval warfare

HMS Victory, the oldest warship still in commission in the world.

The British Royal Navy Grand Fleet of World War I.

Naval warfare developed when humans first fought from water-borne vessels. Prior to the introduction of the cannon and ships with sufficient capacity to carry the large guns, navy warfare primarily involved ramming and boarding actions. In the time of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, naval warfare centered on long, narrow vessels powered by banks of oarsmen (such as triremes and quinqueremes) designed to ram and sink enemy vessels or come alongside the enemy vessel so its occupants could be attacked hand-to-hand. Naval warfare continued in this vein through the Middle Ages until cannon became commonplace and capable of being reloaded quickly enough to be reused in the same battle. The Chola Dynasty of medieval India was known as a one of the greatest naval powers of its time in the Indian Ocean. In ancient China, large naval battles were known since the Qin Dynasty (also see Battle of Red Cliffs, 208), employing the war junk during the Han Dynasty. However, China's first official standing navy was not established until the Southern Song Dynasty in the 12th century, a time when gunpowder was a revolutionary new application to warfare.

The mass and deck space required to carry a large number of cannon made oar-based propulsion impossible and ships came to rely primarily on sails. Warships were designed to carry increasing numbers of cannon and naval tactics evolved to bring a ship's firepower to bear in a broadside, with ships-of-the-line arranged in a line of battle.

The development of large capacity, sail-powered ships carrying cannon led to a rapid expansion of European navies, especially the Spanish and Portuguese navies which dominated in the 16th and early 17th centuries, and ultimately helped propel the age of exploration and colonialism.The repulsion of the Spanish Armada (1588) by the English fleet revolutionized naval warfare by the success of a guns-only strategy and caused a major overhaul of the Spanish Navy, partly along English lines, which resulted in even greater dominance by the Spanish. From the beginning of the 17th century the Dutch cannibalized the Portuguese Empire in the East and, with the immense wealth gained, challenged Spanish hegemony at sea. From the 1620s, Dutch raiders seriously troubled Spanish shipping and, after a number of battles which went both ways, the Dutch Navy finally broke the long dominance of the Spanish Navy in the Battle of the Downs (1639).

England emerged as a major naval power in the mid-17th century in the first Anglo-Dutch war with a technical victory but successive decisive Dutch victories in the second and third Anglo-Dutch Wars confirmed the Dutch mastery of the seas during the Dutch Golden Age, financed by the expansion of the Dutch Empire. The French Navy won some important victories near the end of the 17th century but a focus upon land forces led to the French Navy's relative neglect, which allowed the Royal Navy to emerge with an ever-growing advantage in size and quality, especially in tactics and experience, from 1695. Throughout the 18th century the Royal Navy gradually gained ascendancy over the French Navy, with victories in the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714), inconclusive battles in the War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748), victories in the Seven Years' War (1754-1763), a partial reversal during the American War of Independence (1775-1783), and consolidation into uncontested supremacy during the 19th century from the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. These conflicts saw the development and refinement of tactics which came to be called the line of battle.

U.S. Navy supercarrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68)

The next stage in the evolution of naval warfare was the introduction of metal plating along the hull sides. The increased mass required steam-powered engines, resulting in an arms race between armor and weapon thickness and firepower. The first armored vessels, the French FS Gloire and British HMS Warrior, made wooden vessels obsolete. Another significant improvement came with the invention of the rotating turrets, which allowed the guns to be aimed independently of ship movement. The battle between the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor during the American Civil War (1861-1865) is often cited as the beginning of this age of maritime conflict. A further step change in naval firepower occurred when the United Kingdom launched HMS Dreadnought (1906), but naval tactics still emphasized the line of battle.

The first practical military submarines were developed in the late 19th century and by the end of World War I had proven to be a powerful arm of naval warfare. During World War II, the German Navy's submarine fleet of U-boats almost starved the United Kingdom into submission and inflicted tremendous losses on U.S. coastal shipping. The German battleship Tirpitz, a sister ship of the Bismarck, was almost put out of action by miniature submarines known as X-Craft. The X-Craft severely damaged her and kept her in port for some months.

A major paradigm shift in naval warfare occurred with the introduction of the aircraft carrier. First at Taranto in 1940 and then at Pearl Harbor in 1941, the carrier demonstrated its ability to strike decisively at enemy ships out of sight and range of surface vessels. The Battle of Leyte Gulf (1944) was arguably the largest naval battle in history; it was also the last battle in which battleships played a significant role. By the end of World War II, the carrier had become the dominant force of naval warfare.

World War II also saw the United States become by far the largest Naval power in the world, with over 70% of the world's total numbers and total tonnage of naval vessels of 1,000 tons or greater.^[1] Throughout the rest of the 20th century, the United States Navy would maintain a tonnage greater than that of the next 17 largest navies combined.^[2]

Operations

F/A-18 Super Hornets of the US Navy.

HMS Invincible sails towards the Falkland Islands during the Falklands War. The Falklands War was the largest naval conflict since World War II.

Historically a national navy operates from one or more bases that are maintained by the country or an ally. The base is a port that is specialized in naval operations, and often includes housing for off-shore crew, an arsenal depot for munitions, docks for the vessels, and various repair facilities. During times of war temporary bases may be constructed in closer proximity to strategic locations, as it is advantageous in terms of patrols and station-keeping. Nations with historically strong naval forces have found it advantageous to obtain basing rights in areas of strategic interest.

Navy ships can operate independently or with a group, which may be a small squadron of comparable ships, or a larger naval fleet of various specialized ships. The commander of a fleet travels in the flag ship, which is usually the most powerful vessel in the group. Prior to the invention of radio, commands from the flag ship were communicated by means of flags. At night signal lamps could be used for a similar purpose. Later these were replaced by the radio transmitter, or the flashing light when radio silence was needed.

A "blue water navy" is designed to operate far from the coastal waters of its home nation. These are ships capable of maintaining station for long periods of time in deep ocean, and will have a long logistical tail for their support. Many are also nuclear powered to save having to refuel. By contrast a "brown water navy" operates in the coastal periphery and along inland waterways, where larger ocean-going naval vessels can not readily enter. Regional powers may maintain a "green water navy" as a means of localized force projection. Blue water fleets may require specialized vessels, such as mine sweepers, when operating in the littoral regions along the coast.

Traditions

Ship bell of ORP Iskra II - Polish Navy school tall ship

A basic tradition is that all ships commissioned in a navy are referred to as ships rather than vessels, with the exception of submarines, which are known as boats. The prefix on a ship's name indicates that it is a commissioned ship. For example, USS is an acronym which expands to United States Ship; in the Royal Navy, HMS expands to Her Majesty's Ship (or when a King reigns, His Majesty's Ship), and so forth.

An important tradition on board British naval vessels (and later those of the U.S. and other nations) has been the ship's bell. This was historically used to mark the passage of time on board a vessel, including the duration of four-hour watches. They were also employed as warning devices in heavy fog, and for alarms and ceremonies. The bell was originally kept polished first by the ship's cook, then later by a person belonging to that division of the ship's personnel.

Another important tradition is that of Piping someone aboard the ship. This was originally used to give orders on warships when shouted orders could not have been heard. The piping was done by the ship's boatswain and therefore the instrument is known as the boatswain's Pipe. The two tones it gives and the number of blasts given off, signify the order given. It is also used in a ceremonial way, i.e., to "pipe" someone aboard the ship — usually captains, including the ship's captain, and more senior officers.

In the United States, in a tradition that dates back to the Revolutionary War, the First Navy Jack is a flag that has the words, "Don't Tread on Me" on the flag.

By English tradition, ships have been referred to as a "she". However, it was long considered bad luck to permit women to sail on board naval vessels. To do so would invite a terrible storm that would wreck the ship. The only women that were welcomed on board were figureheads mounted on the prow of the ship. In spite of these views, some women did serve on board naval vessels, usually as wives of crewmembers.

Even today, despite their acceptance in many areas of naval service, women are still not permitted to serve on board U.S. submarines. The major reasons cited by the U.S. Navy are the extended duty tours and close conditions which afford almost no privacy.^[3] The United Kingdom's Royal Navy has similar restrictions. Australia, Canada, Norway, and Spain have opened submarine service to women sailors, however.^[4]

By ancient tradition, corpses on board naval vessels were buried at sea. In the past this involved sewing the body up in a shroud that had a weight at one end, often a cannonball. (During the age of sail, the final stitch was placed through the nose of the victim, just to make sure they were really dead.) The body was then placed on a pivoting table attached to the outer hull, and shrouded by a national ensign. After a solemn ceremony, the board was tilted and the body dropped into the deep. Later ceremonies employed the casket or crematory urn.

The custom of firing cannon salutes originated in the British Royal Navy. When a cannon is fired, it partially disarms the ship, so firing a cannon for no combat reason showed respect and trust. The British, as the dominant naval power, compelled the ships of weaker nations to make the first salute. As the tradition evolved, the number of cannon fired became an indication of the rank of the official being saluted.

Naval organization

Ships

Ships of the multinational fleet Combined Task Force-150

HMCS Vancouver and USS John C Stennis

HMS Vanguard of the Royal Navy Vanguard class ballistic missile submarines.

Historically, navy ships were primarily intended for warfare. They were designed to withstand damage and to inflict the same, but only carried munitions and supplies for the voyage (rather than merchant cargo). Often, other ships which were not built specifically for warfare, such as the galleon or the armed merchant ships in World War II, did carry armaments. In more recent times, navy ships have become more specialized and have included supply ships, troop transports, repair ships, oil tankers and other logistics support ships as well as combat ships. So long as they are commissioned, however, they are all "ships"...

Modern navy combat ships are generally divided into seven main categories: aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, corvettes, submarines, and amphibious assault ships. There are also support and auxiliary ships, including the oiler, minesweeper, patrol boat, hydrographic and oceanographic survey ship and tender. During the age of sail, the ship categories were divided into the ship of the line, frigate, and sloop-of-war.

Naval ship names are typically prefixed by an abbreviation indicating the national navy in which they serve. For a list of the prefixes used with ship names (HMS, USS, etc.) see ship prefix.

Today ships are significantly faster than in former times, thanks to much improved propulsion systems. Also, the efficiency of the engines has improved a lot, in terms of fuel, and of how many sailors it takes to operate them. In World War II, ships needed to refuel very often. However, today ships can go on very long journeys without refueling. Also, in World War II, the engine room needed about a dozen sailors to work the many engines, however, today, only about 4–5 are needed (depending on the class of the ship). Today, naval strike groups on longer missions are always followed by a range of support and replenishment ships supplying them with anything from fuel and munitions, to medical treatment and postal services. This allows strike groups and combat ships to remain at sea for several months at a time.

Boats

Many people make the mistake of calling a ship a "boat". The term "boat" refers to small craft limited in their use by size and usually not capable of making independent voyages of any length on the high seas. The old navy adage to differentiate between ships and boats is that boats are capable of being carried by ships. (Submarines by this rule are ships rather than boats, but are customarily referred to as boats reflecting their previous smaller size.) Navies use many types of boat, ranging from 9-foot (2.7 m) dinghies to 135-foot (41 m) landing craft. They are powered by either diesels, out-board gasoline motors, or waterjets. Most boats are built of aluminum, fiberglass, or steel.

Standard Boats A standard boat is a small craft carried aboard a ship to perform various tasks and evolutions.

Landing Craft These boats, carried by various amphibious ships, are designed to carry troops, vehicles, or cargo from ship to shore under combat conditions, to unload, to retract from beach, and to return to the ship. They are especially rugged, with powerful engines, and they are armed. They are usually referred to by their designations such as LCPL (landing craft, personnel) LCM (landing craft mechanized) or LCU (landing craft, utility) rather than by full name. The most common in today's Navy are the LCMs. there are two types of LCMs. Both types have a power operated bow ramp, a cargo well, twin engines, and after structures that house enginerooms, pilot houses, and stowage compartments. The larger version, designated LCM-8 and often called "mike 8", is 74 feet (23 m) long, has a 21-foot (6.4 m) beam, and is capable of carrying a heavy tank or 60 tons of cargo. The LCM-6 ("mike 6") is 56 feet (17 m) long, has a 14-foot (4.3 m) beam and a cargo capacity of 34 tons.

Landing Craft, Air Cushioned Known as LCAC also most commonly called a hover craft. Floats on a cushion of air that allows travel over water and land. It can deliver troops, equipment, and supplies. They are 81 feet (25 m) long and carry a load more than 70 tons. Powered by four gas turbine engines, they are capable of speeds as high as 50 knots (93 km/h).

Work Boats (WB) There are two types of WBs, the 35-foot (11 m) and the 15 meter (or 50-foot). The 35-foot (11 m) WB is a twin screw craft with a forward cargo well and a bow ramp. The 35-foot (11 m) WB is normally carried on board salvage ships and is used to assist ships in salvage operations, underwater exploration,coastal survey, repair of other craft, and cargo transport between ship to shore. A portable "A frame" is used to assist with cargo handling. The 15-meter (50 ft) WB is a twin screw craft with steel hull construction and is a shallow draft craft cargo carrier. The 15-meter (50 ft) WB is intended for general purpose missions and transportation of cargo. the craft has a pilot house aft and forward cargo well deck.

Rigid hull Inflatable Boats Known as the RHIB they are versatile boats designed for service as a standard ship's boat. The seven meter (24 ft) RHIB is a turbocharged, diesel powered craft with a glass reinforced plastic (GRP) hull. The hull form is a combination of a rigid planing hull with an inflatable tube. The craft are manned by three man crew and are provided with a canvas canopy forward.

Personnel Boats (PE) These are fast, V bottomed, diesel powered boats with enclosed spaces specifically designed to transport officers, although smaller types are used for shore party boats, lifeboats, and mail boats. They come in 8,10, and 12 meter (26,33, and 40-foot) lengths. The 8 meter (26 ft) boats have one enclosed cabin. The 10 and 12 meter (33 and 40-foot) boats have enclosed cabins forward and aft, and open cockpits amidships where coxswains steer by wheel. Those designed for officers are painted haze gray with white cabins.

Those used by the commanding officers of major warships, chiefs of staff (to admirals), and squadron, patrol, group, wing or division commanders (also known as commodores) are called gigs and have a red stripe added just above the waterline. Personnel boats assigned to flag officers (admirals) are called barges. They have black hulls and a white stripes just above the waterline.

Utility Boats These boats, varying in length from 18 feet (5.5 m) to 15 meters (50 ft) are mainly cargo and personnel carrier or heavy duty work boats. Many have been modified for survey work, tending divers, and minesweeping operations. In ideal weather, a 15-meter (50 ft) UB will carry 146 people, plus crew. Utility boats are open boats, though many of the larger ones are provided with canvas canopies. The smaller utility boats are powered by outboard engines. The larger boats have diesel engines.

Punts These are open square enders, 14 feet (4.3 m) long. They are either rowed or sculled, and are generally used in port by side cleaners.

Special Boats These boats, used by shore stations and for special missions, are not normally carried aboard ships as are the standard boats discussed above. They include line handling boats, buoy boats, aircraft rescue boats, torpedo retrievers, explosive ordnance disposal craft, utility boats, dive boats, targets, and various patrol boats. Many standard boats have been modified for special service.

Mark V Special operations craft (SOC) This craft is also used for insertion and extraction of special warfare personnel. The craft is 82 feet (25 m) long, and has twain diesel engines driving waterjets. The craft is capable of speeds in excess of 50 knots (93 km/h) and is air deployable.

Patrol Boats, River (PBR) This is a 31-foot (9.4 m), 25 knots (46 km/h), twin diesel boats with a fiberglass hull and waterjet pump propulsion that permits it to operate in 15 inches (380 mm) of water. The PBR is highly maneuverable and can reverse course in its own length. It carries radar, communications equipment, and machine guns

Units

Naval forces are typically arranged into units based on the number of ships included, a single ship being the smallest operational unit. Ships may be combined into squadrons or flotillas, which may be formed into fleets. The largest unit size may be the whole Navy or Admiralty.

Ranks

Main article: Naval officer ranks

A navy will typically have two sets of ranks, one for enlisted personnel and one for officers.

Typical ranks for commissioned officers include the following, in ascending order (Commonwealth ranks are listed first on each line; USA ranks are listed second in those instances where they differ from Commonwealth ranks):

• Acting Sub-Lieutenant / Ensign / Corvette Lieutenant
• Sub Lieutenant / Lieutenant Junior Grade / Frigate Lieutenant
• Lieutenant (Commonwealth & USA)/ Ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant / Captain Lieutenant
• Lieutenant Commander (Commonwealth & USA)/ Corvette Captain
• Commander (Commonwealth & USA)/ Frigate Captain
• Captain (Commonwealth & USA)/ Ship-of-the-Line Captain
• Commodore / Flotilla Admiral (in USA only: Rear Admiral (lower half))
• Rear Admiral (in USA only: Rear Admiral (upper half))
• Vice Admiral (Commonwealth & USA)
• Admiral (Commonwealth & USA)
• Fleet Admiral (Commonwealth & USA) or Admiral of the Fleet or Grand Admiral

"Flag officers" include any rank that includes the word "admiral" (or commodore in services other than the US Navy), and are generally in command of a battle group, strike group or similar flotilla of ships, rather than a single ship or aspect of a ship. However, commodores can also be temporary or honrary positions. For example, during World War II, a Navy captain was assigned duty as a convoy commodore, which meant that he was still a captain, but in charge of all the merchant vessels in the convoy. Today, the U.S. Navy uses the term "commodore" for captains in command of multiple vessels (destroyer squadrons, submarine squadrons, riverine squadron), multiple aviation squadrons (air wing or air group) or other units (i.e., special warfare group, etc.). The exception to this rule is carrier air wing commanders who are known as "CAG" from their former title as Commander, Carrier Air Group.

The most senior rank employed by a navy will tend to vary depending on the size of the navy and whether it is wartime or peacetime, for example, few people have ever held the rank of Fleet Admiral in the U.S. Navy, the chief of the Royal Australian Navy holds the rank of Vice Admiral, and the chief of the Irish Naval Service holds the rank of Commodore.

Coast Guards will typicall employ naval ranks. For example, the U.S. Coast Guard uses the same officer rank titles as the U.S. Navy with the exception of Fleet Admiral.

Marine troops

Main article: Marine (military)

British Royal Marines on exercise.

During the era of the Roman empire, the naval forces included legionaries for boarding actions. These were troops primarily trained in land warfare, and did not need to be skilled at handling a ship. Much later during the age of sail, a component of marines served a similar role, being ship-borne soldiers who were used either during boarding actions, as sharp-shooters, or in raids along the shore.

The Spanish Infantería de Marina was formed in 1537, making it the oldest current marine corps in the world. The British Royal Marines combine both being a ship-based force and also being specially-trained in commando-style operations and tactics, operating in some cases completely separate from the rest of the Royal Navy. The Royal Marines also have their own special forces, the SBS (Special Boat Service); similar to the US Navy SEALs and the Boat Troops of the SAS. The United States Marine Corps has taken this concept of independence further and the USMC has become a separate arm in the United States military, with their own equipment.

Additional reading

• Non-fiction:
  • Combat Fleets of the World: Their Ships, Aircraft and Systems - Naval Institute Press. Published annually. Comprehensive.
  • Braudel, Fernand, The Mediterranean in the Ancient World
  • Corbett, Sir Julian, Some Principles of Maritime Strategy, 1911.
  • Hughes, Jr., Wayne P., Fleet Tactics and Coastal Combat, 1999, Naval Institute Press, ISBN 1-55750-392-3
  • Mahan, Alfred Thayer, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783, 1918, Little Brown, Boston.
  • Starr, Chester G., The Influence of Sea Power on Ancient History, 1989, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-505666-3 .
  • Tangredi, Sam, "Globalization and Maritime Power", 2002 - National Defense University, ISBN 1-57906-060-9
  • Trafalgar 200 Through the Lens, ISBN 0-9553004-0-1

• Fiction:
  • Alan Lewrie series by Dewey Lambdin
  • Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian
  • Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester
  • Richard Bolitho series by Alexander Kent (Pseudonym of Douglas Reeman)
  • Tom Clancy, The Hunt for Red October, Red Storm Rising

See also

• Blue-water navy
• List of naval battles
• List of navies
• Modern naval tactics
• Naval fleet
• Naval history
• Naval warfare
• Navies of landlocked countries

References

1. ^ Weighing the US Navy Defense & Security Analysis, Volume 17, Issue December 3, 2001 , pages 259 - 265
2. ^ Work, Robert O. "Winning the Race:A Naval Fleet Platform Architecture for Enduring Maritime Supremacy". Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments Online. Accessed April 8, 2006.
3. ^ http://www.csmonitor.com/atcsmonitor/specials/women/work/work012800.html
4. ^ http://www.nato.int/docu/review/2001/0102-09.htm

External links

• Naval Technology - News, projects, images and white papers on the naval industry
• Israeli Navy Special Forces Units at isayeret.com
• NOSI (Naval Open Source Intelligence) - a library of world naval operational news
• US Navy online
• Royal Navy

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - flåde, marine, marineblåt

idioms:

• navy bean    hvid bønne
• navy blue    marineblå
• navy yard    orlogsværft

Nederlands (Dutch)
marine, zeemacht, (oorlogs)vloot, marineblauw, zeevaart-

Français (French)
n. - flotte, marine

idioms:

• navy bean    (US) haricot blanc
• navy blue    bleu marine
• navy yard    (US) arsenal de la marine

Deutsch (German)
n. - Marine, Flotte

idioms:

• navy bean    (bot.) Weiße Bohne
• navy blue    Marineblau
• navy yard    Marinewerft

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (πολεμικό) ναυτικό

idioms:

• navy bean    φρέσκο φασόλι
• navy blue    βαθυκύανος, βαθυγάλαζος (κν. μπλε μαρέν)
• navy yard    ναύσταθμος

Italiano (Italian)
marina, blu marino

idioms:

• navy bean    fagiolo
• navy blue    blu marino
• navy yard    arsenale

Português (Portuguese)
n. - marinha (f) de guerra, conjunto (m) de forças navais

idioms:

• navy bean    espécie de feijão branco
• navy blue    azul marinho
• navy yard    arsenal de marinha

Русский (Russian)
военно-морской флот

idioms:

• navy bean    сушеная фасоль
• navy blue    темно-синий
• navy yard    военная верфь

Español (Spanish)
n. - marina, flota, armada, de marina

idioms:

• navy bean    frijol blanco
• navy blue    azul marino
• navy yard    astillero, arsenal naval

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - örlogs/handelsflotta, marin

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
海军, 海军军力, 海军人员

idioms:

• navy bean    菜豆
• navy blue    深蓝色, 藏青色
• navy yard    海军造船厂

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 海軍, 海軍軍力, 海軍人員

idioms:

• navy bean    菜豆
• navy blue    深藍色, 藏青色
• navy yard    海軍造船廠

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 해군의, 짙은 남색, 해군성

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 海軍, 海軍艦隊, 海軍軍人

idioms:

• navy bean    白いインゲンマメ
• navy blue    濃紺
• navy yard    海軍造船所

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) اسطول, سلاح البحريه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮צי, צי-מלחמה, חיל-הים, ימייה, כחול כהה‬

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