1588 During the reign of Elizabeth I, Spain sent the world's most powerful "Armada" to crusade against Britain because it could not bear the pirate attack and plunder by the British navy. Under the leadership of Drake, the British navy gave full play to the advantages of long artillery range and flexible ships, and won an all-round victory. The British navy has since become a world-class maritime combat force.
But equally powerful are the Netherlands and France. /kloc-in the 0 th and 7 th centuries, the relationship between Britain and the Netherlands became tense. In the past century, the Netherlands fought three wars with Britain. In the end, Britain won hard, hollowing out the pockets of the "sea coachman" 1660, and the restored King charles ii II of England awarded the title of "Royal Navy", which won the hearts of the people. Since then, every warship of the British navy has a meaning of calling HMS-his or her Majesty's ship-your Majesty's warship. After the Glorious Revolution (1688), the relationship between Britain and the Netherlands improved due to the royal marriage between the two countries and the arrival of the Dutch ruling party William III. At present, only France can compete with Britain on the European continent. Britain and France are one of the most famous enemies in human history. The friction between the two sides continued, and finally the famous seven-year war broke out in the18th century. All major European countries participated in this tragic war, but the real beneficiary was Britain. Britain captured a large number of French colonies in America and Asia and began to become a world empire. Of course, the Royal Navy played an important role. /kloc-the naval battle in the 0/8th century gave birth to a new kind of ship, which determined the maritime combat mode at that time and for the next 200 years. This is a warship that has dominated the ocean for hundreds of years and has become a symbol of naval power of various countries and even a diplomatic chip of big countries. At that time, the most typical combat mode was that the warships of both sides lined up in a single column and attacked each other with one side of the naval gun. The combat effect of this method is mediocre, and some innovative naval soldiers began to make bold breakthroughs, and put forward a mixed method of column and interpenetration, which can not only give play to the characteristics of high fire density of traditional methods, but also give full play to the power of all artillery on both sides of warships. The master of this method of warfare is Lord Narr, commander of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet.
During the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, he was one of the main commanders of the British Royal Navy. 1799, after the French navy escorted Napoleon's expeditionary force to Egypt, an impenetrable iron drum array was formed in Abu Ghraib Bay to defend against Nelson's attack. According to conventional tactics, the French fleet is impeccable and airtight. However, Nelson used a very novel method of fighting-he ordered some warships to insert directly into the other side of the French naval front, and then attacked both sides at the same time. As a result, the French navy was almost wiped out, and Nelson himself was seriously injured in the head-he had to charge in every battle and was often injured, and he had lost an eye and an arm. 1805 10, Nelson stopped Napoleon's French-Spanish joint fleet in Trafalgar. He ordered the British fleet to be divided into two parts, which were inserted into the traditional French fleet in turn in a long string, and almost all of them were eliminated after being divided into three parts. Napoleon's dream of conquering England will never come true, but Nelson himself was unfortunately shot and killed. After this campaign, the British navy has never met or had a decent opponent in 100 years. /kloc-In the middle of the 0/9th century, Britain has become an "empire that never sets", and the naval construction adheres to the "double strength standard", that is, the naval power is equivalent to the sum of the second and third strongest naval forces in the world. The world's oceans are full of royal navy warships with black smoke and white flags, defending Britain's overseas interests and the safety of ocean transportation anytime and anywhere. /kloc-In the late 9th century, Germany ended the division of 1000 years and became a world power. As the world has been basically divided up, Germany is in urgent need of a large number of colonies, and the contradiction with other powers is prominent. Britain has always pursued the "mainland balance of power policy", so it tried its best to suppress Germany. Germany vigorously develops its navy and challenges British maritime hegemony. Britain is strong, and the naval power has always been far stronger than Germany. 19 14 World War I broke out and the two countries inevitably met. The Royal Navy took advantage of its scale and firmly blocked the main force of the German navy in the harbor. As a result, only a few large and medium-sized ships of the German Navy engaged in guerrilla warfare and harassed British maritime transport lines, all of which were wiped out by the Royal Navy. 19 16, the main force of the german navy broke through the blockade actively and seized the sea control right. When the two sides met in jutland, the Royal Navy suffered more losses than the German Navy, but the German Navy was defeated and fled, and never dared to go to sea again. Britain still firmly holds the right to control the sea. After World War I, the British Empire was severely weakened. As soon as the Washington Treaty was signed, the British navy was overtaken by the American navy and could only be tied with it as the first maritime force.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the British Navy also invented a new type of ship-aircraft carrier. When the aircraft carrier first came out, it was unremarkable. Few people expected that it would become omnipotent in just a few decades. 1939 World War II broke out,
The Royal Navy embarked on a new journey. The main rivals are Germany, Italy and Japan. The overall strength of the German surface fleet is weak, and only a few large warships are either sunk by the Royal Navy, which is absolutely dominant at sea, or trapped in the harbor. Therefore, the German navy regarded submarines as trump cards and organized "wolf pack" tactics, with an amazing record. The Royal Navy and its allies carried out joint anti-submarine warfare between sea and air, chasing the "wolves" to nowhere to hide and becoming an anti-submarine force with very rich experience. The Italian navy ranks fifth in the world, far stronger than the German navy, but it has poor command ability, poor training and low morale. Easily defeated by the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. When Britain attacked the Italian navy, it also created a new method to attack the targets in the harbor with aircraft carriers, which hit many capital ships of the Italian navy overnight without paying too much, and also provided an example for Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese navy's eastern front, to attack Pearl Harbor in the United States. The Japanese navy mainly fought against the United States, and there were not many battles with the Royal Navy, but the army swept through Southeast Asia and occupied a large number of British colonies. After the war, the Royal British Navy returned to the Far East, but by this time, the Japanese joint fleet had existed in name only and was vulnerable.
After World War II, the Royal British Navy has been completely surpassed by the US Navy, ranking second in the world. The trauma of the war has made Britain unable to maintain such a huge fleet. The wave of British colonial independence is surging, and Britain is no longer an "empire." The Royal Navy has shrunk from a global navy to a regional navy, which can only serve as a foil for the US Navy in NATO. Despite this, it is still a western maritime power second only to the United States, and its strength cannot be underestimated. It participated in the Korean War, the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, the War on Terrorism and the Iraq War with the United States, the Suez Canal War with its ally France, and the Falklands War independently. Among them, the Falklands War of 1982 is the most famous. The Royal Navy traveled halfway around the world to the Falkland Islands near the South Pole and defeated the Argentine army. Although the Royal Navy has won, the cost is high, which makes the British government aware of the necessity of continuing to maintain a strong maritime power. In the 1990s, the British government allocated huge sums of money to rebuild the Royal Navy, so that it will regain its glory around 2035 and become a global maritime power. The eternal Royal Navy is now full of new hope.
The history of the rise and fall of the British Empire is actually the history of the rise and fall of the British Navy. The reason why Britain has become an "empire" is that it has a colony with an area equal to 0/40 times that of the mainland/KLOC, so it has the widest raw material producing area and commodity sales market, and its trade volume is unparalleled, and its national strength is naturally strong. The British navy undoubtedly played the most important role in the process of opening up colonies and defending ocean routes. In order to continue to play this role, Britain naturally needs to maintain a maritime force commensurate with its scale, and this maritime force must be the most powerful in the world! Britain declined after World War II. The colonies became independent one after another, and Britain was unable and unnecessary to maintain a huge navy, and the British navy also declined.
Then, why did the British navy win many battles and become the overlord at sea? Until World War I, the British army was not strong. Britain's rivals France and Germany are traditional continental countries. For them, maintaining the most powerful army is the most important thing, so it is impossible to spare enough financial resources, nor is it absolutely necessary to maintain a navy as powerful as Britain. Due to the constraints of the army, their naval strength will never surpass that of Britain, and it is inevitable that they will be defeated by Britain at sea. As for the Netherlands, although it used to be the most powerful maritime country, it was helpless that its comprehensive national strength could not compete with Britain and eventually failed, and "sea coachman" has since become a historical term. When Spain conquered Britain, the warship tactics used were out of date and are still the same as those used in medieval naval battles. In a series of battles, the British navy has also formed a unique spirit: courage, initiative, fighting against the enemy, and tactical innovation ... These spirits are still firmly branded in the minds of every officer and soldier of the British navy.