Navy

• Significance of James Cook's voyages


  
  

  • Showed it was possible to stay at sea for 3 years, if cleanliness and fresh food were prevalent
  • Established British claims to land in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific
  • Proved the effectiveness of longitudinal technology
  • The admiralty established a Hydrographic Office to collate reliable charts
• Gibraltar - 1783


  
  

  • Gateway for ships to enter the Mediterranean
  • Could monitor and block France's navy and trade at port Toulon
  • 1703 - Britain capture it during the war of Spanish Succession
  • 1778 - France slips past British base and aids America
  • 1779 - Spain tries to win back the base but Britain makes it a priority, holding out till 1783
  • 1805 - resupplied Nelson's fleet before the battle of Trafalgar
• Ceylon - 1815


  
  

  • One of the only sources of cinnamon in the world
  • Excellent for rice and tea farming
  • 1794 - controlled by the Dutch, but when they were conquered by France they fled to England and were threatened into giving them all their colonies
  • Britain immediately gain £300k in goods
• Malta - 1815


  
  

  • Deep water port
  • Major naval base after Britain's shares of the Suez Canal placed it on the way to India
  • Was owned by the French but the local population rebelled and the French asked Britain for help, they surrendered the base in 1800
• Cape Town - 1815


  
  

  • Stopping point between Europe and the East Indies and could prevent enemy shipping
  • British fleet, led by Sir George Elphinstone, demanded they surrender to Britain for 'safe keeping'.
  • Occupied until the Peace of Amiens in 1802 where the Dutch took it back
  • Britain got it back permanently in 1815
  • Prevented French expansion
• Falklands - 1833


  
  

  • Great for sealing and had over 70 sealing ships
  • Protected British trade in South America
  • 1766 - Britain established a settlement there but abandoned it 10 years later due to American Civil War
  • 1828 - European trader founded sealing colony so Britain took it back in 1833
• Aden - 1839


  
  

  • Entrepot for Indian spices
  • Location prevented Russian and French expansion
  • Was a coaling station, exactly what Britain was looking for
  • 1837 - they send Haines to secure a deal, he claims a full ownership deal was agreed, this wasn't true
  • 1838 - troops were sent to support Haines to quickly capture it by force
• Cyprus - 1878


  
  

  • Geo-political use rather than profit, prevented Russian expansion
  • 1878 - Britain was leased it for £92,799 annually by Ottoman Empire during the Ottoman-Russian war in favour for support
  • Allowed Britain to protect the Suez and intervene in Egypt
• The growing role of commerce protection

  
  

  • Seaman life was tough, with poor conditions, harsh discipline and the wage in 1794 was only $14 a year. This made it hard to find recruits
  • Led to impressment - sailors would force ordinary people to join them
  • Navigation Acts reinforced this relationship between the Navy and merchants, as trade could now only be done in British ships
• Suppressing the slave trade

  
  

  • Their fleet to stop it grew to 32 warships in 1847
  • Treaties were created with foreign powers that allowed the Royal Navy to board and seize foreign slave ships
  • Between 1810-60, freed around 150,000 enslaved Africans
  • No action could be taken against slaving ships that were lingering along the coast
  • Navy could only act if there were slaves on board, led to Spanish ships throwing 150 slaves overboard
  • Freed slaves only represented about 10% of those shipped to America during this period
• Suppressing piracy - Isle de France

  
  

  • French privateers wreaked havoc on British shipping during Napoleonic Wars
  • Navy blockaded it, but this had a limiting effect due to privateer's fast ships
  • Renowned privateer Robert Surcouf captured over 40 prizes, including 16 in a single expedition
  • Privateers only eliminated when the British gathered sufficient forces to captured it in 1810
  • Renamed it Malitia and made it a naval base
• Suppressing piracy - The Red Sea

  
  

  • Arab pirates threatened shipping
  • Navy increased its operations in the region
  • Navy Surveyors charted the area between 1800 and 1809
  • Treaties signed with the Imam of Mocha and Sultan of Aden for British commerce protection in 1802
  • In 1820, Mocha was bombarded until the Imam accepted a commercial treaty
  • Berbera was blockaded from 1827 to 1832, until British were compensated for an attack on their shipping
• Suppressing piracy - The Streets of Malacca

  
  

  • Was a narrow channel linking China to India
  • Fleet of 100 pirate ships operated this area from bases in Philippines and South East Asia
  • As opium sales to China increased, securing this area became a priority for the British
  • In 1824, the company agreed with the Dutch to divide the area and introduce naval patrols
  • Helped reduce piracy levels but couldn't completely eliminate them
• 1816 attack on Algiers background

  • Pirates operated out of Algiers and other North African ports, known collectively as the Barbary States
  • They captured an estimated 1 - 1.25 million Europeans between the 16th - 19th century, they were then ransomed or enslaved
  • Rulers of the Barbary states, know as the Beys, grew rich from a 10% share
• Securing shipping in Algiers

  • Navy intimidated the Beys into leaving British shipping alone since they bombarded Tripoli in 1675 and Algiers in 1682
  • France bombarded Algiers 3 times and Tripoli once in the 1680s to also secure shipping
  • Smaller fleets were still vulnerable: America paid a $1 million ransom in 1795 and 900 Sardinians were enslaved in a single raid in 1798
• Attack of Algiers 1816

  • Navy saw a chance to supress Algiers after it no longer needed to source supplies from them during their war with France
  • Admiral Pellew led a Naval squadron and secured treaties with the Beys of Tunis, Tripoli and Algiers
  • However, before he returned to Britain, 200 captured Corsicans, Sardinians and Sicilians were massacred on the Algerian island of Bona
  • Pellew returned with a larger fleet the next year and fired 50,000 cannonballs, sinking 40 vessels
  • The Beys of Algiers surrendered the next day and repaid over £80,000 in ransom money and freed 3,000 slaves
• Consequences of the 1816 attack on Algiers

  • Not entirely effective as the Beys were heavily reliant on criminality for their wealth, so piracy continued
  • Britain bombarded Algiers again in 1820 and piracy not eliminated until France conquered Algiers in 1830
  • Showed Britain was willing to use the might of the Navy to protect foreigners under British protection
  • Navy assumed role of the world's police force in a period called Pax Britannica (British peace)
• Exploration and mapping

  • Scilly Naval disaster of 1707, when 4 warships and 1,550 men were lost due to a navigation error
  • Ships could only calculate latitude, meaning they could never determine their precise position
  • Longitude Act in 1714 offered a reward for whoever could invent a solution
  • John Harrison solved it in 1759 with a watch that could keep time at sea, was so accurate that it was only 5 seconds behind on a 81 day voyage
• Age of sail ships

  • Sail ships - long to allow for large cannon broadsides, deep hulls to cut through water and powered by huge sails
  • 1st rate ships - 3 decks, 80 - 120 cannons, Nelson's HMS Victory
  • By 1814, 80% of the Navy was 3rd rate ships - between 64 and 80 guns and 500 men
  • Ships of the line - only effective in fleet to fleet combat, had poor manoeuvrability, slow speed and couldn't more near shore
  • Small frigates - HMS Speedy destroyed 53 French ships between 1800 and 1801
  • British lost 619 frigates in 1810
• Development of steam power

  • HMS Kent - early steamship so slow, unreliable, consumed lots of coal and propulsion was based on paddle-wheels that wasn't suitable for heavy seas
  • USS Demologos - first steamship, no more than a 'floating gun battery' and never saw combat
  • HMS Nemesis - hybrid ship that had sails and paddles, used during Opium Wars to destroy Chinese Junks in shallow water
  • By 1850s France had 10 steamships and had converted 28, Uk had 18 and converted 41
• New technology

  • Paixhan Guns - easily destroyed wooden ships
  • Iron cladding - available due to advancements in metallurgy, used on La Gloire and HMS Warrior, proved useful in US Civil War
  • Sails - abandoned with HMS Devastation in 1873, which was 87 metres long and had 2 35-ton guns with a hull armour 250 - 300 mm thick
  • Coal - steamships demanded more naval bases to be acquired as coal stations
  • Led to superiority of British sailors ending in 1870s
• Desire to maintain naval supremacy

  • Two Power Standard - Navy should always be as strong as next 2 powers combined
  • Naval Defence Act 1889 - Uk committed to 10 battleships, 42 cruisers and 18 torpedo ships at a cost of £21.5 million
  • John Fisher - 1st Sea Lord in 1904 and introduced modernisation programme, which scrapped 154 older warships and led to the creation of the HMS Dreadnought