Navy

• Protection and suppression of the slave trade

  • Slaving ships provided skilled sailors for the Royal Navy who could be recruited via impressment.
  • West Africa Squadron; in 1808 just 2 ships patrolled 5000km of West-African coastline, grew to 7 ships by 1831.
  • Slave numbers actually increase after abolition of slave trade from 80K in 1800 to 135K in 1830.
  • West Africa Squadron was a dangerous posting = in 1829, 204 sailors died of disease.
  • Legal restrictions; slaving ships flew other countries flags such as the Presidente.
  • Regulo and Rapido saw slaves being thrown overboard.
• Suppressing Piracy

  • Criticism that Britain focusing on slave trade rather than piracy - in 1798, over 900 Sardinians taken as slaves by Barbary pirates.
  • Lord Exmouth signed a treaty with the Beys.
  • The Beys of Algiers massacred over 200 captured Mediterranean islanders leading to the Bombardment of Algiers.
  • Admiral Pellew bombs Algiers, obtains £80,000 in reparations and frees 3000 European slaves.
  • Piracy countered in the Red Sea and the Philippines near Singapore, alongside Dutch naval ships.
• Exploration and Mapping

  • Lack of accurate mapping techniques resulted in; loss of 4 ships in Scilly Disaster 1707; 1550 ships lost in home waters; 223 ships lost due to mapping failures between 1803-1815.
  • Cook's voyages were important as; proved that it was possible to avoid scurvy in vast amounts of men (scurvy cure found in 1794); showed that new technology such as Harrison's Watch was effective; laid claim to Australia and New Zealand.
  • In the 7 years war, 130K sailors died due to disease.
• Gibraltar

  • Important for strategic interests of Britain against France.
  • Gateway for British ships to enter the Mediterranean.
  • Blocked the French Port at Toulon, acts as an obstacle.
  • Great strategic asset for the Admiralty proven by the execution of Admiral Byng when he failed to attack the French fleet at Minorca.
  • In September 1782, Franco-Spanish forces mount attack with 5000 men and 18 ships of the line.
  • Accurate fire from the British garrison sunk 3 enemy 'floating batteries'.
  • Resupplied Nelson's fleet in 1805 before the Battle of Trafalgar.
• Ceylon

  • Commercial reasons.
  • Dutch royal family pressured to surrender colonies to Britain for 'protection', British ship HMS Suffolk and EIC troops arrive to force colony into surrender.
  • Yielded £300K of money in goods.
  • Important cinnamon trade.
  • Excellent for rice and tea farming.
• Cape Town

  • Commercial interests.
  • No economic significance, served as a stopping point for Asian shipping.
  • British fleet under Sir George Elphinstone seized the Cape Colony for 'safekeeping' during the Napoleonic Wars.
  • Britain reoccupied Cape Town in 1806, finalising a Treaty with the Dutch in 1814.
  • Main interest was to prevent French expansionism.
• Malta

  • Strategic interests and commercial later on.
  • Napoleon captured Malta from Knights Hospitaller in 1798 after they refused to resupply his armies en route to Egypt.
  • Admiral Nelson blockades and liberates Valletta, capital of Malta.
  • Britain maintains military presence from 1803.
  • Malta had useful deep-water port, and a friendly population.
  • Opening of Suez Canal in 1869 made Malta a useful way-station en route to India.
• Falkland Islands

  • Commercial interests, opening up South American trade routes.
  • Britain had over 70 sealing ships in the South Atlantic in 19th century.
  • Luis Vernet took 3 American sealing ship captains to trial in 1831 - Britain sees this as dangerous to British trading interests.
  • Single Royal Navy ship was sent to reassert British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in 1833.
  • Vernet surrenders as many of his men are British.
• Aden

  • Coal Station; steamship Hugh Lindsay stopped at Aden to resupply coal, Sir Robert Grant secures Government investment to pay 1/2 the costs of 6 yearly voyages from Bombay to the Suez isthmus by steamship via Aden.
  • Merchant ship 'Duria Dowlat' was attacked and plundered by Sultan, led Lord Auckland to encourage Haines to seize Aden
  • Haines claims Sultan is a pirate and rumours arise that the Sultan will kidnap Haines.
  • 2 Frigates and 700 EIC soldiers seize Aden.
  • Aden unsuccessful, not on trade route, Haines ran deficit of £28K.
  • Relied on the Suez Canal for relevance.
• Cyprus

  • Geopolitical interests; counter Russian expansionism.
  • Russo-Turkish War 1878 sees Russia annex Balkans and threaten British shipping in Mediterranean and Dardanelles Strait.
  • Disraeli seizes Cyprus via Cyprus Convention; leased by Ottomans to UK for £92,799 annually but this was raised by taxing locals and the money was sent back to London to repay debts that the Ottomans had defaulted on from the Crimean War 25 years prior.
  • Cyprus increases British public's patriotism, leads Disraeli to annex Transvaal and Zululand.
  • Cyprus allowed Britain to protect Suez and intervene in Egypt.
• Age of Sail Ships

  • Sail Ships were built to be long to allow large cannon broadsides, also had deep hulls to cut through the water, powered by huge sails.
  • 1st Rate ships had 3 decks and 80-120 cannons, eg Nelson's flagship HMS Victory.
  • By 1814, 80% of the Royal Navy was 3rd Rate ships - these had between 64 and 80 guns and a crew of 500 men.
  • Ships-of-the-line were less effective outside of fleet-to-fleet combat, poor manoeuvrability, slow speed, could not sail near shore.
  • Small frigates such as HMS Speedy destroyed 53 French ships from 1800 to 1801.
  • British lost 619 frigates in 1810.
• Development of Steam Power

  • Early steamships were unreliable, slow, consumed lots of coal eg HMS Kent. Propulsion based on paddle-wheels which were not suitable for heavy seas and could be damaged by cannon fire.
  • USS Demologos became first steamship but was little more than a floating gun battery and never saw combat.
  • Hybrid Ships had sails for sea travel and paddles for river navigation, HMS Nemesis used during Opium War to destroy Chinese junks in shallow water or tug British warships inland.
  • By 1850s; France built 10 steamships and converted 28, UK built 18 steamships and converted 41.
• New Technology

  • 1820s-40s saw Paixhan Guns fitted to easily destroy wooden ships, caused concern among naval strategists over damage that could occur in a major battle.
  • Metallurgy advancements saw ironcladding introduced, eg La Gloire in 1859 and HMS Warrior in 1861. Proved superior during US Civil War.
  • Sails abandoned with the launch of HMS Devastation in 1873, it was 87 metres long and had two 35-ton guns with hull armour 250-300mm thick.
  • Coal steamships demanded more naval bases to be acquired as coal stations.
  • Superior seamanship of British sailors ended in the 1870s.
• Desire to maintain naval supremacy

  • Two Power Standard = Royal Navy should be as strong as next two powers combined.
  • Naval Defence Act 1889; UK committed to 10 battleships, 42 cruisers and 18 torpedo ships at a cost of £21.5 million.
  • Role of John Fisher; became 1st Sea Lord in 1904, introduced modernisation programme, scrapped 154 older warships, ideas culminated in HMS Dreadnought.
  • HMS Dreadnought; 160 metres long, top speed of 21 knots, could fire 385kg shells over 22km - rendered all enemy ships obsolete.