An Encyclopedia of Naval History

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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, which made for some ease of movement between decks and allowed for recoil. Early sailing, gun-armed navies were developed primarily by states without strong mercantile marines: Portugal, France (Brittany), England, Denmark, and Sweden. Edward III's victory over the French at Sluys in 1340 must have featured such ships; and before the 14th cent.

Up to about 1500 the Ottoman and Venetian navies increased in size during the struggle for control of Greece. com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA).In the meantime, General George Washington (1732–1799) announced he had taken command of three armed schooners under Continental authority and planned to intercept any British supply ships near Massachusetts . Both were primarily interested in defense of their worldwide empires of trade and colonies, but not in expansion. The oar-propelled galleys of the Mediterranean navies made their last great appearance in history at the Battle of Lepanto (1571).

The development of nuclear-powered submarines that could launch intermediate-range ballistic missiles armed with thermonuclear warheads, however, created an entirely new role for sea power, that of nuclear deterrence. Such were the ships that won the great English victory in 1588 over the Spanish Armada, which contained large, slow ships with relatively few easily reloadable guns.A potential aggressor would be deterred from launching a full-scale initial attack against a nation’s more vulnerable land- and air-based nuclear forces by the prospect of facing a retaliatory strike by a fleet of nuclear-armed submarines. The Naval Warrant Officer's Journal suggested that the book be on every ship, and in 1902 said that it should be available to every naval officer. This widely inclusive work should prove invaluable for a wide audience ranging from advanced scholars to Civil War buffs requiring a quick reference. 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. The system of efficient sailing vessels fighting by means of broadside exchanges of their guns prevailed almost unchanged until the second half of the 19th century.

Yet few aspects of the crown's prerogative power were more strenuously questioned through the 17th, 18th, and 19th cents. At this time the harnessing of steam propulsion and the use of screw propellers rendered sails obsolete, iron (and later steel) plating replaced timbers in the hulls and protective sheathing of ships, and rifle-barreled, breech-loading guns firing high-explosive shells greatly increased the range and destructive power of warship batteries.Although their specialty is underwater operations, they are expected to be ready to serve in the desert, the jungle, and the arctic as well. The navy finally became ‘royal’ in name under Charles II, and it was of incalculable importance for its future self-identity that there was, deliberately, no discrimination against that religious dissent among seamen which had afforded the Cromwellian navy its special pugnacity. Naval encyclopedia also goes through some civilian aspects (clippers, liners, oil platforms, naval tech in general) and battles/tactics as well. 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.

these ports, joined by Winchelsea and Rye, provided the ‘drive’ for assembling royal fleets, though under Henry III ( c.Since then, naval air power (including missiles) has been the preeminent weapon of the world’s fleets. 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.