An Encyclopedia of Naval History

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More distant trades made big ships economic: in 1400–25, 68 per cent of crown-hired ships were of less than 100 tons burthen, but by 1451 that percentage had dropped to 52.

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, though she may never have put to sea. The Navy did not do much during World War I (1914–18), but it played a major role in the combat of World War II (1939–45), especially in the Pacific campaign.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.

There seems poetic justice that the first Victoria Cross was won by a non-commissioned seaman in the Crimean 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. Improved foundry technology made it possible to produce cheap iron guns that reduced the cost of permanent naval armament.The critical phase in European naval history when France lost the initiative to the maritime powers. The Spanish ships were supposed to close with the enemy so that the soldiers with which they were crowded could board the enemy vessels. 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. A Naval Encyclopdia: Comprising A Dictionary Of Nautical Words And Phrases; Biographical Notices, And Records Of Naval Officers; Special Articles Of Naval Art And Science. Spanish warship technology and naval administration in the seventeenth century and its institutional framework.

It soon became evident that the ship that was powerful enough to be the mainstay of the fighting fleet was too large and too expensive—and also too heavy and too slow—to serve those functions of sea power that required numerous armed ships of good speed. From then the scene of naval activity changed, and ships and fleets took upon themselves a new form, one fit for ocean sailing and fighting. These are examples of the fascinating details contained in The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia that provide readers with a complete understanding of the naval aspects of the American Civil War. For full treatment of the history, types, and technological development of naval ships and craft, see War, Technology of: Naval ships and craft.

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. Their rise was closely connected with the power struggles for control of the Greek archipelago and Italy and trade in the Mediterranean Sea. 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. Galleys and sailing warships had different capabilities, and they were often regarded as parts of different organizations. 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.