Editing Royal Navy (section)

===Age of Sail===
{{see also|Age of Sail|History of the Royal Navy (before 1707)|Tudor navy}}
<!-- This section is a [[WP:SUMMARY]]. The separate [[History of the Royal Navy (before 1707)]] has much greater detail -->
[[File:English Ships and the Spanish Armada, August 1588 RMG BHC0262.jpg|thumb|A late 16th-century portrait of the [[Spanish Armada]] battling Royal Navy warships]]
[[File:HMS Victory - bow.jpg|thumb|{{HMS|Victory}}, [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Nelson]]'s [[flagship]] at [[battle of Trafalgar|Trafalgar]], is still a [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] Royal Navy ship, although she is now permanently kept in [[dry-dock]].]]

A standing "Navy Royal",<ref name="auto"/> with its own secretariat, [[Royal Naval Dockyards|dockyards]] and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, emerged during the reign of Henry VIII.<ref>Rodger, ''Safeguard'', pp. 221–237.</ref> Under [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]], England became involved in a [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)|war with Spain]], which saw privately owned vessels combining with the Queen's ships in highly profitable raids against [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] commerce and colonies.<ref>Rodger, ''Safeguard'', pp. 238–253, 281–286, 292–296.</ref> The Royal Navy was then used in 1588 to repulse the [[Spanish Armada]], but the [[English Armada]] was lost the next year. In 1603, the [[Union of the Crowns]] created a [[personal union]] between England and Scotland. While the two remained distinct sovereign states for a further century, the two navies increasingly fought as a single force. During the early 17th century, England's relative naval power deteriorated until [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] undertook a major programme of shipbuilding. His [[Ship money|methods of financing]] the fleet contributed to the outbreak of the [[English Civil War]], and the [[interregnum|abolition of the monarchy]].<ref>Rodger, ''Safeguard'', pp. 379–394, 482.</ref>

The [[Commonwealth of England]] replaced many names and symbols in the new Commonwealth Navy, associated with royalty and the [[high church]], and expanded it to become the most powerful in the world.<ref>John Barratt, 2006, ''Cromwell's Wars at Sea''. Barnsley, South Yorkshire; Pen & Sword; pp.</ref><ref>Rodger, ''Command'', pp. 2–3, 216–217, 607.</ref> The fleet was quickly tested in the [[First Anglo-Dutch War]] (1652–1654) and the [[Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660)]], which saw the British [[Invasion of Jamaica|conquest of Jamaica]] and successful [[Battle of Cádiz (1656)|attacks on Spanish treasure fleets]]. The 1660 [[Stuart Restoration|Restoration]] saw [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] rename the Royal Navy again, and started use of the prefix [[His Majesty's Ship|HMS]]. The Navy remained a national institution and not a possession of [[the Crown]] as it had been before.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3CoVAAAAQAAJ&q=Charles+II+Royal+Navy&pg=PA82|title=Memoirs of the rise and progress of the Royal Navy|first=Charles|last=Derrick|year=1806|access-date=30 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171230230123/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3CoVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=Charles+II+Royal+Navy&source=bl&ots=27fSLeUXFx&sig=jEWt_1yZLomGC6JIK89HflZ5n-Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjupMTMhLLYAhViLsAKHU6vDzY4ChDoAQhVMAk|archive-date=30 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Following the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688, England joined the [[War of the Grand Alliance]] which marked the end of [[Kingdom of France|France]]'s brief pre-eminence at sea and the beginning of an enduring British supremacy which would help with the creation of the British Empire.<ref>Rodger, ''Command'', pp. 142–152, 607–608.</ref>

In 1707, the [[Scottish navy]] was united with the English Royal Navy. On Scottish men-of-war, the cross of St Andrew was replaced with the Union Jack. On English ships, the red, white, or blue ensigns had the St George's Cross of England removed from the canton, and the combined crosses of the Union flag put in its place.<ref>Grant, James ed. The Old Scots Navy from 1689 to 1710. Navy Records Society,1914. p. 353: 'On the 1st of May, 1707, the legislative Union of England and Scotland was consummated; and the Scots and English navies were united, and became known as the British navy... The flag was changed. The white cross of St Andrew on the blue banner of Scotland no longer indicated a Scottish man-of-war. Its place was taken by the Union Jack and the red, white, or blue ensign, from the canton of which the St George's Cross was removed, to be replaced by the combined crosses of the Union Jack.'</ref> Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the Royal Navy was the largest maritime force in the world,<ref>Rodger, ''Command'', p. 608.</ref> maintaining superiority in financing, tactics, training, organisation, social cohesion, hygiene, logistical support and warship design.<ref>Rodger, ''Command'', pp. 291–311, 408–425, 473–476, 484–488.</ref> The peace settlement following the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] (1702–1714) granted Britain [[Gibraltar]] and [[Menorca]], providing the Navy with [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] bases. The expansion of the Royal Navy would encourage the [[British colonization of the Americas|British colonisation of the Americas]], with [[British America|British (North) America]] becoming a vital source of [[Lumber|timber]] for the Royal Navy.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Morison|first=Samuel Eliot|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/221276825|title=The Oxford history of the American people.|date=1965|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-500030-7|location=London|oclc=221276825}}</ref> There was a defeat during the frustrated [[Battle of Cartagena de Indias|siege of Cartagena de Indias]] in 1741. A new French [[Planned French invasion of Britain (1759)|attempt to invade Britain]] was thwarted by the defeat of their escort fleet in the extraordinary [[Battle of Quiberon Bay]] in 1759, fought in dangerous conditions.<ref>Rodger, ''Command'', pp. 277–283.</ref> In 1762, the resumption of hostilities with [[History of Spain (1700–1810)|Spain]] led to the [[British occupation of Manila|British capture of Manila]] and of [[Siege of Havana|Havana]], along with a Spanish fleet sheltering there.<ref>Rodger, ''Command'', pp. 284–287.</ref> British naval supremacy could however be challenged still in this period by coalitions of other nations, as seen in the [[American War of Independence]]. The [[United States]] was [[Franco-American alliance|allied to France]], and the [[Netherlands]] and Spain were also at war with Britain. In the [[Battle of the Chesapeake]], the British fleet failed to lift the French blockade, resulting in the surrender of an entire British army at [[Siege of Yorktown (1781)|Yorktown]].<ref>Rodger, ''Command'', pp. 351–352.</ref> 

The [[French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars]] (1793–1801, 1803–1814 & 1815) saw the Royal Navy reach a peak of efficiency, dominating the navies of all Britain's adversaries, which spent most of the war blockaded in port. Under [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Lord Nelson]], the navy defeated the combined Franco-Spanish fleet at [[Battle of Trafalgar|Trafalgar]] (1805).<ref>Parkinson, pp. 91–114; Rodger, ''Command'', pp. 528–544.</ref> Ships of the line and even frigates, as well as manpower, were prioritised for the naval war in Europe, however, leaving only smaller vessels on the [[North America Station]] and other less active stations, and a heavy reliance upon impressed labour. This would result in problems countering large, well-armed United States Navy frigates which outgunned Royal Naval vessels in single-opponent actions, as well as United States privateers, when the [[American War of 1812]] broke out concurrent with the war against Napoleonic France and its allies. The Royal Navy still enjoyed a numerical advantage over the former colonists on the Atlantic, and from its base in Bermuda it blockaded the [[East Coast of the United States|Atlantic seaboard]] of the United States throughout the war and carried out (with Royal Marines, [[Corps of Colonial Marines|Colonial Marines]], [[British Army]], and [[Board of Ordnance]] military corps units) various amphibious operations, most notably the [[Chesapeake campaign]]. On the [[Great Lakes]], however, the United States Navy established an advantage.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gardiner |first=Robert |date=2001 |title=The Naval War of 1812 |publisher=Caxton Pictorial Histories (Chatham Publishing) in association with The National Maritime Museum |isbn=1-84067-360-5}}</ref>