Editing Royal Navy (section)

===Splendid isolation===
[[File:De Engels-Nederlandse vloot in de Baai van Algiers ter ondersteuning van het ultimatum tot vrijlating van blanke slaven, 26 augustus 1816. Rijksmuseum SK-A-1377.jpeg|thumb|[[Bombardment of Algiers (1816)|Bombardment of Algiers]] by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in an attempt to stop the [[Barbary slave trade]], 27 August 1816]]
In 1860, [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Albert, Prince Consort]], wrote to the Foreign Secretary [[John Russell, 1st Earl Russell]] with his concern about "a perfect disgrace to our country, and particularly to the [[Admiralty (United Kingdom)|Admiralty]]". The stated shipbuilding policy of the British monarchy was to take advantage of technological change and so be able to deploy a new [[weapons system]] that could defend British interests before other national and imperial resources are reasonably mobilized. Nevertheless, British taxpayers scrutinized progress in modernizing the Royal Navy so as to ensure, that taypayers' money is not wasted.<ref>{{cite book | author1= Howard J. Fuller |title=Empire, Technology and Seapower: Royal Navy Crisis in the Age of Palmerston |publisher= Taylor & Francis |year=2014 |page=173-174 |isbn=9781134200450 }}</ref>

Between 1815 and 1914, the Royal Navy saw little serious action, owing to the [[Pax Britannica|absence of any opponent strong enough]] to challenge its dominance. It did not suffer the drastic cutbacks the various military forces underwent in the period of economic austerity that followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the American War of 1812 (when the British Army and the Board of Ordnance military corps were cut back, weakening garrisons around the Empire, the Militia became a paper tiger, and the Volunteer Force and Fencible units disbanded, though the Yeomanry was maintained as a back-up to the police). Britain relied, throughout the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, on imperial fortress colonies (originally [[Bermuda]], Gibraltar, [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax (Nova Scotia)]], and [[Malta]]).  These areas permitted Britain to control the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.  Control of military forces in Nova Scotia passed to the new Government of Canada after the 1867 [[Confederation of Canada]] and control of the naval dockyard in Halifax, Nova Scotia was transferred to the Government of Canada in 1905, five years prior to the establishment of the [[Royal Canadian Navy]].  Prior to the 1920s, it was presumed that the only navies that could challenge the Royal Navy belonged to nations on the Atlantic Ocean or its connected seas, despite the growth of the Imperial Russian and United States Pacific fleets during the latter half of the 19th Century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Colomb, F.S.S., F.R.G.S., and Fellow Royal Colonial Institute |first=Captain J. C. R. |date=1880 |title=DEFENCE OF GREAT AND GREATER BRITAIN |location=55, Charing Cross, London S.W. |publisher=Edward Stanford |at=Pages 60 to 63, CHAPTER III. COLONIAL DEFENCE. }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Colomb, F.S.S., F.R.G.S., and Fellow Royal Colonial Institute |first=Captain J. C. R. |date=1880 |title=DEFENCE OF GREAT AND GREATER BRITAIN |location=55, Charing Cross, London S.W. |publisher=Edward Stanford |at=Pages 125 and 126, CHAPTER IV. IMPERIAL AND COLONIAL WAR RESPONSIBILITIES.}}</ref> 
[[File:Second taking of Chusan.jpg|thumb|The [[Capture of Chusan (1841)|capture of Chusan]] during the [[First Opium War]] on 1 October 1841]]
Britain relied on Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea, to project power to the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean via the Suez Canal after its completion in 1869.  It relied on friendship and common interests between Britain and the United States (which controlled transit through the [[Panama Canal]], completed in 1914) during and after the First World War, and on Bermuda, to project power the length of the western Atlantic, including the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.  The area controlled from Bermuda (and Halifax until 1905) had been part of the North America Station, until the 1820s, which then absorbed the Jamaica Station to become the [[North America and West Indies Station]].  After the First World War, this formation assumed responsibility for the eastern Pacific Ocean and the western South Atlantic and was known as the ''America and West Indies Station'' until 1956.<ref>{{cite book |last=Willock [[United States Marine Corps|USMC]] |first=Lieutenant-Colonel Roger |title=Bulwark Of Empire: Bermuda's Fortified Naval Base 1860–1920 |year=1988 |location=Bermuda |publisher=The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press |isbn=978-0921560005}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gordon |first=Donald Craigie |author-link= |date=1965 |title=The Dominion Partnership in Imperial Defense, 1870–1914 |url= |location=Baltimore, Maryland |publisher=Johns Hopkins Press |page=14 |isbn= }}</ref> In 1921, due to the ambitions of Imperial Japan and the threat of the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]], it was decided to construct the [[Singapore Naval Base]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Maurice-Jones, DSO, RA |first=Colonel KW |date=1959 |title=History of The Coast Artillery in the British Army |location=UK |publisher=Royal Artillery Institution |page=203}}</ref>

During this period, naval warfare underwent a comprehensive transformation, brought about by [[Steam engine|steam propulsion]], metal ship construction, and explosive munitions. Despite having to completely replace its war fleet, the Navy managed to maintain its overwhelming advantage over all potential rivals. Owing to British leadership in the [[Industrial Revolution]], the country enjoyed unparalleled shipbuilding capacity and financial resources, which ensured that no rival could take advantage of these revolutionary changes to negate the British advantage in ship numbers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/how-did-britain-come-to-rule-the-waves/|title=How did Britain come to rule the waves?|publisher=History Extra|access-date=6 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307054023/https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/how-did-britain-come-to-rule-the-waves/|archive-date=7 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{anchor|Two-power standard}}<!-- this anchor is targetted by a wikilink in article "Anglo-German naval arms race" -->
In 1889, Parliament passed the [[Naval Defence Act 1889|Naval Defence Act]], which formally adopted the 'two-power standard', which stipulated that the Royal Navy should maintain a number of battleships at least equal to the combined strength of the next two largest navies.<ref>Sondhaus, p. 161.</ref> The end of the 19th century saw structural changes and older vessels were scrapped or placed into reserve, making funds and manpower available for newer ships. The launch of {{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|6}} in 1906 rendered all existing battleships obsolete.<ref>{{Citation|last=Brown|first=Paul|title=Building Dreadnought|journal=Ships Monthly|pages= 24–27|date=January 2017}}</ref> The transition at this time from coal to fuel-oil for boiler firing would encourage Britain to expand their foothold in former [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] territories in the [[Middle East]], especially [[Mandatory Iraq|Iraq]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Steiner|first=Zara|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/86068902|title=The lights that failed : European international history, 1919–1933|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-151881-2|location=Oxford|oclc=86068902}}</ref>