Editing Royal Navy (section)

===World War I===
[[File:HMS Warspite and HMS Malaya during the battle of Jutland.jpg|thumb|{{HMS|Warspite|03|6}} and {{HMS|Malaya||2}}, seen from {{HMS|Valiant|1914|2}} at the [[Battle of Jutland]]]]
{{Further|World War I}}
{{Main|Royal Navy during World War I}}

<!-- This section is a [[WP:SUMMARY]]. The separate [[History of the Royal Navy (after 1707)]] has much greater detail -->
During [[World War I]], the Royal Navy's strength was mostly deployed at home in the [[Grand Fleet]], confronting the German [[High Seas Fleet]] across the North Sea. Several inconclusive clashes took place between them, chiefly the [[Battle of Jutland]] in 1916.<ref>Geoffrey Bennett, "The Battle of Jutland" ''History Today'' (June 1960) 10#6 pp 395–405.</ref>  The British fighting advantage proved insurmountable, leading the High Seas Fleet to abandon any attempt to challenge British dominance.<ref>{{cite news|title= ''Distant Victory: The Battle of Jutland and the Allied Triumph in the First World War'', p. xciv  |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VlTmHeEYgxsC&q=battle+of+jutland+germany+wanted+access+to+the+atlantic&pg=PA94|date= July 2006|publisher= Praeger Security International|isbn = 9780275990732|access-date= 30 May 2016}}</ref> The Royal Navy under [[John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe|John Jellicoe]] also tried to avoid combat and remained in port at [[Scapa Flow]] for much of the war.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hastings|first=Max|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/828893101|title=Catastrophe 1914 : Europe goes to war|date=2013|isbn=978-0-307-59705-2|edition=|location=New York|oclc=828893101}}</ref> This was contrary to widespread prewar expectations that in the event of a Continental conflict Britain would primarily provide naval support to the [[Triple Entente|Entente Powers]] while sending at most only a small ground army. Nevertheless, the Royal Navy played an important role in securing the [[British Isles]] and the [[English Channel]], notably ferrying the entire [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]] to the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] at the beginning of the war without the loss of a single life.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tuchman|first=Barbara W.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/30087894|title=The guns of August|date=1994|publisher=Ballantine|isbn=0-345-38623-X|edition=|location=New York|oclc=30087894}}</ref>

The Royal Navy nevertheless remained active in other theatres, most notably in the [[Mediterranean Sea]], where they waged the [[Dardanelles campaign|Dardanelles]] and [[Gallipoli campaign]]s in 1914 and 1915. British cruisers hunted down German commerce raiders across the world's oceans in 1914 and 1915, including the battles of [[Battle of Coronel|Coronel]], [[Battle of the Falkland Islands|Falklands Islands]], [[Battle of Cocos|Cocos]], and [[Battle of Rufiji Delta|Rufiji Delta]], among others.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/sinking-german-cruiser-konigsberg/|title=Sinking the German cruiser Konigsberg|publisher=National Archives|access-date=1 October 2023}}</ref>