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The '''Royal Navy''' is the [[navy|naval]] branch of the [[military]] forces of the [[United Kingdom]]. With 91 commissioned vessels, it is considered the world's second most powerful navy in terms of global force projection, after the [[United States Navy]].<ref>[http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.3867 Royal Navy website]</ref><ref>[http://zope06.v.servelocity.net/hjs/sections/britain_world/naval_trident Henry Jackson Society website]</ref> As of November 2006, the Naval Service (including the [[Royal Marines]]) had 38,710 regular personnel.
The '''Royal Navy''' is the [[navy|naval]] branch of the [[military]] forces of the [[United Kingdom]]. With 91 commissioned vessels, it is considered the world's second most powerful navy in terms of global force projection, after the [[United States Navy]].<ref>[http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.3867 Royal Navy website]</ref><ref>[http://zope06.v.servelocity.net/hjs/sections/britain_world/naval_trident Henry Jackson Society website]</ref> As of November 2006, the Naval Service (including the [[Royal Marines]]) had 38,710 regular personnel.
==History==
The first navy of [[England]] was established in the 9th century by King [[Alfred the Great]]. During the medieval period England had a significant naval force, defeating the [[France|French]] navy at the [[Battle of Sluys]] in 1340, in the early years of the [[Hundred Years War]]. Later, under Queen [[Elizabeth I]] the English fleet defeated the [[Spanish Armada]] in 1588, but suffered several later defeats at the hands of the Spanish navy.
A permanent naval service, under [[Parliament|Parliamentary]] control, was developed during the rule of [[Oliver Cromwell]] in the 1650s. In 1707, with the union of [[England]] and [[Scotland]] into the [[United Kingdom]], the Royal Scots Navy was merged into the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy suffered defeats against the Spanish navy at [[Cartagena de Indias]] in 1741, during the [[War of Jenkin's Ear]], and against the French navy at the 1781 [[Battle of the Chesapeake]].
However, during the [[Napoleonic Wars]] the Royal Navy played a major role, reaching the height of its achievements at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] in 1805, where a British fleet commanded by [[Lord Nelson]] decisively defeated the French. During the remainder of the 19th century the Royal Navy became the world's dominant naval force, and played a major part in building and defending the [[British Empire]]. In 1906 HMS Dreadnought became the Royal Navy's first "all-big-gun" battleship, a key turning point in British naval history; subsequently, large battleships became the dominant form of seapower.
In both the [[First World War]] and [[Second World War]], the Royal Navy played a key role in keeping the United Kingdom supplied with food, despite German attempts at a naval blockade using [[submarine]] warfare. After the Second World War, during the [[Cold War]] years, the disintegration of the [[British Empire]] forced Britain to downsize its navy, while the [[United States Navy]] took on the major role as the world's dominant sea power. The Royal Navy was re-organised with a strong emphasis on anti-[[submarine]] capabilities in the North [[Atlantic Ocean]], to counter the potential threat of the [[Soviet Union]].
In 1982, the Royal Navy was the principal British force in the [[Falklands War]]. The British submarine HMS ''Conqueror'', a nuclear-powered submarine, sank the Argentine cruiser ARA ''General Belgrano'' during this conflict, the first time in naval history that a nuclear-powered submarine had engaged an enemy ship with torpedoes.
==References==
==References==
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