The Reform of the Royal Navy, 1790-1918 (Edexcel A Level History: Paper 3 Options): Revision Note

The reduction of the Navy after 1815: decommissioning and size

• After the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the threat of an invasion of Britain was removed in both the short and medium term

• As a result, the Royal Navy was dramatically reduced in size

  • It went from having 713 warships in 1814 to just 121 four years later

• Despite the enormous number of warships that had been decommissioned, this reduction still left Britain with a Navy big enough to control the world's trade routes

  • Many of the ships removed were smaller frigates and gunboats rather than ships of the line

• The smaller Navy protected trade, suppressed piracy and worked against the slave trade

The shift from sail to steam

• All of the ships that had been decommissioned after 1815 had been made of wood and powered by sails

• Steam-powered paddle ships helped Britain to win the First Opium War (1839–42)

  • However, the paddles took up large areas of both sides of the ships

    • This prevented guns from being positioned along the hulls and meant they could not fire 'broadsides'

    • This meant most ships in the Royal Navy were powered by wind throughout the 1840s

• The invention of the screw propeller in the late 1830s was the key development in changing this

  • The screw propeller was located at the stern of the ship, meaning guns could still be fitted all along both sides

  • HMS Ajax (launched 1809) was among the first ships of the line converted to screw propulsion, in 1846

  • HMS Duke of Wellington was launched in 1852 and was the most powerful battleship in the world

    • Its steam-powered screw propeller meant it could travel rapidly at 10 knots

    • It carried 131 guns

    • Its launching marked a new era in naval warfare

HMS Duke of Wellington, print by Griffin and Co, 1872. © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London (PU6198), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Graham's naval reforms, 1832

• Sir James Graham was the First Lord of the Admiralty between 1830 and 1834

• In 1832, he merged the Admiralty and the Navy Board

  • This made the organisation and administration of the Navy more efficient

  • It also helped to end the corruption and nepotism that had been common in the Navy

• The gunnery school HMS Excellent, set up in 1830 and led by Thomas Hastings from 1832, gave sailors systematic gunnery training

• Automatic promotions were stopped

  • All officers had to have at least two years' experience at sea before they could be promoted

Fisher's reforms at the Admiralty, 1904–10

• Admiral Fisher held the positions of Second Sea Lord, 1902–03, and First Sea Lord, 1904–10

• Fisher's reforms responded to the growing threat from the German navy

• He scrapped large numbers of old ships and concentrated the fleet in home waters

• He introduced the Selborne Scheme

  • This required all officers to undergo a common training scheme before they specialised in different disciplines such as gunnery or navigation

  • It also meant that all officers, regardless of their specialism, would be eligible for promotion to the highest positions in the Navy

  • It was intended to lead to the best people getting the roles rather than those with the best connections

• The Navy's first submarines entered service in 1901–02

  • As First Sea Lord, Fisher championed their expansion

    • He saw these as having a deterrent effect on any potential invaders

    • It was also a cost-saving move, as a submarine was 25 times cheaper to build than a battleship

• It was under Fisher that the powerful Dreadnought class of battleships was introduced, with HMS Dreadnought launched in 1906

  • These were so heavily armed and armoured that they made all other ships virtually obsolete

  • Although this gave Britain a major advantage in the short term, it intensified the arms race with Germany, which started building its own fleet of Dreadnoughts

Approach

The source is useful for demonstrating the revolutionary impact of HMS Dreadnought. Published only weeks after its launch, it mentions both its superiority over existing battleships and the likelihood that other naval powers would imitate the design, making older battleships increasingly obsolete. However, its claim that Dreadnought could defeat the entire German battle fleet is probably exaggerated and reflects contemporary enthusiasm rather than combat performance. It is a more reliable source of information about perceptions of technological change and understanding of the emerging naval arms race, but less reliable for measuring Dreadnought's fighting effectiveness.

How significant was the shift from sail to steam for the Royal Navy?

• In some ways, the shift from sail to steam was highly significant

  • Ships were much faster and were no longer dependent on the wind

  • They could travel at a constant speed in any direction

• This gave commanders much greater flexibility in terms of their tactics

  • The development of the screw propeller also allowed guns to be carried along both sides of the ship, and screw-driven ships worked well in rough seas

• Britain's industrial strength let it build steam warships faster and in greater numbers than its rivals, which increased the power of the Royal Navy

  • It could respond to events all over the world much more quickly

  • It could patrol the trade routes more effectively

  • It allowed Britain to remain the major naval power in the world

• However, the development of steam power may not be as significant as it first appears, and other developments may have been more important

  • Ships continued to use both sail and steam into the 1900s

  • The dependency on coal supplies required the building of secure coaling stations across the world

  • The coal supply chain was vulnerable, and steamships were useless without coal

• Other developments were arguably just as important as steam

  • Iron armour, first used in the Royal Navy on HMS Warrior (1860), made ships far more resistant to enemy fire

  • Rifled guns were much more accurate and could fire much farther

  • Explosive shells could do much more damage when they struck a target

  • Wireless telegraphy meant ships could communicate with London and with each other over much greater distances

• Organisational reforms also affected how well the Navy could use its new ships

  • Graham’s reforms (1832) merged the Admiralty and the Navy Board, which made the Navy’s administration more efficient

    • These reforms came before the screw propeller, so not all improvement in the Navy depended on steam

    • Graham's reforms made the Navy's administration more efficient and HMS Excellent improved gunnery

• HMS Excellent (from 1830) gave sailors systematic gunnery training

  • A fast ship was of limited use if its crew could not fire its guns accurately

  • Percy Scott further improved gunnery accuracy in the late 19th century

• Fisher’s reforms (1904–10) gave all officers common training and opened the highest positions to every specialism

  • With the Dreadnoughts, these reforms prepared the Navy’s officers and ships for war with Germany

  • Fisher's reforms prepared officers and ships for war with Germany, so steam alone did not make the Navy effective

• Overall, steam was the most significant change because it altered both ship design and naval strategy

  • Screw propellers allowed guns along both sides of the ship, and steam freed commanders from relying on the wind

  • Steam turbines, first on a battleship in HMS Dreadnought, and later oil fuel gave greater speed than earlier coal-fired engines

  • Britain also needed secure coaling stations across the world

  • However, steam depended on organisational reform to be used effectively, as ships needed well-trained crews and efficient administration