The Royal Navy is the oldest armed service in continuous service to the king/queen of England. It is often called the senior service by some of its members. Although it is felt some naval forces were used as early as the 8th century against raiding Viking forces, it was in the 10th century when Aethelwulf of Wessex and his son Alfred the Great began a dedicated service to fight the Danes on the high seas.

The navy was in place to prevent the Duck of Normandy from invading in 1066. But after running short on supplies the fleet was stood down and William crossed the English Channel unopposed. Following the conquest of England by the Normans the fleet dwindled in importance. As with most navies in Europe at the time merchant ships were pressed into service for the King during time of war.

A permanent Navy with specific secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships came into being during the reign of Henry VIII. From then until the early 20th century the Royal Navy began its domination of the world’s oceans. Although the Royal Navy was not the worlds largest until the early 19th century it far surpassed other nations in skill and professionalism.

The Royal Navy became the largest in the world around 1805. This is also when the Royal Navy had one of its largest battle and lost its greatest Admiral. The Royal Navy over the years has given us many terms and traditions used world wide today. We shall cover some of the ones I have missed over the next few days.