NAVY 



i- ing to the 



influence "t (In- M. l\ \ I"'. tnl. Tho 

 inn. in III-IM- a.li., ii of MiithuWI off 

 Toulon in l-Vli., ITU, was the 



I outcome. 



Hut (In- cloud lifted M the 



splendour i'f Aii-i'ii ami llaukc 



t great seaman, An-ou, 



in his famous circumnavigation of 



lobe (1740-44), mode his 



ships a school for seamen, ami 

 when In- ciime to the Admiralty ho 

 -I'd a powerful influence 

 throiiL'hout tin- \vhole naval ser- 

 vi'-r. Mi- chose for hiidi appoint- 

 ments ollicera like Hawke the 

 precursor of Nelson Boscawen, 

 Saundcrs. I'odiicy, lloue.and Kcp 

 pel. Naval architecture and con- 

 struction rapidly advanced. Anson 

 hn.ke up the French combination 

 by his defeat of De la Jonquiere in 

 .May, 1747 ; and Hawke struck his 

 l>lo\\ at 1/fitenduere in October. 



Seven Years' War 



The Seven Years' War found 

 Kndand not fully prepared. Cor- 

 ruption had not been uprooted, 

 ami only by a vigorous use of the 

 nig, and the offering of 

 iioiiiities could men be obtained. 

 The war was to be waged in the 

 Channel, 4he Atlantic, the Mediter- 

 ranean, India, on the N. American 

 coast, and in the W. Indies. The 

 French were active in N. America, 

 where Britain's settlements were 

 imperilled, and French reinforce- 

 ments traversed the ocean despite 

 the efforts of Boscawen. 



The year 1759 was rendered 

 glorious by the fall of Quebec, the 

 capture of Guadeloupe, and an 

 action between Pocock and D'Ach6 

 on the Coromandel coast, which 

 ultimately was the cause of the 

 decay of French power in India. 

 Hawke's magnificent victory at 

 Quiberon Bay was the decisive 

 action of the war. 



But France soon found means 

 and support for new efforts. Her 

 nav} r had been almost annihilated, 

 but regeneration followed, while 

 profligate rule and jobbery again 

 did its evil work in British naval 

 administration. When the Ameri- 

 can colonists rose against British 

 rule, and France, Spain, and 

 Holland were hostile, Britain was 

 ill-prepared for a world-wide strug- 

 gle, though fleets went to sea in a 

 far better state than ever before. 

 There was an inconclusive action 

 off Ushant, powerful forces ap- 

 peared fighting several battles in 

 Indian waters, and across the At- 

 lantic, Howe was compelled to act 

 on the defensive against D'Estaing. 

 Rodney arrived in the W. Indies 

 in March, 1780, and fought on 

 April 17 a famous action with De 

 Guichen. The situation was very 

 grave, and Britain's commerce 



5O63 



wftsseri"nd\ <iippled. The lil-.'-k- 

 adu at Brest did not ;H.\MII I > 

 Grasso from goim/ out to the W. 

 Indies with n vast armament. He 



'd Graves off the Chesa- 

 . and Cornwallis wa- 

 ]K-lle<l to surrender at Yorktown. 

 Another ol.je, t of the French with 

 Spanish assistance was to capture 

 Jamaica. Their plans wen- con,. 

 pletely shattered by Rodney's 

 action of April 12, 1782, off 

 Dominica. (Jihraltar was mag- 

 nificently relieved by Howe on 

 Oct. 11, and, though Britain 

 lost much in the war, she con- 

 solidated her possessions, and 

 emerged with a navy trained in the 

 struggle and brought to high effi- 

 ciency by its officers. 



Britain was indeed far better 

 prepared for war with the French 

 Revolution than were the French 

 for the great struggle which began 

 in Feb., 1793. Her officers were 

 men of high character and great 

 attainments, and though hard con- 

 ditions had laid the seeds of 

 mutiny in the fleet, the navy car- 

 ried the issue triumphantly to its 

 close. Ships increased in numbers, 

 and every available ship was 

 made ready for sea. Hood oc- 

 cupied Toulon in aid of the French 

 Royalists, but had to withdraw 

 as the revolution gained strength. 

 Jervis, the future Lord St. Vin- 

 cent, went to the Mediterranean. 

 The Glorious 1st of June 



In the Channel Howe, on the 

 glorious first of June, 1794, almost 

 destroyed the French fleet under 

 Villaret- Joyeuse, though the great 

 grain convoy from the U.S.A. 

 arrived in safety at Brest. Brid- 

 port completed the victory by his 

 action of June 23, 1795, and the 

 French fleet withdrew from the 

 seas, except for raiding efforts. 

 Jervis's great victory off Cape St. 

 Vincent, Feb. 14, 1797, and Dun- 

 can's destruction of the Dutch 

 fleet at the Texel, Oct. 11 in the 

 same year, put an end to all the 

 great schemes of invasion. The 

 mutiny of 1797,atSpitheadandthe 

 Nore, was a serious danger; but 

 the navy was sound at heart, and 

 the disaffection was suppressed. 



Napoleon Bonaparte's magnifi- 

 cent schemes of Eastern dominion 

 were taking shape. Great arma- 

 ments were prepared at Toulon, and 

 the operations for the invasion of 

 Egypt were begun. Nelson w is 

 ill-provided ; but reinforcements 

 came, and the French fleet was 

 finally destroyed in the battle of 

 the Nile, Aug. 1, 1798. After 

 the peace of Amiens had been 

 concluded, March 27, 1802, the 

 naval establishments in England 

 were subjected to severe ex- 

 amination, with the object of 



NAVY 



putting an end to the corruption 

 and wa>:tc under the adin 

 tion of the navy board, which the 

 Admiralty had been unable to 



control. 



Practically the navy was kept 

 on a war footing during the peace, 

 and was highly efficient, though its 

 numbers were inadequate. Bona- 

 parte's great successes on land had 

 deprived Britain of her allies, and 

 he was planning once more a great 

 blow at the heart of hi* principal 

 enemy. But Cornwallis and his 

 admirals blockaded Brest and the 

 Atlantic ports ; Keith was farther 

 N. ; Calder was off Ferrol and 

 Nelson off Toulon. Nelson left 

 Spithead on Sept. 15, 1805, and 

 arrived off Cadiz on the 28th. On 

 Oct. 21 he engaged Villeneuve, the 

 immortal battle of Trafalgar was 

 fought, and the main French fleet 

 was utterly destroyed. 



There was a certain recovery in 

 the French navy, but it was easier 

 to build wooden ships than to find 

 their officers and men. The Berlin 

 Decrees against Britain's com- 

 merce were the mark of naval 

 failure. When it was designed to 

 send a French fleet from Brest and 

 Rochefort to the W. Indies in 1809, 

 it was driven into the Basque 

 Roads and destroyed. The royal 

 navy was the base of all the opera- 

 tions in the Peninsular War. 

 Stringent inquiry into the civil 

 affairs of the navy, chiefly under 

 the impulsion of St. Vincent, did 

 much to purify the administration. 

 The war with the U.S.A. in 1812 

 was a war of frigate fighting, in 

 which the Americans, with su- 

 perior frigates, gained some remark- 

 able successes. The fight between 

 the Shannon and the Chesapeake, 

 on June 1, 1813, was the most 

 famous action of the war. 



The fleet was employed against 

 Barbary pirates ; in the operations 

 that led to the destruction of the 

 Turkish-Egyptian fleet of Nava- 

 rino ; in the Russian War of 1854- 

 55, when its supremacy was undis- 

 puted; and in the Burmese and 

 China Wars. Administratively. 

 Sir James Graham and Sir Thomas 

 Masterman Hardy, as first lord and 

 first sea lord of the Admiralty, in 

 1831, set the system practically 

 upon the footing it held in 1914. 



Introduction of Steam 

 The introduction of steam 

 brought about profound changes 

 in the navy. There began a long 

 contest between the gun and the 

 armour. The torpedo was in- 

 vented, and gained year by year in 

 range and destructive -power. New 

 classes of ships were introduced 

 torpedo- boats, destroyers, and sub- 

 marines. The invention of the 

 steam turbine imparted a fresh 



