Empire Topic 1 - Pax Britannica - Development of the Royal Navy Flashcards
(68 cards)
1
Q
What was the Navy’s role between 1762 and 1775?
A
- Exploration largely
- James Cook joined the Royal Navy in 1755
2
Q
James Cook
A
- Joined Royal Navy in 1755
- Served during 7 years War
- Subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the St. Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec.
- First European to discover Australia
3
Q
Where and when did James Cook land on Australia and what happened?
A
- Landed on Botany Bay on the 29th April 1770
- Two Gwengal men opposed the landings, one was shot and wounded
4
Q
What was the Impact of the AWOI on the developent of the Royal Navy?
A
- Stretched the Royal Navy, obvious solution was to build more ships.
- However, this took a long time and a lot of material so British opted to improve the ships they already had.
5
Q
How long did it take and how many materials to build a ship during the AWOI?
A
5 years and 2000 trees
6
Q
What problems did AWOI ships have in Tropical Waters
A
- In warm, tropical waters like the Carribean, shipworm caused problems with the structure of ships - this alos attracted sea weed and barnacles to the bottom of the ships that slowed them down?
7
Q
Solution to lack of ships during AWOI?
A
- Cover underside of ships with copper plating to stop shipworm from attacking structure of ships which allowed ships to travel a lot faster.
8
Q
How many tonnes of copper were needed to cover 1 ship?
A
15 tonnes
9
Q
How many ships were covered with copper due to AWOI?
A
51 ships
10
Q
How much coal did Britain produce a year during AWOI and how did this help them develop Navy past rivals?
A
- 5 million tonnes of coal a year
- Britain only country that had industralisation to achieve this, copper and coal both came from British mines.
11
Q
When was the Battle of the Saintes?
A
9th-12th April 1782
12
Q
What happened at the Battle of the Saintes?
A
- The Comte De Grasse had made a joint strategy with the Spanish to aid the Americans and defeat the British naval squadron at New York to capture the British windward islands and conquer Jamaica.
- King George III wrote to Lord Sandwich, then First Lord of the Admiralty, saying to protect the Carribean islands at the risk of Britain herself.
- De Grasse defeated by Rodney and Jamaica was saved.
13
Q
How much of all British imports did Carribean sugar make up during the AWOI?
A
20%, worth 5 times as much as tobacco.
14
Q
What type of ships were there in the Royal Navy in the later 1700s and early 1800s?
A
- First Rate and Second Rate ships (HMS Victory) which had 80-120 cannons.
- Fourth Rate ships were phased out due to lack of power.
- Fifth and Sixth rate ships known as frigates were used for patrolling due to their fast and light nature.
15
Q
How much of the Royal Navy did third rate ships make up in 1794 and 1814?
A
76% and 80%
16
Q
How many ships did Captain Cochrane destory from 1800-1801 and with what ship?
A
53 French ships aboard the HMS Speedy
17
Q
When was the Cruisers and Convoys Act?
A
1708
18
Q
What did the Cruisers and Convoys Act do?
A
Crew had share of prize money seized from ships.
19
Q
Impact on the Navy of the victory against the French in 1815?
A
- Led to a huge reduction in the size of the Navy because of British economic slumping following the Napoleonic Wars.
20
Q
How many Ships of the Line and Frigates were there in 1815?
A
- 214 ships of the line and 792 frigates
21
Q
What was the number of Ships of the Lines and Frigates reduced to following 1815?
A
- 100 ships of the line and 162 frigates
22
Q
How many Ships of the Line were there in 1835 and what did this cause?
A
- 68 ships of the line, this meant that lots of sailors and soldiers were now unemployed in an economy that was rapidly retracting
23
Q
When was the Vagrancy Act?
A
1824
24
Q
What did the Vagrancy Act do?
A
- Cleared makeshift camps of discharged soldiers and sailors left without income or accomodation in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.
25
How did the Navy develop it's method of recruitment following the Napoleonic Wars?
- After 1815, Navy struggled to recruit new sailors as despite laying off many and there being economic depression the wages were not seen as worth it.
- Therefore the navy often used impressment.
26
What was the average wage of an able seaman after the Napoleonic Wars?
£14 per year
27
What was impressment?
Getting people drunk, forcing them on a ship and then by the time they woke up again they woke up again they were in the middle of the ocean.
28
What was the Royal Navy's role in protecting the slave trade?
- Between 1756 and 1815 there were four major wars and in each the Royal Navy deployed large numbers of ships to protect the trade of ships across the Atlantic.
- After the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 the Royal Navy was used to prevent trade of slaves in the Atlantic.
29
How many ships a year were active in the triangular trade?
150
30
Of 5000 men departing on voyages in the slave tarde in 1788, how many returned?
2329
31
What threats did piracy pose to Britain?
- Trade links to China and India had become vital to British income by the early 1800s due to Charter Acts of 1813 and 1833, facilitated by the acquisition of Singapore in 1816.
- Along these trade links were French privateers from the Isle de France in the Indian Ocean and Arab Pirates threatening shipping from the Red Sea, there were also pirates operating in the Straits of Malacca.
32
How did the Royal Navy respond to threats of piracy?
- Iman and Mocha in Aden were seized and used to control these threats.
- Berbera (along the north African coast) was blockaded by the Royal Navy between 1827 and 1832.
33
When were Iman and Mocha (Aden) seized?
1839
34
When did the Royal Navy attack Algiers?
- 27th August 1816
35
Context of Attack on Algiers
- North African ports had been used as slave ports for years, Europeans had been taken into slavery between the 16th and 19th century.
- Piracy had become major problem in region, with US paying ransom for pirates.
36
How many Europeans had been taken into slavery from the 16th-19th century?
1-1.25 million
37
What ransom was US paying for pirates?
$1 million
38
Why did the Royal Navy attack Algiers?
- After 1815, the Royal Navy no longer needed the Barbary states following Lord Castlereigh's decleration - the Barbary Pirate states were on borrowed time and asked to end slavery in the region.
- The Deys of Algiers were reluctant and ended up massacaring Europeans under British protection.
39
How many did people did Algerian troops massacre?
- 200 Corsican, Sicillian and Sardinian fisherman.
40
How many ships bombarded Algiers and for how long?
- 19 ships for a day.
41
How many slaves were freed by the Dey following the attack on Algiers?
1083 Christian slaves with another 3000 later released.
42
What ransom was the Dey forced to repay the British?
Approximately £80,000
43
What was the impact of the development of steam power?
- Steam opened up previously innaccessible inland areas to naval forces because naval ships could nw travel up rivers.
44
What type of ship was the HMS Nemesis?
Hybrid ship with steam paddles and sails.
45
When were the first British steam boats and frigates launched?
1843
46
When did the French first launch their first steam boats and frigates?
1845
47
When was the Napoleon launched and how many guns did it have?
90 guns, 1850.
48
When were shells invented and by whom?
- Created in the 1820s by the French
49
How did shells improve upon roundshot?
Had a flat trajectory compared to roundshots high trajectory which meant they could be fired further and more accurately.
50
How did shells cause further naval development?
- Ships had to become more heavily armoured to survive and become effective, leading to creation of ironclads.
51
What were ironclads?
Wooden ships with iron plating covering them to offer more protection.
52
When and what was the first ironclad?
La Gloire in 1859, built by French.
53
When was the first British ironclad and when was it built?
HMS warrior, 1861.
54
What happened to ironclads?
Soon replaced by ships built entirely of steel, obsolete within the decade.
55
When was sail abandoned entirely by the navy?
1873
56
What was the first mastless ship?
The HMS Devestation
57
What guns did the Devastation have?
Two 35 ton shell firing guns which were 87m long and had 250-300mm thick armour
58
How many tons of coal did Devastation need?
1350 tons
59
What was the impact of the abandonment of sail impact the composition of the Royal Navy and Warfare?
- Coal became vital and it's supply to various trading posts was vital, as these trading posts became big service stations for navy and merchant ships.
- Steamships relied less on seamanship tha previous ages so other countries such as Japan and Germany could catch up with Britain as having the best sailors no longer mattered.
- British sought to maintain naval dominance through having a bigger navy than anyone else.
60
Example of the increased importance of naval quality than seamanship, and therefore rivalled British naval power.
Battle of Tsushima 1905 where Japanese beat Russians due to having more efficient ships than Russians.
61
When was the Battle of Jutland?
1916
62
How did British maintain naval dominance?
- The Two Power Standard
- The Naval Defence Act
- Jackie Fisher's modernisation of the navy in 1900.
63
What was the Two Power Standard?
Called for Royal Navy to maintain number of ships equal to next 2 largest navies in the world, at the time France and Russia.
64
When was the Naval Defence Act?
1889
65
What did the Naval Defence Act do?
- Commited to building atleast 10 battleships
- 42 cruisers
- 18 torpedo boats
- Costing £21.5 million
66
When was HMS Dreadnought launched?
1906
67
How much did the Dreadnought cost?
£1.7m
68
How fast was the Dreadnought and what guns did it have?
- 22 knots
- Had 5 guns which could fire a 385kg shell up to 5 miles
- Made all other ships obsolete
