Navy Reforms PP and Notes

Question 1

Middleton Reforms

Answer 1

• held commissions for various uninspiring ships between 1775-1778
• resigned his commission in Aug 1778 to become comptroller of the navy
• advocated improving ship design - largely responsible for ensuring the coppering of ships bottoms during his time as comptroller
• promoted use of carronades - set up a plan to confront the French invasion force in 1805 by equipping 100 large merchantmen with carronades and employed to attack it as it attempted to cross the Channel
• retained position of comptroller until March 1970 when he resigned from the Navy in protest at the governments failure to overhaul the administration of the Navy
• his tenure was nevertheless judged to have been a success and he was credited with leaving behind him a strong base for the future naval supremacy

Question 2

Discuss the Royal Navy after the Napoleonic Wars

Answer 2

• by 1815, the Royal Navy was by far the most powerful marine force in the world - some 100 battleships
• yet peace brought retraction
• there was little need for such a large navy and many British battleships were decommissioned and spent the rest of their lives as prison hulks or floating supply depots
• by 1817 there were only 13 battleships in active duty
• the royal navy’s strength after lay in small ships which could operate without impunity around the world, policing the British empire
• gun boat diplomacy

Question 3

what was gun boat diplomacy

Answer 3

threatening nations with the Navy and its power became the primary weapon of the British Government
Other countries were threatened without Britain even launching an attack

Question 4

why did Graham want to do his reforms in 1832

Answer 4

• he felt the Royal Navy had been reduced too far and that Britain’s position as a world power depended on a strong navy

Question 5

what were the Graham reforms (1832)

Answer 5

• he reversed the policy of battleship reduction in favour of smaller ships and began a systematic programme of refitting existing ships and building new battleships
• encouraged naval gunnery training and established a permanent school of gunnery on the HMS Excellent for the purpose
• He also altered the regulations for promotion of officers, so they had to serve a certain amount of time at sea before being considered for promotion.
• this would then avoid nepotism among the sea lords
• he abolished the naval office and Victualling Board
• tried to advance the shift from sail to steam - he introduced the first steam ships into the navy - HMS Medea and HMS Gladiator

Question 6

define nepotism

Answer 6

the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.

• favouritism of relatives etc…
• who you know not what you know

Question 7

what was the impact of Graham abolishing the Naval Office and Victualling Board under his 1832 reforms

Answer 7

• placed all means of supplying the Royal Navy within its own control
• this meant administrative changes in Whitehall, and appointed admirals to oversee the largest naval dockyards in Plymouth/Portsmouth
• this provided much greater efficiency on servicing and resupplying ships all over the world

Question 8

why was he shift from sail to steam so slow

Answer 8

• the deeply conservative sea lords were suspicious of steam power and saw it as an unreliable means of powering vessels at sea
• Graham proposed ten more such steam powered battleships after the first steamships being commissioned but the expense was far too much for the British Government to withstand in peacetime

Question 9

what did the first lord of the Admiralty Lord Melville declare about steam

Answer 9

• ‘the introduction of steam was calculated to strike a fatal blow to the naval supremacy of the empire’

Question 10

what country was the first to introduce steam engines and screw propellers and how did Britain respond

Answer 10

• the French began to introduce steam engines and screw propellers to their frigates in the 1840s
• Britain worried the French were becoming more advanced
• the Admiralty commissioned steam powered frigates into the Royal Navy from 1845 although the transition from sail to steam would be slow

Question 11

what is important to note about French advancements

Answer 11

• in many ways the French Navy led the way in applying technology to battleships
• this is not to suggest however that that French were more advanced for Britain swiftly copied and improved such ideas

Question 12

what was the HMS Agamemnon

Answer 12

• the Royal Navy’s first steam-powered battleship
• but it still had full sail rigging!!!!
• commissioned 1852

Question 13

what were ships also used for other than fighting

Answer 13

• laying telegraph wire
• prisons
• storage
• gunnery training school - HMS Excellent

Question 14

why was the shift from wood to iron necessary

Answer 14

• one problem encountered in applying technology to marine craft was the weight involved - not just of the technology itself, but also the coal required to power the steam engines
• wooden hulls could only carry their equivalent weight and so early marine steam engines were small
• guns were also increasing in weight and power - new high explosive shells could rip wooden ships apart
• thus, in order to modernise ships were required to transition from wood to iron

Question 15

who first began to work with iron and how did Britain respond

Answer 15

• the French first began to build ironclads in 1855
• La Gloire - 1859 - French’s first ocean-going iron-clad
• the British responded with the HMS Warrior the world’s first fully iron warship (1860)

Question 16

what is it important to remember about the HMS Warrior (1860) Britain’s first fully iron battleship

Answer 16

• it was a hybrid battleship
• she had all the latest technology yet this was coupled with traditional thinking
• this was epitomised by the expectation that Warrior would still be required to fire broadside into her enemies

Question 17

what was the French Navy’s Redoubtable

Answer 17

• the first battleship to have a steel hull

- 1876

Question 18

what was the HMS Inflexible

Answer 18

• a Victorian iron clad battleship
• carried her main armament in centrally placed turrets
• 1876
• she mounted larger guns that those of any previous British warship and had the thickest armour ever to be fitted to a Royal Navy ship
• had pole masts fitted in 1885 which replaced the original full sail rigging

Question 19

what was the HMS Devestation

Answer 19

• the first class of ocean-going capital ship that did not carry sails and the first whose main armament was mounted on top of the hull rather than inside it
• commissioned 1873 and remained in service till 1907!

Question 20

what ended the age of sail

Answer 20

• steam-powered turbine engines that drove propellors

Question 21

what was the Turbina

Answer 21

• the Royal Navy’s first steam turbine powered craft
• battleships would soon be fitted with turbine technology
• it was built as an experimental vessel in 1894 and was easily the fastest ship in the world at that time
• Tubrina was demonstrated dramatically at the Spithead Navy Review in 1897
• The Admiralty had been convinced and in 1900 Turbina steamed to Paris, shown to French officials and then displayed at a Paris exhibition
• the Admiralty confirmed in 1905 that all future vessels were to be turbine powered

Question 22

what did the Admiralty confirm in 1905

Answer 22

that all future vessels were to be turbine powered

Question 23

what was the HMS Dreadnought

Answer 23

• the first turbine powered battleship

- launched 1906

Question 24

discuss Admiral of the Fleet John Fished or ‘Jacky’ Fisher

Answer 24

• innovator, strategist and moderniser of the Royal Navy
• he was argumentative, stubborn, yet highly energetic and forward thinking
• he had ideas far more advanced that his Admiralty peers and was thus, responsible for dragging the Royal Navy into the 20th century
• he is often considered the second most important British naval figure after Nelson
• he was superintendent of HMS Excellent Gunnery School from 1892-94
• while at the Admiralty he surrounded himself with like minded officers with technical prowess

Question 25

what did Fisher do as superintendent of the HMS Excellent

Answer 25

- he supervised the construction of the latest warships

Question 26

what was Fisher responsible for the construction of

Answer 26

- as Third Sea Lord, he was responsible for the construction of the first destroyers of the Royal Navy from the late 1890s

Question 27

what did Fisher believe in

Answer 27

- he was fascinated by technology and saw that new innovation in weapons, ship design and aviation would transform the nature of naval warfare - he believed the royal navy had to be at the forefront of this technological leap forwards

Question 28

after a spell as Commander of the Mediterranean fleet what did Fisher do when given the role Second Sea Lord in 1902

Answer 28

- he reformed officer training

Question 29

what were Admiral Fisher's reforms

Answer 29

- they had to be cost-effective given the Liberal Government's demands for social reforms - He sold 90 ships - placed another 64 in reserve believing all 154 to be 'too weak/slow to retreat' - although this compromised the two-power standard it was essential in modernising the royal navy - created the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) so Britain had large reserve in case of war - re-organised the fleet - all the latest ships stationed in Gibraltar/the Channel with German threat in mind - designed the new battlecruisers - had a hand in designing the Dreadnoughts that accelerated the naval arms race with Germany

Question 30

what is the two power standard

Answer 30

that Britain have 2 times as many ships as other navy's

Question 31

discuss Fisher and the Submarine

Answer 31

- believed the way to ensure naval supremacy was with the submarines - it did become the primary threat to Capital Ships - Fisher believed they would render the battleship obsolete - "there only function of the ultimate security of defence is lost to submarines" - yet this did not stop Fisher commencing a building programme of battlecruisers which he helped to design - the primary reason for this is that his Admiralty peers were much less technology minded and insisted submarines were ungentlemanly

Question 32

what was the HMS Dreadnought

Answer 32

- first capital ship to be powered by steam turbines - launched 1906 - first battleship to have a uniform main battery of guns - it had smaller guns atop the main guns to tackle the new torpedo boats and submarines - many nations reacted to the construction of it - Germany reacted the strongest which pushed Britain into a frenzy of dreadnought building

Question 33

what are some of the stats for the great naval arms race in the building of dreadnoughts

Answer 33

- by 1914 Britain had 29 - Germany stopped in 1912 and 17 - France 10 - Russia 4 - Austria-Hungry 3 - USA had 2 small ones - Japan 2 super ones - Spain 3 of the smallest - Brazil ordered 3 from Britain and Turkey ordered 2 though they were not delivered

Question 34

why were the Graham reforms of 1832 able to come about

Answer 34

in 1830 a Whig government were elected - more pro-reform element of politics - give middle class men the ability to vote not just aristocratic men - 80% of people in Britain now able to vote - this reformist mindset extends to the navy