Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Well if you're talking about influence at sea then there's no question that the RN of the 19th Century was in the main the most influential navy in history. The RN was virtually unchallenged for long periods and forged a worldwide empire that lasted tens of decades. The US Navy today does have tremendous influence but I don't think you can say it quite has the same influence simply because of the world being a smaller place and there being other modes of travel in particular air travel. Back in the 19th Century if the RN wanted to blockade you or cut off your shipping lanes by God they would do it. There was no alternate modes of travel that spanned continents in those days.

Yielding

The reason why the RN was the most powerful navy ever because back then they didn't have airplanes. After WW2 the U.S became the most powerful because they had airplanes. Nuff said.

Originally Posted by joeyb18c

I'm definatly going with US navy 1990 and on, think of the firepower just one nuclear submarine has, nothing can compare and its not like we only have one

What is the point of a weapon that cannot be used?

Originally Posted by godofthunder9010

[... But please bear in mind that the US Navy has not been the tool of global domination because the USA isn't terribly interested. The United States could probably conquer the Caribbean and whatever they want to smaller island nations of the Pacific. They could do a lot bigger things if they wanted. They could do many of the things that the RN could have done or did. They just aren't focussed on conquering an empire for themselves. If they were, I don't think they'd match the British level of dominance, but they'd certainly be a force to be reckoned with....

When we came up with the Monroe Doctrine..it was supposed to tell everyone in the world that we would not do exactly what was related above in the quote. It was supposed to assure the other nations that we wouldnt put up with it from them either.

there are reasons for things....