The Worlds's Greatest Ever Navy?

Strongest Navy Ever

  • Royal Navy 1850-1906

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • RN 1914

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Spanish Navy 1540's

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • USN 1950-1990

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • RN 1941

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • USN 1944

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Japanese Navy 1941

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Soviet Navy 1970

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • German Navy 1914

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    2

Rufus Excalibur

Active member
Taking all things into account who has had the most powerful Navy and in which era?

Even in 1939 the Royal Navy had the largest fleet in the world and had 900+ ships in 1945.

The RN remained very powerful up until the early 1970's and in the 60's had a major Carrier force 2 over 50,000 tonnes, 1 at 35,000 and 4 at 28,000 tonnes, cruisers, destroyers, frigates and a large submarine force

The USN became number one in the 1950's and was on a parallel with the RN through the latter war years and late 1940's.

Today the USN is streaks ahead of any rival, rather like the RN in the 19th century, but the Sub capability of the Soviets from the 50's onwards must also be taken into account.

The Royal Navy in 1914 was awesome over 30 modern battleships and Battlecruisers but the German High Seas Fleet was very vewry strong and the RN did not have the supremacy of the 19th C or as the US has today although in terms of visual effect 35 Battleships/Battlecruisers in battle formation must have been a sight never to be equalled even if you put 12-14 US Carrier behemoths in a row.

Then their is the Spanish fleet in the 16th Century,

France and england in the late 18th and early 19th, The Dutch in the 17th and so on.

I would rank it Royal Navy 1850-1906
USN 1990 onwards
Royal Navy 1914
Spanish Navy 1540
USN 1950-1990
Royal Navy 1941
US Navy 1944
Japanese Navy 1941
Soviet Navy 1970
 
well IMHO...

for sheer weight of tactical accomplishment it had to be the US Navy..both combined fleets, atlantic and pacific.

Remember its just an opinion
 
Are we talking the USN 1944? or present day? In 1944 the USN was very much Pacific centred and the RN in the Atlantic/Home waters. Evidence being that at D-Day 75% of naval forces were RN.

Of course naval power now is centred on Carriers and Subs, but Carriers are (opinion only) airforces at sea rather than traditional battle platforms whether Battleships, Cruisers, Frigates etc.

Today the USN mirrors the total ocean dominance of the RN in the 19th C, the period 1900 - 1990 may have seen many awesome fleets with a combined punch of sheer magnitude, but they could cancel each other out, that was not the case in 1880 or indeed 2004
 
Well I know it wasn't the Roman empire...ever...they're version of Naval tactics was... get close enough to the enemy ship.....drop a gang plank with a spike on the bottom to impale the other ship's deck.... and the march troops over it to take the ship. Kind of what they did on land minus the ships and water and stuff.... :D
 
Rufus Excalibur said:
Are we talking the USN 1944? or present day? In 1944 the USN was very much Pacific centred and the RN in the Atlantic/Home waters. Evidence being that at D-Day 75% of naval forces were RN.

im sorry it the 1944 US Navy all combined fleets subs carriers destroyers blimps...ect yes the whole darn thing. :D
 
would have to say RN 1850-1906, was a huge fleet with a prescence all over the globe defending a huge empire and spreading britains influence. Ships like the dreadnaught made the fleet the most powerful in the world.
 
How about the Royal Navy of the 18th and early 19th century?Probably shaped the world we live today,and was responsible for the beginning of the industrial revolution and mass production.The Royal Navy enabled Britain to build an empire on which the sun literally did not set, encompassing one–fifth of the world’s population, it also facilitated trade and communication with every other part of the planet. Thanks to the Royal Navy, the British Empire became the first truly global community, bound together by law, language, and commerce.

An excellent book on the subject by N.A.M. Rodger - The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649-1815
 
I gotta go with the USN on this. It's basically the best. There's no comparison. And not to be an ignorant American, but everything we have is really the best. There's no comparison. When we look back at history, however, we see that America wasn't always the best. So, I voted for Royal Navy 1850-1906.
 
yeah the RN of late 18th-early 19th centuries was amazingly strong, it was the largest navy of the day, battles such as cape st vincent, trafalger, the nile put the RN in a position where it dominated the seas until WW2. It fought dutch, spanish, french fleets who had the same technology and apart from looks the ships were almost the same, and mostly beat them only the dutch caused any problems. The navy had little technological advantage over anyone, but the training, the leadership and the industrial revolution set the RN apart.
 
Is this a poll on the strongest navy during the time period? Or just strongest Navy ever?

If it's ever, than it's definitly USN present day.
 
Seems like kind of a broad question. A great navy is based not only on number and strength of its ships but on the captains and commanders of those ships and forces. Which is why I'm choosing the the modern USN. But it's hard to compare, strategies and purposes of the Navy has changed through everyone of those years mentioned.
 
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 ;)
 
I'm going to go with U.S. Navy 1990- onwards, the Royal Navy never had as much influence as the U.S. today now does... We can't really compare these generations of fleets by firepower, rather their influence at the seas. Definately the U.S
 
THroughout all of history, the Royal Navy has been known to be a strong fighting force ever since the British Empire and the Napoleonic era.
 
There is little question that the British Royal Navy is the best navy ever. The truly amazing thing is the duration of their superiority at sea. Truly amazing.
 
The Royal Navy from 1785 to 1906 using wooden man-o-wars and iron clad warships are by far the best fleet ever to sail the seas. At the battle of Trafalgar our ships were so good and had such good crews that Lord Nelsons tactic was relatively simple just to scramble about in there. Dont forget our enemies were the French and the Spanish and they pretty much had 2 to 1 ships in size of their fleet compared to the fleet we had at trafalgar and we just went straight in their. Our ships could shoot faster due to their crews, they had better marines, our ships although were less advanced in some respects they were much much much better built than any navies around then. I dont think any fleet challenged ours until the 1990's when all fleets of nuclear nations were pretty much the same for example the mail fleets of today are UK USA France Russia China and I think korea has a stable navy.
 
battery said:
I'm going to go with U.S. Navy 1990- onwards, the Royal Navy never had as much influence as the U.S. today now does... We can't really compare these generations of fleets by firepower, rather their influence at the seas. Definately the U.S

I'm sorry the 19th Century RN controlled the waves for over 100 years . Britain had forces in all major areas of the world from north America to China. Remember several America's present day naval bases are on British Islands. When Britain wished to attack a Country they did. It could take the west Indies from French to attacking Brazil to landing a force to burn the White House to controlling China's river trade. What has the 1990 USN been able to do ? Gulf War ? RN was there. Gulf War 2 ? RN there again.
 
battery said:
I'm going to go with U.S. Navy 1990- onwards, the Royal Navy never had as much influence as the U.S. today now does... We can't really compare these generations of fleets by firepower, rather their influence at the seas. Definately the U.S

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.
 
The thin Red Line said:
battery said:
I'm going to go with U.S. Navy 1990- onwards, the Royal Navy never had as much influence as the U.S. today now does... We can't really compare these generations of fleets by firepower, rather their influence at the seas. Definately the U.S

I'm sorry the 19th Century RN controlled the waves for over 100 years . Britain had forces in all major areas of the world from north America to China. Remember several America's present day naval bases are on British Islands. When Britain wished to attack a Country they did. It could take the west Indies from French to attacking Brazil to landing a force to burn the White House to controlling China's river trade. What has the 1990 USN been able to do ? Gulf War ? RN was there. Gulf War 2 ? RN there again.
Well, I already agree with you that the British Royal Navy was the most dominant ever. 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.

Dopp, you mention the fact that other means of transport exist, but bear in mind that its still critical to the modern world in peacetime and warfare. Its the cheapest and easiest way to move huge masses of material or manpower.
 
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