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....

Originally Posted by Rufus Excalibur

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.

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.

I just wanna say...being the drunk russian i am...I laugh at the idea of 1970 USSR navy being the best

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.