The history of the British Royal Navy goes back more than a thousand years to King Alfred’s first sea battle in 882. In 1660, the Kingdom of England created a national naval force after King Charles II was restored to the throne. In 1707, England’s naval force merged with the smaller Royal Scots Navy after England and Scotland joined together to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. The two had actually begun operating together from the time of the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

At the beginning of World War II, the British Royal Navy had a smaller fleet as a result of the World War I treaties. Great Britain had many global commitments and their first task was to protect the country’s trade. The country was very much dependent upon food imports and raw materials. The Royal Navy’s resources were allocated around the world between several fleets and stations.

Soon after the war started they supplied critical protection for British evacuation operations from Norway. During this evacuation six destroyers and an aircraft carrier were lost, but over 300,000 men were saved. Later on, at Dunkirk, 7,000 British Royal Navy men were killed.

At the beginning of World War II, the Royal Navy had 19 battleships and 80 cruisers. 50 older destroyers, along with other smaller crafts, were acquired from America in exchange for various naval bases. When World War II ended, the Royal Navy had 16 battleships, 50 carriers, 62 cruisers, nearly 200 destroyers, 131 submarines and also 9,000 other ships. Throughout the war they lost three hundred and fifty major warships and over one thousand smaller ships. At the beginning of the war there were 134,000 men in the Royal Navy and by the end of the war over 800,000 men were part of the navy. Over 50,000 sailors died in the war. The Royal Marines had about 80,000 men in 1945, and they took part in all of the important landings.

The Royal Navy defended Great Britain from invasion, fought enemies and also established the nation as the most dominant sea power during the nineteenth century. Today, the role of the British Royal Navy involves peacekeeping, as well as fighting drug trafficking and piracy. The story of the Royal Navy is an important part of the Great Britain’s history. The Royal Navy has a museum located in Portsmouth, England and is one of Great Britain’s oldest and most well-known maritime museums