The Royal Navy is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom, founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII. England previously built large fleets during the reigns of Aethelred the Unready and Edward the Confessor in the 11th century, under King Edward III of England during the Hundred Years' War, and finally under King Henry VIII in the 16th century, when the navy was formally founded as a permanent institution. After the Union of the Crowns with Scotland in 1603, England's navy and the Royal Scots Navy increasingly fought as a single force.
The Royal Navy largely sided with Parliament during the English Civil War and became known as the Commonwealth Navy under republican rule, fighting the First Anglo-Dutch War in 1652-1654 and conquering Jamaica from Spain. In 1660, the Royal Navy was restored by King Charles II of England, and the War of the Grand Alliance resulted in England gradually asserting its naval dominance. In 1707, during the War of the Spanish Succession, the Scots and English navies united. The Royal Navy became the largest maritime force in the world, and it acquired Mediterranean bases at Gibraltar and Minorca in 1714. British North America became a vital source of timber for the navy, and the Royal Navy protected the British Isles from the threat of French or Spanish invasion during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. Britain's navy also enabled colonial expansion in diverse theatres, with the British taking Havana and Manila in 1762.
While the Royal Navy suffered several defeats during the American Revolutionary War, notably including the Battle of the Chesapeake, the Royal Navy still held the upper hand against the French and Spanish and defended the Caribbean, India, Gibraltar, and the English Channel. The Royal Navy again distinguished itself in the wars against Napoleon's French Empire, overcoming significant mutinies and overstretched resources to occupy Dutch colonies like South Africa and destroy Franco-Spanish naval power at the Battle of Trafalgar. Bermuda-based ships blockaded America during the War of 1812 and launched various amphibious operations against the American East Coast.
Between 1815 and 1914, the Royal Navy ruled the waves and saw little serious action, using fortress colonies like Bermuda, Gibraltar, Halifax, and Malta as overseas bases. In 1889, Parliament's Naval Defence Act mandated that the Royal Navy should maintain a number of battleships at least equal to the combined strength of the next two largest navies. The launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 revolutionized battleship warfare, and the Royal Navy distinguished itself in World War I. World War II saw the 1,400-ship Royal Navy save the British Army in the Dunkirk evacuation, but it contended with German U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic and with the rising naval power of Japan. After the war's end, the decline of the British Empire resulted in the reduction in size and capability of the Royal Navy, with the US Navy replacing it as the world's strongest navy. The Royal Navy again had a chance to fight in the 1982 Falklands War. By the 2020s, the Royal Navy had 1 ship of the line, 2 aircraft carriers, 10 submarines, 6 destroyers, 7 frigates, 8 offshore patrol vessels, 8 mine countermeasures vehicles, 18 fast patrol boats, 2 survey ships, and 1 ice patrol ship, as well as more than 32,000 active personnel.
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