Navy is the branch of a nation’s armed forces that consists of warships and support ships, their crews, and land bases and their personnel. Many navies also have an air force. Some navies include combat forces called marines, who are trained to fight in the air and on land.
Most nations that have a coastline have a navy. But the world’s navies differ greatly in size, in fighting strength, and in the types of ships and aircraft that they have. Smaller navies consist mainly of warships called small combatants, such as patrol boats, missile boats, and minesweepers. The main task of a small navy is to defend its nation’s coastline. Larger navies also have major warships, such as aircraft carriers, submarines, and frigates. These warships can operate far out at sea without returning to port for weeks or months. Nations use large navies to control the sea and, during times of war, to attack enemy shores.
The United States, China, and Russia have the world’s largest navies. For centuries, the most powerful nations were often those with the strongest navies. The development of aircraft and missiles in the 1900’s reduced the importance of seagoing forces. Nevertheless, navies still have tremendous military and political value. Warships are flexible in operation, and they can travel the seas freely. International law allows ships to sail within 12 nautical miles (22.2 kilometers) of any country’s coast without permission. Thus, a group of warships can serve as a temporary military base. More importantly, ships can carry out their mission independent of foreign land bases.
The role of navies
Nations use their navies in many different roles. A navy’s role depends on its size and composition, and whether the nation is at war or at peace.
Peacetime roles.
When a nation is at peace, it may show political support by sending its ships to an ally’s port or by training with an ally’s navy. Navies may also help deliver food, medicine, and other humanitarian aid to war-torn countries or to areas struck by a natural disaster. In addition, nations may use their navies to collect intelligence (information about potential enemies).
Sometimes, navies perform limited military operations during peacetime. For example, in the late 1980’s, U.S. warships escorted oil tankers in the Persian Gulf to protect them from attack during the war between Iran and Iraq. This was a military action, even though the United States was not directly involved in the war.
Wartime roles.
During a war, the primary role of a small navy is to defend its nation’s coastline against enemies. Large navies have two principal wartime roles: (1) controlling the sea and (2) providing a base from which to launch attacks against the shore.
Controlling the sea means that a navy takes over specific areas of the ocean to ensure the safe passage of its own ships and to deny passage to enemy ships. Control of the sea involves defending ships against attack. It also may involve blockading enemy land bases so that enemy ships and aircraft cannot use them. A navy may control some areas of the sea by laying naval mines (explosive devices in the water). Naval mines can damage or destroy ships that try to pass over them.
A nation with a large navy also has the power to attack targets on land from the sea. Modern warships can launch attacks from positions far out at sea using missiles and aircraft. Navies may also launch amphibious assaults—invasions of enemy coastal areas by the combined action of land, sea, and air forces.
The organization of navies
Every navy has a shore-based branch and a seagoing branch. The shore-based branch includes headquarters, communications stations, airfields, shipyards, maintenance facilities, supply stations, naval schools, and their personnel. The seagoing branch, usually called the fleet, consists of a navy’s ships, submarines, ship-based aircraft, and their crews. The organization of a fleet varies with the size, mission, and location of the navy. The U.S. Navy, for example, has separate fleets in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. France has Atlantic and Mediterranean fleets. India’s navy operates one fleet on India’s western coast and a second fleet on its eastern coast.
Because ships are flexible in their operation, they can be organized in many combinations for different purposes. In most fleets, each ship is assigned to a permanent administrative unit called a group, squadron, or division. Large fleets may also organize their ships into task forces. These are temporary groupings of ships formed to carry out a particular task. A task force may consist of one or more than a dozen ships, depending on the task. In the U.S. Navy, task forces are called battle groups when they contain one or more aircraft carriers.
Ships and aircraft
The world’s navies operate many types of ships, ranging from huge aircraft carriers to small patrol boats. Navies also use many kinds of aircraft.
Aircraft carriers
are the largest warships ever built. Carriers serve as mobile bases for many kinds of aircraft. Some carriers are designed for conventional aircraft, which would normally require a long runway. Conventional aircraft are launched from a carrier deck with the aid of a catapult. When the aircraft land, a device called a tail hook lowered from the rear of the plane catches one of the steel cables stretched across the deck. The United States Navy operates the world’s largest carrier fleet, consisting of 11 major ships. The navies of Brazil, China, France, India, Russia, and the United Kingdom also have carriers that launch and land conventional aircraft.
Other carriers can serve as a base only for helicopters or V/STOL aircraft, which take off vertically or from a short runway. V/STOL stands for Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing. The U.S. Navy and the navies of several countries, including Australia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Thailand include these small carriers.
Most carriers are armed with guns and missiles for short-range defense, but they depend on their aircraft and other warships for protection. The United States operates more aircraft carriers than all other countries combined.
Cruisers
are the next largest warships. Navies use cruisers primarily to defend aircraft carriers against air and submarine attacks. Cruisers are armed with missiles, rockets, and torpedoes. Some cruisers also carry powerful long-range missiles for attacking targets on land. Peru, Russia, and the United States have cruisers.
Destroyers
are similar to cruisers, but they are smaller and less costly to build. They are armed with guns, rockets, torpedoes, and missiles. A destroyer’s main role is to escort and defend other ships, but destroyers also perform independent missions. Several of the world’s navies have destroyers.
Frigates
are medium-sized warships. Armed with a variety of weaponry, they are used mostly to escort other ships. Frigates are armed with torpedoes and other antisubmarine weapons. Most frigates also have guns, and some have missiles for defense against air and surface attacks.
Amphibious ships
—often called amphibs—carry marines to enemy shores for operations on land. Amphibs use helicopters and landing craft to carry troops and their equipment ashore. Some amphibious assault ships carry V/STOL aircraft and have capabilities similar to those of small aircraft carriers.
Submarines
are warships that travel underwater. They can remain at sea, fully submerged, for long periods. They are extremely difficult for enemies to attack. Navies have two principal kinds of submarines: attack submarines and ballistic missile submarines. Attack submarines carry torpedoes and missiles. They primarily attack enemy surface ships and submarines. About 40 navies have attack submarines. Ballistic missile submarines carry long-range ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads for attacking targets on shore. The navies of China, France, India, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States have ballistic missile submarines.
Loading the player...Submarine
Auxiliary ships
are noncombatant ships, most of which support warships. Underway replenishment (UNREP) ships carry fuel, food, weapons, ammunition, and other supplies for warships at sea. Other auxiliary ships include supply and repair ships called tenders, hospital ships, tankers, salvage ships, and tugs.
Small combatants
include missile and torpedo boats, minesweepers, and patrol boats. Small combatants operate mostly in coastal waters. Missile and torpedo boats have limited seagoing ability, but they carry powerful weapons for attacking larger ships. Minesweepers locate and destroy enemy mines. Patrol boats guard coastal waters.
Aircraft
play a major role in modern naval operations. Navies use many types of aircraft, including fighter, attack, antisubmarine, cargo, and reconnaissance (observation) planes; and helicopters.
Major navies of the world
A powerful navy is modern, well trained, and can fight effectively. The world’s largest navies, in terms of both number of major warships and number of personnel, belong to the United States, China, and Russia. Other countries with large navies include France, India, Italy, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The size of a navy does not necessarily reflect its fighting strength, however. For example, one aircraft carrier can provide as much striking power as can several destroyers or submarines. In addition, advanced weapons can give a small navy major striking power.
The United States
has about 125 major surface warships, including 11 conventional aircraft carriers. The carriers, all of which are nuclear powered, are the backbone of the U.S. fleet. In addition to surface ships, the U.S. Navy operates about 70 nuclear-powered submarines. Approximately 346,000 men and women serve in the U.S. Navy. Another 180,000 belong to the Marine Corps, a separate branch of the Department of the Navy.
China
has a large navy, but many of its ships are old and have spent little time training at sea. Thus, the effectiveness of the Chinese Navy has been limited. China’s fleet operates mostly in coastal waters. The Chinese Navy has about 80 major surface warships, including 2 modern aircraft carriers. It also has about 60 submarines, of which about 10 are nuclear powered. Approximately 260,000 people, including marines, serve in the Chinese Navy.
Russia
took control of most of the massive Soviet Navy after the Soviet Union broke apart in late 1991. Since then, Russia has taken many ships and submarines out of service because they cost too much to operate. Despite these reductions, the Russian Navy is still large, and most of its ships are modern.
The submarine is the most important ship in the Russian fleet. The Russian Navy has about 50 submarines, about 30 of which are nuclear powered. Russia also has about 30 major surface warships, including 1 aircraft carrier. The Russian Navy has about 150,000 men and women, including marines.
India
enlarged its navy during the 1980’s as part of a major arms build-up. India now has about 30 major surface warships, including 1 aircraft carrier. India also has about 15 submarines, mostly diesel-powered. About 69,000 people, including marines, serve in the Indian Navy.
France
has a relatively small navy, but it is modern and well-trained. It has about 20 major surface warships, including 1 conventional aircraft carrier. France also has about 10 submarines, all of which are nuclear powered. About 35,000 people, including marines, serve in the French Navy.
The United Kingdom
has a relatively small but effective navy. The navy of the United Kingdom, called the Royal Navy, operates about 20 major surface warships, including two modern aircraft carriers. It also has about 10 submarines, all nuclear powered. About 32,000 people, including marines, serve in the Royal Navy.
The history of navies
Ancient navies.
By about 3000 B.C., the Egyptians were using small seagoing ships for military purposes. Between 2000 and 1000 B.C., the Greeks began building long, wooden ships called galleys. Galleys were propelled chiefly by oars, but most also had sails. Ancient Mediterranean civilizations used galleys to guard their coastlines and trading ships. Ancient galleys had pointed bows to ram other ships. Later, crews used catapults (weapons that resembled giant slingshots) to throw stones, hot coals, and pitch onto enemy ships.
In 483 B.C., the Greek city-state of Athens, which consisted of Athens and the surrounding villages and farmland, began to build a large fleet of galleys to defend itself against invaders from Persia. Athens soon became the dominant naval power in the Mediterranean Sea. Athens defeated the Persian fleet near the island of Salamis in 480 B.C. in the first naval battle for which an extensive record exists.
In 31 B.C., the fleets of two rival Roman leaders, Mark Antony and Gaius Octavian, fought a battle off Actium in western Greece. Antony was allied with Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, and commanded their joint fleets. Octavian’s fleet won the battle. He later became Emperor Augustus of Rome. Rome reigned as the supreme naval power in the Mediterranean for the next 250 years.
Navies in the Middle Ages.
From the A.D. 700’s to about 1100, bold Scandinavian sailors, now known as Vikings, raided coastal and river settlements throughout western Europe. In the late 800’s, the English king Alfred the Great built a large fleet of galley warships to defend his country against Viking raiders.
During the 1200’s, Europeans began to build ships with large, deep hulls (main bodies). Deep-hulled ships were faster and could travel more easily on the high seas than long, low galleys. Sails rather than oars became the principal means of propulsion, though some ships still used oars when there was no wind.
Most navies of the Middle Ages followed a standard battle plan. Attacking warships sailed alongside enemy ships and hurled rocks and flaming chemicals at them. Attackers then tried to ram or board enemy ships. After boarding, the crews fought hand-to-hand using swords, hatchets, and, later, guns. Some historians believe navies first used cannons during the 1300’s. But naval guns did not come into wide use until the 1500’s.
Between 1405 and 1433, a Chinese fleet, led by Admiral Zheng He (also spelled Cheng Ho), made a series of seven expeditions to the Indian Ocean, the Middle East, and the eastern coast of Africa. These voyages established China as the unchallenged naval power in Asia for the first half of the 1400’s. China’s naval supremacy ended after leaders who disapproved of contact with foreigners took control.
The beginning of modern navies.
The Italian city of Venice was the major sea power in the Mediterranean during the late Middle Ages. By 1400, Venice had a fleet of about 3,000 galleys. The Ottoman Empire, based in what is now Turkey, ranked as Venice’s chief naval rival. In 1571, Venice, Spain, and their allies destroyed most of the Ottoman fleet in a battle off Lepanto in Greece. This was the last major battle between oar-driven galleys.
During the 1500’s, Spain and England competed for control of the Atlantic Ocean. Both countries built ships called galleons. Galleons were large, high sailing ships with three masts. In the late 1500’s, English galleons began harassing Spanish galleons carrying gold and silver from the Americas. In response, Spain built a fleet called the Armada. In 1588, this fleet tried to invade England. But England’s galleons were smaller and easier to maneuver than Spain’s, and English crews were better trained. The English defeated the Armada. England (later part of the United Kingdom) dominated the Atlantic for the next 300 years.
The Netherlands competed with England for control of the seas during the mid-1600’s. The two countries fought several naval battles that brought important changes in military tactics at sea. By this time, fleets had become large and difficult to command. Naval commanders began issuing instructions before a battle to coordinate the movements of their ships during the fighting. Large groups of ships were divided into squadrons. Commanders used flags to signal to other ships.
The largest warships were called battleships or ships of the line because they were positioned in the main line of battle. Opposing lines of battleships sailed on parallel courses and bombarded each other with cannon fire. In the Battle of Trafalgar, off the coast of Spain in 1805, British Admiral Horatio Nelson won a major victory by breaking through and disrupting the battle line of the opposing French and Spanish navies.
Engineering advances.
In 1814, the American inventor Robert Fulton built the first steam-powered warship. Steamships could cruise faster than sailing ships, and they could move against or without wind. But steamships faced a new problem. They needed fuel and had to depend on land bases to supply coal for refueling. Navies had to establish fueling stations overseas.
Improvements in the range, reliability, and accuracy of shipboard guns had a tremendous impact on naval warfare. During the 1820’s, inventors developed naval guns that fired explosive shells rather than solid balls. In 1853, Russian ships fired the first explosive shells used in naval battle, destroying the wooden ships of the opposing Ottoman fleet during the Crimean War. In this war, Russia fought the allied forces of the United Kingdom, France, Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire.
In the mid-1800’s, shipbuilders began covering wooden hulls with heavy iron armor. Inventors developed rotating turrets so that naval guns could be fired in almost any direction without turning the ship. As the range and accuracy of guns increased, ships fought at greater distances. Crews no longer boarded enemy ships and fought hand-to-hand, as in the sailing era.
In 1862, during the American Civil War, the Union’s Monitor fought the South’s Merrimack (then named the Virginia) in the channel of Hampton Roads in Chesapeake Bay. Neither ship was sunk. But this battle is famous because it was the first battle between two iron-armored ships. It was also one of the first battles between ships powered entirely by steam.
In 1906, the British completed the battleship Dreadnought. The Dreadnought carried more large guns and was faster than any previous battleship. It made all other battleships out of date, and it pushed Germany and the United Kingdom into a race of modern shipbuilding.
World War I
began in 1914. In the war, the Allies, who included the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Russia, and the United States, fought Germany, Austria-Hungary, and other Central Powers. The war featured two new weapons that revolutionized naval war: submarines and airplanes. Submarines armed with torpedoes sank many enemy surface ships. Airplanes, flown from airfields ashore, attacked ships, submarines, and targets on land.
Most naval battles during World War I involved only small numbers of ships. The war’s largest naval battle occurred in 1916, when the United Kingdom and Germany fought the Battle of Jutland, off the coast of Denmark. Although the United Kingdom lost more ships, it forced the German fleet to withdraw and remain in port for the rest of the war.
When World War I ended in 1918, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the United States were engaged in costly shipbuilding programs. After extensive negotiations, these and other nations agreed to limit warship construction. The Treaty of Versailles, which ended military action against Germany, barred Germany from building a large navy. But Germany violated the treaty by secretly building submarines for other countries. When German dictator Adolf Hitler rose to power in the early 1930’s, he ordered the construction of a large navy. Japan and the Soviet Union also began building major fleets in the 1930’s.
World War II
began in Europe in 1939. In that war, Germany, Italy, Japan, and smaller Axis nations fought the Allies, who included the United Kingdom, Canada, China, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Naval combat broke out in the Atlantic in 1939, when German warships began attacking British ships. Germany’s goal was to cut off the United Kingdom’s supply of food and war materials. The United Kingdom sank most of Germany’s surface ships, forcing Germany to resort to submarine warfare. The Allies fought German submarines with airplanes, antisubmarine ships, radar, sonar, and underwater bombs called depth charges. In addition, the Allies were able to intercept and decode German radio messages, which helped them predict the movement of enemy submarines.
Naval combat began in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 7, 1941. That day, Japanese bombers flying from six aircraft carriers made a surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The Japanese sank or heavily damaged five U.S. battleships. But all of the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carriers survived because none were then in Pearl Harbor. After the attack, aircraft carriers became the principal warship of the U.S. Navy.
Loading the player...Attack on Pearl Harbor
The Battle of the Coral Sea, in May 1942, was the first naval battle in which the opposing warships never sighted or fired on each other. The Japanese and U.S. navies attacked each other with warplanes launched from their aircraft carriers. The Battle of Midway in June 1942 was the turning point for naval war in the Pacific. In this battle, the U.S. Navy sank four Japanese aircraft carriers and one cruiser. The Battle for Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, in October 1944, was one of the largest naval battles in history. This series of actions involved about 280 Japanese and U.S. warships. The battle eliminated Japan as a major naval power.
By the time Japan surrendered in 1945 and World War II ended, only the United States and the United Kingdom still had major navies. The U.S. fleet was much larger than the rest of the world’s seagoing forces combined.
Navies during the Cold War.
The Cold War was a period of intense rivalry that developed after World War II between Communist and non-Communist countries. During this period, many countries carried out naval building programs. Many small navies were modernized with the addition of submarines, missiles, and other advanced weapons. The Soviet Union began a drive to enlarge and modernize its fleet in the late 1940’s.
After World War II, aviation experts predicted that aircraft carrying nuclear bombs would be the principal weapon in future military conflicts. As a result, the U.S. Navy concentrated on building aircraft that could fly from large carriers and carry nuclear bombs.
The Korean War (1950-1953) proved, however, that conventional naval forces were still vital to modern conflicts. In this war, the United States and other members of the United Nations aided South Korea against North Korea, which was backed by China and the Soviet Union. Airpower was not the deciding factor in ending the war, and neither side used nuclear weapons. During the war, the U.S. Navy launched carrier-based air attacks, made amphibious landings, and used shipboard guns to bombard enemy coastal targets.
In 1954, the U.S. Navy launched the world’s first nuclear-powered ship, the submarine Nautilus. The first Soviet nuclear submarine was completed about five years later. The first nuclear-powered surface warships were the U.S. aircraft carrier Enterprise and the cruiser Long Beach, both commissioned (put into active service) in 1961. By the mid-1960’s, both the Soviet Union and the United States had submarines with ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads.
The world’s navies were involved in numerous conflicts during the Cold War period. For example, in 1962, the U.S. Navy blockaded Cuba to force the Soviets to remove missiles and aircraft they had brought to the island. The U.S. Navy saw extensive combat in the Vietnam War after the United States became heavily involved in the war in 1965. In 1982, the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy battled Argentina for control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. The Royal Navy was victorious, proving that it could fight against modern weapons at great distances from the United Kingdom.
Navies after the Cold War.
The Cold War ended in the early 1990’s, after the Soviet Union broke apart and democratic reforms took place in Eastern Europe. Tensions eased between countries that had considered each other enemies.
Many countries, including the United Kingdom, Russia, and the United States, began reducing their navies. Older ships were cut up for scrap metal, newer ships were placed in reserve, and fewer new ships were built. Both Russia and the United States began reducing their fleets of ballistic missile submarines. However, some smaller navies, including those of France, India, and Israel, continued to build and modernize their fleets. Several of the former Soviet republics, especially Ukraine, began to build their own navies in the 1990’s. Ukraine also took over a number of small ships that had belonged to the Soviet Navy. The U.S. Navy played a major role in the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and in the Iraq War (2003-2011).
