Impressive naval parade of the Royal Navy in Malta at the beginning of the 20th century. The column is composed of pre-dreadnought battleships and battlecruisers.During WWI the British Grand Fleet had a lot of work and was constantly deployed to protect the British territories all over the Globe. The threat of the powerful German Navy was constant and produced some clashes between battleships of both countries.The culmination of this clashes between the Grand Fleet versus the German High Seas fleet, took place at the Battle of Jutland, in the North Sea waters on May 31 and June 1, 1916. On this occasion the British Fleet suffered more losses than its rival, losing 3 battlecruisers, 3 armored cruisers, 8 destroyers and 6,784 men. The Germans lost 1 battlecruiser, 1 pre-dreadnought battleship, 4 light cruisers, 5 destroyers and 3,039 men.Here we can see the Royal Navy’s HMS Lion and HMS Tiger battlecruisers. They were framed in the British Grand Fleet, the most powerful Navy in the World when WWI took place.This picture shows the British HMS Courageous, HMS Furious and HMS Glorious aircraft carriers during interwar period. These three ships arose from an idea of Admiral Fisher prior to WWI. He wanted to have a powerful amphibious assault fleet that could be used against the Baltic coast of Germany in the event of a conflict. Finally they would fight against Germany in WWII, where HMS Courageous was sunk in 1939 and HMS Glorious in 1940.The British Home Fleet parades in Weymouth Bay, Dorset, England. Light cruisers can be seen in the foreground. They were followed by a line of destroyers and behind them several lines with Nelson class battleships and Renown class battlecruisers.The Home Fleet in 1940, when it was put on alert to protect the maritime communications routes of Great Britain and prevent invasion by German forces. In the foreground a Nelson‘s class battleship, the most powerful of the Royal Navy at that time.During the early stages of WWII, the attack on merchant traffic that was to supply Britain, was the main strategy of Germany to weaken and defeat the British. It was thought that one way to protect merchants more effectively was to organize convoys escorted by warships that kept the dreaded German submarines as far away as possible.Huge sample of naval power by the Royal Navy. The line is headed by HMS Nelson of 41,000 tonnes and nine 406mm guns. It is followed by HMS Royal Sovereign of 31,000 tonnes and eight 381mm guns, and thirdly, the HMS Queen Elizabeth of 31,500 tonnes and eight 381mm guns.HMS Renown battlecruiser leads this task force of the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet. In the background navigates the HMS Ark Royal carrier. The WWII was the consecration of the aircraft carrier as the successor of the big guns capital ships.British battleships HMS Nelson and HMS Queen Elizabeth, (in the background), in 1946, after having participated in the bloodiest war in Human History, the World War II.After finishing WWII, all great powers proceeded to cut as far as possible the gigantic armed forces with which they ended the conflict. The Royal Navy was no exception and in 1966 decided to cancel the construction of large aircraft carriers capable of operating with fixed-wing aircraft. This 1960’s image shows four large Royal Navy’s carriers during some exercises, sadly, this image would cease to occur forever very soon after.In the foreground, the HMS Renown nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) belonging to Resolution class, accompanied by the HMS Churchill nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) on a voyage in the 80s. Resolution class was the depository of the United Kingdom’s strategic nuclear deterrent force that until the last years of the 1960s had remained in the hands of the RAF.Typical Cold War image, where it was quite common for ships of the opposite block, to approach the “enemy” ships until some escort decided to put an end to the gossip. In this occasion we can see the British frigate HMS Ajax (F-114) “calling to order” a Soviet Krivak class frigate.Task Force deployed by the Royal Navy during the Falklands conflict. The flotilla is composed by Amazon and Boxer class frigates.Supply tasks carried out by Sea King helicopters between the Royal Navy’s HMS Fearless (on the left) and HMS Hermes during the Falklands War. Helicopters allow a rapid transfer of loads in a short period of time, keeping the exposure time of ships to an enemy attack to a minimum.The Royal Navy has also gone through painful and bitter moments, especially during the Falklands War, where the Argentine aviation, lacking in equipment, but plenty of courage, managed to inflict some really important losses. In this image we see the HMS Arrow (F-173) frigate assisting to HMS Sheffield (D-80) destroyer after being hit by an Exocet missile launched by an Argentine Navy’s Super Etendard aircraft on May 4, 1982. Unfortunately the Sheffield sank on May 10 while being towed to South Georgia.A Trafalgar‘s class nuclear attack submarine, (SSN), sailing on surface next to HMS Northumberland, belonging to the Duke or Type 23 class frigates.Although similar in appearance, their missions are not. The HMS Ocean, (on the left), sails next to the HMS Ark Royal, both of the Royal Navy. HMS Ocean is suitable for air assault missions in amphibious operations and the HMS Ark Royal performs aircraft carrier missions as defense of naval task groups, and anti-ship and land attack missions.The battle of Tsushima in 1898 showed the power of naval artillery in all its splendor. The Japanese Navy defeated the Russian Navy in a humiliating manner. Russia lost 11 battleships, 4 cruisers, 6 destroyers and 4,380 men against a Japanese losses of only 3 torpedo boats and 117 men.Powerful warships formation from the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) at the beginning of WWII. In the foreground the IJN Nagato battleship, followed by the IJN Kirishima battlecruiser, and IJN Ise and IJN Hyuga battleships in the background.Naval formation composed by ships from the “Voyenno morskoy flot” of the extinct Soviet Union in which can be seen (from left to right) a Moskva class helicopter carrier, a frigate, a Boris Chilikin class supply vessel and a Kara class missile cruiser during the 80s.When the “Red Fleet” disappeared in 1991, it was composed of almost half a million people, more than a thousand vessels and nearly 1,200 aircraft. This image shows (from right to left): a Kiev class carrier, the supply vessel Berezina, a Kashin mod. class missile destroyer and a Kresta I class missile cruiser.The Soviet Fleet was always well supplied with powerful cruisers armed with long-range anti-ship missiles, specially designed to attack American combat groups. From right to left we can see a Kynda class missile cruiser, a Kashin class missile destroyer and a Kara class missile cruiser.In the heat of Cold War the force of Soviet Naval Infantry consisted of about 18,000 soldiers framed in a Division and four independent Brigades. They had all kinds of armoured vehicles, including main battle tanks, and air support was provided by the Navy. The command of this force corresponded to the Soviet Navy and the force was distributed among all the fleets, so that each had its own Marines unit.
