Tudor navy

TheTudor navywas the navy of theKingdom of Englandunder the rulingTudor dynasty(1485–1603). The period involved important and critical changes that led to the establishment of a permanent navy and laid the foundations for the futureRoyal Navy.

History

Henry VII

Henry VIIfostered sea power. He supported the old 1381 act that stated "that, to increase the navy of England, no goods or merchandises shall be either exported or imported, but only in ships belonging to the King's subjects."^[1]Although there is no evidence of a conscious change of policy, Henry soon embarked on a program of building merchant ships larger than previously. He also invested in dockyards and commissioned Sir Reginald Bray to construct adry dockin 1495 atPortsmouth(the oldest surviving example),^[2]withSweepstakeandMary Fortunebeing the first ships built there in 1497.^[3]^[4]

With the crown he acquiredGrace à Dieu,Governor,Martin Garcia,Mary of the Tower,Trinity,Falcon,and possiblyBonaventure.He purchasedCaravel of Ewe(Caravel of Eu,in Normandy), and perhaps also a small craft calledKing's Bark;he capturedLe Prisein 1490 and re-named itMargaret.In 1487 under the superintendences of Sir Richard Guldeford and Bray, he built the 225-gun four-mastedRegent.He ordered construction of the 141-gun four-mastedSovereign,built partly out of the re-shaped clinker timbers ofGrace Dieu.This ship originally was privately-constructed around 1449, and is not be confused with the 1416Grace Dieuof Henry V now believed to be lying in theRiver Hamble.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Henry VIII

BiographerJack Scarisbricksays thatHenry VIII(reigned 1509–1547) deserved his traditional title of "Father of the English navy".^[8]He inherited seven small warships from his father and added two dozen more by 1514. In addition to those built in England, he bought up Italian and Hanseatic warships. By March 1513, he proudly watched his fleet sail down the Thames under command of Sir Edmund Howard.^{[dubious–discuss]}It was the most powerful naval force to date in English history: 24 ships led by the 1600-ton "Henry Imperial";the fleet carried 5000 combat marines and 3000 sailors. It forced the outnumbered French fleet back to its ports, took control of the English Channel, and blockaded Brest. Henry was the first king to organize the navy as a permanent force, with a permanent administrative and logistical structure, funded by tax revenue and supervised by the new Navy Board.^[9]^[10]His personal attention was concentrated on land, where he founded the royal dockyards, planted trees for shipbuilding, enacted laws for inland navigation, guarded the coastline with fortifications, set up a school for navigation and designated the roles of officers and sailors. He closely supervised the construction of all his warships and their guns, knowing their designs, speed, tonnage, armaments, and battle tactics. He encouraged his naval architects, who perfected the Italian technique of mounting guns in the waist of the ship, thus lowering the center of gravity and making it a better platform. He supervised the smallest details and enjoyed nothing more than presiding over the launching of a new ship.^[11]He drained his treasury on military and naval affairs, diverting the revenues from new taxes and the sales of monastery lands as well as taking out foreign loans and debasing the English currency.^[12]^[13]^[14]^[9]

In 1512 SirEdward Howardtook over asLord Admiral,andattacked on 10 August at Pointe Saint-Mathieu,with inconclusive results despite a memorable slugging match between the EnglishRegentand the FrenchCordelièreresulting in the destruction of both. Additional combat in 1513 resulted in the death of Sir Edward, and his brotherThomas Howardtook his place. In 1514 the 1,500-toncarrackHenry Grace à Dieuwas launched, the first Englishtwo-deckerand one of the earliest warships equipped with gunports and heavy bronzecannons.Henry also commissioned theAnthony Roll(now in thePepys Library), a survey of his navy as it was around 1546, from which comes much of the pictorial evidence for his ships.

Henry VIII was threatened by the Pope's excommunication proceedings in 1538 and the peace between France and the Holy Roman Empire, which would allow them to unite against a heretical England. The projected force of the navy, which had been reinforced by 40 men-at-war at this point in his reign, would be needed to protect England from invasion until the threat of invasion passed in 1541 when France and the Holy Roman Empire renewed hostilities.^[9]

Henry VIII initiated the casting of cannons in England. By the late Elizabethan age (see the Aldernay wreck survey) English iron workers usingblast furnacesdeveloped the technique of producing cast iron cannons which, while not as durable as the prevailing bronze cannons, they were much cheaper and enabled England to arm its navy more easily.

In the end, the chief result of the war with France was a decision to keep the 30 ships active during peacetime. This entailed the establishment of a number of shore facilities, and the hiring of additional administrators; a royalshipwrightappears in 1538. By 1540 the navy consisted of 45 ships, a fleet of 20 ships was sent to Scotland in 1544 toland troops to burn Edinburgh,and in 1545Lord Lislehad a force of 80 ships fighting a French force of 130 attempting to invade England in conjunction with theBattle of the Solent(where theMary Rosesank). In the same year a memorandum established a "king's majesty's council of his marine", the first formal organization comprising seven officers, each in charge of a specific area, presided over by "Lieutenant of the Admiralty"or Vice-AdmiralThomas Clere.When war was not at hand the Navy was mostly occupied with chasing pirates.

HistorianG.R. Eltonargues that Henry indeed built up the organisation and infrastructure of the Navy, but it was not a useful weapon for his style of warfare. It lacked a useful strategy. It did serve as a defence against invasion, and for enhancing England's international prestige.^[15]

Edward and Mary

Edward VIandMary Iadded little new to their father's navy. Although the navy was involved in the maneuverings following the death of Henry VIII, it was ineffective.Marymaintained the building program, the navy performed satisfactorily if not outstandingly (it did not prevent the loss ofCalais) in the war with France of 1557 to 1559. However, the marriage of Mary I andPhilip IIled to trade with Spain, allowing English shipwrights to examine and adapt modern Spanish galleon design to the needs of the English Navy as English ports were soon visited by both Spanish warships and merchantmen. Philip was undoubtedly interested in the English navy as the chief defence of the realm of England and its potential to be deployed in the support of his father.^[16]This would later prove crucial to the growth and development of the race-built galleon and the Elizabethan Navy that would obtain some triumphs against the Spanish Armada during thewarbetween Protestant England and Catholic Spain.

Elizabeth I

While Henry VIII had launched the Royal Navy, his successors King Edward VI and Queen Mary I had ignored it and it was little more than a system of coastal defence.^[9]Elizabeth made naval strength a high priority.^[17]She risked war with Spain by supporting the "Sea Dogs,"such asJohn HawkinsandFrancis Drake,who preyed on the Spanish merchant ships carrying gold and silver from the New World.

Afleet reviewonElizabeth I's accession in 1559 showed the navy to consist of 39 ships, and there were plans to build another 30, to be grouped into five categories (a foreshadowing of therating system).Elizabethkept the navy at a constant expenditure for the next 20 years, and maintained a steady construction rate.

In 1578, gates were installed atDeptford Dockyard,marking the construction of the first true dry dock; previously, dry docks had been walled in with temporary earth dockheads, which had to be dug away to launch ships.^[18]

By the 1580s, tensions with Spain had reached the breaking point, exacerbated by Elizabeth's support for theprivateeringexpeditions ofHawkins,Drake,and others, and capped by theCadiz raidof 1587, in which Drake destroyed dozens of Spanish ships. In 1588,Philip II of Spainlaunched theSpanish Armadaagainst England, but after a running battle lasting over a week, the Armada was scattered and returned home.^[9]These famous battles were early actions in the long and costlyAnglo-Spanish Warof 1585–1604.

Characteristics

The Tudor Navy saw the introduction of some of the first permanent, standing navies. Before this, during times of war, merchant ships were often commandeered and refitted into warships. This saw the addition of temporary wooden castles placed at the bow and stern to provide firing platforms for the ship's crew. Other strategies included having chartered squadrons, warships owned by private entrepreneurs who chartered their squadrons to the crown, or feudal navies, where a vassal, by part of their feudal contract, would raise and maintain a navy for their liege lord.^[19]

Naval warfare during this time was largely auxiliary to the operations of armies on land, transporting troops to the theater of war, or conducted as piracy.^[19]Before the widespread use of naval guns, warships had tried to grapple with each other so that soldiers could board the enemy ship, now they stood off and fired broadsides that would sink the enemy vessel.^[20]Weapons used by the crew included daggers, such as ballock knives, swords used by officers, pikes, bills, and a combination of archery and early handguns.^[21]The growing use of gunpowder saw the transition from navies being decentralized, localized, or ad hoc formations during wartime into a near-permanent fixture of maritime states.

Aside from the tangible military benefits that larger, newly cannon-equipped warships provided, they also were personifications of royal power and prestige. Henry V had powerful showpieces, the “great ships,” such as the 1,400-tonGracedieu,Henry VIII's 800-tonMary Rose,or James IV's 1,000-tonMichael.These ships were better expressions of royal power than effective weapons of war, however, using these ships for political effect has been episodic and inconsistent.^[22]

Technological Advancements

In the 1200s and 1300s, most naval guns were relatively small swivel pieces or breech-loading deck guns located at the ship's fore and aft. By the 1500s, developments saw the introduction of breechloaders and then muzzle-loaders. Henry VII saw the expanded employment of naval guns on ships during his reign. Henry VIII introduced gunports into the design of English warships; this saw naval guns being moved from the traditional high castles upon the deck to the lower waist of the ship, providing more stability and allowed for full broadsides.^[23]

The Navy yards were leaders in technical innovation, and the captains devised new tactics. Parker (1996) argues that thefull-rigged shipwas one of the greatest technological advances of the century and permanently transformed naval warfare. In 1573 English shipwrights introduced designs, first demonstrated in theDreadnought,that allowed the ships to sail faster and maneuver better and permitted heavier guns.^[24]When Spain finally decided to invade and conquer England it was a fiasco; Hawkins and Drake's designs of English warships made them longer, faster, more maneuverable, and more heavily gunned than its Spanish counterpart. Superior English ships and seamanship foiled the invasion and led to the destruction of theSpanish Armadain 1588, marking the high point of Elizabeth's reign.^[9]Technically, the Armada failed because Spain's over-complex strategy required coordination between the invasion fleet and the Spanish army on shore. But the poor design of the Spanish cannons meant they were much slower in reloading in a close-range battle, allowing the English to take control. Spain and France still had stronger fleets, but England was catching up.^[25]

Structure of the Tudor Navy

Key officials from 1485 to 1546

Officers from 1485 to 1546included:^[26]

Admiral of England, Ireland and Aquitaine

John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford,1485-1512^[26]
Sir Edward Howard,1512-1513^[26]
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk,1513-1525^[26]
Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset,1525-1536^[26]
William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl of Southampton,1536-1540^[26]
John Russell, 1st Lord Russell,1540-1542^[26]
John Dudley, 1st Viscount Lisle,1542-1546^[26]

Clerk of Marine Causes

Thomas Rogers, 12 December 1480 d.1488^[26]
William Commersall, 1488-18 May 1495^[26]
Robert Brygandine,19 May 1495 – 1523^[26]
Thomas Jermyn, andWilliam Gonson,1523–1533, (jointly)^[26]
Leonard Thoreton 1533-1538^[26]
Vice-AdmiralSir Thomas Spert,1538-1543^[26]
Edmund Wynter, 1544-1545^[26]
John Wynter1545- d. 1546^[26]

Clerk Comptroller of the Navy

John Hopton, 1512-1524^[26]
Vice-Admiral, SirThomas Spert,1524-1540^[26]
John Osborne, 1540-1545^[26]
William Broke, 1545-1561^[26]

Keeper of the Storehouses

Vice-Admiral, SirWilliam Gonson,1524-1545^[26]
Richard Howlett, 1545-1546^[26]

Key officials from 1546 to 1603

Officers from 1546 to 1603

Lord High Admirals of England^[26]

Thomas Seymour, 1st Lord Seymour of Sudeley,1546-1549^[26]
John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick,1549-1550^[26]
Edward Clinton, 9th Lord Clinton,1550-1554^[26]
William Howard, 1st Lord Howard of Effingham,1554-1558^[26]
Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln,1558-1585^[26]
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham,1585-1603^[26]

In 1546Henry VIIIestablishes aCouncil of the Marineto oversee the administrative affairs of the Navy initially presided over by theLieutenant of the Admiraltyreporting to the Lord High Admiral.

Lieutenants of the Admiralty

SirThomas Clere1545-1552^[26]
Sir William Woodhouse 1552-1565^[26]

Note:(post is vacant till 1604)

Treasurers of Marine Causes

Sir Robert Legge, 1546-1549^[26]
Benjamin Gonson,1549-1547^[26]
Benjamin Gonsonand SirJohn Hawkins,1549-1577^[26]
SirJohn Hawkins,1577-1595^[26]
Sir Roger Longford, 1595-1598^[26]
SirFulke Greville,1st Baron Brooke, 1595-1603^[26]

Surveyors and Riggers of the Navy

Benjamin Gonson24 April 1546^[26]
Vice-Admiral, SirThomas Spert,1524-1540^[26]
Vice Admiral SirWilliam Wynter8 July 1549 (also Master of Naval Ordnance)^[26]
SirHenry Palmer11 July 1589.^[26]
SirJohn Trevor20 December 1598 -1603.^[26]

Masters of Naval Ordnance

Vice-Admiral SirWilliam Woodhouse,1546-1552^[26]
Vice Admiral SirThomas Wyndham,1552-1553^[26]
Vice Admiral SirWilliam Wynter1557-1589 (also Surveyor)^[26]

Note:Office is discontinued after 1589.

Comptrollers of the Navy

William Broke, 1545-1561^[26]
Vice-Admiral, William Holstocke,1561–1580^[26]
William Borough,1580–1598^[26]
Sir Henry Palmer1598–1603^[26]

Keepers of the Storehouses

Richard Howlett, 1546-1548^[26]
William Holstock, 1548-1560^[26]

Note: (office is merged with Treasurer of the Navy)

Surveyors of Marine Victuals

Edward Baeshe,1550-1587^[26]
James Quarles, 1587-1595^[26]
SirMarmaduke Darrell,1595-1603^[26]

Clerk of the Navy(also known as Clerk of the Ships)

Richard Howlett, 24 April 1546- 10 October 1560.
George Wynter, 10 October 1560 – 2 June 1567.
John Hawkins,2 June 1567, (appointed but did not succeed).
George Wynter, 2 June 1567 – 24 March 1582.
William B. B. Gonson, 24 March 1582 – 6 July 1596.
Benjamin Gonson,6 July 1596 – 17 April 1603.

Legacy

Important though this period was, it represents a soon-lost high point. After 1601 the efficiency of the Navy declined gradually, and corruption grew, until it was brought under control by an inquiry of 1618.

References

^Chapter III - The Commercial Policy of England Toward the American Colonies: the Acts of Trade Archived25 June 2016 at theWayback Machine,in Emory R. Johnson, T. W. Van Metre, G. G. Huebner, D. S. Hanchett, History of Domestic and Foreign Commerce of the United States - Vol. 1, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1915.
^Arthur Nelson,The Tudor navy: the ships, men and organization, 1485–1603(2001) p. 36
^"1497 - First Ships Launched".Archived fromthe originalon 18 May 2022.
^Oppenheim, M. (1896).Naval Accounts and inventories of the Reign of Henry VII, 1485-8 and 1495-7.Navy Records Society.
^Goldingham, C.S. (1918). "The Navy under Henry VII".The English Historical Review.XXXIII(CXXXII): 474–475 – via JSTOR.
^Salisbury, W. (1961). "The Woolwich Ship".The Mariner's Mirror.47(2): 90.
^Friel, Ian (1993). "Henry V's Grace Dieu and the wreck in the R. Hamble near Bursledon, Hampshire".The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.22(1–2): 3–19 – via JSTOR.
^J.J. Scarisbrick,Henry VIII(1968) pp. 500–1.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^fBucholz, R. O. (2009).Early modern England 1485-1714: a narrative history(2nd ed.). Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 143, 116, 114–16, 153, 157, 153.ISBN 9781405162753.
^C. S. L. Davies, "The Administration of the Royal Navy under Henry VIII: the origins of the Navy Board."English Historical Review80.315 (1965): 268–288.in JSTOR
^A.F. Pollard,Henry VIII(1902) pp 50, 100-2.
^N.A.M. Rodger,The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain 660 – 1649(1997) pp 184, 221 236-7
^David Loades,The Tudor Navy: An administrative, political and military history(1992) is the standard history.
^Elaine W. Fowler,English sea power in the early Tudor period, 1485–1558(1965) is an older study.
^G.R. Elton,Reform and Reformation: England, 1509–1558(1977) pp. 309–10.
^Loades, D. M. (2009).The making of the Elizabethan Navy, 1540-1590: from the Solent to the Armada.Woodbridge: Boydell Press. p. 82.ISBN 978-1-84615-743-1.
^Julian S. Corbett,Drake and the Tudor Navy, With a History of the Rise of England as a Maritime Power(2 vol 1898)online
^Rodger, N. A. M. (1997).The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain, Vol 1.Penguin. p. 335.ISBN 9780140297249.
^^a ^bHattendorf, John; Unger, Richard (2003).War at sea in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Rochester, NY. pp. 233–6. 237.ISBN 978-1-84615-171-2.
^Colin Martin and Geoffrey Parker,The Spanish Armada(1999) p 140
^"Meet the Soldiers and Gunners".The Mary Rose.
^James, Alan (2019).European navies and the conduct of war.p. 13.ISBN 9780429467240.
^"Warship - The age of gun and sail | Britannica".britannica.
^Geoffrey Parker,"The 'Dreadnought' Revolution of Tudor England,"Mariner's Mirror,Aug 1996, Vol. 82 Issue 3, pp. 269–300
^Geoffrey Parker, "Why the Armada Failed,"History Today,May 1988, Vol. 38 Issue 5, pp. 26–33
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac ^ad ^ae ^af ^ag ^ah ^ai ^aj ^ak ^al ^am ^an ^ao ^ap ^aq ^ar ^as ^at ^au ^av ^aw ^ax ^ay ^az ^ba ^bbChilds, David (2009).Tudor Sea Power: The Foundation of Greatness.Seaforth Publishing. p. 298.ISBN 9781473819924.