as Viriato's list of "guns at sea" makes clear. In 1801, for example, the Spanish Navy was presumably the third numerous in the world (whether it was the third most capable is a different question) in 1860, it was well below that rank. Obviously, a world-class warship - and, by extension, a world-class organization, supply chain, officer corps, and all the rest - in 1801 would have been utterly useless in 1860, if it had not changed and adapted, and several navies did not, in fact, change and adapt. The structural problem with the question is the pace of technological change the first six decades (1801-1860) of the Nineteenth Century encompassed a significant percentage of the Industrial Revolution, and the capabilities of navies as instruments of state power changed vastly in the same period.
If you want to go up to 1914 in Dreadnought Strength + Pre-Dreadnoughts
Below is a ranking of Naval forces by the # of guns. Venice and Tuscany less than 10 frigates each.īy the mid-19th century, Russia had taken Spain's place at #3. The Two Sicilies have around 10 ships and I would rank them above the Ottomans at this time. However, the Ottoman Navy was in very bad shape at that time with many of the ships not even masted. Then you have the lesser powers, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal and Ottoman Empire all having around 15-25 ships of the line each at the dawn of the 19th century. The Russian Navy began to grow in the 18th century, but it was still a distant 4th at the time of the Napoleonic Wars in terms of strength. Trafalgar and the war with Britain really dealt a heavy blow to Spain's position as a major power. The Spanish Navy had undergone a period of resurgence before Trafalgar, however it was still the number 3 force. Napoleon attempted to rebuild the navy, but his naval programme never got too far and Trafalgar ended his naval ambitions. Once the British declared war on France in 1793, it was easy pickings and hence many ships were captured. The French Navy expanded greatly during the reign of Louis XVI, however it lost most of its officers during the early part of the revolution as many emigrated and there were naval mutinies in Brest. even as he was attempting to recover from the Retreat from Moscow Bonaparte wrote to his Naval Minister As always, the British needed and built many more smaller ships in wartimeįor the French, be careful not to be blinded by how many ships they built after 1810įor example in January 1813. In 1794, even after the initial rush to recommission vessels at the start of the wars, the RN had only 71 third rates, 66 fifth rates and 108 smaller vessels in commission. The vast majority of RN hulls were smaller numbering 380, 10 & 57 The RN had 87 in commission, 16 in reserve and 80 relegatedĮquivalent figures for "fifth rate" frigates i.e. a two deck battleship carrying 60-85 guns. effectively physically unfit to fightįor example in 1814 one of the key ship types was the "third rate" ship of the line i.e. fairly cheap second handīut a word of caution about gauging Naval Strength at the end the Age of sailįor the RN be careful to distinguish vessels Lawrence Sondhaus "Naval Warfare 1815-1914". Jan Glete "Navies and Nations" covers 1500 to 1860. But that takes us out of the reference period, to the Crimean War. The issue caused by explosive shells was well known, and the Brits were looking for a solution like everyone else. They were the ones who conclusively demonstrated that steam screws were more efficient than steam paddles, when Rattler towed Allecto backwards in 1845.)īasically, you can pretty much assume that the RN is a long way out in front in numbers and at least level technologically for that period, with France the only real rival in numbers. The usual response of a nation with that much power relative to everyone else is to get conservative - but for the 19th century, the Brits were actively innovating in all sorts of ways, at least navally. Secondly, explosive shells (right at the end).Īs it happens, the Royal Navy began building steam frigates in the early 1820s. Over the course of the period 1810-1850, development of new technologies for ships was basically in two main areas.įirstly, steam power.
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