1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
British Empire
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The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
3.
Royal Navy
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The Royal Navy is the United Kingdoms naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the medieval period. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century, from the middle decades of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century it was the worlds most powerful navy until surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the world power during the 19th. Due to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, following World War I, the Royal Navy was significantly reduced in size, although at the onset of the Second World War it was still the worlds largest. By the end of the war, however, the United States Navy had emerged as the worlds largest, during the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines, mostly active in the GIUK gap. The Royal Navy is part of Her Majestys Naval Service, which includes the Royal Marines. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord, the Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The strength of the fleet of the Kingdom of England was an important element in the power in the 10th century. English naval power declined as a result of the Norman conquest. Medieval fleets, in England as elsewhere, were almost entirely composed of merchant ships enlisted into service in time of war. Englands naval organisation was haphazard and the mobilisation of fleets when war broke out was slow, early in the war French plans for an invasion of England failed when Edward III of England destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Major fighting was confined to French soil and Englands naval capabilities sufficed to transport armies and supplies safely to their continental destinations. Such raids halted finally only with the occupation of northern France by Henry V. Henry VII deserves a large share of credit in the establishment of a standing navy and he embarked on a program of building ships larger than heretofore. He also invested in dockyards, and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth, a standing Navy Royal, with its own secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, emerged during the reign of Henry VIII. Under Elizabeth I England became involved in a war with Spain, the new regimes introduction of Navigation Acts, providing that all merchant shipping to and from England or her colonies should be carried out by English ships, led to war with the Dutch Republic. In the early stages of this First Anglo-Dutch War, the superiority of the large, heavily armed English ships was offset by superior Dutch tactical organisation and the fighting was inconclusive
4.
Battle of Heligoland Bight (1914)
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The First Battle of Heligoland Bight was the first naval battle of the First World War, fought on 28 August 1914, between the United Kingdom and Germany. The battle took place in the south-eastern North Sea when the British attacked German patrols off the north-west German coast, the German High Seas Fleet remained largely in safe harbours on the north German coast while the British Grand Fleet remained in the northern North Sea. Both sides engaged in long-distance sorties with cruisers and battlecruisers, the British devised a plan to ambush German destroyers on their daily patrols. A British fleet of 31 destroyers and two cruisers under Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt and submarines commanded by Commodore Roger Keyes was dispatched and they were supported at longer range by an additional six light cruisers commanded by William Goodenough, and five battlecruisers commanded by Vice Admiral David Beatty. Three German light cruisers and one destroyer were sunk, three more light cruisers were damaged,712 sailors killed,530 injured and 336 taken prisoner. The British suffered one light cruiser and three damaged,35 killed and 40 wounded. The battle was regarded as a victory in Britain, where the returning ships were met by cheering crowds. However, the raid might have led to disaster had the forces under Beatty not been sent by Admiral John Jellicoe at the last minute. The battle took place less than a month after Britains declaration of war against Germany on 5 August 1914. Initially, the war on land went badly for the French and their allies, with German forces invading France and an urgent need to gather all possible troops to send to France to resist them. British naval tactics had typically involved a close blockade of ports, taking the fight to the enemy. Such an approach was still expected by the British population, the German fleet had expected that Britain would adopt its traditional approach, and had prepared by investing in submarines and coastal defences. The main body of the German navy—the High Seas Fleet—was smaller than the British Grand Fleet stationed around home waters and it therefore adopted a strategy of waiting in defended home ports for opportunities to attack the larger British force when the anticipated attack came. The British, appreciating this situation chose to adopt a strategy of patrolling the North Sea rather than close to Germany. This led to a stand off, with neither fleet doing more than hold the other endlessly waiting, the German ships were contained in an area where they could not attack merchant shipping arriving on the west of Britain, which was vital for British survival. To encourage the German fleet to stay at home, the British would make occasional forays with the Grand Fleet, the bulk of the British Expeditionary Force was transported to France between 12 and 21 August. This operation was protected from German attack by British destroyers and submarines patrolling Heligoland Bight, the Grand Fleet remained in the centre of the North Sea ready to move south should any German attack commence, but none came. Although the German army had anticipated a transfer of the British army to aid France
5.
Battle off Texel
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The Battle off Texel, also known as the Action off Texel or the Action of 17 October 1914, was a naval battle off the coast of the Dutch island of Texel during the First World War. The British forces attacked and sank the German flotilla of four torpedo boats, outgunned, the German force attempted to flee and then fought a desperate and ineffective action against the British force. The battle resulted in the loss of the German torpedo boat squadron and prevented the mining of busy shipping lanes, the British had few casualties and little damage to their vessels. After the opening naval Battle of Heligoland Bight, the German High Seas Fleet was ordered to avoid confrontations with opposing forces, to avoid costly. Apart from occasional German raids, the North Sea was dominated by the Royal Navy which regularly patrolled the area, the German ships were sailing abreast, about 0.5 nmi apart, on a bearing slightly to the east of the 1st Division. The German ships made no move against the British and made no attempt flee. Undaunted was experimentally armed with a pair of 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns, something most of her class lacked, the four Laforey-class destroyers were armed with four torpedo tubes in two twin mounts, three 4-inch guns and a 2-pounder gun. The destroyers were faster than the cruiser and could make about 29 kn at full power. The German vessels were inferior to the British in other areas, the German boats were nearly equal in speed to the British at 28 knots. Each of the German vessels was armed with three 50 mm guns, that were of shorter range and throw-weight than the British guns, the biggest danger to the British squadron was the five 450 mm torpedoes carried by each German boat. This German vessel managed to dodge the fire from Undaunted by changing course but lost speed, to protect Undaunted from torpedo attack and to destroy the Germans as quickly as possible, Fox ordered the squadron to divide. Lance and Lennox chased S115 and S119 as Legion and Loyal pursued S117, fire from Legion, Loyal and Undaunted damaged S118 so badly that its bridge was blown off the deck, sinking her at 15,17. Lance and Lennox engaged S115, disabling her steering gear and causing the German vessel to circle, lennoxs fire was so effective that the bridge of S115 was also destroyed but the German torpedo-boat did not strike her colours. The two central boats in the German flotilla, S117 and the flotilla leader S119, tried to hit Undaunted with torpedoes but Undaunted outmanoeuvred the German boats, when Legion and Loyal had finished off S118, they came to Undaunteds aid and engaged the two attackers. Legion attacked S117, which fired its last three torpedoes and continued to engage with gunfire, Legion pulverized S117, damaging her steering mechanism which forced her to circle before she was sunk at 15,30. At the same time, Lance and Lennox had damaged S115 to the point where one of the destroyers was needed. Lance joined Loyal in bombarding S119 with lyddite shells, S119 managed to fire a torpedo at Lance and hit the destroyer amidships but the torpedo failed to detonate. S119 was sunk at 15,35 by gunfire from Lance and Loyal, S115 stayed afloat despite constant attacks from Lennox, which sent a boarding party, who found a wreck with only one German on board who happily surrendered
6.
Reginald Tyrwhitt
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Admiral of the Fleet Sir Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt, 1st Baronet /ˈtɪrᵻt/ GCB, DSO was a Royal Navy officer. During the First World War he served as commander of the Harwich Force, after the War Tyrwhitt went on to be Senior Naval Officer, Gibraltar, commander of the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean Fleet and then Commander-in-Chief, Coast of Scotland. He also served as Commander-in-Chief, China during a period of disturbances and his last appointment was as Commander-in-Chief, The Nore. Born the son of the Rev. Richard St John Tyrwhitt and he transferred to the armoured cruiser HMS Australia in 1889 and, following promotion to sub-lieutenant on 14 March 1890, he transferred to the battleship HMS Ajax later that year. He became commanding officer of the destroyer HMS Hart in January 1896, Tyrwhitt became commanding officer of the destroyer HMS Waveney in 1904, of the scout cruiser HMS Attentive in 1906 and of the scout cruiser HMS Skirmisher in 1907. Promoted to captain on 30 June 1908, he became Captain of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla in the cruiser HMS Topaze in August 1909 and he became commodore of all destroyers in the First Fleet in December 1913. Tyrwhitt was given command of the Harwich Force at the start of the First World War flying his broad pendant in the protected cruiser HMS Amethyst, for this action Tyrwhitt was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 21 October 1914. During the Battle of Jutland in May 1916, the Admiralty held back Tyrwhitts forces in case of a German attack on the coast. He was also advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 15 July 1917, Tyrwhitt took part in the Zeebrugge Raid and the Ostend Raid on the night of 23 April 1918 for which he was awarded the French croix de guerre on 23 July 1918. At the end of the War he accepted the surrender of the German U-boats at Harwich and he was also promoted to rear admiral on 2 December 1919 and created a baronet of Terschelling and of Oxford on 13 December 1919. Promoted to full admiral on 27 February 1929 and advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 30 July 1929, he went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Tyrwhitt was appointed First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp on 10 October 1932. When he hauled down his flag for the last time in May 1933, promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 31 July 1934, he briefly served in the Home Guard during the Second World War. He died at Ellenden Nursing Home in Sandhurst, Kent on 30 May 1951, in 1903 Tyrwhitt married Angela Corbally, they had two daughters and a son. The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734 –1995, Tyrwhitt of the Harwich Force, The Life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt
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