One April morning in 1771,
a 12-year-old boy was rowed along the River Medway in Chatham, Kent,
to begin a new life as a midshipman in the Royal Navy.
In the waters all around him,
the great warships of the Navy lay at anchor.
Having won a long and vicious global conflict with France -
the Seven Years War - Britain was at peace,
and much of her mighty fleet was now mothballed, tied up in port.
As the boy passed the mighty HMS Victory, he would have looked up
and seen that her decks were covered and her gun ports were tightly shut.
Little can he ever have imagined their fates would one day collide.
34 years later, he would stand on the quarter deck of the Victory,
commanding the fleet in the most epic naval battle in British history...
Trafalgar.
The boy's name was Horatio Nelson, and within his lifetime,
Britain would construct the most powerful maritime fighting force in history.
Far more than just a wooden fleet, the Navy was a national enterprise.
Its voracious demand for ships fuelled the Industrial Revolution,
while funding it drove radical financial reforms
which we still live with today.
At sea, its highly trained crews and ambitious officers
laid claim to a burgeoning empire,
and pushed back the horizons of the known world.
But there would be a huge price to pay for this global sea power.
Britain and her Navy would soon be dragged into the greatest sequence
of wars the nation had ever seen.
It would be a fight for Britain's security, her way of life,
her very identity - a colossal struggle against her old enemy, France.
And the outcome would be decided out here, at sea.
A year before the young Nelson began his career at sea,
a Royal Navy ship was sailing deep in the South Pacific ocean,
12,000 miles from home.
The skies had cleared after heavy storms, and to the west,
high cliffs emerged through the cloud.
The ship's captain decided to name this uncharted piece of land
Cape Howe, in honour of one of the Navy's finest sailors.
The captain made a precise note of Cape Howe's co-ordinates in his
private journal, and then continued north along this unknown coastline.
The date was 20th April 1770, the ship was called the Endeavour.
Her commander was James Cook.
The son of a humble Scottish labourer, Cook had worked his way up
through the Navy's ranks to become one of the service's
most respected navigators and cartographers.
His reward was command of a high profile mission...
not to fight, but to explore.
Bring the full mast round. Come on, straight full over.
Backed by the Royal Society, the Admiralty
drew up plans for a scientific expedition to the Pacific.
It would be a journey deep into the unknown.
In 1768, Cook set off from Plymouth with a crew of 70,
including artists, astronomers and botanists.
They sailed across the Atlantic,
through the treacherous waters around Cape Horn
and then across the Pacific, to begin observations in Tahiti.
Then they turned south into uncharted seas.
Cook obsessively logged the Endeavour's speed, course and position
so that future naval crews could retrace his route precisely.
Missions like this were equipped with the latest navigational technologies.
Including a new British invention to measure latitude
which is still in use today...
the sextant.
Every day at noon, the ship's officers would line up here on the rail of the quarterdeck
with their sextants, to measure the angle between the sun and the horizon.
Now, this helped them to fix the distance that the ship was north
or south of the equator - very sophisticated piece of kit.
Very hard to use though, particularly as the deck was always rolling around.
it was very difficult to fix the sun precisely.
The Navy also led a grand experiment with cutting-edge precision clocks,
known as chronometers.
Cook would go on to pioneer their use to measure a ship's longitude.
The Navy was mastering the sea, not through cannon fire,
but by harnessing innovative science and technology.
As they journeyed further into the unknown,
the Endeavour's civilian crew
documented more than 1,000 new animal and plant varieties
and they painted vivid pictures of local peoples and customs.
But for the Admiralty, Cook's expedition was
not simply to satisfy the Royal Society's thirst for knowledge.
While the desire to collect scientific data was real enough,
Cook also had a set of secret instructions.
They told him to take possession of convenient situations
in the name of the King of Great Britain.
Cook was going to claim undiscovered lands for the British.
This shows that the mission was as political as it was scientific.
Cook was going to extend British influence
to the very furthest corners of the globe.
In the 18th century, land was power -
a source of new markets, with new products to exploit -
and there was fierce competition for it.
The French Foreign Minister condemned Britain's Imperial project.
Britain, he said, was a restless and greedy nation.
As Cook crossed the Pacific, the French explorer
Louis de Bougainville was also circumnavigating the globe.
It was a perfect excuse to claim lands for his king.
Bougainville wanted to stop what he described as Britain's project of universal monarchy.
"We must anticipate them," he cried.
The race for global supremacy was on.
Bougainville and Cook were searching for a mythical southern continent,
another new world of riches believed to exist deep in the southern ocean.
So, when Captain Cook's look-out spotted land at Cape Howe that
April evening in 1770, the stakes couldn't have been higher.
Cook followed the coastline until his look-outs spotted
a beautiful natural harbour.
When they sailed into it, the sea was full of stingrays
and he called it Sting Ray Cove, but later,
after he'd been ashore and seen the bewildering variety of plants there,
he renamed it Botany Bay.
Little did he know it at the time, but this wasn't just some
insignificant South Pacific island. This was Australia.
Cook claimed this new land for his king.
The Navy he sailed with had grown beyond its traditional role as a fighting force.
It had become a vehicle of empire building, projecting British power,
driving commerce and conquest to the far side of the world.
Captain Cook drew up more than 40 maps and surveys
as he sailed across the South Pacific.
Today, they're held at the British Library in London.
This is a collection of sketches and charts actually made by James Cook
as he led the crew of the Endeavour
on that extraordinary voyage of discovery. This one shows
the track of the Endeavour through the South Pacific, this dotted line here.
And then it shows him arriving at the east coast of Australia here, where he
went on to chart 2,000 miles of that coastline, naming the key points and
marking out navigational hazards.
And he's written, probably quite proudly here, "Discovered in 1770".
Previous to his voyage, much of this space here just would have
been blank, but now he's sailing through it, filling in the gaps.
What I find so fascinating about the Navy in this period
is how these expeditions were unlocking the secrets of the globe.
This age of naval exploration may not have involved spectacular battles, but its
impact was every bit as significant, both for the Navy's own prestige and
Britain's international standing.
As soon as Cook got home, the British Government published these charts to prove that
his discoveries were genuine,
but it was about much more than geography, it was about politics.
Both the British Government and Cook were laying claim
to this coast of Australia, which Cook even called New South Wales,
and if you look at the other names he's choosing, they're
ostentatiously patriotic -
particularly this one, Cape St George.
I mean, you can't get more British than that.
Australia would prove one of Britain's most valuable colonies.
English speaking, cricket playing, British in institution and law.
Yet, for the personalities and skills of the crews involved,
it could all have been very different.
One year before Cook sighted Australia,
Louis de Bougainville had reached the Great Barrier Reef.
But the French explorer was deterred by the dangerous shallow waters.
By 1771, goods from her colonies were pouring into Britain.
Dockside, merchant ships unloaded precious hardwoods from North America,
salted fish from Canada, exotic silks and spices from India.
The Empire had never been so rich or so extensive -
and it was the Navy's job to keep it that way.
This was the inheritance of young sailors like Horatio Nelson.
One of hundreds of midshipmen, trainee officers,
being toughened up to do their duty at sea.
# When I was one I banged my drum The day I went to sea
# I jumped aboard a pirate ship and the captain said to me
# We're going this way, that way Forwards and backwards
# Over the Irish Sea... #
Places, places!
THEY GROAN
Just as Nelson would have done more than 200 years ago,
these cadets, aboard the training ship, Royalist,
are being taught the dangerous and demanding arts of tall ship sailing.
What these guys are learning here is that in order to make this ship
work safely and efficiently, you've got to work as a team and you've got to obey orders.
Everything has a set procedure.
The Royal Navy was a meritocracy. The sea was an unforgiving master,
and to get promoted up through the ranks,
you had to prove that you could sail and fight.
Nelson initially showed little sign of such promise.
The captain of his first warship asked, "What had poor Horace done,
"who is so weak that he above all the rest should be sent to rough it out at sea?"
Nelson was far from alone.
Recruits as young as ten were sent to sea for months at a time, surrounded by the same faces,
confined within the same wooden walls.
It was as much a psychological test as a physical one.
The Navy's solution to this was to insist on a strict routine -
the same no matter what ship you were on, no matter where you were in the world.
The young men would have learned self-reliance and to obey orders
in order to overcome the terror and the tedium of being at sea.
I want that sheet secure.
It was often a life of hard labour, of lifting and mending sails and
rigging, carrying cannon balls and gun powder.
Yet it was also, for many young officers,
a rare chance to get an education.
The rigours of climbing aloft were interspersed with traditional school lessons,
with emphasis on the complex mathematics and trigonometry
required for navigation.
Through this regime, the Navy turned children like Nelson
from unpromising raw recruits into experienced fighting men.
Nelson himself remembered, "Thus, by degrees, I became a good pilot
"and confident of myself."
By the age of just 19, when he became a lieutenant,
Nelson had travelled over 45,000 miles around the world.
Like thousands of other young boys,
Nelson was seeing the sheer scale of Britain's global ambition at
first hand, and visiting her growing empire.
He'd been down into the southern oceans,
rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian Ocean.
He almost died of malaria in Bombay, helping safeguard British trading
interests in the east, and he'd even fought pirates in the Caribbean.
Nelson had joined the ranks of a highly professional force -
sailors filled, as he said, "with ardent ambition".
They were a band of brothers,
dedicated to the projection of British power on a world stage.
The Navy's increasing global reach
changed how Britain saw the world and their place within it.
In 1768, the Royal Academy of Arts was established in central London.
It was an opportunity seized upon by a canny Admiralty.
They put on display paintings of naval missions,
some of which are held today at the National Maritime Museum.
The Admiralty collection includes works by Captain Cook's onboard artist, William Hodges.
His paintings depicted Britain's growing empire.
Britain was naming and mapping the world and now,
by capturing it on canvas, in many ways she was claiming it as well.
The people who saw these paintings were left with a very simple and
immediate message - that Britain didn't just rule the world's oceans, but the world itself.
Visitors to the exhibitions could furnish their own homes
with copies of these images,
as print shops opened up in the streets around the Royal Academy.
Marine art had never been so popular.
This is a view of Portsmouth Harbour,
painted in 1770 by Dominic Serres, and it's dominated
by this fantastic ship of the line, a battleship anchored here
in the middle with its two rows of cannons
run out, hatches open and the captain on the stern, perhaps
talking to the first lieutenant. And there's some figures here, in the foreground.
An unfeasibly smart-looking seaman here, perhaps in his Sunday rig,
talking to a naval officer, and two marine officers here,
lounging around on some cannon.
This, then, is how the Admiralty wanted the British to see their
Navy - ordered, well equipped, ready for any eventuality.
But these images disguised an extraordinary truth.
That a navy that wasn't fighting
risked falling into neglect and disrepair.
After a decade of peace, British naval expenditure was at less than
a quarter of its wartime levels,
and much of the fleet was mothballed or simply tied up in port.
One admiral complained that, of 35 ships under his command, only six were seaworthy.
To make matters worse, across the Channel in France,
the King wasn't just painting pretty pictures of his fleet.
He was building an entirely new one.
Louis XVI was determined to end the Royal Navy's pre-eminence at sea.
He ordered the construction of new docks and oversaw the completion of 80 new warships.
Ready to pounce, Louis now waited for the right moment
to deploy his powerful new fleet and ruin Britain.
His opportunity would come from 3,000 miles to the west,
across the Atlantic Ocean, from within the British Empire.
On the 9th of May, 1768, British customs officials in Boston harbour
boarded an American merchant ship, The Liberty.
It was carrying a cargo of imported Madeira wine.
The next morning, customs officials inspected the hold of the ship.
They were a little bit suspicious when they discovered that it
contained only a quarter of her total capacity.
They thought that during the night people had
been secretly unloading the cargo to avoid paying customs duties.
They asked the Royal Navy to impound The Liberty.
Working alongside customs officials, naval ships were enforcing stringent
tariffs on American trade.
The revenues raised helped pay for the Royal Navy and for colonial
defence, but the very principle was anathema to the Americans.
The Liberty's owner, John Hancock, was arrested for tax evasion.
He sat in the dock for five months before the case collapsed.
All across the eastern seaboard, American traders faced what they
saw as harassment from an aggressive British fleet.
The Navy, which for centuries had been held up by the British
as the defender of their liberties from foreign tyranny,
was now seen by many in America as a tyrant herself.
It was a perception that was forcing them to reconsider
their entire relationship with Britain.
The tension would culminate on the 4th of July 1776,
with the Declaration of American Independence.
Most prominent among the signatures was John Hancock,
the owner of the Liberty.
Britain was now at war with her own subjects.
Back home, the Navy board went into overdrive
to supply over 100 ships now fighting a transatlantic war.
But after two years of conflict, as the new Navy board controller,
Charles Middleton, made his way to work in London's Seething Lane,
the Navy was in deep crisis.
What had begun as a local civil war between Britain
and her rebellious colonists with a rag-tag army,
had now turned into a truly global contest,
because a few months before, France, sensing her opportunity for revenge,
had declared war on Britain.
In 1778, King Louis XVI ordered his new fleet across the Atlantic to support the American rebels.
Within months, the French navy had forced British troops to abandon
America's biggest city, Philadelphia.
The situation was perilous.
The enemy, Middleton warned, outnumber us at every station.
The solution to the problem seems obvious - to build more ships.
But it could take up to five years and 2,000 trees to construct a single warship.
Middleton didn't have the time or resources to build a new fleet.
The only option was to improve the ships he already had.
Just a few weeks after he began work at the Navy board,
a letter from a Mr Fisher arrived on Middleton's desk.
Fisher's original correspondence doesn't survive, but its content
is referred to in records held at the National Maritime Museum.
This is a letter written by the Navy Board to their colleagues at the
Admiralty on the 27th of January, 1779, and it contains a vital clue.
It mentions Mr Fisher, calls him a ship builder from Liverpool
whose ships did a brisk trade with West Africa.
Now, in these warm tropical waters, shipworm were a real problem.
These little worm would burrow into the hull of a ship and weaken the fabric of the vessel,
but also, long tentacles of seaweed would form, clinging onto the sides
of the ship and really slow it down.
Mr Fisher's solution was copper sheathing.
Coating the underside of the hull beneath the water line with copper panels.
Thus protecting the integrity of the ship and, crucially,
making it travel a lot faster through the water.
Middleton saw in this experimental technology a possible solution to his problem.
He would sheath the bottoms of his wooden fleet in copper.
It was, though, an expensive process and Middleton urgently needed money
if he was to, as he put it, "Extricate us from present danger".
Middleton petitioned the king, George III, for a personal meeting at Buckingham House.
He said, "It was a matter of the greatest consequence".
And what better way to convince the King than to take along a beautiful
scale model? And this is the actual
one that Middleton brought to that meeting with George III.
It's of HMS Bellona, which was a 74-gun battleship,
and the detail is wonderful - you can see the wood carvings
and the paintings along the side. But the really important detail
is the copper plating below the water line down here.
There would have been about 3,000 plates of copper on a full-sized ship of this kind,
but this detail is so intricate, you can see the nails that actually hold the copper plates to the hull.
It must have really impressed the King because he threw his support
behind the Navy's bold project to spend huge amounts of money on a totally unproven technology.
It was a great industrial challenge.
Sheathing just one ship could require 15 tonnes of copper.
But Middleton drove the project forward.
At Portsmouth docks, he placed orders to copper-bottom 51 Navy ships within the year.
It was a uniquely British triumph.
Only British industry had the ability to produce copper on such a scale.
Here at Parys Mountain in North Wales,
5,000 men worked the rich seams of an open cast copper mine.
During its lifetime, Parys produced over 130,000 tonnes of copper,
much of it to supply the Navy with this vital munition of war.
The copper was sourced exclusively from British mines
and the smelting process required a vast quantity of coal
which itself needed mining, often using new steam engines
which drained water out of the deepest shafts.
The finished products needed to be carried on new roads and new merchant ships.
All of this created new jobs and economic communities all over the country.
The Royal Navy wasn't just benefiting
from domestic industrialisation, it was also accelerating it.
But as the naval dockyards rushed to complete the task of coppering the fleet,
across the Atlantic in America, the war effort was crumbling.
In 1781, the French Navy had blockaded the British Army in Chesapeake Bay,
cutting off their supply lines by sea and forcing them to surrender.
In that moment, the American colonies were lost.
One naval defeat, and half a continent slipped out of Britain's grasp.
20,000 stranded British troops had to be evacuated.
The newly promoted Captain Nelson
joined a naval force sent to bring them home.
And Louis XVI looked to build upon his sudden maritime advantage.
Flushed with victory, the French turned their attention and their fleets south.
They were after an even greater prize, the very foundation of
Britain's imperial economy - her colonies in the Caribbean,
and their most precious commodity - sugar.
Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua and most importantly of all, Jamaica,
were the jewels in Britain's imperial crown.
These Caribbean islands were much more valuable than the 13 colonies
clinging to the eastern seaboard of North America.
Their lush soil and plenty of rainfall - they were home to the sugar plantations.
The lucrative sugar trade powered the British economy.
Slaves in the Caribbean harvested 80,000 tonnes of sugar each year.
Customs duties on this contributed the equivalent
of well over ?50 million annually to the Treasury.
The British sweet tooth paid for the war effort.
King George III himself warned that, "If we lose our sugar islands,
"it will be impossible to raise money to continue the war.
"We must defend these islands,
"even at the risk of an invasion of Britain."
This site at Kenilworth in north west Jamaica
was a great sugar estate.
It stretched over 500 acres, and was one of hundreds of plantations
built along this coast so that their produce could easily be exported to Britain.
But Kenilworth's proximity to the sea also made it vulnerable.
Kenilworth wasn't just a sugar factory.
It was also by necessity a fortress,
and this is what remains of that 18th century gun battery.
This cannon pointed out to sea to stave off the threat of attack by pirates and privateers as well as
the French and Spanish navies, but never was the risk to this island
greater than in the spring of 1782.
On the 8th April, a French fleet of 36 warships,
accompanied by over 15,000 troops, set sail from Martinique.
Their commander, the Comte de Grasse, planned to
invade Jamaica's northern coast and grab the spoils for France.
De Grasse was so confident of victory that his fleet was accompanied by
a convoy of merchant ships,
their holds stuffed with trade goods to supply his new colony.
But Jamaica was just the beginning, the first step.
His plan was to drive the British entirely from the Caribbean
and destroy the British economy.
The future of Britain's transatlantic empire depended on
defending this coast, this island, from those French forces.
The task of protecting Jamaica fell to the Royal Navy's Caribbean fleet
and its recently upgraded but as yet untested copper-bottomed ships.
Their commander, Admiral Sir George Rodney, seemed a bit of a liability.
A gambler and a womaniser, he was deeply unpopular at the Admiralty.
But Rodney did have what it took to be an outstanding leader.
He'd joined the navy at just 14.
Since then he'd served 50 years, and in that half century he'd become
thoroughly imbued with the Royal Navy's aggressive ethos.
In battle, he was violent and single minded.
If anyone could save Jamaica, Rodney could.
On the 12th April at the Saints Islands, Rodney attacked.
Conditions were actually quite similar to those today.
The wind was very changeable and kept moving direction,
but this gave Rodney one key advantage.
His fleet was copper bottomed and much quicker and more manoeuvrable,
particularly in these light breeze conditions.
The French general, Antoine de Bougainville, the man who'd raced
Captain Cook across the Pacific, was now serving with de Grasse's fleet.
He was stunned by the speed and agility of the British ships.
Bougainville described the British advantage.
He said, "The French ships were like tortoises chasing British stags."
One British midshipman who fought at the Saints said,
"We knocked the French fleet to atoms.
"It was," he said, "the best day old England ever saw."
And after 11 hours of fighting, the French surrendered.
Their admiral, Comte de Grasse, conceded that his navy
was operating a full century behind the British.
Rodney had saved Jamaica and her precious sugar trade, the key stone of the British economy.
In the Jamaican capital, Kingston,
a giant marble statue was erected in his honour.
Here on the side, there's some fantastic detail.
Britannia here in the middle, with her union flag on the shield,
and at the very bottom, Britannia is trampling on the French flag.
You can see here the fleur-de-lis, symbol of the French monarchy.
It's fascinating to think what would have happened if de Grasse had won that battle.
Perhaps his statue would be up there now looking down on me.
Britain would almost certainly have lost her sugar islands and
all the trade with them that was such a mainstay of her economy.
But even more important than that, confidence, the great elixir
of the capitalist system, would have dried up.
The stock market would have collapsed,
and with it, the Government.
Britain would have been no better than a third-rate power.
Rodney's aggression was widely credited as
the reason for the preservation of Britain's Caribbean empire.
But he had an even greater edge over his rivals,
thanks to the efforts of a little known bureaucrat
working in a side street 3,000 miles away in the city of London.
Charles Middleton, the navy board controller.
The man who had the foresight and resolve to launch a copper revolution.
Global peace was restored in 1783.
Britain gave up her 13 colonies in North America,
but retained key possessions all across the globe,
including her vital Caribbean colonies.
Over the next 20 years, the revenues from imperial trade
trebled in value, with much of the profits re-invested in a rejuvenated Royal Navy.
The French king, Louis XVI,
had failed in his attempt to dismember the British Empire,
and he'd pay for it with his head.
In chasing his dream of defeating the Royal Navy,
Louis bankrupted his kingdom.
France was torn apart by revolution
and on the 21st January 1793, he was executed as a traitor.
Within days, the new Republic of France
had declared war on Britain for the sixth time in 100 years.
But this time, their aim was to eradicate the British state.
A year after war was declared, a vicar, James Hurdis, made his way to
St Andrew's Church in Bishopstone, Sussex, for a Sunday service.
Hurdis was no typical country cleric.
He was an Oxford professor and an ardent anti-republican, who believed
it was his patriotic duty to give political guidance to his flock.
And he used a particular naval allusion to do it.
Hurdis asked his congregation to imagine that Britain
was a ship of war, and they, the British people, were her crew.
The ship would operate effectively if they did as they were told by
their senior officers and respected their superiors.
But, he warned, if they should all conceive themselves to be equal
and each to be guided by his own will,
then the ship would change its course and they must be wrecked.
He went on to say that if they deposed the captain in a mutiny,
then they would instantly divide and fall asunder.
To his audience, the symbolism was clear.
Across the Channel in France, the Reign of Terror was in full swing.
Thousands of enemies of the state had followed Louis XVI to the guillotine.
The congregation listening to Hurdis here would have been filled with
a fear of French republican terror, and his solution was that they unite
behind traditional values -
respect for church and king, parliament and law.
It was a call to arms.
Hurdis's sermon struck a chord with the people of Bishopstone.
Their parish was just a mile inland from the English Channel.
And if the Royal Navy was defeated at sea,
they'd be on the front line when the French invaded.
Britain had faced invasion from France countless times before,
but this time would be different.
This wouldn't just be a physical conquest, a bit of regime change,
a subtle exchange of one group of politicians for another.
This time it was ideological.
At stake was nothing less than the entire British way of life.
The fear of French invasion quickly spread across the country,
and, faced with utter destruction,
Britons looked yet again to their navy for salvation.
The British public were well used to paying for their navy.
Now, if Britain was to preserve her national security, they'd have to man it too.
The fleet had expanded to more than 1,000 ships,
and the biggest required crews of up to 900 skilled men.
Commodore Nelson explained the extent of the problem to his brother, William.
"I've only got a few men and very hard indeed are they to be got," he said.
The Admiralty embraced a solution that it had used so often
in wars of the past, and that's legalised kidnapping.
For centuries, the Government had sanctioned the use of so-called press gangs.
These groups of armed men now roamed the country
looking for sailors to send to sea without their own consent.
This was a practice that didn't really sit well with
Britain's reputation as the home of personal liberty,
but it was the only sure way of manning the fleet.
In the Bodleian library in Oxford,
the archive holds a collection of the Gentleman's Magazine, a monthly
publication which often carried stories about press gang activity.
I found one here that's a case heard by the Old Bailey,
about a Mr William Godfrey, who's a citizen and "cooper", or barrel-maker of London.
It says that this particular lawless body of sailors burst into his house
in open defiance of the law, seized him, knocked him down and dragged
him through the streets of London with only one of his slippers on.
And then there's the wedding party that turns into a huge brawl
as a press gang tried to grab the groom.
Luckily, he and his new wife managed to escape.
And there's the man who was torn from his carriage on his way home.
On another occasion it says that after some particularly vigorous
press gang activity, the River Thames was swept clean of mariners.
The press gang clearly looms large in the popular imagination of the 18th century,
but despite some of the scare stories, it wasn't total anarchy.
Most press gangs operated only in ports.
Their mission was to try and press merchant seamen, men who knew their way around a tall ship.
It was in no-one's interest to fill ships up with a bunch of landsmen -
people that had never been to sea before.
They'd be a danger to themselves and the rest of the crew.
And in fact most sailors were pressed when they were out at sea,
when their ships were intercepted by the press gang in small boats.
They were seized before they'd set foot on dry land.
At the height of the war, almost 40% of crews were pressed into service.
Although widely criticised, impressment did boost naval
man power to 140,000 sailors, seven times its peace time level.
This was just as well, because the Royal Navy was now outgunned at sea.
In February 1797, a British force of 15 ships sailed south along
Portugal's Atlantic coast, searching for a Spanish convoy.
A few months earlier, Spain had joined forces with France to wage war against Britain.
The commander of the British fleet was Admiral John Jervis,
and this ship, HMS Victory, was his flagship.
For sometime, he'd been waiting off the coast of Portugal,
hoping to intercept the Spanish, but terrible storms
had made it impossible for him to track them down.
Then on 13th February 1797, a new ship arrived to reinforce Jervis.
On board was a senior officer with some vital information.
That officer was Horatio Nelson.
In 25 years of service,
he'd earned a reputation as an impulsive, aggressive leader.
"It is my disposition," he wrote,
"that dangers do but increase my idea of attempting them."
Now, Nelson would prove his words with action.
The night before reaching HMS Victory, Nelson had, by chance,
sailed right through the Spanish fleet at nearby Cape St Vincent.
Armed with this intelligence,
the British had the advantage of surprise.
Early the next morning, they attacked.
The noise down here on the gun deck during battle would have been extraordinary.
The men's ears bled, some were deafened for the rest of their lives.
Just one enemy cannon ball coming through these wooden walls could kill an entire gun crew.
The deck was sprinkled with sand to soak up the blood but, within minutes of battle being joined, it
was strewn with severed limbs, torsos and other unidentifiable human remains.
It's no surprise that the men who fought down here called it the slaughterhouse.
Amid the smoke and chaos, Nelson spotted an opportunity
and he would never look back.
Without waiting for orders, Nelson spun his ship round and tore into the heart of the enemy fleet.
Once he was there, he drove it alongside a Spanish vessel and roaring,
"Westminster Abbey, oh, glorious victory!"
he led his crew armed with cutlasses and pistols onto the enemy deck.
He managed to capture that ship and the one next to it.
Taking two enemy vessels like this was a unique achievement.
Before the battle of Cape St Vincent,
Nelson was considered just one of a gifted generation of sailors.
But after, he'd marked himself out as someone exception
1843年1月
100,000名群众聚集在伦敦的街道上
一座代表他们最伟大英雄的宏伟纪念碑即将揭幕
纳尔逊纪念碑是崇拜他的民众捐赠建造的
献给那个用牺牲换取胜利的人的礼物
他的花岗岩塑像矗立50米高向，南眺望着
他取得最后一场也是最伟大胜利的地点
特拉法加
英国对法大战的转折点
这场战争使英国一跃成为当时世界上唯一的超级大国
但它的意义远远不止于一座塑像
坐落于伦敦的心脏位置位于国会
白金汉宫和金融城之间
细尔逊纪念碑是不列颠的图腾
特拉法加之后．皇家海军控制了世界海上航道
驱动了英国对贸易和帝权的渴求
新技术的发展使它的领导力凌驾于其他海军之上
此时此刻
英国的舰船和水手成为了这个国家的象征
但英国的统治地位不会永远屹立不倒
1914年她迎来了有史以来最大的危机
再一次地，英国要为她世界霸主的荣誉而战
这一次面临的是
空前动荡的局势和突然出现的危险的新敌人
皇家海军，作为曾经带给英国胜利的武器
现在却将她推向了失败的边缘
1841年一月的一个早土
12艘英国军舰驶向珠江口
这里是进入中国南方口岸的门户
19世纪伊始
纳尔逊的遗产被用来建立了这支海军
他们让英国的利益相比从前更远的地方扩张
阿尔及利亚，埃及，缅甸，新西兰
现在轮到中国了
皇家海军想在这里打开对华贸易
但这并不是一种礼貌的贸易
这是战争
多年来英国商人都用鸦片来交换中国的茶叶
他们每年走私六百万千克
清政府惊骇于这种毒品对国民带来的毁灭性影响
他们取缔了这一贸易并将英国人赶出中国
残酷实在的报复很快就来了
皇家海军用武力再次打开了中国市场
那天的舰队中出现了一艘新船
她还从未在战争中使用过
她叫复仇女神号
对中国来说她,正如她的名字
复仇女神号参战对抗15艘中国军用帆船
一旦她开火，可以让对手立即燃烧
一船长William Hall在甲板上看着这一幕
爆炸带来的烟火焰和巨响
他说：心脏再强健的人见了
即使不胆战心惊也不免心生敬畏
装备着过时的枪和矛
这些帆船根本无法
与装备着当时最具杀伤力武器的复仇女神号匹敌
他们掉头逃向狭窄的河道
这时皇家海军的传统帆船
由于体型巨大而不得不放弃追击
但复仇女神号却能够对这些帆船穷追不舍
因为在她的船身深处轰鸣着蒸汽机
革命性的新技术驱动这艘船在水中穿行
不受风潮汐和水流的影响
每一艘被复仇女神号追上的平底帆船
都会被她占领或摧毁
从未有一艘蒸汽动力船
扮演过这样一个决定性的角色
心惊胆战的中国人称她为魔鬼船
英国主宰了战争和中国的未来
这个世界最古老的帝国，遭到了毁灭性的打击
过去，人们将大英帝国在这一时期非凡的成就
归因于上天的眷顾或种族的优越性
甚至是一种特殊的英勇，但这些都不准确
这一成功的核心在于英国工业化的领导
皇家海军一度居于统治地位
现在则无法望其项背
然而英国没有宣称
广袤的中国大陆是英国的战利品
反而只是要求一项权利
即在中国的港口自由贸易权
同时海军得到了属于他们自己的奖品
一座拥有深入隐蔽的港口的中国小岛
香港
(汽车叭叭哗哔声)
很难想像这里曾是香港前面一片安静的沙滩
而这条路实际上曾是供船员们使用的曳船路
再前面就是海了。1841年一月
英国海军军官们正是在这里靠岸登陆
他们在这片土地上插上国旗
并为维多利亚女王祝酒
然后三声欢呼之后，正式占有香港
导演这场占领的幕后策划人
是皇家海军上尉Charles Elliott
他是英国对华的首席贸易监管人
同时他对这座岛有着宏伟的规划
Elliott不仅仅把香港当做海军基地
也把它看做一个绝好的地点
在这里英国商人可以管理他们所有的对华贸易
几个月内，Elliott开始出售小块土地
邀请商人来此开展贸易
视线转回伦敦，英国政府并不把这看作海军之道
香港作为一个连房屋都没有的贫瘠小岛不被重视
Elliott被解雇了
可是尽管Elliott离开了
他的计划本身具有内在的动力
一个拥有6艘皇家海军军舰的小型舰队仍停泊在港内
防卫他们的仓库
保护货物。那些都是英国商人的投资
Elliott上尉的继任者预言
在香港宣布成为永久殖民地的6个月内
他将成为一个商业和财富中心
1842年香港正式割让给大英帝国
以永久租借的方式
从那时起停泊在港口的军舰成为了一个强权的标志
那意味着一旦中国背弃条约，英国将踏平中国
这就是众所周知的"炮艇外交"的由来
英国的利益由坚船利炮来保障
这就是所谓英国统治下的和平的核心
通过世界范围内的海军统治保障和平
截止到1848年129艘英国军舰
布置驻扎在55个国外驻点
位于直布罗陀，马耳他和亚丁的海军基地
守卫着通往印度的必经之路
福克兰基地保护英国在南非的利益
在世界海洋的中间
如阿森松岛上的供应站
保证了海军船只港口到港口之间的蒸汽供应
世界贸易从未像现在这样流动
仅在850年就翻了一倍
得意洋洋地在强势的海军背后享受胜利果实
英国是最大的赢家
两倍于她最近的竞争对手法国
人们认为英国的富裕和强大源于她广阔的帝国
但实际上,完全可以排除像非洲南部
澳大利亚和加拿大这样广阔的蛮荒地带
她财富的根源来自对海洋这一重要领域的控制
回到祖国，海军受到了空前的赞誉
1863年的夏天里，家庭最好的外出活动就是
当海军巡航不列颠时，来一次参观海军船只的旅行
150万人占，总人口的7% 轮流参观他们伟大的舰队
这些都是煞费苦心的公关活动的一部分
用以突出海军在公众生活中的核心形象
这是展示中的明星
勇士号是当时世界上最大最快最强有力的战舰
她作为英国第一艘装甲舰得以闻名
实际上她不仅是被装甲覆盖
她全身无一处不是铁制的
使她成为有史以来最具革命意义的船舰
Warrior是工业革命在海上的再现。
看看它的内部，人们应当
对那个时代的一些伟大发明感到惊叹
发动机仓
重达240吨的机械安装在这里
只有深入船的内部来到这里
远离桅杆并把那里安装好
你才会发现我们离纳尔逊时代
由木头和帆组成的海军有多遥远
这支新海军需要配备不同技能的船员
其中包括12名操作机器的工程师
和多达66个负责铲煤的烧火工人
全速前进时他们可以使勇士号
比任何一艘风帆动力的战舰都快
阿姆斯特朗式炮是一项全新的设计
当我们要发射10磅炮之类的弹药时要做的第一件事
需要我们松开炮口
110磅炮装填器可以将炮弹发射到25英里之外
它们被设计为放置
在单独的火炮甲板上置于装甲碉堡内
当时最强有力的炮也无法穿透这些铁墙
即使是在近距离射程中
这儿没有设置专门的访问时间
所以人们随时可以前来
但那也意味着
他们会看到那时甲板上正在进行的任何事
单单在这个甲板上
就有450名船员在这些桌子上吃午饭或清理甲板
或修理传损坏的部件
或者如果他们下班了
他们可能会在这修补自己的制服
或只是翻翻报纸
这是唯一机会能让公众一窥真实的船舶生活
他们对此也是十分惊奇
不仅是武器还有最新式的生活设施
洗澡对维多利亚时代的人来说都是稀罕物
但勇士号上缺提供了私人的浴室设施
当女士们看到前所未见的船上洗衣机时都万分惊讶
海军部全力以赴在最合适的光线下展示海军
使公众确信英国仍保有海上控制权
因为Warrior就是为应对可怕的新局势而建造的
100多年后才出现了另一个国家取代了
英国的技术领导地位
令人惊奇的是这种船的构想
并不来自英国而是来自她的老对手法国
法国人在1859年试航了世界上第一艘装甲战舰
名叫荣光号
此时为海军部每个人敲响了警钟
提醒他们法国人依然在虎视眈眈
荣光号对民族自尊心产生了的致命打击
Albert亲王怒斥道法国的战争准备工作很全面
我们则令人汗颜
我们拿什么来对抗这种新型战争工具?
答案就是勇士号
体积1.5倍，火力两倍于荣光号
世界上没有船只可以与勇士号匹敌
英国重新建立起了他的海上霸权
但是造船革命并未在此停止
反而加速发展
英国和法国都拼命努力以求超过对方
建造出新的更具杀伤力的舰船
一个新词被创造出来描述
这种激烈的竞争：军备竞赛
步伐快到难以置信
船只几乎是刚一下水就已过时
服役十年后勇士号这艘曾经世界上最强大的战舰
也被淘汰了
勇士号的建造标志着英国与竞争对手之间战争的开始
结果并不是由战争本身决定
而是通过一场无休止的技术竞赛
接下来的20年中
貌似是英国海军在这场军备竞赛中取得了胜利
问题是海军士兵能够继续保持吗?
1881年10月皇家海军最新的船舰抵达马耳他
地中海舰队的基地
地中海舰队海军最大最重要的舰队
指挥的是新任船长Jacky Fisher
当Fisher进入这个港口时
他一定会觉得自己曾来过
他曾在这里获得他最著名的任命
皇家海军最先进最强大的战舰
皇家海军舰艇不屈号的指挥官
他会发现舰队里的所有眼睛盯着他和他的新船
Jacky Fisher被这个当时最新的发明迷住了
他自己则是以发明了一种新式武器鱼雷而闻名
对他来说不屈号是一个奇迹
它拥有最厚的装甲最大的炮
每样装备都是最大的
超越了世上所有的船只
最重要的是她是现代化的
同时配备两个巨大的蒸汽机来驱动推进器
39个小型机器为照明设备通风设备
驾驶设备和液压泵供电
Fisher船长立刻投入工作．
让不屈号做好接收舰队司令检查的准备
Fisher做好了他力所能及的所有事
以使不屈号达到最佳备战状态
然而他的辛勤工作并未得到任何官方奖励
理由非常简单
Fisher他的手下并不擅用船帆
好吧,他们虽然是出色的水手
但是他们却不会使用这些船帆
难以置信的是不屈号
何其他方面都是当世最先进的
它装备了桅杆索具以及数百英尺高的帆布帆
尽管传统的航海工艺对于现代战争来说已经不太重要
但是英国海军部的高级要员始终相信
海军士兵一旦手里没了帆那将一无是处
海军的保守势力坚守着他们的传统
他们认为机器的使用不像一个正规海军
没有比这更大的耻辱的了
但是Fisher说如果这些船帆能对不屈号如此有用
当她处于狂风之中 那么苍蝇就都驼起一头河马了
他在海军部渐渐被孤立
被那些他称之为刀枪棍棒党的人孤立了
他预见了未来的战争将会取决于
机器的速度以及枪炮的力量
但是Fisher所宣扬的现代机器却被轻视了
那些操作机器的人工程师以及锅炉工他们穿着
脏兮兮的工作服掌握着专业技术
却被当做入侵者来对待
即使桅杆和船帆渐渐地退出了历史舞台
海军训练仍被日复日的打扫卫生所取代
甚至有报道说弹药被扔出船外
以避免由于枪炮演习引起的混乱
战舰正变成展示品，而非战争工具
在那时外表比实用更重要
那些保守势力没有认真对待新兴的技术
而它们却会彻底改变海上的战争
那个时候有一种说法来描述这种迂腐的态度
说当战舰是木制的时候海军是铁打的
而现在战舰是铁制时海军却是木头了
Fisher相信在保守势力的掌权下
皇家海军会在军备竞赛中严重的落后
当他在1884年回到伦敦后他进行了回击
他的回击策略放在今天将会被立即得到认同
他向报纸泄露了关于海军武器短缺的轰动消息
他找到了斯特德的蓓尔美街报编辑的一位助手
同时也是报道惊人内幕新闻先锋
他设计出戏剧性的曝光，使得读者义愤填膺
啊 找到了头版
一个让所有人都会忍不住看下去的标题
皇家海军的真相----"真相帝作"
大不列颠的海军缺少一切东西，从战舰到鱼雷快艇
从缺少足够能作战的训练有素的士兵
并且枪炮配置不够优良
事实上我们配置的枪炮在重量和威力上
都比法国和意大利的差
结论非常简单明了
我已经揭露了海军所有的重点真相
我们至高无上的海军
已近乎不存在了
在维多利亚时代，这条消息绝对的令人万分震惊的
他们被英国海军不可战胜的形象激起
Fisher的宣传使全国弥漫着恐惧的气氛
并且确实达到了他想要的效果
纳尔逊的继承者所遗弃的建议是
一个令人恐惧的观念
一个被全国性的报纸所拾起的建议
公众激烈的抗议
每R电讯报称之为
"急切爱国热情的呼唤"
使得每个大臣都无法视而不见
蓓尔美街报的文章引起了一种新的恐惧和不安全感
英国民众开始采取一种新的
更加咄咄逼人的民族主义形式
就像当时一首流行的戏剧歌曲中所唱的
我们不想要战争，但是老天作证
如果我们一旦参战，我们有战舰，我们有士兵
我们也有钱
沙文主义诞生了，作为一种响应
对于英国人丢掉他们统治地位的焦虑
而这种新的心态的象征是什么?好吧，当然是海军
海军曾今给每件东西做广告，从芥末到巧克力
水手的图片被印在香烟盒上
装甲舰变成了商标名称的首选
对于任何英国制造的东西
最终政府屈服于公众的压力
在1889年他们投入了二百一十万英镑在海军上
足够使它超过两倍比起
她的最大的两个对手法国和沙俄
这是对公众舆论如此重要的胜利
推动了英国成为一个现代的民主社会
一个拥有大量发行量的报纸和记者的社会
他们报纸的每一寸地方都充斥着对海军的议论
它的指挥官，武器以及士兵
海军似乎为它的船队保住了更多的资金
但还不足以解决另一个问题
自从特拉法加战争以来
士兵们对全面的战争少有经验
那些使得海军变得伟大的航海技术渐渐地被遗忘了
Henry Capper 1869年加入了一艘训练舰时只有14岁
他从船上的最低层开始干起做了一名海军入伍士兵
1857年新制服第一次被引入下级士兵层
自那以后没有太大的改变
方领样式仿效于皇家游艇号采用的水手服
一直使用至今
尽管它们有漂亮的样貌，Capper认为这些制服
巩固了他所描述的那种等级制度
他说没有任何东西能更清楚地表明巨大的鸿沟
存在于他和指挥官之间
Capper注意到了这条鸿沟
因为他一生的愿望就是成为一名指挥官
好，继续 还有一点距离 加油 超过他
我们不能输 伙计们
抓住它，你能行的
你可以松手了，下一个上
好样的TayIoridge棒极了，Cooke干的漂亮
如今新兵们能通过针对基于自身优势的训练
提高自己
加油，冲啊
上啊，加油
在Capper那个年代士兵唯二能证明自己的方法
是通过在战斗中的勇敢表现
由于没有大型战争
这种个机会是如此的稀少整整80年里
仅仅有两名来自低层级别的士兵
成功晋升指挥官级别、
Capper记下了他的海军生活
描述了所有受到的斥责和侮辱
而他不得不忍受，因为他想成为一名指挥官
这段文章中概括到当一名副官的母亲对他说
你选错了服役部队
海军属于我们，你要是得到你想要的位置
那将会牺牲我们子孙与生俱来的特权
这个传递信息非常明确
如果你一开始只是海军士兵
你就没有到达最高层的机会
Capper激励机制的缺失称为"灵魂消失"
海军开始停滞不前
它正在失去曾是它最强大的力量
一个艰难却随时打开大门的精英阶层
而且每个人都能走在前面
在战争年代对于有才华的人想要出名很容易
和平年代严格的等级制度代表了一切
等级制度和教条规则扑灭了创新的星火
这种心态的缺点即将显现出来带着悲剧性的后果。
海军George Tryon爵士
是在他那个时代里最著名的指挥官之一
魅力超凡超过任何人 一头凶猛海豹的化身
1893年他是皇家海军中最负盛名的角色
地中海舰队的指挥官
Tryon喜欢考验他的船员
通过命令他们进行错综复杂的演练
能见度11英里
值班员六点报告
六月的一个晚上,他率领着11艘他最好的战船
离开黎巴嫩南部的黎波力沿岸
为了让他的舰队能进入一个能在夜晚锚泊的位置
Tryon决定实施一项特别复杂的操作
但是他没有对任何人说是什么操作
他只是从他船的甲板上送出了一系列的信号旗
首先Tryon爵士登上维多利亚号
命令他的舰队形成两列互相平行的队列
然后他下令这两列向里旋回
以便于他们能结束朝着相反的方向前进的局面
问题是像这样大的船需要巨大的旋回空间
为了安全的实施这个操纵。Tryon的两列舰队则需要大概1点5公里的距离。
但是他们没有
海军上将马克姆他率领着第二列队
了解这点，于是他犹豫了
但是Tryon发给了他另一个命令
说到"你还在等什么"
马克姆决定听从他的命令下，令打舵
马克姆慢慢的转向Tryon的旗舰
在最后几分钟双方都拼命地试图倒车
但是一切都太晚了
事故无法避免两艘船撞上了对方
马克姆的船就像攻城槌似的穿透了Tryon的船
仅仅在几分钟内前甲板就被淹没了
尽管他fr]的船在他们下面沉没
但是仍有600人之多的士兵在船上
穿着他们整洁的制服等待着命令
一直等到他们被命令如此做叫他们跳船
在一艘附近的船有目击者报告了接下来的事
当维多利亚号前进时
她左舷的救生艇和重量都倾向了下风舷
随着严重的撞击
随后这艘船翻了个底朝天
在这之后过了几分钟时间后
她彻底消失在了我的视线中
一半的船员358个人溺死了
一些人被陷在了甲板一些人被拖入了水里，其他的则不会游泳
TryongN他的船一起沉下去了
他最后的一句话是：这全是我的错
维多利亚号被另一艘来自皇家海军的军舰撞沉的新闻
被报道以后，引起了极本的震惊
这是数十年来海军最大的灾难事故
随着Tryon的去世，英国失去了一位国家英雄
就像一家报纸所描述的：悲伤的天使盘旋在国土之上
这件事故中的关键人员被送上了军事法庭
为了摆脱媒体的聚光灯审判在这儿在马耳他举行
审判在一艘名叫爱尔兰号的三层木制甲板战船上进行
它就系泊在NJL在瓦莱塔港口的另一边
质询的核心疑问是
是否Tryon应该对发布一个危险的命令负责
或者是Markham的错误
因为他盲目服从明明知道会导致灾难的命令
这个疑问不仅导致了海军部分成了两派观点
也使公众舆论分成了两派
在军事法庭进行到第三天
Markham出现在了证人席上
Markham尽力为自己辩护
他宣称他被说服Tryon会采取其他的措施
通过他的传话筒并且下令进一步航向改变
但是对于大多数人，这是不充分的理由
Markham是一位海军少将
在海军有四十年的从军经验
他是地中海舰队的副指挥
负责调遣部分英国最好的战船和数以千计的士兵
当然他应该已经意识到了Tryon的指令
和违背他的命令会是多么的危险
维多利亚时代的海军已经被灌输了一种观念
极大地强调了军队纪律的重要性
必须命令服从
和大多数人一样Markham只是在履行他的责任
对于这次审判的评论
女王把它写在了她私人日记里上面说到下级应该
违背命令，如果预计到会发生危险情况时
十天之后法庭的下达裁定
这是一篇审判结果的复印件，上面说到法庭认为
带着最深切的抱歉和遗憾
这次碰撞事故归咎一个命令
这个命令来自于George Tryon爵士
明显地将造成维多利亚损失的责任推到了他的身上
而关于Markham上面说到
它给海军的最高利益带来了严重的损失
鉴于他对于执行统帅的指令负有不可推卸的责任
使他推脱了责任
维多利亚号的沉没本来可以提供一个机会去弥补
一些困扰着维多利亚时代的海军的问题
但是这次裁定表明了服从命令要高于自己的主见
从现在开始叫你做什么就做什么
要比只做正确的事显得更加重要
这截然不同于这个男人一生的初衷
这个被海军军官视为
钢铁的男人Horatio Nelson
被人们牢记的名字
但是谁又该为他们已被遗忘的
勇于冒险和创新的精神负责
对纳尔逊的盲目崇拜
没有任何一个地方比英国一个重要的新军营更加明显
1903年建于朴茨茅斯
这是餐厅指挥官的餐厅
可以叫食堂，如果你喜欢的话
所有工作生活于朴茨茅斯的指挥官都应该在这里吃饭
坐这儿的几乎都是你的同事战友
毫无疑问你能看出他们对你的期望
这不像是一个食堂
感觉像是个修道院
一个写着英国海军伟大历史的圣殿
看看天花板，举个例子 这些巨大的橡木横梁
那实际上是胜利号船壳的外形
它是英国历史上最为著名的战舰
我们再看这些墙
这些难以置信的壁画有着史诗般的尺寸
描述了所有伟大的时刻在英国海军历史上
当然，在这儿。我们能看见纳尔逊
最伟大的海军将领
这间屋子能告诉你非常多皇家海军的历史
20世纪初
这儿的指挥官被壁画上的辉煌历史景象所包围
但问题是这些辉煌的过去已经是一百年以前的事了
而这个世界已经改变了
英国不再是世界上唯一的现代工业力量
在19世纪带给这个国家这么多好处的
工业技术已经落后了
随着工业革命的传播
一个充满侵略性竞争对手的新时代出现了
还是一个小男孩
德国皇帝威廉二世就梦想着有一天建造一支舰队
比肩她的祖母维多利亚女王
19世纪末德国人已计划打造一支由38艘战舰组成的舰队
对于英国人，这只意味着一件事
正如英国海军大臣1902年写到
新的德国海军正在崛起，与我们一决高下
现在一场对海军彻底的整治事关整个国家的安全
而在这次危机中海军部求助的人
正是朴茨茅斯的统帅
这个男人就是当时的海军上Jacky Fisher
Fisher取得了很大的进展自从他离开不屈号
他不知疲倦的工作终于成为了上将
并且在1904年
他得到了海军的最高职位海军军务大臣
Fisher清楚地了解他所要面临任务的艰巨性
于是他花了数月的时间提前
在朴茨茅斯这儿的办公室写下了这一篇宣言
有关他所希望实现的目标
他把这篇宣言定为准则称它为海军必需品
这儿是一篇副本
这是一本珍贵的文件因为它是Fisher亲笔手稿的直抄本
上面复制下了他所有的下划线标注大写字母
斜体宇甚至是感叹号整篇文章都充满了这些符号
你能真切的了解到Fisher这个男人他的热情
古怪的脾气
尤其是他用之不竭的精力和他对海军的热爱
这儿有一段重要的段落
我想它真实的表明了Fisher的世界观
他写到大英帝国的未来寄托在英国海军身上
所以我们一定要坚定不移的维护皇家海军的霸权地位
并且随时做好战争的准备
他想召回所有英国的老旧战船
从帝国的每个角落，然后作为废料卖出
这儿还有一份草拟文件关于其他的相关措施
比如加强防卫海军港口，以及一次彻底的变更
用于船舶之间交流的信号上
Fisher称之为"计划表"
这完全是对海军一次彻底的改革，他在这儿写到
我们一定要有一个计划，一个全盘计划至高无上的计划
难怪一些人认为Fisher像一个主战论者
我的意思是他最喜欢的一句话就是
主动打，使劲打，不停的打
但实际上他自认为是个和平主义者
他的信条被刻在这个门上
Si vis pacem,para bellum.
意思是：你想和平就得备战
他的想法是将海军建成为一支战无不胜的力量
一个没人敢挑的担子
和平只有通过威慑才能获得
Fisher同时计划建造一艘战舰
一艘将要成为英国造船厂建造的最大的战舰
这艘战舰将成为是海军的核心力量
他称之为 巨人建造的舰队
他警告人们准备为之一震
这些草图非常漂亮，我喜欢这些不同
颜色他们用来标示不同的舱室和救生艇
英国海军使用四分之一的比例尺来绘制这些草图
具有完美的一致性，而且从未修改过
所以虽然这艘船越来越大
草图也变得越来越大这份图就相当的巨大
这份令人瞠目的侧面图让我们看到了到底发生了什么
重大的改变在这艘船上这是它的火力布置
现在是时候了在英国人在做了如此多的努力研制
船用火炮之后
终于可以将他们的成果带到这艘巨无霸上
世界上没有一艘船拥有超过4个12英尺的火炮
这艘船在5个炮位上安置了10这样的火炮
当这艘船向一侧开火它将射出超过3公吨重的炮弹
以及烈性炸药射向敌人
这些沿着船壳的厚厚的黑色线条实际上是装甲钢板
这艘船有5000吨的装甲钢板
比世界上的其他任何船舶都多出800吨
它的船体被分为了
所有这些个舱室，它们全都是水密的
实际上它们甚至直接被称为水密舱室
这艘船被设计成为了真正的永不沉没
它是将近一个世纪以来的顶点
为船舶设计带来了史无前例的技术革新
Fisher为了艘新的战舰命名费尽心思
他希望这个名字能够唤起人皇家海军光辉传统
于是他为之命名为无畏舰
伊丽莎白一世曾经以无畏舰命名过她的战船
并且对抗过西班牙人的无敌舰队
纳尔逊的特拉法加战役中也有一艘无畏舰
而现在一艘新的无畏舰诞生了
这是一个富有历史意义的名字
建造开始于1905年10月2号
在极度保密的情况下，3000名工人一天工作11个小时
一星期六天在朴茨茅斯的皇家海军军港
以打破记录的建造速度
第一艘无畏级战舰仅仅在1年零1天以后就完成了
无畏舰的目的是让英国能够遥遥领先于她的竞争对手
但是在世界上的其他国家． ．
现在也拥有了可以和英国匹敌的造船能力
一艘全新的战船不再能够长久的保证海军的优势
问题是无畏战舰太强大了
使得世界上的其他的战船都显得落后不堪
英国实际上丢掉了自己刚刚特有的海军优势
因为他促使产生了一个新的军备竞争环境
现在所有的对手都不得不赶超英国
建造自己的无畏舰
有一个国家瞧准了这次机会-德国
无畏舰还远未有阻止敌人的能力
实际上它点燃了一场新的军备竞赛
而这次风险将比以往的任何一次都要高
德国人能在一年里建造六艘无畏舰
由于不甘示弱Fishe r进行了一场有力的宣传活动
使得英国战舰的建造量加倍
从一年四建造艘无畏战舰上升到一年八艘
在Herbert Asquith率领下的自由党政府已经决定削减
海军的经费转而进行社会改革
但是在1909年，他却同意了Fisher
建造8艘无畏战舰的要求
因为欧洲已经处于了建造无畏战舰的狂热中
奥地利正计划建造三艘强大的战舰，意大利则是四艘
这些国家的威胁看来是如此紧迫
以至于到1910年为止四分之一的公共经费
都拨给了海军部
Fisher最终在海军呼风唤雨了五年以后退休了
但是他已经为自己证明了一切
在最后一艘他设计的无畏级战舰下水后
很显然英国已经打败了德国人
到1914年为止英国已有42艘在建
或准备建造的无畏战舰而德国只有26艘
德国人放弃了追赶英国的计划
Fisher的枪炮换和平政策看起来起到了作用
1914年六月20号，一支英国无畏舰队驶向德国
皇家海军被邀请参加在德国北部海岸举行的帆船赛
这项活动被称为基尔周，至今仍在举办
基尔周也是一个例子
表现了德国皇帝对所有英国事物的痴迷
他已经模仿了英国海军的无畏舰设计和制服样式
他甚至引入长达一周时间的
考兹周帆船赛一项英国最精彩的赛船活动
但是在这儿还是有点不一样的
因为基尔是德意志帝国海军的大本营，并且不像
氛围轻松的考兹市。这儿的活动有点更加正式
更加带有军国主义的色彩
英国皇家海军的到来引起了一阵轰动
德国的小型舰队出港迎接英国舰队
(哨子声)
德国海军准备了长达一星期的娱乐庆祝节目
招待宴会舞会游园会以及足球赛
向右转
一位德国军官注意到了，在这儿的每一个人都打得火热
现在有176天了
-是的 -干杯 -干杯
他们很快成了好的朋友
我们享受着在基尔的每一天
在所有的球赛和晚会上，年轻的英国军官们可能
会和德国军官成为莫逆之交
也可能和德国的女孩打情骂俏
但是英国人在这儿并不是来度假的
在舰队离开英国之前的晚上
舰队统帅从他的旗舰上
下发了一个秘密的便笺
他说：所有的军官都要去获得任何他们能得到的信息
关于德国最新型的武器系统以及目前的制造水平
这是一个吸引人的便笺
他说：要特别去打探德国的重炮设施
鱼类设施通信信号和无线电报
显然这次任务不只是交际手段
英国人当然是来这儿打探消息的
而德国人也知道这一点 ．
他们也有自己的小算盘
但是很显然，一切都不能阻止帆船赛的正常进行
(哨子声)
实际上，没有任何事情似乎能够结束这种快乐
然而1914年6月28号
就在德国皇帝驾驶着自己的游艇
流星号冈 刚好到那儿时
一艘载着信使的小船慢慢靠近，带来了坏消息
就在那天的早些时候德国皇帝的老朋友和盟友
奥地利大公弗朗兹费迪南德
在萨拉热窝被枪杀了
英国舰队在这儿又待了一天
当他们要离开时，东道主发出信号
祝福他们归途顺利
英国人则回复说今天是朋友
明天还是朋友，一直到永远
干杯
然而仅仅在互相承诺了六周之后
英国军队就要和他们的德国东道主在战场相遇
英国的无畏战舰即将要第一次面临战争的检验
卡罗琳号是一艘巡洋舰，它是最后幸存下来的几艘战舰之一
从第一次世界大战中
她在1914年9月份登记下水
三个月后，她驶往了在奥克尼群岛的斯卡帕湾
加入了英国最庞大的舰队。听命于John Je l l i coe
他是Fisher亲自挑选的接班人
就像他所说的，有朝一日会当
海军大元帅，当决战的那一天来临时
而这一天终于在1916年5月31号降临了
当德国的远洋舰队
驶离他们的港口
希望引诱Jellicoe的·支小分队加入战斗
英军截获了敌人的信息，洞悉了他们的陷阱
卡洛琳号和剩余的战舰离开了他们的基地
前去会一会德国人
两支舰队最终将在R德兰半岛的西边
靠近丹麦的北海上相遇
当战争开始时，英国人期望他们钟爱的海军
能够打赢另一场特拉法加战役
尽管已是100年以前的事了
但是它依然人们唯一的衡量标准
对于这样一次规模庞大的海战
但问题是，自从特拉法加战役以来
海上战争已经完全改变了
任何人甚至是Jellicoe
都没有在如此庞大的战船上作战的经验
一位德国军官曾叙述
自己第一次见到英国海军舰队时的情形
突然，我的潜望镜中出现一些巨大的战舰
像黑色的怪物像六个威猛高大的巨人
以两个队列在海中前行，即使在这么远agUE离望去
他们看上去也非常强力魁伟
但是除了美好的第一印象外
事情的进展很快偏离了Je l l i coe的设想
几个世纪以来，英国海军一直向舰队传递命令
通过使用这些信号旋
但是现在这些信号旗有了不一样的意思
当它们被单独使用或者是组合在一起
现在这些旗在特拉法加战役中或许有用
当舰队仅仅相距几米远
但是在R德兰海域·
杰里科指挥着100多艘战舰遍布于数十英里的大洋上
而更糟糕的是
从这些烟囱出来的浓烟遮盖住了这些信号旗
使得读懂指挥官下达的命令变得全无可能
这是古代系统在一个现代社会中使用
一位舰队司令Evan Thomas
错误的理解了他的上级的命令
不假思索的
他率领着他的小分队驶入了一个错误的方向
尽管他最终采取了纠正措施
但是有四艘世界上最厉害的战舰没有能够
尽可能的接近战场，参与开战
这样的错误本可以通过一个新的发明得以避免
无线电装置刚刚被应用在船上。
它们本可以帮助船与船之间的交流的交流
但是就像许多新式的技术
它们同样引起许多疑虑
一些海军将领根本不对这些新技术上心
战斗在3点20分开始
自始自终杰里科的舰队都在黑暗中作战
他后来说整个形势很难掌握
我们几乎看不到任何东西除了炮的火光
炮弹下落以及船被炸飞
4A钟时第一艘英国战舰被摧毁
20分钟后玛丽女王号爆炸产生出巨大的力量
她的碎片飞到了几百英里外的空中
1200名海军士兵当场牺牲
但是这并不是由于某个德国人的超级武器造成的
这是一个本可以避免的错误
安装防护门本是为了
防止火事从一个区域蔓延到另一个区域
但是为了减少把弹药从弹药舱向上运送的时间
海军士兵却将这些门一直开着
接着德国人的炮弹击中了上甲板引起了爆炸
产生了一片白色的火光
从船中央开始猛烈燃烧直到点燃了
下面的弹药舱
实际上有三艘英国军舰，就是这样被炸沉的
其中一艘船只有2名生还者1000名士兵牺牲
作为战斗的一部分卡洛琳号是这场战斗的焦点
随着战斗加剧舵工们被派下来
到这里在水线深度以下
在这儿8个船上最强壮的人操纵这艘船
这个舱口应该是被锁着的
他们唯一与外界的联系就是这套机械
它传递指挥官的命令，从上面的指挥室上
告诉这里的人该驶哪个航向
如果船被攻击了他们基本上没有机会逃跑
这些亮度很低的灯将会熄灭，这儿将漆黑一片
海水将开始灌入从这些钢板的连接处
当你来到这儿你意识到战争真的很恐怖
正如死一般，而在外面的大海上
就像处于一战的西线战场上
到第二天的黎明，英国军队损失了三艘
迅速强大的巡洋战舰只击毁了一艘德舰
并且英国阵亡的士兵是德国的两倍
许多英国炮弹失效，而不是穿透德国人的装甲
而英国人的情报工作也是令人失望的
当Jacky Fisler听到战役的报告
他说"他们辜负了我"
我花了整整30年时间来准备这一天的到来
而他们却辜负了我的努力
最后,日德兰海战被认为是英国人战术上的胜利
里科规模庞大的舰队阻止了德国人
试图再次以同样的方式占领英国
但是德国人让英国舰队在他们面前暴露出了弱点
德兰海战并不是一场大胜
它辜负了英国公众的殷切期望
在13德兰海战后,德国皇帝欢欣鼓舞的宣布
特拉法加海战的魔咒已经被打破了
在某种程度上,他说得很正确
英国海军没有将敌人打垮
丢掉了他们在100年以前已经取得的胜利
但是德国人在无意中说中了另一个方面
从此以后再也没有特拉法加海战了
德兰海战是最后一场
由大型火炮战舰独自对抗的战役
在海上和空中，新的武器将决定现在的
海上战争的结果，帮助打败德国人
但是战舰在作为一个国家的象征如此长的时间后
它的绝对支配地位就此结束
太英帝国从战争的胜利中展露头角
但是却已经精疲力尽和残缺不堪
她的海军最终不得不决定放弃
维持至今世界上最大的舰队的决心
后来其他国家的崛起使得英国黯然失色
这是英国海军长达数世纪的海上霸权的结束
四个世纪以前，海军帮助一个微弱贫穷的王国
走上了伟大富强的道路
再后来，它将英国变为了历史上最强大的帝国
给世界上其他的国家带来了巨大的影响
带来了奴隶，战利品，以及巨大规模的战争
但是海军也确保了英国能保护自己的
独立以及它独特的经济和政治体系
战舰保护了巨额的贸易，使英国变得富有
点燃了农业工业和金融革命的火光
从此改变了英国和整个世界
海军开拓了新的科技并且彻底改变了
我们对所赖以生存的世界的认识
使得大海和航海成为一个不可分割的部分
植根于我们的文化和民族特性中
而今天，正如几个世纪一直坚持的一样
海军的战舰继续保卫着英国的海岸和海上航线
每一个我去的地方
我都能看见皇家海军曾经留下的痕迹
它的战舰使得这个国家能将英国的影响力
施加到大不列颠群岛的疆界以外
这个现代世界是建立在
由皇家海军一点点积累的基础之上