The Channel Fleet is the historical name used for the group of Royal Navy warships that defended the waters of the English Channel. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga class cruiser. ... Satellite view of the English Channel The English Channel, also for some time known as the British Sea (French: La Manche, the sleeve) is the part of the Atlantic Ocean that separates the island of Great Britain from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. ...

Various fleets of Royal Navy ships have operated in the channel since the 16th century to fight (for example) the Spanish Armada in 1588 or the Dutch invasion fleet that brought William of Orange to England in 1688. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... The Spanish Armada or Great/Grand Armada(Old Spanish: Grande y Felicísima Armada, large and most fortunate fleet; but called by the English, with ironic intention, la Armada Invencible, the Invincible Fleet) was the largest fleet up until its time, sent by the Catholic King Philip II of... 1588 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... William III of England (14 November 1650–8 March 1702; also known as William II of Scotland and William III of Orange) was a Dutch aristocrat and a Protestant Prince of Orange from his birth, King of England and King of Ireland from 13 February 1689, and King of Scots... // Events A high-powered conspiracy of notables, the Immortal Seven, invite William and Mary to depose James II of England. ...

A Channel Fleet as a permanent establishment was first set up during the 18th century in order to defend England against the threat from the French naval bases at Brest, Le Havre and elsewhere in the Bay of Biscay. It was based variously at Torbay, Falmouth, and Plymouth. During the long Napoleonic Wars, many of the ships stayed at sea for months on-end being replenished with specially-built supply vessels able to bring fresh water in tanks as well as fresh food. (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Travel guide to England from Wikitravel English language English law English (people) List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree List of English people Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named) UK... The French Navy (Marine Nationale) is the naval arm of the French military and is the second-largest Western European navy (the largest being the United Kingdoms Royal Navy). ... Brest is the name of several cities: City in Belarus: Brest, Belarus, formerly in Russia and the Soviet Union and formerly known as Brest-Litovsk. ... Le Havre is a city in Normandy, northern France, on the English Channel, at the mouth of the Seine. ... Map of the Bay of Biscay. ... Torbay is an east facing bay at the western most end of Lyme Bay in the south west of England, situated roughly midway between the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. ... Map sources for Falmouth, Cornwall at grid reference SW810325 Falmouth (Cornish: Aberfal) is a seaport on the south coast of Cornwall in the United Kingdom. ... Plymouth is a city in the South West of England, or alternatively the Westcountry, and is situated within the traditional county of Devon. ... The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars fought during Napoleon Bonapartes rule over France. ...

During the 19th century as the French developed Cherbourg as a base for steam-powered ships, the Royal Navy developed Portland Harbour as a base for the fleet. The gravel and sand dredging that the construction of a deep sea harbour required extended to gravel banks as far round the coast as Start Bay whose removal was responsible for much damaging coastal erosion. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cherbourg is a city of Normandy, in northwestern France, in the Manche département, of which it is a sous_préfecture. ... A steam engine is a heat engine that makes use of the potential energy that exists as pressure in steam, converting it to mechanical work. ... Two RIBs at Castletown, Portland Harbour Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, off Dorset, on the south coast of England. ... Coastal erosion is a process which affects the landmass of an area as a consequence of the sea acting upon it. ...

With the amelioration of Anglo-French relations, and the rise of German militarism towards 1900, the need for the Channel Fleet diminished and the main European naval arena shifted to the North Sea. The Channel Fleet was absorbed into the Home Fleet after the end of the Great War. 1900 (MCM) is a common year starting on Monday. ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... The Home Fleet is the traditional name of the fleet of the Royal Navy that protects the United Kingdoms territorial waters. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

Commanding Officers

• Admiral Lord Bridport (1795–1800)
• Admiral Sir William Cornwallis
• Admiral Lord St Vincent
• Admiral Sir Charles Napier (May 1847 – April 1849)
• Admiral Sir George Hornby
• Admiral Lord Hood (1880–1882)

Portrait of Admiral Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, by Lemuel Francis Abbott, painted 1795. ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1800 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... This article needs to be wikified. ... John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent (9 January 1735-14 March 1823) was an admiral in the British Royal Navy. ... Admiral Sir Charles Napier (6 March 1786–6 November 1860) was a British admiral whose 54 years in the Royal Navy included service in the Napoleonic Wars, Syrian War and the Crimean War, and a period commanding the Portuguese navy in the Liberal Wars. ... 1847 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1849 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Sir Geoffrey Thomas Phipps Hornby (February 10, 1825 - March 3, 1895), was British admiral of the fleet. ... 1880 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1882 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Channel Fleet in literature

The Channel Fleet features in several historical novels about the Royal Navy, notably Hornblower and the Hotspur by C. S. Forester, in which Forester's fictional hero becomes a favourite of the real Channel Fleet commander, Admiral William Cornwallis. The fleet also features in several of the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian. A historical novel is a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more generally, in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the author. ... Hornblower and the Hotspur (published 1962) is a Horatio Hornblower novel written by C. S. Forester. ... The cover of the 1974 paperback edition of one of Foresters non-fiction titles: Hunting The Bismarck Cecil Scott Forester is the pen name of Cecil Smith (August 27, 1899 - April 2, 1966), an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of adventure with military themes. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... The Aubrey–Maturin series, also known as the Aubreyad, is a sequence of 20 historical novels by Patrick OBrian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ships surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also a physician... Patrick OBrian (December 12, 1914 – January 2, 2000; original name Richard Patrick Russ) was a novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centered on the friendship of Captain Jack Aubrey and an Irish–Catalan...

The novel Billy Budd by Herman Melville is set on board ships of the Channel Fleet, in the immediate aftermath of the Spithead and Nore mutinies of 1797. Billy Budd is a short novel finished around 1891 by Herman Melville. ... Herman Melville Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, essayist, and poet. ... The Spithead and Nore mutinies were two major mutinies by sailors of the Royal Navy in 1797. ... 1797 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

References

• Channel Fleet at Cyberport
• Channel Fleet in 1801 at the Nelson Society