In naval warfare, a fleet in being is a naval force that extends a controlling influence without ever leaving port. Were the fleet to leave port and face the enemy, it might lose in battle and no longer influence the enemy's actions, but by simply remaining safely in port the enemy is forced to continually deploy forces to guard against it. A fleet in being can be part of a sea denial doctrine but not one of sea control. Naval warfare is combat in and on seas and oceans. ... Sea denial is a military term describing attempts to deny an enemys ability to use the sea but at the same time makes no attempt to control the sea itself. ...

The term was first used in 1690, when Lord Torrington, commander of the Royal Navy forces in the English Channel, found himself facing a stronger French fleet. He proposed avoiding a set battle, except under very favourable conditions, until he could be reinforced. By thus keeping his 'fleet in being', he could maintain an active threat which would force the enemy to remain in the area and prevent them from taking the initiative elsewhere. Events Giovanni Domenico Cassini observes differential rotation within Jupiters atmosphere. ... Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington (c. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... 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. ...

A more modern example is the stand-off between the German High Seas Fleet and the British Grand Fleet during World War I. Other than the inconclusive engagement at the Battle of Jutland, both Britain and Germany preferred to keep their fleets intact rather than taking the risk of losing an engagement. German battlecruiser Derfflinger scuttled at Scapa Flow. ... During World War I, the British Home Fleet was renamed the Grand Fleet. ... World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machine guns, and poison gas World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, the War of the Nations and... The Battle of Jutland, known in Germany as the Battle of the Skagerrak (Skagerrakschlacht), was the largest naval battle of World War I, and the only full-scale clash of battleships in that war. ...

In World War II, actions of the Italian Regia Marina in 1940 also demonstrate the idea of a 'fleet in being'. After a number of minor battles against the Royal Navy that were generally lost or drawn, the fleet was left in Taranto, where it could sortie very quickly against any British attempt to reach Malta. The effort was so successful that the British instead decided to attack their fleet at anchor during the famed Battle of Taranto. From that point on the Italians were forced into combat, and were attrited continually over the next two years. World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. ... The Royal Italian Navy, Regia Marina (literally: Royal Navy), dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification. ... Map of Italy showing Taranto in the bottom right Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, southern Italy. ... Sortie is a term for deployment of aircraft or ships for the purposes of a specific mission. ... The naval Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11 November – 12 November 1940 during World War II. The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft naval battle in history, flying a small number of aircraft from a single aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean and attacking the Italian...

A similar effect was achieved by the German battleship Tirpitz which was stationed in Norway for much of World War II. Likewise, minor nations also employed fleet in being, like the Finnish Navy with coastal defence ship 'Väinämöinen', whose mere existence prevented any Soviet attempts of invasion on Finnish southern coast and bound strong forces of Soviet navy and air force, playing hide and seek in the Finnish archipelago. HMS Victory in 1884 In naval warfare, battleships were the most heavily armed and armored warships afloat. ... German battleship Tirpitz underway for her trials, 1941 Tirpitz was a battleship of the German Kriegsmarine, a sister ship to the German battleship Bismarck, and named for Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. ...

Rudyard Kipling wrote a series of articles about the British Channel Fleet, collectively entitled A Fleet in Being and published in 1898; however, he used the term in more of a literal than a technical sense. Rudyard Kipling, British author, Nobel Prize winner Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936) was a British author and poet, born in India. ... 1898 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...