Businessinsider online - Theodore Roosevelt - Jeremy Black TV - Larry Lamb TV - Richard Miles - Empires: Napoleon TV - Empires Special: The Greeks TV - Ancient Discoveries TV - Dispatches TV - Charles II - Winston Churchill - David Glasgow Farragut - David Garrick - Horatio Nelson - David Lloyd George - W S Gilbert - Lucy Moore - Nelson in His Own Words TV - Dan Snow TV - Carry on Admiral 1957 - I Kings 9:26 - John F Kennedy - Neal Stephenson - Tom Hanks - Graham Chapman - William Blackstone - S J Arnold - Lord Byron - J Grove & Henwood v Harrison 1872 - 300 Spartans: The Last Stand TV - Noam Chomsky - Timewatch TV - David Hayman - Black and British: A Forgotten History TV - David Olusoga TV - Britain’s Biggest Warship TV - Warship: Life at Sea TV - Rob Bell TV - Clydebuilt: The Ships That Made the Commonwealth TV - Nazi War Machines: Secrets Uncovered TV - Nelson: Britain’s Great Naval Hero TV - Andrew Marr TV - Churchill TV - Churchill II: The Long Grass TV -
In the 1400s, China owned the greatest seagoing fleet in the world, up to 3,500 ships at its peak. (The US Navy today has only 430). Some of them were five times the size of the ships being built in Europe at the time. Businessinsider online
There is a homely old adage which runs: ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick: you will go far’. If the American nation will speak softly, and yet build and keep at a pitch of the highest training a thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far. Theodore Roosevelt, speech 2nd September 1901
Britain was the naval superpower with the largest fleet in the world. Professor Jeremy Black, Why the Industrial Revolution Happened Here, BBC 2013
The Royal Navy played a vital role in expanding the trade of the empire. ibid.
The Carthaginian Empire had been built on the strength of its Navy. Larry Lamb, Rome: The World’s First Superpower II: Total War, Channel 5 2014
The Carthaginians had created a flat-pack Navy. Professor Richard Miles, Carthage – The Roman Holocaust, Channel 4 2012
Great Britain had lost its greatest sailor. But never again would the French challenge the might of the British Navy. Napoleon no longer had a fleet he could rely on. Empires: Napoleon III: The Summit of Ambition, PBS 2000
Athens will be pitted against the greatest power of the day – the tyrannical Persian Empire in a contest spread across land and sea that will last over a decade. Empires Special: The Greeks: Crucible of Civilisation II: Golden Age
Themistocles: a military genius of the ancient world. And Pericles: a visionary whose legacy still shapes the world today. ibid.
Even as he ran, Pheidippides must have imagined the horror his fellow Athenians now faced. ibid.
Themistocles convinced the Athenians to build the greatest naval force in Greece. And not a moment too soon. ibid.
The mega-battle for the oceans involves epic clashes, daring harbour raids and covert underwater adventures that have churned the seas throughout the ages. Researchers are now discovering the naval technologies and tactics that underpinned three thousand years of man and machine waging war to dominate the oceans. Ancient Discoveries: Mega Ocean Conquest, History 2009
Can our shrinking military keep Britain safe? We ask if defence cuts have allowed Russia to move its forces ever closer to our coast. A former head of special forces dismisses the government’s key plan to replace regular soldiers with part-timers. Dispatches: Britain’s Defence Squeeze, Channel 4 2015
The Royal Navy seemed to be a little short of ships. ibid.
Almost as many admirals as there are warships. ibid.
It is upon the navy under the good providence of God that the safety, honour and welfare of this realm do chiefly depend. Charles II
Naval tradition? Monstrous. Nothing but rum, sodomy, prayers, and the lash. Winston Churchill
8Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead. David Glasgow Farragut, at Battle of Mobile Bay 5th August 1864
Heart of oak are our ships,
Heart of oak are our men:
We always are ready;
Steady, boys, steady;
We’ll fight and we’ll conquer again and again. David Garrick, Harlequin’s Invasion, 1759
There are three things, young gentlemen, which you are constantly to bear in mind. Firstly, you must always implicitly obey orders, without attempting to form any opinion of your own respecting their propriety. Secondly, you must consider every man your enemy who speaks ill of your king; and thirdly, you must hate a Frenchman, as you do the devil. Horatio Lord Nelson, cited Thomas Pettigrew’s Memoirs of Vice-Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson vol II
Success, I trust – indeed have little doubt – will crown our zealous and well-meant endeavours: if not, our Country will, I believe, sooner forgive an Officer for attacking his Enemy than for letting it alone. Horatio Lord Nelson, viz The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson vol I
My character and good name are in my own keeping. Life with disgrace is dreadful. A glorious death is to be envied, and, if anything happens to me recollect death is a debt we must all pay, and whether now or in a few years hence can be but of little consequence. Horatio Nelson, letter to wife 1795
Let me alone: I have yet my legs and one arm. Tell the surgeon to make haste and his instruments. I know I must lose my right arm, so the sooner it’s off the better. Horatio Lord Nelson, after Battle of Tenerife 1797
Before this time tomorrow, I shall have gained a peerage, or Westminster Abbey. Horatio Nelson before Battle of Nile, cited Southey
In honour I gained them, and in honour I will die with them. ibid. of his medals
England expects that every man will do his duty. ibid. Battle of Trafalgar
Kiss me, Hardy. ibid.
When I came to explain to them the ‘Nelson touch’, it was like an electric shock. Horatio, Lord Nelson, letter to Lady Hamilton
A fully equipped duke costs as much to keep up as two Dreadnoughts; and dukes are just as great a terror and they last longer. David Lloyd George
Stick close to your desks and never go to sea,
And you all may be Rulers of the Queen’s Navee! W S Gilbert, HMS Pinafore
Nelson was the first of his kind. He was an inspiring commander who forged a new more personal style of leadership risking his own life alongside his men he died fighting to defend his king and country. Great Britons: Horatio Nelson, Lucy Moore, BBC 2002
Horatio Nelson was born in 1758 in the village of Burnham Thorpe, two miles from the coast of Norfolk. ibid.
Nelson was one of the first spin doctors of his own destiny. He was a master of self-promotion. ibid.
The French fleet was trapped in a pincer movement ... The battle began with a vengeance. ibid.
Back in Britain Nelson’s victory at the Nile was being celebrated. ibid.
Britain was still at war with France, and the kingdom of Naples was a neutral power ... Sir William Hamilton and Nelson persuaded the king and queen to ally themselves with England. This was effectively a declaration of war. ibid.
It is hard to overestimate the fear of a French invasion at this time. ibid.
Nelson was hit by a sniper just after one o’clock; the bullet entered his shoulder, went through his lung and severed his spine. ibid.
Nelson’s appeal endures because he combined courage with compassion; feted for his successes he never forgot the key to his glory was the loyalty of his men. He was superman and every man. The first and his kind and the prototype for all our heroes to come. ibid.
Nelson risked all for recognition and honour. They also reveal the love affair that changed his life forever. Nelson in His Own Words, caption, BBC 2015
1798: Horatio Nelson and his fleet of thirteen man-o’-war left Gibraltar ... His quest was to find Napoleon Bonaparte. ibid.
By the time Nelson reached Alexandria the French army had already disembarked. ibid.
Nelson began to share the burdens of command with Emma. ibid.
In less than three hours the Danes were routed. ibid.
A brilliant leader and a reckless glory-hunter. ibid.