The Maritime history of the United Kingdom involves events including shipping, ports, navigation, and seamen, as well as marine sciences, exploration, trade, and maritime themes in the arts from the creation of the kingdom of Great BritainUniting the kingdom?, nationalarchives.gov.uk, accessed 28 January 2011; Acts of Union 1707 parliament.uk, accessed 28 January 2011; Making the Act of Union 1707 scottish.parliament.uk, accessed 28 January 2011; The Union of the Parliaments 1707 Learning and Teaching Scotland, accessed 28 January 2011; as a united, sovereign state, on 1 May 1707 in accordance with the Treaty of Union, signed on 22 July 1706. Until the advent of air transport and the creation of the Channel Tunnel, marine transport was the only way of reaching the British Isles. For this reason, maritime trade and naval power have always had great importance.

Prior to the Acts of Union, 1707, the maritime history of the British Isles was largely dominated by that of England. (See Maritime history of England for more details.)

Chronology

Eighteenth century In the eighteenth century, Britain was a major exporter of wool fabric and other manufactured goods.

Lloyd's List was established in 1734 and Lloyd's Register in 1764/5. The Marine Society was set up in 1756 with the aim of sending poor boys to sea.

Steam technology was first applied to boats in the 1770s but sailing ships continued to be developed. In 1794 an experimental steam powered ship called the Kent was built which showed designers the way forward. Nathanial Symonds demonstrated a sinking boat in 1729.

Towards the end of the century, the Napoleonic Wars started with Napoleon, later crowned as French Emperor, and naval battles continued into the 19th century.

Nineteenth century In 1801 a steamship called the Charlotte Dundas ran trials on a canal near Glasgow, towing barges. In 1815 Pierre Andriel crossed the English Channel aboard the steamship Élise. By the mid-century steamboats were a common sight on British rivers and canals. Regular steamship sailings across the Atlantic started in the 1830s.

Shipbuilders began using iron instead of wood as the ships could be made larger and stronger and with more cargo space. Ships also began to be fitted with steam engines and paddle wheels but the latter was found to be unsuited to open sea use. From the 1840s screw propellers replaced paddles. In the 1870s new more efficient engines were introduced so that sailing ships began to be phased out. From the 1880s steel began to replace iron for the hulls.

Because of the space required for coal and the large crew requirements on steamships, sailing ships were favoured for long voyages and reached a design peak with the clippers used for transporting tea and wool. Steamships gradually replaced sailing ships for commercial shipping during the 19th century, particularly after more efficient engine designs were developed in the later part of the period.

The Battle of Navarino in 1827 was the last to be fought by the Royal Navy entirely with sailing ships. By the end of the century submarine design had progressed sufficiently to be useful, as had the design of torpedoes.

Twentieth century

At the start of the century 25% of the world's trade was through British ports, 18% of this being to North America. Trans-oceanic travel was important at the start of the century with transatlantic liners competing for the "Blue Riband" for the fastest crossing. A significant event was the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. This led to the Global Maritime Distress Safety System and to the Iceberg Patrol. The rise of air travel led to a decrease in ocean travel but then, towards the end of the century, cruise ships became important again.

During the 20th century new types of cargo ships appeared - the container ship, the oil tanker and the gas container ship. Specialised ports for handling these were also developed.

Most warships used steam propulsion until the advent of the gas turbine in the mid part of the period. Steamships were superseded by diesel-driven cargo ships in the second half of the century. Submarines were mainly powered by a combination of diesel and batteries until the advent of nuclear marine propulsion in 1955.

There were two major wars against Germany and its allies that saw a massive expansion in naval fleets and the use of air power at sea, resulting in the construction of aircraft carriers that became the main centre of sea power. Both wars saw massive destruction of the British merchant fleet but new construction exceeded the rate of destruction. After World War II there was an initial drop in warship numbers but then the rise of the Soviet naval threat resulted in the Cold War with the construction of new warships and submarines. The reduction of the Soviet threat at the end of the century was offset by threats from other sources and piracy as well as sea-borne drug trafficking.

Cod War, offshore oil, gas and wind farms. Exploitation of wave power was started.

Twenty-first century The start of the century saw the building of superliners. The Royal Navy saw further reductions in its strength, though new larger aircraft carriers have been promised.

Royal Navy

Eighteenth-century navy

Under the Acts of Union 1707 in 1707 the Royal Scots Navy merged with the English navy and the British Royal Navy came into being. The early 18th century saw the Royal Navy with more ships than other navies. Although it suffered severe financial problems through the earlier part of this period, modern methods of financing government, and in particular the Navy, were developed, This financing enabled the Navy to become the most powerful force of the later 18th century without bankrupting the country. The Napoleonic Wars saw the Royal Navy reach a peak of efficiency, dominating the navies of all Britain's adversaries.

Under William III and Mary II a hospital at Greenwich was founded to relieve the sufferings of British seamen.

Nineteenth-century navy

Between 1793 and 1815 the Royal Navy lost 344 vessels due to non-combat causes: 75 by foundering, 234 shipwrecked and 15 from accidental burnings or explosions. In the same period it lost 103,000 seamen: 84,440 by disease and accidents, 12,680 by shipwreck or foundering and 6,540 by enemy action.

From the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 until the outbreak of the European War in 1914, Britain had an almost uncontested power over the world's oceans, and it was said that "Britannia ruled the waves". During the Napoleonic Wars, there was increasing tension at sea between Britain and the United States, as American traders took advantage of their country's neutrality to trade with the French-controlled parts of Europe as well as with the British Isles. The Anglo-American War of 1812 was characterised by single-ship actions and the disruption of merchant shipping.

Twentieth-century navy

The start of the 20th century saw structural changes in the Navy brought about by the First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher who retired, scrapped or placed in reserve many of the older vessels, making new funds and manpower available for newer ships. He saw the development of , the first all-big-gun ship and one of the most influential ships in naval history. This ship rendered all other battleships then existing obsolete, and indeed lent her name to an entire class of battleships, the dreadnoughts. Admiral Percy Scott introduced new programmes such a gunnery training and central fire control which greatly increased the effectiveness in battle of the Navy's ships.

During the First World War the Royal Navy played a vital role in escorting convoys of food, arms and raw materials to Britain. It defeated the German campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare and prevented the breakout of the German High Seas Fleet. As well as tasks in the Atlantic it also carried out operations in the Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Sea.

In the inter-war years the Royal Navy was stripped of much of its power. The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, together with the deplorable financial conditions during the immediate post-war period and the Great Depression, forced the Admiralty to scrap some capital ships and to cancel plans for new construction. The London Naval Treaty of 1930 deferred new capital ship construction until 1937 and reiterated construction limits on cruisers, destroyers and submarines. As international tensions increased in the mid-thirties, the Second London Naval Treaty of 1936 failed to halt the development of a naval arms race and by 1938 treaty limits were effectively ignored. The re-armament of the Royal Navy was well under way by this point; the Royal Navy had constructed the King George V class of 1936 and several aircraft carriers including . In addition to new construction, several existing battleships, battlecruisers and heavy cruisers were re-constructed and new anti-aircraft weaponry reinforced. However, around this time the Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States Navy began to surpass the Royal Navy in power.

After the Second World War, the decline of the British Empire and economic hardships in Britain forced reduction in size and capability of the Royal Navy. The increasingly powerful United States Navy took on the former role of the Royal Navy as a means of keeping peace around the world. However, the threat of the Soviet Union created a new role for the Navy within NATO.

The 1960s saw the peak of the Royal Navy's capabilities in the post-war era. The fleet carriers , , the rebuilt , and gave the Royal Navy the most powerful fleet outside the United States. The navy also had a large fleet of frigates and destroyers. New, more modern units like the County-class destroyers and Leander class-frigates began to enter service in the 1960s. At this time the Royal Navy received its first nuclear weapons and was to become responsible for the maintenance of the UK's nuclear deterrent.

However, a Labour government came into power and was determined to cut defence expenditure. After this the navy began to fall in size and by 1979 the last fleet carrier was scrapped. The navy was forced to make do with three much smaller Invincible-class aircraft carriers with Sea Harrier aircraft. The fleet was now centred around anti-submarine warfare in the North Atlantic. Further Defence Reviews have further cut the Royal Navy.

Although the Royal Navy has significantly reduced in size since the 1960s, reflecting the reduced requirements of the state, this does not take into account the increase in technological capability of the Navy's ships. The navy is responsible for the British strategic nuclear deterrent. It concentrates on anti-submarine warfare and mine countermeasures as part of NATO.

The Navy Board The Navy Board was responsible for providing the ships and the men to man them, including Warrant Officers. The Impress Service recruited volunteers but also took many against their will. After 1740 the Admiralty gained control over the Navy Board.

Ministry of Defence In 1964 the Admiralty and the Navy Board became part of the integrated Ministry of Defence. This included the Fleet Air Arm.

Notable wars

American Wars

During the American Revolution, a primitive submarine tried and failed to sink a British warship, the flagship of the blockers, in New York City harbour in 1776. John Paul Jones attacked British shipping in the Irish Sea and also the towns of Whitehaven and Kirkcudbright. In the Anglo-American War of 1812, an unsuccessful submarine attack was made on a British warship stationed in New London harbour.

French Revolutionary/Napoleonic Wars