The Strength and Composition of Navies

[Fluffy Fishy]

So I have been doing some research today and I have written down the number of ships active in the royal navy during the Napoleonic wars, I thought I would share the tables with everyone here so they can see how the royal navy composition changed during the period. While there isn't data to compare every ship, the years are roughly similar. Anyway here are the tables, enjoy

First Rates	In Service	In Ordinary/Repairing	Total
1793	1	4	5
1796	6	0	6
1799	4	2	6
1801	4	2	6
1805	6	1	7
1808	4	2	6
1811	5	2	7
1814	7	0	7
1815	0	8	8

Second Rates	In Service	In Ordinary/Repairing	Total
1793	4	12	16
1796	16	0	16
1799	15	2	17
1801	14	2	16
1805	11	3	14
1808	7	4	11
1811	8	4	12
1814	5	3	8
1815	2	5	7

80 Gun Ships of the Line	In Service	In Ordinary/Repairing	Total
1793	0	1	1
1796	5	0	5
1799	6	1	7
1801	5	3	8
1805	4	2	6
1808	7	0	7
1811	6	1	7
1814	1	4	5

74 Ship of the Line	In Service	In Ordinary/Repairing	Total
1793	18	40	58
1796	48	8	56
1799	41	8	49
1801	39	11	50
1805	30	13	43
1808	47	4	51
1811	56	6	62
1814	64	3	67

Large 74 Ship of the Line	In Service	In Ordinary/Repairing	Total
1793	1	2	3
1796	6	2	8
1799	17	3	20
1801	17	3	20
1805	19	5	24
1808	29	1	30
1811	24	4	28
1814	21	9	30

64 Ship of the Line	In Service	In Ordinary/Repairing	Total
1793	2	28	30
1797	28	2	30
1799	22	4	26
1801	21	6	27
1804	8	12	20
1808	19	2	21
1810	11	1	12
1811	9	0	9
1814	1	0	1

50 Gun Ships	In Service	In Ordinary/Repairing	Total
1793	7	5	12
1797	10	2	12
1799	10	0	10
1801	9	1	10
1804	7	3	10
1808	9	0	9
1810	7	0	7
1812	4	1	5
1814	2	2	4

 

18pdr Frigates	In Service	In Ordinary/Repairing	Total
1793	11	6	17
1795	36	0	36
1797	45	2	47
1799	46	4	50
1801	68	1	69
1804	57	7	64
1808	76	15	91
1812	98	9	107
1814	103	11	114

12pdr Frigates	In Service	In Ordinary/Repair	Total
1793	21	23	44
1797	50	9	59
1799	45	13	58
1801	43	1	44
1804	22	11	33
1808	35	8	43
1810	32	3	35
1812	20	5	25
1814	11	0	11

9pdr Frigates	In Service	In Ordinary/Repairing	Total
1793	10	13	23
1797	20	3	23
1799	15	6	21
1801	10	1	11
1804	6	2	8
1808	8	1	9
1810	7	1	8
1812	3	0	3
1814	0	0	0

Post Ships 20-24s	In Service	In Ordinary/Repair	Total
1793	5	7	12
1797	15	2	17
1801	21	2	23
1805	12	3	15
1808	21	2	23
1811	14	1	15
1814	25	4	29

Quarterdecked Sloops	In Service	In Ordinary/Repairing	Total
1794	32	1	33
1797	43	2	45
1799	38	0	38
1801	34	0	34
1804	19	2	21
1808	49	3	52
1810	54	2	56
1812	50	1	51
1814	43	1	44

Flush Decked Sloops	In Service	In Ordinary/Repairing	Total
1794	0	0	0
1797	10	0	10
1799	23	0	23
1801	22	3	25
1804	37	0	37
1808	27	7	34
1810	19	2	21
1812	12	1	13
1814	9	1	10

Brig Sloops	In Service	In Ordinary/Repairing	Total
1794	18	2	20
1797	33	3	36
1799	37	0	37
1801	45	0	45
1804	33	0	33
1808	103	2	105
1810	169	0	169
1812	144	1	145
1814	155	3	158

 

Total Ships in Service	First Rates	Second Rates	80 guns	74 guns	74 guns (Large)	64 Guns	50 Guns	18pdr Frigate	12pdr Frigate	9pdr Frigate	20-24 gun Post Ships	Quarterdecked Sloops	Flush Decked Sloops	Brig Sloops
1793	5	16	1	58	3	30	12	17	44	23	12
1794												33	0	20
1795								36
1796	6	16	5	56	8
1797						30	12	47	59	23	17	45	10	36
1799	6	17	7	49	20	26	10	50	58	21		38	23	37
1801	6	16	8	50	20	27	10	69	44	11	23	34	25	45
1804						20	10	64	33	8		21	37	33
1805	7	14	6	43	24						23
1808	6	11	7	51	30	21	9	91	43	9		52	34	105
1810						12	7		35	8		56	21	169
1811	7	12	7	62	28	9					15
1812							5	107	25	3	29	51	13	145
1814	7	8	5	67	30	1	4	114	11	0		44	10	158
1815	8	7

The things that jump out to me from this data is the treatment of large classes of 74 being noted down under a different section to the regularly sized ships, these tables also show the phasing out of the 64 gun ship of the line in favour for the larger 3rd rates and the inflationary pressures also retiring the 9 and 12 pounder frigates. The other thing that really jumps out to me is the explosion of Brig Sloops, going from just 20 in 1794 to 158 by 1814. My other interpretations is how few ships were in ordinary during the time frame, its almost the entire royal navy being active between 1795 and 1815.

Anyway I hope you guys have fun dissecting the information, hopefully I will dig out some more in the future, although the only information I have immediately at hand is the stuff for venice, which covers a much longer time period but is a lot harder to dissect, and sadly doesn't have the entirety of the fleet, the data I have for Venice doesn't display the numerous Galleys or half galleys serving in the fleet, only the round ships.

Edited December 11, 2016 by Fluffy Fishy

[JollyRoger1516]

It is a nice list but may I ask where did you take all that info from?

[Fluffy Fishy]

Apologies I forgot to state the source, its extracted from a couple of Robert Gardiner's books, mainly Warships of the Napoleonic Era, its a fantastic book and well worth the read. The information is really deep and well set out, the only drawback is the book is about 30x32cm so can be a bit unwieldy, especially as it has a couple of double page fold outs, leaving you with over a metre of paper to play with. I'd recommend buying it to anyone who doesn't have it already

[Snoopy]

I hope the SoLs-should-be-rare crowd takes a good luck at those numbers hehe

[Fluffy Fishy]

14 hours ago, Snoopy said:

I hope the SoLs-should-be-rare crowd takes a good luck at those numbers hehe

I have a snippet from Spain but only the data from 1794 though, you might like the numbers from that even more.

1794	In Service	Disarmed	Total
Ships of the Line
80-112 guns	14	6	20
68-74 guns	39	11	50
54-64 guns	8	1	9
Total Ships of the Line	61	18	79
Frigates
40-42 guns	5	1	6
30-36 guns	39	8	47
Total Frigates	44	9	53
Other
Xebecs (14-36)	5	5	10
Corvettes (30)	2	0	2
Sloops (18-22)	6	1	7
Luggers (16)	1	0	1
Avisos (16)	2	0	2
Brigs (8-24)	21	0	21
Baladras (12-18)	2	0	2
Galleys (3)	0	7	7
Total Others	39	13	52
Total Warships	144	40	184

As you can see from above the Spanish fleet is almost half Ships of the line, this table shows the combative navy only, during this point the Spanish navy also maintained 43 auxiliary and support ships, and kept 6 more disarmed. 

 

Edited December 11, 2016 by Fluffy Fishy

[Snoopy]

Well yeah I know, Spain went all-big

EDIT: Spain is an outlier though

Edited December 11, 2016 by Snoopy

[theprof739]

2 hours ago, Snoopy said:

I hope the SoLs-should-be-rare crowd takes a good luck at those numbers hehe

I just think 1st and 2nd rates should be more uncommon in game.  The data show less than 25 1st and 2nd rates total, vs roughly 100 3rd rates. I would not at all be upset to see 4 Bellonas for every Vic or Santi in the game.

[Snoopy]

Aye, battles with mostly third rates and the occasional three decker would be glorious.

[JollyRoger1516]

7 hours ago, Fluffy Fishy said:

Apologies I forgot to state the source, its extracted from a couple of Robert Gardiner's books, mainly Warships of the Napoleonic Era, its a fantastic book and well worth the read. The information is really deep and well set out, the only drawback is the book is about 30x32cm so can be a bit unwieldy, especially as it has a couple of double page fold outs, leaving you with over a metre of paper to play with. I'd recommend buying it to anyone who doesn't have it already

Aye Gardiner is a decent collection of information.

And as Snoopy stated SOLs made up a fair bit of the ships of the time. In anyway I mostly detest the whole half arsed realism argument. If you want realism then go full Silent Hunter on this game and put travel time and everything in. Or don't throw that argument around every bloody corner that doesn't effect you. Realism shouldn't block content from the palyers - thats not the point!

[Hethwill]

3 hours ago, JollyRoger1516 said:

Aye Gardiner is a decent collection of information.

And as Snoopy stated SOLs made up a fair bit of the ships of the time. In anyway I mostly detest the whole half arsed realism argument. If you want realism then go full Silent Hunter on this game and put travel time and everything in. Or don't throw that argument around every bloody corner that doesn't effect you. Realism shouldn't block content from the palyers - thats not the point!

Worldwide, not cluttered up in the west indies

Just check the numbers for Jamaica Station and Windward. They make up 2% of that list at the top of their force. Large scale operations were conducted by the Atlantic Fleet which would move from the Old Country to the west indies, do their job and then back to Europe.

It is a game, we all understand that.  Now tell me they could grind their way up in the ranks without showing some backbone to be standing atop a 74.

.

[Fluffy Fishy]

I originally opened this topic to talk about the strength and changes to the composition of the royal navy, I have now edited it to hopefully become more of an open discussion, it would be fantastic to see more data on more navies to compare fully, if anyone has the time and resources to post more please do.

I will work my way through the information I have and post some for Venice over the next few days, but would love to see what others can contribute for other nations, we seem to have a lot of love for the French, Dutch and US navy floating around these forums and it would be great to build up and compare our information with each other, its probably best to keep within the time period by the game if we can but by all means extend it out from the Napoleonic wars.

I look forwards to seeing anything else people can come up with

[SteelSandwich]

I felt obliged to facilitate some Dutch data, to spice up the comparison. In order to understand/appreciate the development of the Dutch fleet, you have to take into account that from 1780 to 1784 the Dutch fleet fought a hard war again the Royal Navy. After the Battle at the Dogger Bank, the Dutch decided they needed to strengthen their fleet.

A building program was initiated, which would continued even after the end of the war. In the year 1782 the following ships would be constructed:

Admirality of the Maze: 1x70-gun, 1x60-gun, 1x40-gun

Admirality of Amsterdam: 2x70-gun, 5x60-gun

Admirality of the Noorderkwartier: 4x60-gun

 

Those ships would be finished eind of 1782, or early 1783, therefore they are included in the overview of 1782 down below.

 

After years of building, in 1788 the fleet was looking as such:

 

As we can see, the general state of the fleet is decent, with only a few 'useless' vessels. After the invasion of the Netherlands, the Dutch fleet spend most of their time in port being blockaded. The smaller vessels that tried their luck got hunted down with exceptional success. I.e., the fleet was slowly bleeding strength.

In 1797 the Battle of Camperdown happened, in which the remaining strength of the Dutch fleet was broken. A majority of the ships got either captured or sunk.

In the years after the Dutch tried to rebuild their fleet, with little success. The Dutch would never regain their naval might again. To give a deeper insight in how little of the Dutch navy survived the napoleonic wars, i have specified the graph into pre- and post-Camperdown ships.

FYI, the majority of small ships is not included in here (smaller than 18-gun vessels). As you can see the fleet effectively was to be completely rebuild after years of naval warfare and the Battle at Camperdown. I will try to include more tally's whenever possible.

[Fluffy Fishy]

As I promised, I have spent my afternoon processing the figures for Venice, sadly I don't have a huge bank of information talking about the Venetian Fleet wholly, and apart from the records dealing with the French captures after the Venetian surrender in 1797 its missing out the numbers for the Xebecs and Galleys. There are several historical mentions of Venice using their stock of Galleass, Galleys, Galliotts and Xebecs during its hostilities against the North African pirates between 1784-1792 and Venice kept an effective fleet of these types of ships throughout the late period of the Republic. Also during this time Venice Maintained a commercial fleet between 300-350 merchantmen, which facilitated Venice in being the strongest trader in the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea Regions.

The important things to keep in mind following these charts are that the covered shipbuilding facilities at the Venetian Arsenal often meant that ships were constructed over long periods of time, some ships even spent over 50 years broken into parts, protected from the weather and finished off when they were required. The other things that are worthwhile thinking about is the naval reforms and shipbuilding programmes brought in by Angelo Emo, and his admiralty during the war mentioned above. I haven't sorted the individual ships into their classes, just the number of guns so for example there are 2 models each of the larger ships, The 70s consist of the Leon Trionfante class and the "1780" class, where as the 66s are San Carlo Borromeo Class, and Fama Class ships, where technically speaking the San Carlo Borromeo is a ship of the line, and the Fama class is a Fregata Grossa, so have quite different fleet roles.

For more informations on the ships and models themselves please visit the thread in the shipyard dedicated to Venetian ships, I have also written some information around the Admiral/Naval Reformer Angelo Emo and the Venetian Arsenal should you be interested. I will leave some links at the bottom for those who may be interested.

1780	In Service	Under Construction	Total
70	5	7	12
66		5	5
40	4	0	4
38	1	0	1
Total	10	12	22

 

1784	In Service	Under Construction	Total
70	4	7	11
66	1	8	9
40	4	0	4
38	2	0	2
32	0	1	1
24	0	2	2
Total	11	18	29

 

1786	In Service	Under Construction	Total
70	4	5	9
66	1	8	9
40	4	0	4
38	2	1	3
32	0	1	1
24	2	0	2
Total	13	15	28

 

1790	In Service	Under Construction	Total
70	4	7	11
66	1	8	9
44	0	2	2
42	0	1	1
40	4	0	4
38	2	2	4
32	0	1	1
24	1	0	1
Total	12	21	33

 

1794	In Service	Under Construction	Total
70	5	6	11
66	3	6	9
44	0	2	2
42	0	3	3
40	4	0	4
38	4	0	4
32	1	2	3
24	1	0	1
Total	18	19	37

 

Ships Captured By France in 1797	Arsenal in Ordinary or Construction	Arsenal in Service	Piave Estuary	Dalmatian Fleet	Corfu	Total
Ships of the Line	9	1	1	0	3	14
Fregate Grossa	4	1	1	0	1	7
Fregate Leggre	7	1	1	0	4	13
Bombard	1	0	0	0	0	1
Galleys/Galleotts	1	3	7	13	*Unknown	*24
Ceremonial Galley	1	0	0	0	0	1
Brig Cutter	2	1	2	0	0	5
Golette	0	1	0	0	0	1
Xebec	1	8	0	8	*Unknown	*17
Felucca	0	4	0	9	*Unknown	*13
Floating Battery	0	1	0	0	0	1
Sailed Gunboats	8	11	0	0	5	24
Rowed Gunboats	0	31	4	0	0	35
Total	34	63	16	30	*13	*156

 

The *Unknown is used where the Venetian fleet stationed at Corfu having learned the news of the surrender of Venice took their ships and evacuated, they also obscured and destroyed the records so as not to be recaptured and forced into service by the French, because of this its currently impossible to see the Venetian fleet in its entirety at the death of the republic, Corfu served as the largest naval station outside Venice and would have had a substantial fleet stationed there, so its likely there was a slightly larger sized fleet positioned here when compared to the Dalmatian fleet, probably consisting of around 40 ships, where its likely that again we see around 10 Galleys/Galleotts, 10 Xebecs and 10 Feluccas, however this is all speculative.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this second instalment of graphs and data. Thank you for reading, as I hinted earlier, I will post the links below.
 

 

[Tenakha Kan]

[Fluffy Fishy]

I have got myself another couple of Composition tables, one is for Mediterranean Galley fleets, the other is for comparing the ratio between fighting ships and cruisers (5th and 6th rates) its quite a hefty sum of information and will hopefully make some people happy here. This is my days work from being stuck at home while a plumber is replacing my water tank, judging by how much work I have actually got out the way I should have handymen over more often

The First table will be the Mediterranean Galley table showing the gradual decrease of Galley usage over the age of sail, as riggings and hulls improved, galleys became somewhat superseded by various sailing ships and their responsibilities were taken over by things like frigates and corvettes, this shows their gradual decline.

Mediterranean Galley Fleets	1650	1670	1700	1720	1740	1760	1790	1800
Venice	70*	60*	50*	40*	30*	20*	20*	-
The Ottoman Empire	70-100*	60*	30*	30*	15*	15*	5	0*
France	36	25	42	15	15	10	0	0
Spain	30-40*	30*	30	7*	7	0	4	2
The Papal State	5	5	4	6	4	5	5	0
Malta	6	7	8	5	4	4	4	-
Genoa	10	10*	6*	6	6*	6*	6*	-
Tuscany	5	4	3-4	2-3	2*	0	0	0
Savoy/Sardinia	2*	2*	2*	2*	4	0*	0	0
Austria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
Naples	-	-	-	0	4	3	0	0
Rough Totals	220-260	200	170	120	90	60	45	6

The * marks estimated numbers

Here is a table that is probably more of interest to the people here though, its the Fleet Composition table, showing the ratio and percentage of Battleships (in this case 4th to 1st rates) to Cruisers (5th and 6th rates). Like my other tables I have done my best to create the most practical user experience. I hope this goes somewhat further to allow for better understanding of fleet compositions and where it puts navies and what ships they sailed in the grand scheme of things.

Changes of Cruiser Amount in Fleet Composition	Britain Ratio Battlefleet:Cruisers	Britain %		France Ratio Battlefleet:Cruisers	France %		Denmark Battlefleet:Cruisers	Denmark %		Sweden Battlefleet:Cruiser	Sweden %
1651	54:43	44%
1660	76:78	51%	1661	11:6	35%
1677	76:24	24%	1674	95:33	26%
1685	108:19	15%
1688	100:8	7%	1689	112:33	23%
1702	130:45	26%	1700	114:26	19%	1700	32:9	22%	1700	39:10:00	20%
			1720	27:10	27%	1715	36:14	28%	1715	29:13:00	31%
1739	124:51	29%				1745	28:8	22%	1745	24:8	25%
1753	132:78	37%	1750	50:26	34%
1777	142:102	42%	1774	64:37	37%
			1780	78:67	46%
1783	197:175	47%	1786	67:77	53%	1785	32:18	36%	1785	26:17	40%
1793	78:98	56%
1805	199:222	53%				1805	20:14	41%	1805	13:12	48%
			1814	50:36	42%
1825	110:118	52%	1827	34:34	50%
1849	68:89	57%	1847	21:31	60%

I hope you enjoyed these two new tables, they are both taken with data from the books "Nelson's Navy: The Ships, The Men and the Organisation" Thank you for reading

Edited January 9, 2017 by Fluffy Fishy

[SteelSandwich]

I have obtained the respective numbers for the dutch navy from the years 1792, 1797 and 1801. Once im done processing that, i will repost the earlier into a collective and show the years: 1782, 1788, 1792, 1797, 1801, 1806.

[Hethwill]

Would be interesting to have the numbers from 1680 to 1820 and get the average  for both Navy and Maritime trade companies / private Armateurs.

Great job guys, this is excellent information.