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Has the Royal Navy ever been of a higher standard, in war, than in 1805?

"You may fire when you are ready, Gridley."

--Admiral George Dewey, to the Captain of his flagship (The enemy fleet had already been firing for twenty minutes.)

"Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee. You can't hit what your eyes don't see." Muhammad Ali

"Impossible is just a word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." Same guy.

ORIGINAL: Orm

Has the Royal Navy ever been of a higher standard, in war, than in 1805?

warspite1

Impossible to say I suppose, not least because the benefits of a high standard could be masked by poor equipment and the deficiencies of a low standard could be hidden by technological superiority.

ORIGINAL: Orm

Has the Royal Navy ever been of a higher standard, in war, than in 1805?

How were sailors recruited at the time & place? I recall reading from somewhere random men at/near harbors were arrested or otherwise rounded up and forced to join. But I forgot when that was done.

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

ORIGINAL: Orm

Has the Royal Navy ever been of a higher standard, in war, than in 1805?

How were sailors recruited at the time & place? I recall reading from somewhere random men at/near harbors were arrested or otherwise rounded up and forced to join. But I forgot when that was done.

warspite1

It was called the press gang. The practice pretty much ended with the end of Napoleonic wars. I wouldn't have said that, in terms of being able to train and bring the crew up to a state of efficiency, there were that much different to conscription. Either way, chances are the poor buggers didn't want to be in the situation they found themselves in. Of course with impressment there was the added complication that there were a high number of foreigners aboard so not only were they forced into the navy, but they were not even necessarily fighting for their own "side". However I am sure the disciplinary regime - keel hauling, the lash etc, had a way of concentrating the mind and anyway, once at sea a zillion miles from shore, what are you going to do? I do not have the numbers to hand but somewhere I have a breakdown of the nationalities that served on Victory at Trafalgar. It is quite surprising.

All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing

~Edmund Burke

We have met the enemy and they are ours

Oliver Hazard Perry after the Battle of Lake Erie.

"Some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go."

Oscar Wilde

My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live. Kanye West


I share your pain Kanye.... no really I do....

I think World War II just started. Danny at Pearl Harbor - er that would be the 7th December 1941 Hollywood

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

We have met the enemy and they are ours

Oliver Hazard Perry after the Battle of Lake Erie.

"We have met the enemy and he is us" Pogo, Earth Day 1970.

ORIGINAL: bobarossa

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

We have met the enemy and they are ours

Oliver Hazard Perry after the Battle of Lake Erie.

"We have met the enemy and he is us" Pogo, Earth Day 1970.

warspite1

"We have met the enemy and..... The [Italian army in Egypt December 1940*]


*Insert country of one's choice to suit

If I wished to punish a province, I would have it governed by philosophers.
Frederick The Great

(although i am a lover of the works of the great philosophers, i do find this quote quite funny; Frederick the Great had some impressive writings of his own also)

"Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency; we are winning"

~Colonel David Shoup, USMC, radioing in his SitRep from Tarawa 21 November 1943.

(I like this quote as I feel it embodies the perseverance and willingness of the USMC, to continue on after taking horrendous casualties, in their first amphibious landing on a fortified beach under heavy fire)

[font="Times New Roman"]Do not let a flattering woman coax and wheedle you and deceive you; she is after your barn.

Hesiod
[/font]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live. Kanye West


I share your pain Kanye.... no really I do....

Sorry, Kanye West is nothing more than boring, egotistical punk...[8|]

ORIGINAL: wings7

ORIGINAL: warspite1

My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live. Kanye West


I share your pain Kanye.... no really I do....

Sorry, Kanye West is nothing more than boring, egotistical punk...[8|]

I had no idea who he is, or was. So I had to look it up.

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: wings7

ORIGINAL: warspite1

My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live. Kanye West


I share your pain Kanye.... no really I do....

Sorry, Kanye West is nothing more than boring, egotistical punk...[8|]

I had no idea who he is, or was. So I had to look it up.

warspite1

Ask Taylor Swift - they speak highly of each other [:D]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: wings7




Sorry, Kanye West is nothing more than boring, egotistical punk...[8|]

I had no idea who he is, or was. So I had to look it up.

warspite1

Ask Taylor Swift - they speak highly of each other [:D]

As in high-pitched voices and short words. [:)]