Сколько боевых кораблей было у Великобритании на момент вступления в Первую Мировую войну?
At the start of the war in 1939, the Royal Navy was the largest in the world, with over 1,400 vessels.
The Royal Navy suffered heavy losses in the first two years of the war, including the carriers HMS , and , the battleships and and the battlecruiser in the European Theatre, and the carrier , the battleship , the battlecruiser and the heavy cruisers , and in the Asian Theatre. Of the 1,418 men on the "Hood", only three survived its sinking. Over 3,000 people were lost when the converted troopship was sunk in June 1940, the greatest maritime disaster in Britain's history. There were however also successes against enemy surface ships, as in the battles of the River Plate in 1939, Narvik in 1940 and Cape Matapan in 1941, and the sinking of the German capital ships in 1941 and in 1943.
The Royal Navy was vital in interdicting Axis supplies to North Africa and in the resupply of its base in Malta. The losses in Operation Pedestal were high but the convoy got through. The Royal Navy was also vital in guarding the sea lanes that enabled British forces to fight in remote parts of the world such as North Africa, the Mediterranean and the Far East. Convoys were used from the start of the war and anti-submarine hunting patrols used. From 1942, responsibility for the protection of Atlantic convoys was divided between the various allied navies: the Royal Navy being responsible for much of the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans.
1,400 vessels