5 Most Powerful Navies of All Time

[Srinivas]

Really?

What about the Tang Navy that smashed the Yamato fleet at Baekgang?

The reduced Ming navy during the imjin war combined with the Korean ships destroyed hundreds of japanese ships at Noryang point.

Also China had a naval tradition with river warfare as can be seen in themassive fleets involved during the three kingdoms period.

Mate Chinese ships most of them are designed was for river water bed at that time with no hulls to withstand sea waves. The thread is about Naval domination of a nation which it exerted over other areas over a longer period.

Chinese navy was considerable one but their power projection is less when compared to the list the OP mentioned.

The OP also forgot The Dutch and Spanish Navies !

 

[+4vsgorillas-Apebane]

So basically you were full of yourself

Yes. China was at the time the pinnacle of civilization and became arrogant.

 

[Beast]

The Chinese Ming fleet at that era has naval shipbuilding technology unparalleled. Not to mention the sheer size. 1000tons wooden ship that time will dwarf any countries ships in the 1400 eras.

Yes. China was at the time the pinnacle of civilization and became arrogant.

I don't think so. China main threat thru out civilization is from northern barbarian. The Ming suffer invasion from Manchu and Mongol and they have to abandon expensive naval fleet to concentrate on army to fight northern invasion.

 

[+4vsgorillas-Apebane]

Mate Chinese ships most of them are designed was for river water bed at that time with no hulls to withstand sea waves. The thread is about Naval domination of a nation which it exerted over other areas over a longer period.

Chinese navy was considerable one but their power projection is less when compared to the list the OP mentioned.

With the exception of Zheng He's fleet.

The list is about the power of navies relative to their peers around the world. Zheng Hes fleet eclipsed anything the world had at the time.

The voyages lasted for years, not a one off occurance,

The Chinese Ming fleet at that era has naval shipbuilding technology unparalleled. Not to mention the sheer size. 1000tons wooden ship that time will dwarf any countries ships in the 1400 eras.


I don't think so. China main threat thru out civilization is from northern barbarian. The Ming suffer invasion from Manchu and Mongol and they have to abandon expensive naval fleet to concentrate on army to fight northern invasion.

Manchus came much later. In the earlier Ming periods, the Ming had turned the tide against the northern barbarians.

Itwas insular and conservative Confucian culture that cut the Ming off from the rest of the world and thusended the fleet.

 

[Sipahi]

not sure but a few European nations was pretty powerful during that time

England and Spain, and I think Portugal had a powerful navy.

Didn't Ottoman's dominated the european waters at their peak... They challenged Italian, Spainish navies for long. They even attacked Italy.

 

[Sharpshooter12]

Didn't Ottoman's dominated the european waters at their peak... They challenged Italian, Spainish navies for long. They even attacked Italy.

They did dominated the Mediterranean until the battle of Lepanto, but perhaps as it relied heavily on galleys so was not really a blue water navy, it was not listed.

But Spanish navy should have been in the list as it was the strongest navy of the world for a century or so, only after the destruction of Spanish Armada at hand of British in 1588 they lost their edge.

 

[jhungary]

To be fair, Spanish and Netherlands (Dutch) navy are quite active in 1400s and no way if they are going to count China as "top 5 strongest" and does not consider the Spanish Navy and Dutch navy.

Zheng He Fleet manage to transverse Indian Ocean and into North Africa, but the Spanish and Dutch at that era covered half the Globe...

This is Zheng he Expedition in 1405 to 1433

This is the map of Spanish colonisation with Christopher Columbus in 1502

Is there any contest?

To much of a lesser extend, the French navy are at least equal if not stronger than Royal Navy.

Europe is nonetheless a seagoing nation.

If I have to choose top 5 Naval power at all time I would choose

Ancient Egyptian Navy (Ancient <1500BC) -> Greek Navy (Middle Ages (500 to 1500 AD) -> Spanish Navy (Age of Discovery 1400-1800AD) -> Royal Navy (Early Modern Time 1800-1900 AD) -> USN (Modern Time1940-now)

@AUSTERLITZ @Neptune

 

[Aramagedon]

Where is Achaemenid Navy??????

@The Last of us

 

[Jlaw]

Costs, conservatism and fcuking eunichs.

The empire suddenly decided that they are the center of human civlization and wanted nothing to do with foreigners who were labelled as barbarians.

Also the Manchus from the north were stirring up trouble so the Emperor's son who took the throne decided it was best to scrap the navy and concentrate on the Manchus.

And yeah, hate those dickless men who caused a lot of dynasties to crumble.

 

[Genesis]

So basically you were full of yourself

At the time China had to decide, the Mongols to the North, or the Sea trading routes. The Sea routes, ultimately lost out, because no threat came from the sea, while the capital is in Beijing, and thus, attention needs to be given to the North.

That and the expeditions were more of a show of imperial authority than actual trade, according to Confucius ideals no men of status should conduct business or be lured by wealth. It's very expensive due to the amount of gifts that were given out as a show of wealth and power.

There is also the decree from the first Ming emperor of not setting ships in the sea, even fishing for a while.

Wako raiders of Japan also played a role, although small at the time.

Costs, conservatism and fcuking eunichs.

The empire suddenly decided that they are the center of human civlization and wanted nothing to do with foreigners who were labelled as barbarians.

The eunichs were the reform faction, they wanted to continue the expeditions, they lost when Zheng He died. The Eunichs are not scholars, they are practical. They saw the opportunities for wealth and they wanted it, and had no silly reservations like the Confucius bureaucrats.

Really?

What about the Tang Navy that smashed the Yamato fleet at Baekgang?

The reduced Ming navy during the imjin war combined with the Korean ships destroyed hundreds of japanese ships at Noryang point.

Also China had a naval tradition with river warfare as can be seen in themassive fleets involved during the three kingdoms period.

No need to argue with him, someone who can be so full of themselves that they would comment on something they know so limited about is, as always, not worth debating.

The Song dynasty navy is also quite powerful, they were the Spanish before the Spanish. But obviously the Mongols and the Munchus had to ruin everything.

 

[mike2000 is back]

To much of a lesser extend, the French navy are at least equal if not stronger than Royal Navy.

No way the french Navy was stronger than the Royal Navy. How dare you??
LOOL

Well, i agree with you that the OP forgot to mention the Spanish Navy which reigned supreme over the world for over a century before the Famous spanish Armada was defeated by a much smaller ROYAL NAVY , after which we rose as a mighty naval power .

However the Dutch were also quite powerful to be honest. I cant understand how the OP mentioned Zheng he without mentioning the Spanish and Dutch navy who had a farrrr more far reaching global impact/effect on the world than Zheng he short lived fleet ever had. Even more tragic that the fleet came to end not gloriously by losing to another more powerful fleet/power, but it was destroyed/burned down by its own people/country.

 

[Taygibay]

'Somebody said French Navy?

 

[jhungary]

No way the french Navy was stronger than the Royal Navy. How dare you??
LOOL

Well, i agree with you that the OP forgot to mention the Spanish Navy which reigned supreme over the world for over a century before the Famous spanish Armada was defeated by a much smaller ROYAL NAVY , after which we rose as a mighty naval power .

However the Dutch were also quite powerful to be honest. I cant understand how the OP mentioned Zheng he without mentioning the Spanish and Dutch navy who had a farrrr more far reaching global impact/effect on the world than Zheng he short lived fleet ever had. fleet/power, but it was destroyed/burned down by its own people/country.

lol French can take on the RN in the ship of the line days That's probably the only time I would stand by the French hehe.

But more seriously, French Navy play a very large part for US independence. Who can forget Battle of the Chesapeake which French deal the Brit a whole new way to hurt........

French navy are good in 1700 to 1800 but went to shit during Napoleon time....

And yes, Dutch would have ranked number 2 or 3 (depend on how you rate Portuguese Navy) back in 14 to 15th Century. The reason why the OP article did not ranked either Spain and Dutch is simple the dude who wrote that is Kyle Mizokami

Kyle Mizokami is a writer based in San Francisco who has appeared in The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, War is Boring and The Daily Beast. In 2009 he cofounded the defense and security blog Japan Security Watch.

Even more tragic that the fleet came to end not gloriously by losing to another more powerful

It's like saying, we could be the best navy in the world but we just gone for something else and disbanded the Navy, so we SHOULD BE the best navy in the world.

 

[Neptune]

To be fair, Spanish and Netherlands (Dutch) navy are quite active in 1400s and no way if they are going to count China as "top 5 strongest" and does not consider the Spanish Navy and Dutch navy.

Zheng He Fleet manage to transverse Indian Ocean and into North Africa, but the Spanish and Dutch at that era covered half the Globe...

This is Zheng he Expedition in 1405 to 1433

View attachment 237262

This is the map of Spanish colonisation with Christopher Columbus in 1502


View attachment 237263
Is there any contest?

To much of a lesser extend, the French navy are at least equal if not stronger than Royal Navy.

Europe is nonetheless a seagoing nation.

If I have to choose top 5 Naval power at all time I would choose

Ancient Egyptian Navy (Ancient <1500BC) -> Greek Navy (Middle Ages (500 to 1500 AD) -> Spanish Navy (Age of Discovery 1400-1800AD) -> Royal Navy (Early Modern Time 1800-1900 AD) -> USN (Modern Time1940-now)

@AUSTERLITZ @Neptune

Firstly, when I don't have much time online I usually pass your mentions to reply them more focused and more involved with a more free time. But again, I found out that you have tagged me in a thread where I opened when it picked my attention.. Lol.

Anyways, I believe it's not possible to make such rankings in which my English isn't good enough to explain. I will try with an example. If, you look at UK today, it is clear that it gets its strength from his historical colonies in which was achieved by its glorious Navy. So based on that, if UK is the UK we know today, it certainly owes that to Her Majesty's Navy, but these happened in colonial era where the Naval warfare wasnt evolved much and the humankind was in the realization of the importance of naval power because of the geographical explorations. That's what I'd call the Nu1 of all the time.

On the other hand, we have the USN. Some journalists refer to it as "America's Foreign Policy Sheriff" or things like that. It's involvement in every conflict it took part. WW2 success. Deployed nearly in every corner in the Blue World. And of course the US Marine Corps which is technically a division of the USN. Like that of RN's role in past USN has been an absolutely incredible asset for US' foreign policy enforcement. But these happen in the modern world, where the former superpowers like Russia (USSR) didn't put importance on the Navy as US did.

Spain and France did also good. Instead of ranks, I am grouping them in two separate classifications:

All the time (Alphabetical order):

Tier 1: RN, USN

Tier 2: Japan, France, Spain

TierX: the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy (Including state-cities like Venice...etc.)

Unfortunately, Ottoman Navy had his golden age even once ruled the Mediterranean but Sultans didn't give enough importance so not on the list.


For Post-WW2/Post-ColdWar:

A: USN

---gap---

B/C/D: the rest of the World.


I can't give predictions because foremost everything ranking military forces itself is a dumb thing for us and you can't actually know all the fact unless there's a war, God forbid.

(I wont give names not to disrespect those navies and to get keyboard sailors here) And because that in today's world there are;

- Advanced and large navies that face severe maintenance problems and too many accidents.

- Small and relatively incapable near it's neighbors but has second-strike capability.

- Large, powerful, nuclearly armed but junk equipment.

- Large, expanding and getting more advanced day by day but filled with corruption to the teeth.

- Have powerful deterrent submarine force and modernizing itself to be a blue water navy, 924 years of tradition but thanks to its government, all professional experienced staff is either purged with made up cases or forced to resign.


Some of these above either don't have his own defense industry or in the process of making it.
But besides all these there are countries performing pretty well that deserve a credit:

UK, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, South Korea.

And we have Russia that's did well in past and wants to be back on the stage again.

P.S I didn't take Ancient Civilizations into account.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

To be fair, Spanish and Netherlands (Dutch) navy are quite active in 1400s and no way if they are going to count China as "top 5 strongest" and does not consider the Spanish Navy and Dutch navy.

Zheng He Fleet manage to transverse Indian Ocean and into North Africa, but the Spanish and Dutch at that era covered half the Globe...

This is Zheng he Expedition in 1405 to 1433

View attachment 237262

This is the map of Spanish colonisation with Christopher Columbus in 1502


View attachment 237263
Is there any contest?

To much of a lesser extend, the French navy are at least equal if not stronger than Royal Navy.

Europe is nonetheless a seagoing nation.

If I have to choose top 5 Naval power at all time I would choose

Ancient Egyptian Navy (Ancient <1500BC) -> Greek Navy (Middle Ages (500 to 1500 AD) -> Spanish Navy (Age of Discovery 1400-1800AD) -> Royal Navy (Early Modern Time 1800-1900 AD) -> USN (Modern Time1940-now)

@AUSTERLITZ @Neptune

You have included the Ancient Egyptian Navy but where is the Semitic Phoenician navy? A people that for almost 1 millennium dominated the waters of the Mediterranean Sea alongside the Greeks and most importantly before them too?

Otherwise a very good list.