The Origins of the Royal Navy

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Henry VIII wanted to have the most powerful Navy in Europe; he also didn't want to have to travel very far to get it. Around 1512, he built a colossal Naval dockyard on the southern banks of the Thames in London up river from his Greenwich Palace, where he set about building the biggest ships the world had ever seen.

Today, you can still find the telltale signs of the history that took place here if you know where to look. Dan joins London tour guide and friend of the podcast, Rob Smith, to trace the beginnings of Britain's Navy and tell the curious tales of early life in the dockyard, the mega ships, the disastrous failures and incredible innovations that made Britain a naval superpower in the 16th century and beyond.

If you'd like to take a tour with Rob, you can check out his events here: https://footprintsoflondon.com/live/guides/rob-smith/

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi folks, welcome to Dan Snow's history here.
0:06.9	If you asked me if there's time and place where I would go, if I could time travel, if I could go back in history,
0:12.9	what I would love to do is pop down for the day to take a stroll around, take in the atmosphere,
0:20.2	the sights, the sounds of London's historic
0:22.3	naval dockyards on the southeastern banks of the Thames, around Woolwich.
0:29.0	This really was ground zero for the Royal Navy, the most successful military institution ever created.
0:35.2	Yes, come at me.
0:37.0	It was where Henry VIII built and maintained his
0:41.8	fledgling Royal Navy in the early 16th century, and over the centuries it's where great warships
0:47.3	were constructed like the giant HMS Nelson or the Agamemnon. It's where exploration vessels
0:53.9	that sail from like the Beagle that took Darwin to the Galapagos.
0:57.6	It was a hub of innovation. It was a hub of industry from the Tudor-Age of the steam revolution. This was an engine of the British Empire.
1:05.2	And here's the weird thing. Hardly anything remains. Hardly a jot survives. Today those historic dockyards on the South Bank of
1:12.6	the Thames, well, they're long gone, all of them. And in their place nearly entirely now,
1:17.2	housing estates and shopping streets and cafes and lots of new build of elements, but there are
1:21.9	still the telltale signs of the history that took place there. You can see old slipways, old dry docks,
1:30.1	and you can see an 18th century administrative headquarters with a magnificent clock,
1:34.1	now a community centre. There's also remnants of the Mars Pond, and one enormous chimney in
1:40.3	megafactory, which is still in use today from the age of steam. But you have to know where to look. And it just so happens that a local historian, friend of the podcast, Rob Smith, does know where to look. He knows all the hidden historical treasures around this wonderful place. And he's a masterful tour guide. He's a great storyteller. You can book a tour with him through Footprints of London. And after you hear this, you may wish to do just that.
2:01.9	Me and my history at team donned our waterproofs because it was the rainiest day of the year.
2:06.4	And we went to explore London's historic dockyards to trace the story of the Navy in Britain's
2:11.0	maritime power at the very heart of where it all began. Now, producer Marion Day Forge obviously wore
	...

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