Word: royals
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...finest navy the world had ever known, and its splendor was never more stirringly displayed. The year was 1897, the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, and the Royal Navy assembled at Spithead, off Portsmouth, for review. Decks scrubbed white, brasswork gleaming, wheelhouse glass sparkling, the ships stretched along the coast in four lines seven miles long. There were 173 in all, including more than 50 battleships. At the same time, 160 other units of the Queen's Grand Fleet were on patrol in every sea in the world...
...course of the Royal Navy paralleled that of the empire. In World War I. Britain still ruled the waves. A fleet of 1,350 vessels, including 42 battleships and battle cruisers, flew the service's white ensign. In World War II, the navy continued to be a magnificent fighting force. By V-J day in 1945, Britain had twelve major aircraft carriers, 14 battleships, 50 cruisers, 182 destroyers, 226 frigates and 97 submarines-a fleet of 586 vessels, second only to the U.S.'s total...
...Britain's economic woes and the fading need to defend an empire have dramatically reduced the Royal Navy. As Britain assembled a task force and sent it steaming toward the South Atlantic last week, the once Grand Fleet had shrunk to two light carriers, 14 destroyers, 46 frigates, twelve nuclear-powered submarines, 16 conventional submarines and four Polaris-armed submarines that carry the nation's nuclear deterrent...
...five-year-old Invincible, which so proudly led the British fleet out of Portsmouth Harbor last week, is among the ships the Royal Navy will lose. It has been sold for $315 million to Australia, which will take possession in 1983. But a brand-new replacement, the Illustrious, is going through its final sea trials, and a third carrier, the Ark Royal, is also under construction...
...fight became all too real. Some 2,500 Argentine troops, backed by an aircraft carrier, three missile destroyers and other warships, swooped down on a scattering of chilly South Atlantic islands. Waiting helplessly near the settlement of Port Stanley was a defense force consisting of a mere 40 British Royal Marines. After three hours of sporadic gunfire, in which one invader was killed and two others were wounded, the battle was over. Argentine forces also invaded the island of South Georgia. The British announced that a small contingent of their marines had destroyed an Argentine helicopter and damaged a warship...