[MR] Wikipedia: English/Scottish Battleship Race

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

On this date in 1514, the largest ship in Europe at that time, *Henry Grace
à Dieu*, was commissioned by the English.

Battleship races, that is, competitions between various nations to build
the biggest, fastest, most heavily-armed capital ships, are a feature of
maritime history right up to the 20th century. Nations were not only
seeking control of the seas, but also national prestige. England/Great
Britain was at the fore of this, though many other countries got caught up
in these rivalries, especially Germany, but also Brazil and Japan, during
the 19th and 20th centuries. For early 16th century Scotland to be in a
battleship race might seem absurd, but it happened.

It was James IV, King of Scots, who started this arms race with his
super-ship *Great Michael*. She was laid down in 1507, and completed in
1512. When built she was the largest ship in Europe at 240 feet long, with
four masts and displacing 1,000 tonnes. *Great Michael* carried 24
broadside guns, with a bow chaser and two stern guns, plus numerous other
swivel cannon and other light guns:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Michael .

Henry VIII of England was not to be outdone by any other king, especially
his upstart brother-in-law James. Besides stroking his ego, Henry saw the
value of a modernized navy, both in fighting strength and in the prestige
factor. You are all familiar with his tragic ship *Mary Rose*, which sank
in 1545 while repelling a French invasion of England. *Mary Rose* was
actually laid down in 1510 and completed in 1512. She was a super-carrick,
a much enlarged and heavily-gunned version of the common warships of the
time, but designed specifically to fire broadside volleys. Her initial
displacement was but half that of *Great Michael*, but was arguably a
better designed vessel in some ways: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Rose
.

Then came the War of the League of Cambrai. This war was really about who
was going to run Italy. It started with Pope Julius II with his allies
France and the Holy Roman Empire against Venice. When the French began to
keep Italian territory for themselves, Julius switched sides and joined
Vencie against France. In 1511, Henry VIII saw an opportunity to conquer
parts of France by joining the Papal-Veneto alliance. So far, James IV had
pursued a careful, but uneasy policy of peace with England. Scotland was
drawn into the conflict through the *Auld Alliance* with France. The French
demanded James mount a diversionary invasion into northern England to
relieve English pressure on France. This led to the disastrous battle of
Flodden Fields in 1513, where James and thousands of Scots were
slaughtered.

With James gone from the throne, and the country facing economic ruin, the
Scottish regents decided to sell the very expensive and under-used *Great
Michael* to France for the bargain-basement price of 40,000 livres. The
ship was renamed *Grande Nef d'Ecosse* (*"Great Ship of Scotland"*). The
Scots may have gotten the better end of the deal in a way, as the ship was
too big for most French harbors and way too expensive even for the French
to operate. Some sources say the ship was allowed to rot at Brest.

Henry VIII wasn't through with big-gun warships though. His next monster
was *Henry Grace à Dieu *(aka* "Great Harry"*), laid down in 1512 and
completed in 1514. This ship displaced 1,500 tonnes, and carried 43 heavy
guns plus 141 light guns. *Great Harry* was for many years the largest and
most powerful ship in Europe:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Grace_à_Dieu .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆