A tenth-century Indonesian fleet sailed about 7,000 kilometres to raid East Africa
In 945 and 946 AD, seafarers from the island kingdoms of what is now Indonesia, either Malays of Srivijaya or Javanese of Mataram, sent around a thousand boats across the Indian Ocean. They struck the coasts of present-day Tanzania and Mozambique and tried to seize the citadel of Qawwali, roughly 7,000 kilometres west of home.
Those maritime states built enormous ships. The jong used by the Javanese empire of Majapahit averaged about 76 to 80 metres long and carried 600 to 700 people. In 1350 Majapahit launched its biggest campaign, against Pasai, with 400 large jong plus countless smaller craft, and in 1398 it sent 300 jong carrying at least 200,000 men against Singapura.
Other Asian powers had long naval histories too. Great battles on Chinese rivers date back to the Qin dynasty, including Red Cliffs in 208, yet China's first official standing navy arrived only under the Southern Song in the 12th century, just as gunpowder was transforming war. In southern India the Chola dynasty moved armies overseas in trading ships, reaching its height under Rajendra I with expeditions to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. In 1654 the Maratha ruler Shivaji founded a navy to counter Portuguese influence.
The word itself carries history. Navy entered English in the early 14th century through Old French navie, a fleet, from Latin navis, ship, and the oldest related form is a Mycenaean Greek term for shipbuilders written in Linear B. It once covered commercial and military fleets alike, which survives in the phrase merchant navy. That overlap made sense when bolting cannon onto any sailing ship and adding marines turned it into a warship.
The biggest modern upheaval came from aircraft carriers. Strikes at Taranto in 1940 and Pearl Harbor in 1941 showed they could hit fleets far beyond the sight of gunners, and Leyte Gulf in 1944, perhaps the largest sea battle ever fought, was the last where battleships mattered much. For the rest of the 20th century, the United States Navy's tonnage exceeded that of the next 17 largest navies put together.
Source: Navy
