Yeah, but it's also worth noting A LOT of the ships - a lot more than most people are willing to admit - were old ships. PT boats, trawlers, schooners, ocean liners...

If you have a chance and are into reading; read Glyn Prysor's "Citizen Sailors" http://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Sailors-Glyn-Prysor/dp/0141046325 (on mobile, so sorry for the format). There's probably even better books out there that cover ships and the RN in general; but this one comes with first hand tales from the men serving aboard these ships.
It's also the last one I read about it, so it's fresh in my mind.

If you libe the RN like I do, but haven't thought about things such as to why it was the largest navy in the world, then this may be an eye opener for a lot of people.

I by no means want to take any glamour nor fame away from the Royal Navy, but it was what it was, not only due to the transition from a worldwide empire to the commonwealth it is today, but also the time during which it took place; wartime. Desperate times call for desperate measures, they did what they had to, and let there be no doubt over the fact that these men did the best they could with what was at hand. Be they serving on the RN's battleships or cruisers, or shamble PT boats

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