Imperial fleet may refer to the fleet (usually the navy) of an empire. Examples include:
- Reichsflotte, the German imperial navy from 1848-1852
- Kaiserliche Marine, the German imperial navy from 1871-1919
- Imperial Japanese Navy
- Roman navy, navy of the Roman Empire
Famous quotes containing the words imperial and/or fleet:
“Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus, 44:14.
The line “their name liveth for evermore” was chosen by Rudyard Kipling on behalf of the Imperial War Graves Commission as an epitaph to be used in Commonwealth War Cemeteries. Kipling had himself lost a son in the fighting.
“On the middle of that quiet floor
sits a fleet of small black ships,
square-rigged, sails furled, motionless,
their spars like burned matchsticks.”
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)