Alfred's fleet was professionalized before there was a Royal Navy

Is Alfred the Great correctly called the father of the modern Royal Navy?

The title is overstated, but Alfred can reasonably be credited with the first professionalized English navy rather than the later Royal Navy as an institution.

A professionalized English fleet is distinct from the later institution called the Royal Navy. Alfred's forces can be connected to enduring arrangements such as the Cinque Ports, making the early claim meaningful even if 'modern navy' stretches the evidence. Henry VIII established royal ships on a larger basis, though this still was not the same institution as the later Royal Navy. The result is a layered origin story rather than a single founding date.