Top 10 NAVAL BATTLES That Were Game Changers

Top 10 Naval Battles That Changed the Game 10. Battle of the Chesapeake, September 5, 1781 Although a comparatively small battle as far as these things go (24 French ships against 19 British ships), the battle proved important because uniquely made Washington possible victory at Yorktown in October 1781. In reality, not much more than a skirmish that left a handful of ships damaged and some 500 men on both sides dead and wounded, the French fleet successfully forced the admiral Thomas Graves to abandon the bay to the French, thus leaving General Cornwallis, who then took refuge in Yorktown, Virginia, on his own. With limited supplies, escape impossible, and a combined American and French army advancing steadily, Cornwallis had no choice but to surrender and the rest is, as they say, history.

Had the British triumphed, Cornwallis would likely have been evacuated from the peninsula and lived to fight another day, and the fate of the colonialists' rebellion may have been up in the air. As it was, the defeat at Yorktown convinced the British to renounce the United States and concentrate their resources elsewhere, thus ending the six-year war and creating a new country in the process. 9. Santiago de Cuba, July 3, 1898 In one of the first confrontations between all-metal warships in history, a fleet of Spanish warships was demolished by a fleet of similarly sized American warships in front of the port. from Santiago de Cuba when he was trying to escape from the port and run towards the open sea.

Led by Spanish Admiral Cervera, the decrepit Spanish ships proved no match for the American fleet under the joint command of Admirals Schley and Sampson, the result being the loss or capture of all six ships (four armored cruisers and two destroyers) and the deaths of 323 men (compared to just one death suffered by Americans). So what makes this such an important battle? Like the Battle of Tsushima (we'll get to that in issue #7), the battle had major repercussions on the balance of power in the world. Not only did it force Spain to capitulate, thus ending the brief Spanish-American War, but it ended Spain as a world power and, with the acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, turned the United States into a virtual colonial empire. overnight. 8.

Hampton Roads, Virginia, March 8 and 9, 1862 There were actually two small

battles

fought over a twenty-four hour period, both of which involved the same ship and together would change

naval

warfare forever. The first of these was fought between the Confederate

battles

hips C.S.S. Virginia (often mistakenly called Merrimac because that was the name of the captured Union ship upon which the Virginia was built) and a fleet of wooden Union warships blockading the port of Norfolk, Virginia (then held confederates). This first battle effectively marked the beginning of the end for wooden-hulled warships as Virginia quickly sank the warships Cumberland and Congress and severely damaged a third ship before retreating, which she accomplished largely unscathed thanks to her inclined and armored hull design.

The next day's battle, however, was not as successful. Intent on finishing off the remaining blockaders the next morning, the Virginia was surprised to encounter the Union's own version of a battleship, the all-steel Monitor, and the first battle between all-metal warships in history. was underway. Using its revolutionary rotating turret, the Monitor, although mounting only a pair of cannons to the Confederate warship's 12 guns, easily matched the rate of fire of the Virginia (which, being fixed, could only be fired when the ship was pointed directly at the Armored Union). The outcome of the three-hour fight ended in a draw, neither ship possessing enough firepower to deal a fatal blow, and the combatant retreated never to fight again.

While historians still debate who actually won the battle, it is generally agreed that by preventing the Virginia from breaking the Union blockade, it was at least a strategic victory for the North, which was able to continue blockading Southern ports for the remainder. from the war. war. Even more important, however, was that the two vessels' revolutionary use of iron would forever transform the nature of

naval

warfare, which would henceforth be fought between ships built of iron and powered by steam instead of wood and candles. 7. Tsushima Strait, May 27-28, 1905 In what could only be declared one of the most lopsided victories in naval warfare, a Russian fleet of nearly a dozen battleships and seventeen smaller ships was decimated by a fleet Japanese off the southern coast of Korea.

Under the command of the legendary Admiral Togo, over the course of two days the Japanese managed to sink no fewer than 21 of the 28 ships of the Tsar's once-mighty fleet and capture seven more, all without losing a single capital ship. The battle was such a humiliating debacle for Imperial Russia that it forced an end to the year-long war between the two countries on terms favorable to Japan and may have heralded the beginning of the end of the Tsar's reign. (Although he was to remain in power for another twelve years, the loss of prestige galvanized anti-royal forces within Russia, which, combined with the debacle of World War I, eventually led to his abdication in 1917.) The downside for Japan was it gave the Japanese military such a sense of superiority that it would ultimately encourage the start of its own Asian empire, resulting in a protracted war with China thirty years later and ultimately a disastrous war. with the United States. 6.

Trafalgar, 21 October 1805 In one of the most famous engagements in British naval history, a British fleet of 33 ships under the legendary Lord Horatio Nelson faced a larger combined Spanish and French fleet off the coast southwest of Spain and defeated it, capturing half of the Franco-Spanish fleet without losing a single ship of its own. The battle was such a serious setback for Napoleon that he was unable to sustain a serious threat to invade England, ensuring that the remainder of the Napoleonic Wars, which would last another ten years, would be fought entirely on continental European soil. The battle also immortalized Lord Nelson, who died from wounds received during the battle, making him a legend in England and in the annals of naval history, not only for his personal bravery, but for his daring in facing a superior force using unconventional tactics. and emerge victorious. 5.

Lepanto, October 7, 1571 In a battle that would have major repercussions in Europe for centuries to come, the until then unstoppable Ottoman Navy was definitively defeated by a coalition of warships sailing under the flag of the Holy Roman Empire. near the Greek port city of Corinth. Even though both fleets were of comparable size, the Holy Coalition somehow managed to sink or capture no less than 187 Ottoman ships, kill, wound or capture more than 20,000 Turks, and free some 10,000 Christian slaves that the Turks had been holding. using them as rowers while only 17 boats were lost. The battle was not only a defeat for the Ottoman Navy, but, being the first loss it had experienced in centuries, it destroyed its air of invincibility and strengthened Europe's determination to stop Turkish expansion into western Europe, preventing Europe was invaded by the forces of Islam and thus potentially saved Christendom.

It was also the last major naval battle fought between oar-powered galleys, ending a millennium of naval tactics that revolved around hand-to-hand combat and ramming. 4. Battle of Midway, June 4-6, 1942. This was the engagement that won the war in the Pacific for the United States by so decisively defeating the Japanese Navy that it was forced to go on the defensive and put end to its territorial expansion plans. conquest. (If it had been the other way around, it might well have set back the American war effort by a year and possibly even forced the Roosevelt administration to sue for peace.) The interesting thing about this battle is that, although it involved dozens of ships on both sides, neither fleet ever saw the other.

In fact, the entire fight was carried out from the air, with the pilots of the American and Japanese carriers taking turns trying to send themselves to the bottom. In the end, it was Japan that came out the worst: not only did it fail to conquer the strategic island of Midway, but within fifteen minutes it lost three of its four large aircraft carriers along with most of its best pilots, ending its dreams of finally defeating to the American fleet once and for all. This was also one of the few battles of World War II in which the Americans were outnumbered, with Admiral Nimitz commanding a fleet consisting of only three aircraft carriers to Japan's four.

The sinking of four of Japan's irreplaceable aircraft carriers was also a kind of revenge for Pearl Harbor, since all four of Japan's lost aircraft carriers had participated in the December 7 attack, making it doubly satisfying for a nation still recovering. from the disaster of losing the Philippines two months ago. earlier. 3. Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-1945 When war broke out in Europe in September 1939, the German surface navy was no match for the immense Royal Navy, so Hitler decided to use the same tactics that Germany had used and which was dangerously close to winning the war. World War I: blockade of Great Britain with its submarine fleet.

Knowing that denying the British the imports they needed to keep their economy afloat would bring them to their knees, the strategy at first seemed to work, as German submarines sank British merchant ships faster than they could build them. However, once the United States entered the fray and was able to take advantage of its immense industrial strength, things started to get ugly for the Germans. Despite sinking large numbers of American ships, by 1943 American industrial capability, combined with improved anti-submarine weapons and tactics, began to take its toll on the German navy until, by 1944, U-boat losses were so severe that Germany was already could not. take the fight to the allies, thus ensuring final victory in Europe.

However, before Hitler's submarines were finally tamed, they had sunk more than 3,000 ships and 14 million tons of shipping, accounting for 70% of all Allied maritime losses during the war. However, the cost to the Germans had been catastrophic, with the loss of almost 800 submarines and 28,000 men: 75% of all submarine sailors in the entire navy! However, if it had worked, Germany could have won the entire war by starving England into submission, in the same way that American submarines successfully did to Japan by sending its merchant fleet to the bottom, which cut off the import of oil and raw materials. for Japanese heavy industry.

She desperately needed to keep fighting. 2. Actium, September 2, 31 a. C. In an epic battle worthy of Hollywood (and remade for the big screen more than once), the combined fleets of star-crossed lovers Mark Antony and Cleopatra received their proverbial heads when they met a Roman fleet of nearly 300 galleys near the city of Actium, Greece, was defeated. The battle was not only to determine who would rule Rome, but it also set the course of history for the next six centuries, making it one of the most important naval actions in history. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, Antony and Cleopatra's fleet was defeated, leaving them without a country and making them fugitives.

However, they were not the ones who went down with the ship, but instead escaped to safety (abandoning their own fleet in the process), a move that convinced most of Antony's remaining army to desert and ultimately ended him. committing suicide with Cleopatra. The victory also solidified Roman ruler Octavian's hold on power and ultimately made him the first emperor of Rome, effectively ending the Roman Republic and establishing the Roman Empire in its place. 1. Salamis, September 480 BC. In a battle that seems almost more mythological and real, a fleet of Greek warships under the venerable Greek commander Eurybiades faced a Persian fleet at least twice its size (and some ancient sources claim it was three times elderly). large) in the narrow strait between mainland Greece and the island of Salamis and beat it hard.

Losing up to half of his fleet (according to some accounts), the battle so devastated the Persians that the Persian king, Xerxes, was forced to abandon his attempt to invade Greece. What made the battle the most important in history was that, by forcing the Persians to abandon their quest to invade Greece, the battlepotentially saved Greek culture and, by extension, Western civilization in the process. Other major naval battles: Battle of the Downs, 1639 (victory over the British made Holland a major maritime power, at least for a time); Spanish Armada, 1588 (a series of small engagements combined with a major storm saved England from Spanish invasion); and Battle of the Philippine Sea, 1945 (finished off the last of the Japanese Navy in one of the largest land and air engagements in history).