naval battle

Information about naval battle

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The French battleship Orient burns, 1 August 1798, during the Battle of the Nile


A naval battle is a battle fought using ships or other waterborne vessels. Most naval battles have occurred at sea, but a few have taken place on lakes or rivers. The earliest recorded naval battle took place in 1210 BC near Cyprus. Most naval battles are undertaken in indirect support of land operations - either to obtain local command of the area so that a seaborne invasion or bombardment can take place, or to destroy or damage an enemy fleet so that he cannot do these things at some time in the future. Numbers of vessels involved range from 1 on each side to many hundreds; modern naval battles usually involve fewer, more powerful ships. There have been few large naval battles since World War II for several reasons. Few nations can afford large fleets or afford to risk their ships; most wars have not involved great powers fighting against each other; and aircraft operating from shore can destroy ships without the need for one's own.

Although the nature of the ships involved in battles has changed drastically, from triremes to sailing ships to battleships, submarines and aircraft carriers, many of the tactical principles remain the same, such as the importance of maneouvre before the engagement proper, and the desirability of breaking off combat rather than risking the complete loss of a fleet.

There are several contenders for the largest naval battle of all time.

See also

Generally, a battle is a specific instance of combat in warfare between two or more parties wherein each group will seek to defeat the others. Battles are most often fought during wars or military campaigns and can usually be well defined in time, space and action.
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ship is a large watercraft capable of offshore navigation. Ships may be operated by:
  • Governments (military, rescue, research, transportation)
  • Private companies and institutions (transportation, offshore resources, research)
  • Individuals (large yachts, research).

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The three-letter acronym SEA may refer to:
  • Scientists and Engineers for America, a pro-science political advocacy group.
  • Schoof-Elkies-Atkin algorithm
  • Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (IATA: SEA, ICAO: KSEA)
  • Sea Education Association

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lake (from Latin ligacus) is a body of water or other liquid of considerable size contained on a body of land. A vast majority of lakes on Earth are fresh water, and most lie in the Northern Hemisphere at higher latitudes.
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river is a natural waterway that transits water through a landscape from higher to lower elevations. It is an integral component of the water cycle. The water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through surface runoff, groundwater recharge (as seen at baseflow
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13rd century BC - 12nd century BC

1240s BC 1230s BC 1220s BC - 1210s BC - 1200s BC 1190s BC 1180s BC
1219 BC 1218 BC 1217 BC 1216 BC 1215 BC
1214 BC 1213 BC 1212 BC 1211 BC 1210 BC

- - State leaders - Sovereign states
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Events and trends


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    Motto
    none
    Anthem
    Ύμνος εις την Ελευθερίαν
    Imnos is tin Eleftherian
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    invasion is a military action consisting of armed forces of one geopolitical entity entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of either conquering territory, altering the established government, or a combination thereof.
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    bombardment is an attack by artillery fire directed against fortifications, troops or towns and buildings. In its strict sense the term is only applied to the bombardment of defenceless or undefended objects, houses, public buildings, etc.
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    Allied powers:
     Soviet Union
     United States
     United Kingdom
     China
     France
    ...et al. Axis powers:
     Germany
     Japan
     Italy
    ...et al.
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    aircraft is a vehicle which is able to fly through the air (or through any other atmosphere). All the human activity which surrounds aircraft is called aviation. (Most rocket vehicles are not aircraft because they are not supported by the surrounding air).
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    Trireme (Greek Τριήρεις pl. (Τριήρης sing.)) refers to a class of warships used by the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks and Romans.
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    Sailing ship is now used to refer to any large, wind-powered, vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a specific rig of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant.
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    battleship is a large, heavily armored warship with a main battery consisting of the largest calibre of guns. Battleships are larger, better-armed and better-armored than cruisers and destroyers.
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    submarine is a watercraft that can operate underwater. Military submarines were first widely used in World War I and are used by all major navies today. Civilian submarines and submersibles are used for scientific work at depths too great for human divers.
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    aircraft carrier is a warship designed to deploy and in most cases recover aircraft, acting as a sea-going airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power great distances without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations.
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    Naval tactics is the collective name for methods of engaging and defeating an enemy ship or fleet in battle at sea during naval warfare, the naval equivalent of military tactics on land.

    Naval tactics are distinct from naval strategy.
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    The title of largest naval battle in history depends on criteria that may include the number of people and ships involved, the total tonnage of vessels, the size of the battlefield, and the duration of the action.
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    list of naval battles is a chronological list delineating important naval fleet battles.
    Note: If a battle's name isn't known it's just referred to as "Action of (date)".

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    This is a list of notable single-ship actions, naval bombardments and other naval events: (not complete yet)

    Single-ship actions

    • 1618 about May - Maltese Gran Galeone vs 3 Tunisians

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    Naval history is the area of military history concerning war at sea and the subject is also a sub-discipline of the broad field of maritime history. Traditionally, the focus has been on direct combat between ships at sea, rather than the use of ships to transport armies or military
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    naval ship is a ship (or sometimes boat, depending on classification) used for combat purposes, commonly by a navy. Naval ships are differentiated from civilian ships by construction and purpose.
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