Since the early days of civilization, various naval battles have been
fought up until the early 20th century.
In each of these naval battles,
technological advances have been a factor in victories and defeats.
Also, the sheer scale of these naval battles have made a select few
achieve the distinction of being the largest naval battles of all time.
9. Battle of Salamis
On September 480 BC, the naval Battle of Salamis was fought between
the Greek City states and the Persian Empire ruled by the brutal King
Xerxes. It was fought in the straits in the middle of Piraeus and
Salamis Island in the Saronic Gulf that borders Athens, Greece. The
Battle of Salamis was triggered by Persians who had occupied the city of
Athens city burned it. This caused the Athenians to flee to Salamis
after the Battle of Thermopylae in August 480 BC that pitted Persian
King Xerxes versus King Leonidas of Sparta. The Athenians were joined in
Salamis by the Greeks after the 480 BC August-September Battle of
Artemisium between the Greek and the Persian army. The Greeks and their
allies at Salamis began to ready themselves to retake their territory
from the Persians who had 1207 navy ships. These ships were more than
those of the Greeks and their allies. King Xerxes decided to attack at
dawn after receiving false intelligence that the Athenians were turning
against their allies. But the Greeks and their allies attacked the
flanks of the Persian naval fleet on the narrow Salamis strait. The
Greeks defeated them and sunk at least 200 Persian battle ships. By
midnight, the soldiers of the navy of Xerxes stationed at Psyttaleia had
also been killed by the Greeks and their allies. The Battle of Salamis
saved Greece from being forcefully incorporated into the Persian Empire,
and ushered the first emergence of Western Civilization into the world.
8. Battle of Cape Ecnomus
Fought in 256 BCE, the Battle of Cape Ecnomus was a series of three
First Punic war battles fought between the Roman Republic and the
Carthaginian Empire. It is also one of the largest battles in ancient
history. The Battle of Cape Ecnomus was fought at Cape Ecnomus, the
modern day Poggio di Sant'Angelo in Licata, Sicily Italy. It began when
the Romans dispatched a fleet of over 330 battle ships from Sicily to
Africa to strike the Carthaginian homeland, today called the Tunis
Governorate in Tunisia. Before the Roman Navy fleet crossed the
Mediterranean, they faced 350 Cathaginian navy ships near the modern day
Licata in Sicily. Both sides each had an army of over 140,000 at their
front lines but the experienced Romans prevailed, and continued onto
Africa. The Romans' aim was to shift their battle with the Carthaginians
into their own territory rather than fight in Sicily, their territory.
The Roman navy fleet was commanded by consuls Marcus Atilius Regulus and
Lucius Manlius, and the Carthaginian were commanded by Hanno the elder.
Although the Roman navy was inexperienced, they came up with a plan to
defeat the well drilled Carthaginian navy. The Roman fleet divided
itself into four squadrons and they began by attacking the Carthaginian
navy at the center. The Carthaginian had formulated its front line in a
line. This tactic made them vulnerable and they got surrounded and
overrun by four Roman navy squadrons. At the end of the battle of Cape
Ecnomus, the Romans captured 64 Carthaginians ships plus their crews,
without any of their ships falling into Carthaginians hands.
7. Battle of Red Cliffs
The naval Battle of Red Cliffs, also called the Battle of Chibi, was
fought at the end of the Han dynasty, and twelve years before the start
of the Three Chinese Kingdoms. This battle was fought during the AD
208/9 AD winter at Chibi in Hubei Province. The Battle of the Red Cliffs
was between the armies of Liu Bei and Sun Huan, both southern warlords,
against the armies of Cao Cao, the northern warlord who controlled the
unified northern China and North China plain. Armies of Liu Bei and Sun
Quan were able to repel Cao Cao's plans to conquer land to the south of
Yangtze River. As a result, Liu Ben and Sun Quan reunited the Eastern
Han Dynasty and gained control of Yangtze. Controlling the Yangtze gave
them a defense line which caused the creation of Shu Han and Eastern Wu
which were both southern states. As a way to discourage the southern
warlords, Cao Cao first sent a letter to Sun Huan bragging he had an
army numbering up to 800,000 men. In reality, his troop numbers were
only close to 230,000, while the Liu Bei and San Huan led southern naval
fleet of about 50,000 well trained marines. During the Battle of the
Red Cliffs, Cao Cao’s men who had little naval battle experience became
seasick and demoralized. In order to try gain an upper hand, Cao Cao
ordered the ships he commanded to be tied together. In the meantime, Sun
Huan ordered some of his army men led by Huang Gai to feign defection
to Cao Cao’s side. The ruse worked and Cao Cao allowed them to sail near
his ships at Yangtze River without his army attacking them. It was then
that Huang Gai’s men lit their ships on fire and they became floating
fireballs which lit and burned up Cao Cao's ships which were bound
together. Huang Gai’s men managed to escape with small boats, however
the Cao Cao naval army drowned while attempting to escape their burning
ships while others remained trapped in the burning flames. These losses
were immense for Cao Cao and he escaped through the swamps around Red
Cliff towards his northern China base.
6. Battle of the Masts
The naval Battle of the Masts, fought in 655 AD, pitted Muslim Arabs
who were led by General Abu L-Awar against the Orthodox Christian
Byzantines commanded by Emperor Constans II. This battle was fought in
Constantinople, which is known today as Istanbul. It was the then
capital of Roman/Byzantine empires. The Battle of Masts was triggered by
Arabs who desired to conquer Constantinople like they had to provinces
in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and parts of the Middle East. They planned
to attack through the Sea of Marmara. To repel the attack, Emperor
Constans II with his naval fleet of 500 ships pursued and caught up with
the 200 naval Arab ships at the Turkish Port of Finike. The
over-confident Constans II navy attacked the Arabs navy hastily, without
planning an attack formation, expecting to crush them with one assault.
Against all odds, the outnumbered Arab navy destroyed the Byzantine
navy to shreds. The defeated Byzantines fled and left their fleet to be
destroyed by a storm. Their emperor Constans II disguised himself as a
seaman to escape. The Sea of Marmara was stained with blood, and bodies
from the Battle of the Masts were piled at the shores. Since the battle
was fought by the navy ships in up-close style, it got the name the
Battle of the Masts.
5. Battle of Yamen
On March 19th, 1279, the naval Battle of Yamen took place in Yamen,
China. This is one of the four naval battles fought during the Song and
Yuan dynasties reigns in China. The Battle of Yamen was between the
Song’s dynasty versus the invading Mongol’s Yuan dynasty. Yet it was won
by the Mongol’s Yuan dynasty that was outnumbered 10:1 by the Song’s
Dynasty’s navy. The defeat marked the final fall of the Song Dynasty.
During the battle of Yamen, the Yuan naval forces led by Zhang Hongfan
attacked the Song’s naval fleet in Yamen led by General Zhang Shijie.
Though some soldiers commanded by General Shijie called for an attack to
conquer the bay mouth and open the way for retreating westwards, the
general disagreed. Instead he had the 1000 naval warships chained
together with Emperor Bing’s boat positioned at the center of the fleet.
The Yuan ships attacked Song’s ship with fire ships but Song’s troops
repelled their attacks using fire resistant mud ships. The Yuan army
also stopped wood and fresh water supplies to Song’s forces and their
navy by blockading the bay. As a result, the General Shijie led Song’s
forces had to drink seawater and they fell ill. His nephew was also
kidnapped by the Yuan forces and they urged Shijie to surrender three
times but he continued to fight on. The Yuan forces also ran a Trojan
attack strategy on the Song’s naval forces which resulted in over
100,000 of Song’s forces dead from drowning or fighting. The dead also
included the Emperor Bing of the Song Dynasty.
4. Battle of Lake Poyang
The Battle of Lake Poyang was fought between the naval forces of two
Chinese rebel leaders, Chen Youliang and Zhu Yuanzhang. It occurred on
August 30th 1363, and was among the final battles fought as the Mongol
led Yuan dynasty fell. The battle of Lake Poyang was fought to determine
which rebel group would lead the Chinese empire since the Mongol led
Yuan dynasty had began disintegrating from the mid 14th Century. Zhu
Yuanzhang led the Ming group, while Chen Youliang led the Han group.
Each dynasty was from a different part of China. Their battle was fought
in China’s largest freshwater, Lake Poyang. During the Battle of Lake
Poyang, new warfare technology was used like firearms, gunpowder, and
floating fortresses called tower ships. This battle had a fleet of over
100 Han group tower vessels and a smaller Ming Chinese flotilla boats.
To win the Battle of Lake Poyang, the Ming group used fires ships
“captained” by dummies. They filled the fishing boats with straw and set
them alight. Once the floating fire ships reached the Han ships, they
ignited and burned them, forcing the Han group to retreat. Almost a
million soldiers and sailors were involved in the Battle of Lake Poyang
which ended on October 4th, 1363. The Han leader, Chen Youliang, died
after being shot through the head with an arrow and the Han battalion
collapsed. After the Ming group won the battle, they ruled China for 276
years until 1644. Their leader Zhu Yuanzhang also became the powerful
Ming Dynasty’s first emperor.
3. Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was World War I’s largest naval battle. It took
place from May 31st to June 1st 1916 on Denmark’s North Sea coast. This
bloody battle involved 250 naval battle ships and about 100,000 men.
The battle started after the German high seas fleet attempted to weaken
the British Royal Navy by ambushing their fleet at the North Sea. German
Admiral, Reinhard Scheer wanted to bait Admiral Sir David Beatty’s
battle cruiser force and Admiral Sir John Jellicoe’s Grand fleet in
order to destroy them. Scheer wanted to attack and destroy Beatty’s
force before Jellicoe arrived, but the British were warned by code
breakers, and they stationed their forces early into the sea.
Nonetheless, the Germans used their shells to destroy HMS Lion and sink
HMS Indefatigable and HMS Queen Mary under Beatty’s command. As a result
Beatty retreated until Jellicoe's main fleet arrived. The arrival of
Jellicoe's fleet caused the Germans to be outgunned and they retreated.
In the Battle of Jutland, the British lost 14 ships and over 6000 men,
while the Germans lost 11 ships and over 2500 men. Afterwards, the
Germans could never challenge the British control of the North Sea. As a
result, the British assumed naval dominance over the North Sea shipping
lanes and their blockade caused the Germans to be defeated in 1918.
2. Battle of the Philippine Sea
The Battle of the Philippine Sea was fought during World War II. This
two day naval battle was fought from June 19th to June 20th 1944,
between the Japanese and US navy fleets. The battle of the Philippine
Sea pitted nine Japanese carriers against fifteen American navy carriers
in Task Force 58. It was triggered by the US invasion of Saipan, a
Japanese base in Mariana Islands, on June 15th 1944. As a result, the
Japanese naval force under Admiral Soemu Toyoda sent planes to fight the
US naval warships commanded by Admiral Raymond Spruance. The intention
was to halt the US naval warships advancing in the Pacific Sea and
secure Saipan so that the Japanese could station their troops there.
However, the US conducted large scale attacks on the Japanese supply
chain ships that supplied its fleets. During the battle of the
Philippine Sea, the Japanese lost three aircraft carriers, two oilers,
and 600 planes while the US lost 120 planes. With his air warplanes
significantly destroyed, Admiral Toyoda ordered his navy fleet to
retreat at night. These losses was a significant cause in the Japanese
Imperial Navy’s lack of ability in conducting large scale aircraft
carrier operations against Allied Powers.
1. Battle of Leyte Gulf
The Battle of Leyte Gulf was an air and naval battle that began on
October 23 1944, on the Island of Leyte in the Philippines. It started
after Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita of the Imperial Japanese Navy led his
fleet to the Island of Leyte in Philippines to fight US troops during
World War II. The Japanese naval fleet had intended to maintain their
dominance over the Philippines. In the four days of heavy fighting, the
US troops led by General Douglas MacArthur decimated the Japanese navy
using their submarines. During the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Musashi,
Japan’s most powerful and superior battleship was sunk by US warplanes
on October 24 1944. On October 26 what remained of the Japanese navy
fleet retreated and left the US and her allies controlling the Pacific
Ocean, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf ended. This battle saw General
MacArthur honor the promise that he had made in 1942 to return to the
Philippines. It is considered the greatest battle in naval warfare
history due to the sheer scale of the battle.
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