What was the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare.

2015-09-07T12:20:19-04:00

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Sep 7 at 2015 12:39 PM

2015-09-07T12:39:52-04:00

@SGT Scot Bell
In ancient history, the Battle of Salamis when the Greek states defeated the Persian Navy in antiquity.
1588 -The defeat of the Spanish Armada by the British Navy under Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake.
1805- In the Napoleonic Wars, the Battle of Trafalgar when the British Navy under Lord Horatio Nelson defeated the French and Spanish Navies.
WWII
In the Pacific the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor ranks near the top.
On our side the Battle of Coral Sea between the US, Australian's against Japan stopped the expansion of the Japanese in the southern Pacific
The Battle of Midway was significant defeat of the Japanese carrier force.
The sinking of the Bismark was a big blow to the German Navy in the North Atlantic
However, for biggest overall impact:
I think the Battle for the Atlantic which the u-boats and their tenders attempted to sink as much cargo traffic as they could. The US and British response plus sonar and the new radar helped turn the tide. If this naval "battle" most of Europe would be speaking German.
What are your thoughts?COL Ted Mc, COL Mikel J. Burroughs, COL Jon Thompson, LTC Stephen C., LTC Bink Romanick, Capt Mark Strobl, GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad, SGM Steve Wettstein. PO1 Private RallyPoint Member, PO3 Steven Sherrill, SGT Randal Groover, SGT Forrest Stewart

Response by LTC Yinon Weiss made Sep 7 at 2015 1:51 PM

2015-09-07T13:51:01-04:00

Battle of Tafalgar in 1805. The British defeated the combined naval forces of France and Spain, ending Napoleon's ideas of conquering England, and setting the British up for naval domination which lasted through WWII and beyond. The battle is still deeply celebrated in the UK.

Response by COL Jon Thompson made Sep 7 at 2015 2:46 PM

2015-09-07T14:46:39-04:00

LTC Stephen F. I am not a big naval historian but in modern history, I think the attack on Pearl Harbor has to be one of the most decisive blows. Not because of what it did to the Pacific Fleet but because it brought the U.S. into the war and the world today still feels the effects of that. While that probably would have happened regardless, I am not sure how much public support would have been behind our war efforts. Pearl Harbor made sure that Americans were behind the war effort and without the U.S. involvement, who knows what the world would like today. What we know is that WWII led to the U.S. becoming a super power involved in the world to a much greater extent than ever before. Pretty much everything we have been and are came from 1941.

Response by 1LT William Clardy made Sep 7 at 2015 4:49 PM

2015-09-07T16:49:00-04:00

Interesting that nobody has mentioned the Battle of Tsushima Strait, where the Japanese fleet succeeded in crossing the T against the Imperial Russian fleet. By battle's end, if I recall, something like two-thirds of the Russian fleet was sunk or otherwise out of action. The loss was so decisive that it prompted the Russians to sue for peace immediately.

Response by COL Private RallyPoint Member made May 23 at 2017 8:15 AM

2017-05-23T08:15:32-04:00

Historian John Keegan used almost precisely these words to describe the blow that US Naval bombers inflicted on a group of Japanese carriers during the battle of Midway.

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 30 at 2017 12:10 PM

2017-10-30T12:10:27-04:00

It depends on what you mean by stunning and decisive blow. Campaigns? Ship to ship, or fleet vs fleet? Battles where the fate of nations rode, or just a war they fought? Causing a nation to crumble b/c the battle completly destroyed their economic base, or battle where the most ships blew up?

Midway was certainly decisive for the Pacific in WWII, but so was the unrestricted submarine campaign waged by VADM Lockwood that completly destroyed Japan’s economy. Just as logistics is important to land warfare, so it is for the sea, and the effort to keep supply lines open in all theaters during WWII could be argued to be stunning naval blows.

Battles/campaigns in which the fate of nations happened could include Trafalgar (1805, Napoleon’s invasion of UK thwarted, British sea dominance during Pax Britannia established), Lepanto (1571, Holy League of Europe defeat the Ottoman Empire, think the naval version of the Battle of Tours), Actium (31BC, Marc Antony and Cleopatra defeated by Augustus), Salimis (480BC, Greeks defeat Persians, impacting western civilization), Spanish Armada (1589, England defeats Spain), the Red Cliffs (208AD, prevention of a reunited Han dynasty China), the Downs (1639, established Dutch rule of the sea for a significant period dueing exploration and colonization period), the Chesapeake (1781, French fleet defeats British at Yorktown), Atlantic Campaign (1939-1945, German U-boats attack shipping and choke UK, then are beaten back by Allied forces), and Pearl Harbor (1941, US entry into WWII).

Pretty stunning battles, but perhaps not to the survival of the nation, include Tsushima (1905), Coral Sea (1942), Jutland (1916, though perhaps it could be included as decisive to national survival), the Delta (117BC, Egypt vs. the Sea People), Sluys (1740), Gibraltar (1704), Leyte Gulf (1944), Monitor vs Virginia & Virginia vs US Fleet (1862), Constitution vs Guerriere (1812), Angamos (1879), Constitution vs Java (1812), Lake Erie (1813-we have met the enemy and they are ours), British Home Fleet vs Bismarck (1941), Manilla Bay (1898), USN TG22.3 vs U-505 (1944), Mylae (260BC, Rome vs Carthage).

Guess it depends on who you ask too. That’s a pretty US centric list I gave, merely because I don’t know many others. Sweden vs Denmark, China vs Japan, Dutch vs Spain, Italian city states vs Arab/Ottoman vs each other, Lord knows what super secret squirrel stunning stuff American submarines did vs the Soviets during the Cold War, Britain vs France, and many many more areas could have battles that they may describe as stunning or decisive; just depends on your viewpoint.

Does “naval” include the Marines? Thats a whole other can of worms. The Coast Guard’s continuing battle against drug runners can have some stunning stuff, and decisive against the drug trade (mini-subs, for example). Just saying, theres a ton of battles throughout history that different people may consider decisive to their vantage point. Great question! And great comments!