Most Decisive Naval Battle in History

[Meshfan]

Hm.............

1. Battle of Trafalgar

2. Battle of Jutland

3. Battle of Midway

4. Battle of Salamis

5. Battle of Leyte Gulf

:D :D

Trafalgar had the most long lasting effects of all these battles, that's why I placed it as number one.

[Martocticvs]

I think I would agree with Trafalgar. Jutland certainly had very significant implications for the future role of the navy, but in terms of the impact of a battle on a war I think that Trafalgar is in a league of its own. Had the Royal Navy lost that battle, it may very well have been possible for Villeneuve to at the very least cause enough of a distraction in the Channel to allow Napolean to send his invasion force over. Although it is true that Boney had already given up on Villeneuve by this time and started redeploying his men elsewhere.

[Skyraider3D]

And what if Napoleon would have invaded England? You'd all be driving on the right side hehehe :D

[Martocticvs]

We already drive on the right side. Everyone else drives on the wrong side. hehe

[MichaelWittmann]

Yes, Trafalgar did have the longest , However Midway turned the tide in the Pacific for the US Navy and began its dominance to this day.

[Martocticvs]

It turned the tide certainly, but it wasn't a critical victory. Trafalgar was. Victory at Trafalgar, for Britain, didn't necessarily mean we would win the war - in fact the odds of an overall victory didn't really change with that battle, but if we had lost, then it would very possibly have been the end of Britain, as we had very little in the way of a standing army (the British people still being very uncomfortable with the idea of one after the civil war).

[Lukem]

I certainly agree with Trafalgar and Midway, but I didn't think Jutland was that decisive - I could be wrong though.

How about Lepanto? Or does that come under Salamis - not sure.

[pete.cook]

I have to agree that Trafalgar was a decisive battle in that it allowed Britain to control the seas of western Europe, which was more significant than preventing Napoleon's army from invading Britain. It allowed the British free reign to continue the economically vital trade from India and Portugal, while denying the French their trade routes from India and America. It also had a military value in that it allowed the British the option of transporting troops and supplies by sea, and forcing the French into using land routes. Ultimately, the French were overstretched, their supply routes plundered by partisans and local supplies denied by the Spanish. Trafalgar was more than a naval battle, it was a key to unlocking Napoleon's grasp on Europe.

In a similar way Jutland prevented either side domineering the sea lanes and preventing one side or the other from controling supply lines, which could have decided the war in favour of one side. The Battle of the Atlantic is just as vital in the same way. Had the U-boats cut supplies from America, the Second World War would have been much shorter.

[Martocticvs]

In reality though, regarding the Napoleonic wars, the Royal Navy had been successfully blockading the main French ports since the outbreak of war in '94, and the French became notorious for remaining in port with their pristine white sails, whilst the British ships beat back and forth outside, in fine weather and in storms, with dirty sails, worn out ships - and still managing to stop a fairly decent proportion of the coasting traffic. It was only really when storms forced our ships off their stations that the French were able to slip out - that was usually then followed by a major fleet action if the whole fleet made it out.

[Meshfan]

Yeah, our navy was quite pitiful during the Napoleonic Wars. With Napoleon at the head of the army, we compensated for our weak navy.

[waynec]

I certainly agree with Trafalgar and Midway, but I didn't think Jutland was that decisive - I could be wrong though.

How about Lepanto? Or does that come under Salamis - not sure.

agree with trafalgar, lepanto, and salamis.

battle of virginia capes (yorktown campaign, american revolutionary war)
i think coral sea was more important than midway. it helped establish carrier procedures, stopped the japanese from taking port moresby and kept 2 japanese CVs from being at midway.

[TheGreatRaja]

What about the So called Maranis Turkey Shoot or the Battle of Leyte Gulf

[Gotardo]

Lepanto was certainly a pivotal sea battle, with Trafalgar, both the french and us got pwned... 'cause we had crappy commanders, mainly :p and Nelson was intelligent... ouch!
The battle of the Atlantic, while not a "battle" as is, the fighting of the german U-boats made big damage to the convoys, and the efforts to find and destroy them, etc.

[FitArtistSF]

Although Trafalgar has assumed a position of great importance over time, as to how much or how little it influenced the overall outcome of the Napoleonic War, it is not the most decisive naval battle in history. There is sufficient facts in evidence that three things had occurred to almost assure a defeat of the allied fleet before the battle had even been fought. The first was that during the summer and fall of 1805, the port of Cadiz, and the surrounding region, where most of the combined allied fleet had been harboring, experienced a malaria epidemic that decimated, it is estimated, almost 2/3rds of the seaman and officers, which when the fleet finally sailed, allowed most of the ships to be woefully undermanned. Second, the lack of training in gunnery of the crews of the combined fleet, constantly being bottled up in harbor due to the ever-constant blockade allowed the british fleet a rate of fire superiority almost 2 to 1. And third, Admiral Villaneuve finally put to sea very hastily, knowing he was unprepared, when he learned that his recall to Paris and subsequent confrontation with the Emperor would very likely mean his head, literally. And as an addendum, the lack of training of both fleets together, to coordinate signals, fleet manuevers, etc., can therefore all together show that the battle's outcome would definitely conclude with the british fleet emerging victorious. I think these points get lost in the almost mystical, messianic way that Nelson died, enlarging a very significant battle, yes, into a nation-saving, cataclysmic event...
That doesn't mean that this diminishes the fact that it is my favorite naval event, and Nelson is/was my childhood hero.
BTW, the points I brought up are discussed in a book I read recently, "The Terror Before Trafalgar", a treatise on the global events leading up to the battle, and not just repeating the whole Trafalgar scenario....

[Dann-O]

I think Midway. It could easily have had disasterous results had things gone the other way and they easily could have. The Japanese Navy could have spotted the American fleet before the American fleet was in range. If the Japanese sunk three carriers with no retaliation. (remember there was a distinct range advantage on the side of the Japanese) That would have made it difficult to put any pressure on Japan and start the bombing campaign. Possibly could have cut off the Burma supply lines too. It was a very pivitol victory. Jutland to me the results were that there were fewer ships afterwords and the war went on as it had before. Trafalgar I am not so versed on.