what naval battle do you think was most interesting?

Question

+ y

Answer 1

trafalgar!

admiral nelson decided to literally form 2 lines of ships and ram through the line enemy ships so he could surround them

pretty damned interesting that

Answer 2

For Modern times of the Battleship and Big Guns
The Little Known 1914 Battle of the Falklands. A classic stern chase and a tale of unequalled dash by the normally stuffy powers after the Victory that Von Spee had over the British in the Pacific.
Or the Battle of Mataplan in the second world war where the Italians where completly outguessed and lost all interest in Naval Fighting thereafter.
For other periods then it would have to be the Battle of Copenhagen or the Nile. Not as famous as Trafagar but more important for defeating napoleans plans earlier.
The Ionian Sea Battles from the Middle ages and the mass Christian Fleets against the Turk league
All fascinating stuff

Answer 3

Salamina and Lepanto,
both as very interesting in tactics and human carachters of commanders, and both able to change the path of civilizations.
Everybody knows the battle of Salamina and Greeks stopping Persian invasion of Europe. Few knows Lepanto battle, in which few little states, (Savoy, Venice, Genoa, Tuscany, Knights of Malta) helped by Spain were able to stop the mounting wave of islamic Turks invading Europe... allowing all Birtons Germans and so on to go on without troubles. Without Lepanto Italy probably would have been invaded and conquered, and the same Wien and Austria, and maybe a great part of european would not pray devoted to the Mecca ;) . Battle was interesting both as there was a tecnological farward step of venetian fleet, usinf for the first time a sort of "Battleship" called Galeazze, and as the battle was not decided up to the end. As curiosity the commander of Christian, Don Juan, was surnamed "The great Bastard" ... as Illegitimate son of Emperator Charles V. and Cervantes , the famous writer of XVI century, was woundned during the battle.

Answer 4

Has to be Trafalgar.

A rare error on Nelson's part allowed the French and Spanish to slip the British blockade of ports and join together within a week.

Napoleon, pushing Villeneuve for a decisive victory, forced his admiral to engage the British and then get to the channel so to support his armies for invasion.

33 French and Spanish ships faced 27 British and Nelson with his usual dash of "never mind manoeuvres,go straight at 'em" outlined a daring plan for the British fleet to head in two lines towards the in-line French and Spanish. This would open up the British to enemy broadsides but it would split their formidable line, reduce the odds and allow the better trained British sailors with superior gunnery and sailing skills to destroy at close range.

It worked brilliantly, and with the French vanguard cut out of the battle by the British slicing through the fleet, Nelsons men proceeded to take the enemy apart.

Nelson did not lose a ship while 18 enemy vessels were destroyed with 14,000 French and Spanish sailors lost, ten times the British casualties. Although the most notable death was Nelson himself, shot by a sharpshooter from the French ship 'Redoutable'.

Villeneuve, although acting under strict orders from Napoleon, couldn't live with the shame of defeat and took his own life upon his return to Paris.

Answer 5

Trafalgar must have been pretty exciting, unless you happened to get blasted to bits. Jutland very confusing, The Battle of the Coral Sea and Midway must have been visually stunning and as scary as anything on earth. I'll plum for Midway, as it changed the course of the Pacific War. Then again, the Cold War battles between UK, USA and USSR nuclear hunter killers under the sea, as described in Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy, must have been scary too.

Answer 6

The Battle of Jutland in WW1, the only major naval engagement which involved Battleships and the fleets of both nations...had a lasting effect in that the German fleet never ventured forth again.

Answer 7

The defeat of the Spanish Armada.
Heavily outnumbered, heavily outgunned, caught on the back foot and the British commanders still played bowls.
In the end the remainder of the Spanish fleet was sunk by bad weather.
Someone must have really pissed God off to lose when everything was on the Spanish side.

Answer 8

I'd say Francis Drake v The Spanish Armarda. The English Fleet was heavily outnumbered but judicious use of blazing fireships scattered the Spaniards.

Answer 9

The Battle of Actium, between Augustus (then Octavian) and Marc Antony. I don't remember the exact details, but Marc Antony's fleet lost.

Answer 10

The Belgrano affair. Because the Empire won.