Naval Battles Index
Hub
Naval battles — fleet actions, squadron clashes, single-ship engagements, raids, and ambushes at sea — are where command, technology, training, and weather converge in the smoke and noise of a contested moment. The subdomain covers naval engagements as a research domain across every era and civilisation: the ancient Mediterranean galley actions (Salamis 480 BC, Aegospotami 405 BC, Drepana 249 BC, Actium 31 BC); the Byzantine and Arab naval struggles in the eastern Mediterranean; the medieval war-galley engagements (Sluys 1340, the Lepanto campaign of 1571); the Anglo-Dutch and Spanish-Armada engagements of the early modern era; the Age-of-Sail fleet actions (the Saintes 1782, Cape St Vincent 1797, the Nile 1798, Copenhagen 1801, Trafalgar 1805, Navarino 1827); the ironclad and steam-era battles (Hampton Roads 1862, Lissa 1866, the Yalu 1894, Tsushima 1905, Jutland 1916); the carrier-era and amphibious-fleet actions (Coral Sea, Midway, Leyte Gulf, the Pacific submarine war, the Battle of the Atlantic); the missile-and-helicopter post-war engagements (the Falklands 1982, the Tanker War, the Black Sea operations of the Russo-Ukrainian War). Notes cover tactical deployment, weather and sea state, gunnery and missile performance, casualties, strategic consequences, and post-battle reception. The Anglo-French fleet actions of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (Cape St Vincent, the Nile, Copenhagen, Trafalgar) that the current vault focus visits are one chapter of this much longer story. Adjacent to MOC_Conflicts, MOC_Military_Forces, MOC_Ships_Maritime, and MOC_Persons.
Primary Notes
Age of Sail — French Revolutionary Wars
- Battle of Cape St Vincent 1797 — Overview — Jervis’s victory off Portugal; Nelson’s “Patent Bridge for Boarding First Rates”
- Battle of the Nile 1798 — Overview — Aboukir Bay; the destruction of the French Mediterranean fleet
- Battle of Copenhagen 1801 — Overview — Nelson breaks the Armed Neutrality; the “blind eye” episode
Age of Sail — Napoleonic Wars
- Battle of Trafalgar 1805 — Overview — decisive Anglo-French fleet action; Nelson’s victory and death
Stubs Awaiting Research
- Battle of Cape Finisterre 1805 — Calder’s Action; the engagement that wrecked Napoleon’s invasion timetable
Open Questions
- Q — Why did Nelson break the line at Trafalgar — research question on the perpendicular-column attack at Trafalgar
Roadmap
(planned notes as red-links — add as research identifies gaps)
Methodology
- Battle Reconstruction — Logs, Order-of-Battle, and Naval Wargaming
- Battlefield Archaeology Under Water — Wreck Surveys and Site Investigation
Ancient
- Battle of Salamis 480 BC — Greek Defeat of Persian Naval Power
- Battle of Aegospotami 405 BC — End of the Peloponnesian War
- Battle of Actium 31 BC — Octavian, Antony, and the Foundation of the Empire
- Roman Naval Operations in the Punic Wars and the Eastern Mediterranean
Medieval
- Byzantine and Arab Naval Wars — Greek Fire and the Eastern Mediterranean
- Battle of Sluys 1340 — Early Hundred Years’ War English Naval Action
- Battle of Lepanto 1571 — Holy League Galley Action vs the Ottomans
- Battle of Diu 1509 — Portuguese Naval Power in the Indian Ocean
Early Modern
- The Spanish Armada Campaign 1588
- Anglo-Dutch Naval Wars 1652–1674 — Four Days’ Battle and Texel
- Battle of Quiberon Bay 1759 — Hawke’s Victory in the Seven Years’ War
- Battle of the Saintes 1782 — Rodney’s Line-Breaking Innovation
Age of Sail (current vault focus)
- (Primary Notes above already wired)
- Battle of Navarino 1827 — Anglo-French-Russian Action against the Ottoman Fleet
- War of 1812 Naval Actions — Constitution, Shannon, Lake Erie
Ironclad and Steam Era
- Battle of Hampton Roads 1862 — Monitor vs Virginia
- Battle of Lissa 1866 — First Ironclad Fleet Action
- Battle of the Yalu 1894 — Sino-Japanese War
- Battle of Tsushima 1905 — Japanese Defeat of the Russian Baltic Fleet
- Battle of Jutland 1916 — Anglo-German Fleet Action
World War II and Beyond
- Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway 1942
- Battle of Leyte Gulf 1944 — Largest Naval Battle in History
- Battle of the Atlantic 1939–1945 — Submarine Campaign
- Battle of San Carlos and the Falklands Naval Campaign 1982
- Black Sea Naval Operations in the Russo-Ukrainian War 2022–
Cross-Cutting
- See also: MOC_Conflicts
- See also: _Home