Largest naval battle in history

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A romantic style painting of the Battle of Salamis by Wilhelm von Kaulbach Kaulbach, Wilhelm von - Die Seeschlacht bei Salamis - 1868.JPG
A romantic style painting of the Battle of Salamis by Wilhelm von Kaulbach

The "largest naval battle in history" is a disputed title between adherents of varying criteria which include the numbers of personnel or vessels involved in the naval battle, the total displacement of the vessels involved and sometimes the significance and implications of the battle. While battles fought in modern times are comparatively well-documented, the figures from those in pre-Renaissance era are generally believed by contemporary chroniclers to be exaggerated.

Contents

Helmut Pemsel's evaluation

In 1975, the Austrian historian Helmut Pemsel  [ de ] attempted to evaluate naval battles in history by a scoring system. He assigned a score to each of four aspects of a battle as follows:

According to him, the largest naval battle ever is the Battle of Leyte Gulf, scoring 8 of a possible 9 points total, while six others tied for second at 7 points each: Salamis, the Aegates, Actium, Barfleur and La Hougue, Trafalgar and Jutland. [1]

Candidates

The four main actions in the Battle of Leyte Gulf: 1 Battle of the Sibuyan Sea 2 Battle of Surigao Strait 3 Battle off Cape Engano 4 Battle off Samar. Leyte Gulf is north of 2 and west of 4. The island of Leyte is west of the gulf. Leyte map annotated.jpg
The four main actions in the Battle of Leyte Gulf: 1 Battle of the Sibuyan Sea 2 Battle of Surigao Strait 3 Battle off Cape Engaño 4 Battle off Samar. Leyte Gulf is north of 2 and west of 4. The island of Leyte is west of the gulf.

References

Notes

  1. Pemsel, Helmut (1977). A History of War at Sea. Naval Institute Press. pp. 155–56. Original German edition published in 1975
  2. 1 2 Lazenby, John Francis (1996). The First Punic War: A Military History. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp. 86–87. ISBN   978-0-8047-2674-0.
  3. Goldsworthy, Adrian (2000). The Fall of Carthage. London: Phoenix. pp. 110–111. ISBN   978-0-304-36642-2.
  4. Tipps, G. K. (1985). "The Battle of Ecnomus". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. 34 (4): 432–465. JSTOR   443593.
  5. Mills, Eric (2020). "The Great Sea's Greatest Battle". U.S. Naval Institute. Retrieved 2024-04-07.
  6. 1 2 "The Largest Naval Sea Battles in Military History". Norwich University Online. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2022.

Bibliography

General

  • Fuller, J. F. C. The Decisive Battles of the Western World and their Influence upon History, 3 vols. (Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1954–1956)
    • Volume 1: From the earliest times to the battle of Lepanto
    • Volume 2: From the defeat of the Spanish Armada to the battle of Waterloo
    • Volume 3: From the American Civil War to the end of the Second World War
      • A source for entries on Salamis, Actium, Sluys, Lepanto, the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, Trafalgar, Midway and Leyte Gulf.