The History Book Club discussion

This is a thread which belongs to the Naval History folder. Here the membership can discuss any famous sea battles and/or specific naval war battles.

Please feel free to discuss people, events, locations, and anything associated with these battles. You may also add urls, links and websites as well as cite ancillary books which relate to these battles and events.

Bentley

One naval battle that holds a lot of interest to many readers but has only few books covering it in English is the sea battle of Tsushima which occured between Russia and Japan in 1905. One book that I enjoyed covering this famous naval engagement was "The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima" by Constantine Pleshakov.


by Constantine Pleshakov
Review:
"In 1905, with the Russian imperialist excursion into China teetering on the brink of collapse, Russia's vast Trans-Siberian Railroad threatened, its Pacific Fleet bottled up in Port Arthur and its eastern army besieged on the peninsula protecting the port of Vladivostock, the czar conceived a bizarre plan, deciding to assemble a new fleet and sail it more than 18,000 miles to defeat the Japanese navy and relieve his forces at Port Arthur. Though the second fleet comes to a disastrous end, the battle does not begin until page 260 (and it is all over by page 285): the story here is in the arduous journey. Passing fearful allies and belligerent neutrals as well as dealing with impossible supply lines, difficult communications and inept leadership both by the government in St. Petersburg and by his subordinates Adm. Zinovy Petrovich "Mad Dog" Rozhestvensky emerges as the tragic hero of this "epic." In the unfolding of these details, Pleshakov provides a clear view of the politics and history of the time, as well as of Rozhestvensky. In clear and convincing English from the admitted nonnative speaker Pleshakov, the book moves inexorably toward its inevitable end with the power of a giant dreadnought at full steam, affording a moving portrait of a capable leader placed in a situation where he could not possibly prevail. Against all odds, and by this point against even the reader's better judgment, the Russian fleet arrives at the Sea of Japan to do battle with the newer, faster, more powerful, better trained and freshly maintenanced Japanese fleet, and is quickly defeated." - Publishers Weekly

One other book covering this naval engagement is "The Fleet That Had To Die" by Richard Hough. Although I have not yet read this book (I have a copy in my library) it has received some decent reviews from other readers.

Richard Hough
Review:
"You have all wished us a lucky journey and have expressed the conviction that with our brave sailors we will smash the Japanese We thank you for your good intentions, but they only show that the public funds spent on ship construction have been wasted. You wish us victory, but there will be no victory. But we will know how to die, and we shall never surrender... - Captain Bukhvostoff of the Alexander III; 'Seldom has naval history been presented in so readable and entertaining a form' - Nicholas Monsorrat"

Thanks as is always the case for all of these fabulous adds.

Here is a famous naval battle (as such) of WW1 that may interest some readers. It did me, I've ordered a copy!

by Paul Kendall
Publishers blurb:
"The purpose of this raid was to attempt to block the submarines at Bruges. These submarines were responsible for sinking a third of all Allied merchant shipping during the First World War and in early 1918 there was a danger that the German submarine campaign could have starved Britain into submission. The book explores the role of the German Flanders Flotilla based at Bruges and the submarines that passed through the canal entrance. Haig s plan to break out from the Ypres Salient and capture Bruges and the German Naval Base was thwarted in the hellish quagmire at Passchendaele during November 1917. The Allied forces were exhausted and were in no fit state to carry out a further campaign to capture these objectives. It therefore fell to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Light infantry to block the entrance at Zeebrugge. The raid was practically a suicide mission with a remote chance of surviving or returning home. With this knowledge the men who took part demonstrated great courage and fortitude under cover of darkness, challenged by the tide and the German gun batteries. This book features biographical tributes to accompany photos of 133 of those men from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Light Infantry who took part in the raid. They were ordinary men who performed extraordinary, heroic deeds."

Here are two new releases covering two famous naval engagements of World War Two:


by James D. Hornfischer



by Robert Gandt
Publishers blurb:
The Twilight Warriors is the engrossing, page-turning saga of a tightly knit band of naval aviators who are thrust into the final—and most brutal—battle of the Pacific war: Okinawa.
April 1945. The end of World War II finally appears to be nearing. The Third Reich is collapsing in Europe, and the Americans are overpowering the once-mighty Japanese Empire in the Pacific. For a group of young pilots trained in the twilight of the war, the greatest worry is that it will end before they have a chance to face the enemy. They call themselves Tail End Charlies. They fly at the tail end of formations, stand at the tail end of chow lines, and now they are catching the tail end of the war. What they don’t know is that they will be key players in the bloodiest and most difficult of naval battles—not only of World War II but in all of American history.
The Twilight Warriors relives the drama of the world’s last great naval campaign. From the cockpit of a Corsair fighter we gaze down at the Japanese task force racing to destroy the American amphibious force at Okinawa. Through the eyes of the men on the destroyers assigned to picket ship duty, we experience the terror as wave after wave of kamikazes crash into their ships. Standing on the deck of the legendary superbattleship Yamato, we watch Japan’s last hope for victory die in a tableau of gunfire and explosions.
Among the Tail End Charlies are men such as a twenty-two-year-old former art student who grows to manhood on the day of his first mission over Japan and his best friend, a ladies’ man and intrepid fighter pilot whose life abruptly changes when his Corsair goes down off the enemy shore. Another is a young Texan lieutenant who volunteers for the most dangerous flying job in the fleet—intercepting kamikazes at night over the blackened Pacific. Their leader is a charismatic officer who rises to greatness in the crucible of Okinawa. Directing the vast armada of sea, air, and land forces is a cast of brilliant and flawed commanders—from the imperturbable admiral and master of carrier warfare to the controversial soldier assigned to command the land forces.
The fate of the Americans at Okinawa is intertwined with the lives of the “young gods”— the honor-bound Japanese airmen who swarm like killer bees toward the U.S. ships. The kamikazes are dispatched on their deadly one-way missions by a classic samurai warrior who vows that he will follow them to a warrior’s grave.
The ferocity of the Okinawa fighting stuns the world. Before it ends, the long battle will cost more American lives, ships, and aircraft than any naval engagement in U.S. history. More than simply the account of a historic battle, The Twilight Warriors brings to life the human side of an epic conflict. It is the story of young Americans at war in the air and on the sea—and of their enigmatic, fanatically courageous enemy.

Review:
"In the spring of 1945, as the Red Army approached Berlin, a ferocious land, sea and air battle raged in the Pacific, a dress rehearsal, many thought, for the upcoming invasion of Japan. The author credits the idea of bypassing the heavily fortified island of Formosa and seizing Okinawa to the brainy Adm. Raymond Spruance. Snapshots of Spruance, Marc Mitscher, Chester Nimitz, Ernest King, Morton Deyo and Arleigh Burke, towering names in American naval history, dot these pages, complemented by similar sharp takes on the Japanese high command defending the island. The heart of Gandt’s story, though, is the tale of the young aviators, the Tail End Charlies on the American side, fearful they’d never get into action, and the Japanese Thunder Gods, the kamikaze force whose suicide missions testified simultaneously to Japan’s will and her desperation. By no means comprehensive—Gandt checks in only periodically with the halting advance of Simon Buckner’s 10th Army—the narrative, nevertheless, consistently enlightens on numerous battle-related issues and incidents: the rivalry between the black shoe (seagoing) and the brown shoe (aviation) navy; how the Japanese consistently overestimated the destruction caused by the kamikaze missions; the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Buckner and famed correspondent Ernie Pyle; the peculiar susceptibility of the wooden-decked U.S. carriers to kamikaze attack; the sinking of the mighty battleship Yamato; the exploits of American ace Al Lerch, who shot down seven planes in a single mission; the strength of the USS Laffey, still afloat after six kamikaze crashes. The appalling price in lives lost, men wounded, ships sunk and aircraft destroyed made Okinawa 'the costliest naval engagement in U.S. history.' Three months later the atomic bomb would fall on Hiroshima.

A fine popular account of history’s last great sea battle." - Kirkus

OK, two of my most favourite books covering a historic naval engagement has to be the following two titles on the Spanish Armada:

by Garrett Mattingly
Publishers blurb:
Garrett Mattingly's thrilling narrative sets out the background of the sixteenth-century European intrigue and religious unrest that gave rise to one of the world's most famous maritime crusades and the naval battles that decided its fate. In putting the naval campaign of 1588 back into the context of the first great international crisis of modern history, Mattingly builds up, like the movements of a symphony, a broad picture of how events of the time affected men's actions, plans and hopes. He brilliantly connects a series of scenes or episodes, shifting the point of focus from England to the continent and from courts to ships and cities. The feeling of tension mounts to a crescendo throughout Europe as the great drama of the Armada is approached. The battle itself and the aftermath are so vividly and poignantly described that they might be happening in our world today.

Reviews:
“A rare and wonderful book, as readable and exciting as a novel, amazingly fresh and stimulating in its approach to a great subject, and impressive for the wide range and authority of its scholarship.” - J.E. Neale

“The classic account of one of the world's most famous maritime crusades. 'A historical masterpiece’.” - A.L. Rowse

“Garrett Mattingly's thrilling narrative sets out the background of the sixteenth-century European intrigue and religious unrest that gave rise to one of the world's most famous maritime crusades and the naval battles that decided its fate. In putting the naval campaign of 1588 back into the context of the first great international crisis of modern history, Mattingly builds up, like the movements of a symphony, a broad picture of how events of the time affected men's actions, plans and hopes. He brilliantly connects a series of scenes or episodes, shifting the point of focus from England to the continent and from courts to ships and cities. The feeling of tension mounts to a crescendo throughout Europe as the great drama of the Armada is approached. The battle itself and the aftermath are so vividly and poignantly described that they might be happening in our world today. A faultless book; and one which most historians would have given half their working lives to have written.” - J.H. Plumb

“He makes us feel the moment-to-moment tough reality of what he describes.” - C.V. Wedgwood

“His work should take its place among the classics of the subject.” - Times Literary Supplement


by Neil Hanson
Publishers blurb:
'Continual, destruction in the foretop, the pox above board, the plague between decks, hell in the forecastle and the devil at the helm.' It is the summer of 1588, and the fate and future of England hangs in the balance. Obsessed by the dream of reclaiming England for the Catholic Church - and adding another country to his sprawling dominions - Philip II of Spain has assembled a fleet of huge, castle-crowned galleons that stretches for miles across the face of the ocean. In wait in the Netherlands lies a battle-hardened Spanish army, ferocious professionals with a taste for rape, looting and atrocity. Across the Channel the English are scraping together bands of barely trained men, many armed only with scythes, stakes or longbows. Great warning beacons stand all along the coast of England; torches and kindling lie to hand. Watchmen strain their eyes to see over the horizon. Their only hope lies in the English Navy. But Philip's Armada is doomed before it even leaves port. As soon as it engages with the English fleet, its shortcomings are clear in the face of superior tactics and firepower. Its hulls shot through with cannon fire, its men dying in thousands from wounds and disease, the mightiest fleet ever assembled is mercilessly harried into fleeing north, at the mercy of the elements. Over forty Spanish ships are wrecked on the Irish coast; survivors crawling ashore have their throats slit and their purses ransacked. The dream of subduing the Protestant English lies in tatters. A triumphant combination of historical detail and storytelling flair, THE CONFIDENT HOPE OF A MIRACLE draws on undiscovered and little known personal papers and records to tell the epic story of the Spanish Armada in all its scope. No book has ever conveyed in such vivid, living detail how kings, queens and courtiers, sea captains, deckhands and galley slaves, the highest and the lowest in the land, fared in those turbulent months as the fate of England teetered on the brink.

New book about Midway that looks decent


by Craig L. Symonds

Probably the greatest naval battle ever fought was the battle of Leyte Gulf. This book looks at both the Japanese and the American perspectives through the eyes of the commander and sailors of both navies. I think that we need to learn both sides of the question to truly understand WWII.

by Evan Thomas

Good posts and books there Tom and Jill. I agree with you about Leyte Gulf too Jill, I also need to read up a bit more about that battle.

by Geoffrey Bennett
The great sea battle of WWI off the coast of Denmark has been claimed as a victory by both the British and the Germans....but who really won?....or was it a stalemate? This book may not supply the answer but it certainly fills in the details and you can make your own decision.

A most interesting naval battle and one that I never get tired of reading about.

Tom wrote: "New book about Midway that looks decent


by Craig L. Symonds "

I have been reading a few naval history books lately and this ones stands out as one of the best. The book is like a fact-filled action movie. It is gripping from start to to finish

Hi Grant, that's good to hear, might have to add it to books I need to read then!

Grant terrific add and we I will have to add that book to my list. And welcome from Japan. We are always delighted to have such a large global community.

This book was released this month.

Bonhomme Richard vs Serapis: Flamborough Head 1779

byMark Lardas(no photo)

Synopsis
The clash between the American Bonhomme Richard and the British HMS Serapis during the American Revolutionary War is perhaps the most famous single-ship duel in history. This epic battle between two very similar ships - and crews - off the coast of Britain in September 1779 created two naval heroes: in victory John Paul Jones became a figure that all future American naval officers would aspire to emulate, while Richard Pearson, in defeat, became a hero to the British for a tenacious defense that allowed the merchant vessels under his protection to escape.

In September 1779 five warships loosely commanded by John Paul Jones and sailing under the American flag - although all but one had all been loaned or donated by France, a key American ally - were moving down the Yorkshire coast when they encountered a Baltic merchant convoy of over 40 ships escorted by two British vessels, the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough. A confused encounter battle culminated in the Bonhomme Richard, already severely damaged by British gunnery, deliberately colliding with the Serapis as John Paul Jones strove to board and capture the Royal Navy vessel before his own sank beneath him. The two ships continued to exchange devastating fire at point-blank range; an American grenade exploded on an arms chest on the Serapis, causing massive destruction on deck. Even so, the outcome of the battle remained inconclusive throughout the night until the British captain Richard Pearson, seeing that the merchant vessels under his protection had reached safety, reluctantly decided to surrender to his exhausted adversary. The Countess of Scarborough also surrendered, and the American squadron (minus the Bonhomme Richard, which promptly sank) were able to escape with their two prizes, observed by thousands of onlookers from the Yorkshire coastline.

Featuring specially commissioned full-color artwork, this is the story of an epic maritime clash at the height of the Revolutionary War that provided a founding legend for generations of US naval officers and demonstrated the intrepidity and fighting prowess of the fledgling American Navy.

Thank you for the add Nicole.

The ships of the line at Trafalgar.

I think you will find it quite a good & interesting read Christopher.

The first naval battle of WWII and the only one fought in South America pitting the Graf Spee, Germany's pocket battleship against His Majesty's navy. The author takes a controversial look at this famous naval incident.

The Battle of the River Plate: A Grand Delusion

by Richard Woodman

Synopsis

A distinguished British maritime writer offers a compelling reassessment of the British and German planning that led to the first and one of the most famous naval battles of World War II. The dramatic sea fight between the German picket battleship Admiral Graf Spee and the British cruisers Exeter, Ajax, and Achilles off the coast of South America in December 1939 is seen as one of the classics of naval warfare. Woodman argues that the long-accepted interpretation of events is ripe for closer scrutiny and reevaluation. Using eyewitness accounts, he graphically reconstructs the daylong battle and pursuit and draws penetrating portraits of the battle's opposing commanders. This important new work is certain to become the subject of close study and debate.

Another excellent book by the looks of it Jill :)

Absolutely, AR. I am currently reading a book that is not listed anywhere so I can't do citations....the author is listed but not the book.

It is;
(no image or link) The Altmark Affair by Willi Frischauer (no photo)

It is about the German ship used as supply ship for the Graf Spee and I am right at the point where the Royal Navy has gotten an idea that the Spee is in South America. It is a great little book but I don't know where you would find it......came from a bargain bin at the library.

That would be a very interesting book Jill, I will have to keep my eyes open for a copy. Let me know what you think once you have finished reading it.

The sinking of the HMS Hood almost broke the back of the Royal Navy and the hearts of the British public. Only three men survived the attack by the Bismarck and the Prince Eugen. Her sinking caused a terrible thirst for vengeance by the Royal Navy and started the hunt for the Bismarck which would not end until her destruction.

HMS Hood: Pride of the Royal Navy

by Andrew Norman

Synopsis:

The sinking of the HMS "Hood" on May 24, 1941 dealt a major blow to the British Royal Navy. Like "Titanic" years before, "Hood" had seemed invincible and much of the hopes of the Royal Navy rested with her as the nation entered the war with Germany. But in just seven minutes after an encounter with "Bismarck" and her consort "Prinz Eugen," HMS "Hood" sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic, taking the lives of 1,418 men with her. Author Andrew Norman explores the events leading up to the disaster and the legacy it left in its wake.

Thanks, Jill.

TARANTO ITALY, 1940

At about 9pm on a cold Mediterranean night, 21 Swordfish torpedo bombers took off from the flight deck of HMS Illustrious for the Italian naval base at Taranto. The attack cost the British only two planes and 11 torpedoes, but the damage it caused was huge.



Three battleships were sunk, halving the effective fighting force of Italy's navy and tipping the delicate balance of maritime power in the Mediterranean to the Allies.

The first successful air attack on a major fleet in harbour, it demonstrated that the aircraft carrier was an effective tool of sea power, and a new era of warfare had been born. One close observer of events was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who mimicked Taranto in the Japanese attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor the following year.

Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles That Shaped American History

by Craig L. Symonds

Synopsis:

From thunderous broadsides traded between wooden sailing ships on Lake Erie, to the carrier battles of World War II, to the devastating high-tech action in the Persian Gulf, here is a gripping history of five key battles that defined the evolution of naval warfare--and the course of the American nation.
Acclaimed military historian Craig Symonds offers spellbinding narratives of crucial engagements, showing how each battle reveals the transformation of technology and weaponry from one war to the next; how these in turn transformed naval combat; and how each event marked a milestone in American history. . Oliver Hazard Perry's heroic victory at Lake Erie, one of the last great battles of the Age of Sail, which secured the Northwestern frontier for the United States

. The brutal Civil War duel between the ironclads Monitor and Virginia, which sounded the death knell for wooden-hulled warships and doomed the Confederacy's hope of besting the Union navy

. Commodore Dewey's stunning triumph at Manila Bay in 1898, where the U.S. displayed its "new navy" of steel-hulled ships firing explosive shells and wrested an empire from a fading European power

. The hairsbreadth American victory at Midway, where aircraft carriers launched planes against enemies 200 miles away--and where the tide of World War II turned in the space of a few furious minutes

. Operation Praying Mantis in the Persian Gulf, where computers, ship-fired missiles, and "smart bombs" not only changed the nature of warfare at sea, but also marked a new era, and a new responsibility, for the United States.

Symonds records these encounters in detail so vivid that readers can hear the wind in the rigging and feel the pounding of the guns. Yet he places every battle in a wide perspective, revealing their significance to America's development as it grew from a new Republic on the edge of a threatening frontier to a global superpower.

Decision at Sea is a powerful and illuminating look at pivotal moments in the history of the Navy and of the United States. It is also a compelling study of the unchanging demands of leadership at sea, where commanders must make rapid decisions in the heat of battle with lives--and the fate of nations--hanging in the balance."

Thank you Jerome

One of the seminal events in the rule of Elizabeth I.

The Spanish Armada

by Robert Hutchinson (no photo)

Synopsis:

After the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558, Protestant England was beset by the hostile Catholic powers of Europe, including Spain. In October 1585, King Philip II of Spain declared his intention to destroy Protestant England and began preparing invasion plans, leading to an intense intelligence war between the two countries and culminating in the dramatic sea battles of 1588.

Popular history dictates that the defeat of the Spanish Armada was a David versus Goliath victory, snatched by plucky and outnumbered English forces. In this tightly written and fascinating new history, Robert Hutchinson explodes this myth, revealing the true destroyers of the Spanish Armada—inclement weather and bad luck. Of the 125 Spanish ships that set sail against England, only 60 limped home, the rest wrecked or sank with barely a shot fired from their main armament.

In this dramatic hour-by-hour, blow-by-blow account of the Spanish Armada’s attempt to destroy Elizabeth’s England, Hutchinson spins a compelling and unbelievable narrative. Using everything from contemporary eyewitness accounts to papers held by the national archives in Spain and the United Kingdom, Robert Hutchinson re-creates one of history’s most famous episodes in an entirely new way

The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization

by Barry S. Strauss (no photo)

Synopsis:

On a late September day in 480 B.C., Greek warships faced an invading Persian armada in the narrow Salamis Straits in the most important naval battle of the ancient world. Overwhelmingly outnumbered by the enemy, the Greeks triumphed through a combination of strategy and deception. More than two millennia after it occurred, the clash between the Greeks and Persians at Salamis remains one of the most tactically brilliant battles ever fought. The Greek victory changed the course of western history -- halting the advance of the Persian Empire and setting the stage for the Golden Age of Athens.

In this dramatic new narrative account, historian and classicist Barry Strauss brings this landmark battle to life. He introduces us to the unforgettable characters whose decisions altered history: Themistocles, Athens' great leader (and admiral of its fleet), who devised the ingenious strategy that effectively destroyed the Persian navy in one day; Xerxes, the Persian king who fought bravely but who ultimately did not understand the sea; Aeschylus, the playwright who served in the battle and later wrote about it; and Artemisia, the only woman commander known from antiquity, who turned defeat into personal triumph. Filled with the sights, sounds, and scent of battle, The Battle of Salamis is a stirring work of history.

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "One other book covering this naval engagement is "The Fleet That Had To Die" by Richard Hough. Although I have not yet read this book (I have a copy in my library) it has received some decent revie..."

Another book on the same topic is written by a contemporary Russian naval theorist Nikolai Klado. His book Russian navy in the Russo _ Japanese war" was translated into English in 1912, I think, and is available online and as a reproduction hardcopy.

Thank you Laura - we have a citation rule here to make it easier for folks

Here is the citation as it should appear:

(no image) The Russian Navy in the Russo-Japanese War by Nikola Klado (no photo)

Normally we add the book cover (there isn't one of goodreads for this book - there fore we put (no image) before the link of the book - then the word by and then usually we would add the author's photo and then the author's link - but no photo was available so we could only add the link and the (no photo).

But I appreciate your post with another book on the same topic.

The turning point of the war against Japan.

The Battle of Midway

by Craig L. Symonds

Synopsis

There are few moments in American history in which the course of events tipped so suddenly and so dramatically as at the Battle of Midway. At dawn of June 4, 1942, a rampaging Japanese navy ruled the Pacific. By sunset, their vaunted carrier force (the Kido Butai) had been sunk and their grip on the Pacific had been loosened forever.
In this absolutely riveting account of a key moment in the history of World War II, one of America's leading naval historians, Craig L. Symonds paints an unforgettable portrait of ingenuity, courage, and sacrifice. Symonds begins with the arrival of Admiral Chester A. Nimitz at Pearl Harbor after the devastating Japanese attack, and describes the key events leading to the climactic battle, including both Coral Sea--the first battle in history against opposing carrier forces--and Jimmy Doolittle's daring raid of Tokyo. He focuses throughout on the people involved, offering telling portraits of Admirals Nimitz, Halsey, Spruance and numerous other Americans, as well as the leading Japanese figures, including the poker-loving Admiral Yamamoto. Indeed, Symonds sheds much light on the aspects of Japanese culture--such as their single-minded devotion to combat, which led to poorly armored planes and inadequate fire-safety measures on their ships--that contributed to their defeat. The author's account of the battle itself is masterful, weaving together the many disparate threads of attack--attacks which failed in the early going--that ultimately created a five-minute window in which three of the four Japanese carriers were mortally wounded, changing the course of the Pacific war in an eye-blink.
Symonds is the first historian to argue that the victory at Midway was not simply a matter of luck, pointing out that Nimitz had equal forces, superior intelligence, and the element of surprise. Nimitz had a strong hand, Symonds concludes, and he rightly expected to win

The Battle of Quiberon Bay, 1759: Hawke and the Defeat of the French Invasion

by Nicholas Tracy (no photo)

Synopsis:

Revered naval theorist, Alfred Thayer Mahan, thought the Battle of Quiberon Bay (20 Nov 1759) was as significant as Nelson's victory in 1805, calling it 'the Trafalgar of this war [the Seven Years War]'. Arguably it was even more vital.

Britain in 1759 was much less well-defended, with virtually no regular troops at home, and the threat of French invasion was both more realistic and more imminent. When the British fleet under Admiral Hawke fell upon them, the French ships of the line under Admiral Conflans were actually on their way to rendezvous with the invasion troopships gathered at the mouth of the Loire. Yet the battle and the admiral remain relatively obscure - there is no Quiberon Square or Hawke's column.

The battle itself was fought in terrible weather, the French attempting to exploit their local knowledge by heading for Quiberon Bay, assuming the British would not follow them among its treacherous shoals in such conditions. Hawke, however, pursued them under full sail and the French ships were destroyed, captured, run aground or scattered for the loss of only two British ships which ran aground. The invasion was thwarted. Professor Nicholas Tracy studies the battle and its strategic consequences, particularly upon the war for North America.

Thanks for posting the book. I am looking forward to reading it. The battle was important, but I do not think it can be equated to the Trafalgar because the threat of invasion was not as high, and it was "half the battle", the other one being the Boscawen's victory.

Churchill wrote in A History of the English Speaking Peoples,

"France’s two main fleets, in the Mediterranean and in the Channel, were separately defeated. Combined they might have covered an invasion of England. Admiral Boscawen , fresh from the capture of Louisburg, was detailed to watch the Toulon squadron. He caught it slipping through the Straits of Gibraltar, destroyed five ships and drove the rest into Cadiz Bay, blockaded and out of action. Three months later, in the short light of a November day, in a high gale and among uncharted rocks and shoals, Admiral Hawke annihilated the Brest fleet. For the rest of the war Quiberon was an English naval station, where the sailors occupied their leisure and maintained their health by growing cabbages on French soil.

A History of the English Speaking Peoples, 4 Vols

True, Laura, the victory at Quiberon basically allowed Hawke to shift his blockade effort south, and the French still had other warships in operation afterwards, albeit without any ability to use them decisively.

Great effort on the citations, Laura, thanks for sharing the quote.

Here is what the citation should look like:

by Winston S. Churchill

Bryan, sorry for incorrect citation format. IMHO, Goodreads should fix its citation functionality so the proper format can be created with a single click!

Laura - we can only pray (smile) but right now no such feature (lol)

I know, right? Need to make it easier. Hopefully someday...

One of the top naval battles of WWII ending in Japan's greatest naval defeat.

The Battle for Leyte Gulf

by C. Vann Woodward (no photo)

Synopsis:

Pulitzer-Prize-winner and bestselling author C. Vann Woodward recreates the gripping account of the battle for Leyte Gulf—the greatest naval battle of World War II and the largest engagement ever fought on the high seas. For the Japanese, it represented their supreme effort; they committed to action virtually every operational fighting ship on the lists of the Imperial Navy, including two powerful new battleships of the Yamato class. It also ended in their greatest defeat—and a tremendous victory for the United States Navy

Thanks Jill and Bryan.

This is one man's opinion of the five most important sea battles in history.

5. Lepanto (1571). The Battle of Lepanto stemmed the westward spread of Ottoman power across the Mediterranean Sea. With papal sanction, the Holy League, a consortium of Catholic seafaring states, assembled a navy to engage the main Ottoman fleet in the Gulf of Corinth, off western Greece. Lepanto was the last major all-galley naval engagement in the Mediterranean. The League put its advantages in gunnery and ship types—notably the galleass, an outsized galley bearing heavy armament—to good use against the Turkish fleet, which disgorged far less weight of shot. The Ottomans lost the bulk of their vessels to enemy action. More importantly, they lost experienced crews. They found that regenerating human capital isn't as easy as fitting out wooden men-of-war. Shipwrights soon built new hulls, letting the Turkish navy reassert its supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean for a period. By 1580, however, the new navy was left to rot at its moorings. Galley warfare assured permanent European, not Ottoman, command of the middle sea. That's a decisive result by any measure.

4. Battle of Yamen (1279). Sometimes dubbed “China’s Trafalgar,” this clash between the Mongol Yuan Dynasty and the beleaguered Southern Song determined who would rule China for nearly a century. It was far more decisive than Horatio Nelson’s masterwork. Over one thousand warships crewed by tens of thousands of men took part in the engagement. Yuan commanders deployed deception and bold tactics to overcome at least a 10:1 mismatch in numbers. Most important, Yamen claimed the life of the Song emperor, clearing the way for Kublai Khan’s dynasty to take charge of Asia's central kingdom. The results of Yamen thus reverberated throughout Asia for decades afterward.

3. Quiberon Bay (1759). The year 1759 has been called a year of miracles for Great Britain. Land and naval operations determined whether Britain or France would emerge triumphant in North America. British troops under Wolfe subdued Montcalm's defenders at Quebec and Montreal, sealing the fate of New France. France stood little chance of recouping its fortunes because Admiral Sir Edward Hawke's Royal Navy fleet ventured into Quiberon Bay that November—in a westerly gale, no less—and put paid to the French fleet in its home waters. Having wrested away command of Atlantic shipping lanes, Britain could bar access to the Americas. Lesson: to score decisive victories, hire commanders with fighting names like Wolfe and Hawke. British exploits settled the destiny of a continent while setting a pattern for North American politics that persists to this day.

2. Spanish Armada (1588). This was the duke of Medina Sidonia's purportedly invincible fleet, ordered by Spain's King Philip II to cross the Channel and land in England. There Spanish forces would unseat England's Queen Elizabeth I. By installing a friendly regime, the expeditionary force would terminate English support for the Dutch revolt roiling the Spanish Netherlands while ending English privateering against Spanish shipping. The Catholic Philip sought and obtained papal approval for the enterprise against the Protestant Elizabeth. Weather, however, conspired with English seamanship and gunnery tactics to condemn the expedition. The Spanish host was unable to land. Instead Medina Sidonia found himself compelled to circumnavigate the British Isles under foul conditions to reach home port. The failed cross-Channel crusade heartened the English crown. Had the Armada replaced a Protestant with a Catholic monarch, it's conceivable that the British Empire never would have been founded—and certainly not in the form it actually took. How would Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean history have unfolded then? The implications of that question boggle the mind—and qualify the Armada's defeat as decisive in the largest sense.

1. Salamis (480 B.C.). Taken in tandem with its immediate precursors, the sea battle of Artemisium and the land battle at Thermopylae, the Battle of Salamis was part of a joint campaign that would gladden Corbett's heart. Themistocles, the founder of the Athenian navy, led an outnumbered, outmanned allied fleet against King Xerxes' Persian armada. Artemisium kept Persian sea forces from linking up with the colossal horde that had crossed the Hellespont and was lumbering overland through Greece, with the ultimate goal of conquering Europe. Themistocles' fleet then retired to the waters off Salamis Island to defend the Athenian populace, which had abandoned its city to the Persians. Guile and artful tactics let the allies overcome Persian numbers in this narrow sea. If not for Spartan and Athenian audacity, at sea as on shore, Xerxes may have throttled Western civilization in its infancy. Fending off the Great King's onslaught entitles Salamis to enduring fame. It was the most decisive naval battle in history.

(Source: National Interest.org)

A book from the Great Naval Battles series.

Battle of the Coral Sea

by Chris Henry(no photo)

Synopsis:

By May 1942 Japanese aircraft carriers dominated the Pacific. After decimating the American surface fleet at Pearl Harbor and supporting a series of amphibious attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia they were poised to invade Papua New Guinea, the last stop before Australia. This second title in the new Great Naval Battles series describes America's first countercheck to Japan's triumphal progress--the Battle of the Coral Sea. The strategies of Admiral Fletcher and Vice Admiral Takagi, profiles of the ships involved, the battle arena, and the aftermath of the clash are all covered in a concise format that brings to life the battle that inaugurated a new era of carrier combat. This valuable reference, like the others in the series, will appeal to everyone interested in the pivotal naval clashes of World War II.

This is the story of America's first and forgotten overseas war,

Bay of Reckoning: The Story of the 1898 Battle of Manila Bay

by Dennis B. Posadas

Synopsis:

When President William McKinley obtained an 1898 US Congress authorization after the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor to pacify the rebellion in Cuba, he opened up the floodgates for the expansionist cabal of Asst. Navy Secretary Theodore Roosevelt and Admiral George Dewey. Dewey was ordered to attack the Spanish fleet in Manila, Philippines, half a world away from the U.S.

In doing so, Dewey had to make a tactical alliance with Emilio Aguinaldo, the leader of the Philippine revolutionary forces against Spain, to obtain information on Spain's military forces in the Philippines. But their alliance was fragile, and erupted into the Philippine-American War. Eventually, Aguinaldo was captured in a daring raid, and both America and the Philippines became allies after the Philippine American War, which led into the Commonwealth era and a fight alongside each other in World War II.

Thanks Jill for updating the naval history folder.

This is an interesting battle, not only for what happened in Manila Bay in 1898, but the fact that Dewey's flagship OLYMPIA, located in Philadelphia currently, is in need of $10,000,000.00 in repairs. Another historic ship that could be lost to time.

Very true Betsy - let us hope that the money can be raised to repair it. Old Ironsides is undergoing another facelift too (another time and another battle) but these old ships need to be kept up for the historic value that they give to all of us.

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "OK, two of my most favourite books covering a historic naval engagement has to be the following two titles on the Spanish Armada:

byGarrett Mattingly (no photo)
Garrett Mattingly's book remains one of the best. Alltough our knowledge has been deepened by half a century of document study and archeology, those thumbs up by A.L. Rowse remain valid ; if anyone could present a verdict, it was the contemporary behind "the expansion of Elisabethan England" which remains in print as well :
by A.L. Rowse

Jutland: The Unfinished Battle: A Personal Nick JellicoeHistory of a Naval Controversy

by Nick Jellicoe (no photo)

Synopsis:

One hundred years after Jutland, the first and largest engagement of dreadnoughts in the twentieth century, historians are still fighting this controversial and misunderstood battle. What was in fact a strategic victory stands out starkly against the background of bitter public disappointment in the Royal Navy and decades of divisive acrimony and very public infighting between the camps supporting the two most senior commanders, Jellicoe and Beatty. Based on the latest research, "The Unfinished Battle" retells the story of the battle from both a British and German perspective, clarifying the context of Germany s inevitable naval clash. It also traces the dispute known as the Jutland Controversy that ensued until Admiral Jellicoe s death in 1935. Author Nick Jellicoe is uniquely placed to tell the story of Jutland. His naval connections are strong: his father, the second Earl Jellicoe served as First Lord of the Admiralty while his grandfather, Sir John Jellicoe commanded the Grand Fleet for the first two years of the war, from 1914 to 1916. Sir John was famously described by Churchill as being the only man who could have lost the war in an afternoon."