The largest naval battles in the history of Russia. Naval battles of the Second World War

Adventure, historical, documentary films, in which sea battles are shown, are always breathtaking. It does not matter whether the frigates are with snow-white sails near Haiti or the huge aircraft carriers on the Pearl Harbor traverse.

The spirit of wandering does not give rest to human imagination. Read on, and you will briefly get acquainted with the most ambitious and grandiose sea battles in the new history of the world.

Navy in military history

The history of the Russian fleet begins from the time of Peter I.

The tactics of sea battles varied depending on the design of the ships and guns. From galleys and frigates to dreadnoughts and further to modern powerful and computerized aircraft carriers.

States often defend their interests in wars. Battles are both land and sea. We will talk about the latter in this article.

Chesma Battle

Major naval battles are known in the history of Russia, beginning with the era of Peter the Great. The emperor played an important role in the creation of the navy.
One of the biggest battles of the eighteenth century occurred during the Russian-Turkish war. The victory in this battle was so impressive that from 1770 on July 7 it is celebrated as a day of military glory.

Let's take a closer look at what was happening in the Chesme Bay from the fifth to the seventh of July 1770.

Two squadrons were sent from the Baltic to the Black Sea, which united in one place. The command of the new fleet was entrusted to Count Alexei, brother of Grigory Orlov, favorite of Catherine II.

The squadron included thirteen large ships (nine battleships, one bombardier and three frigates), as well as nineteen small support ships. In total, they were about six and a half thousand people crew.

During the transition, a part of the Turkish fleet was found standing in the roadstead. Among the ships were large enough ships. For example, the Burj at Zafer had eighty-four guns on board, and Rhodes had sixty. In total, there were seventy-three ships (of which sixteen battleships and six frigates) and more than fifteen thousand sailors.

With the help of the skillful actions of the Russian sailors, the squadron of Alexei Orlov succeeded in winning. Among the trophies was the Turkish "Rhodes". The Turks lost more than eleven thousand dead, and the Russians lost about seven hundred sailors.

The Second Battle of Rochensalm

Sea battles in the eighteenth century were not always victorious. This is due to the deplorable state of the fleet. After the death of Emperor Peter I, nobody cared about him properly.

Twenty years after the overwhelming victory over the Turks, the Russian fleet suffered a deafening defeat from the Swedes.

In 1790, near the Finnish town of Kotka (formerly known as Rochensalm), Swedish and Russian fleets met. The first was personally commanded by King Gustav III, and the admiral in the latter was the Frenchman Nissau-Singen.

In the Gulf of Finland met 176 Swedish ships with 12,500 crew and 145 Russian ships with 18500 sailors.

Hasty actions by the young Frenchman led to a devastating defeat. The Russians lost more than 7,500 people, in contrast to 300 Swedish sailors.

Scientists say that this is the second battle in terms of the number of ships in the new and modern history. On the most grandiose battle, we'll talk at the end of the article.

Tsushima

The reason for the defeats often served as various defects and excessive zeal. For example, if we talk about the Tsushima battle, it happened just when the Japanese fleet had a preponderance in all characteristics.

Russian sailors were extremely tired after months of transition from the Baltic to the Pacific. And the ships were inferior to the Japanese in the power of fire, armor and speed.

As a result of the rash act of the admiral, the Russian Empire lost its fleet and any significance in this region. In exchange for a hundred wounded Japanese and three drowned destroyers, the Russians lost more than five thousand people killed, and more than six thousand were captured. In addition, of the thirty-eight ships nineteen were sunk.

Jutland Battle

The Jutland naval battle is considered the largest battle on the sea during the First World War. During the battle, 149 British and 99 German ships came together. In addition, several airships were used.

But all the charm of the events was not in the huge displacement of technology or the number of wounded and killed. Not even in the consequences of the battle. The main feature that only the Jutland naval battle can boast of was a surprise.

Both fleets accidentally collided in the Skagerrak Strait, near the Jutland peninsula. Due to the error of intelligence, the British went very slowly and slowly to Norway. In the opposite direction, the Germans moved.

The meeting was completely unexpected. When the English cruiser Galatea decided to inspect a Danish ship that happened to be in these waters, a German ship was already departing from Wyh Fird, who had already checked it.

The British opened fire on the enemy. After the other ships were pulled up. The Jutland battle was crowned with a tactical victory of the Germans, but a strategic defeat of Germany.

Pearl Harbor

Listing the naval battles of World War II, you should especially highlight the battle near the Pearl Harbor. The Americans called it the "Attack on Pearl Harbor", and the Japanese - the Hawaiian operation.

The purpose of this campaign, the Japanese put forward preemptive gaining excellence in the Pacific region. The US expected to enter the war with the Rising Sun Empire, so military bases were created in the Philippines.

The mistake of the US government was that they did not seriously consider Pearl Harbor as a target for the Japanese. They expected an attack on Manila and the troops based there.

The Japanese wanted to destroy the fleet of the enemy and with the help of this simultaneously conquer airspace over the Pacific Ocean.

Americans saved only the case. The new aircraft carriers were in a different location during the attack. Suffered about three hundred aircraft and only eight old battleships.

Thus, a successful Japanese operation played a cruel joke in the future for this country. We will talk about its devastating defeat further.

Midway Atoll

As you have already seen, many great naval battles are distinguished by the suddenness of the beginning of the battle. Usually one or both sides do not expect any trick in the near future.

If we talk about the Midway Atoll, then the Japanese wanted to repeat in six months Pearl Harbor again. But they aimed at the second powerful American base. Everything could happen according to plan, and the empire would become the only force in the Pacific region, but US intelligence intercepted the message.

Attack of the Japanese failed. They were able to sink one aircraft carrier and destroy about a hundred and fifty aircraft. They themselves lost more than two hundred and fifty aircraft, two and a half thousand people and five large ships.

The planned superiority overnight turned into a devastating defeat.

Gulf of Leyte

Now let's talk about the largest naval battle of the war. Except for ancient battles near the island of Salamanca, this is the most grandiose battle in the sea in the history of mankind.

It lasted four days. Here again, the Americans and the Japanese collided. Expected in 1941, the attack on the Philippines (instead of Pearl Harbor), still happened in three years. During this battle, the Japanese first used the tactics of "kamikaze".

The loss of the world's largest battleship "Musashi" and damage to "Yamato" has put an end to the empire's ability to dominate the region.

So, during the battle, the Americans lost about three and a half thousand people and six ships. The Japanese lost twenty-seven ships and more than ten thousand crew.

Thus, we in this article briefly got acquainted with the most large-scale sea battles in Russian and world history.