Hello All,
I was wondering what everyone thought was the 6 greatest sea battles.
Here is my list:
Tsushima Straights
Jutland
Java Sea
Coral Sea/Midway
Savo Island
Battle of the Philippine Sea
So what is your top 6 battles
Cheers,
Bruce

Here's mine:

Jutland
Coral Sea
Surigao Strait

Hello Ken,
Great battles, But I am looking only for 20th century Sea Battles.
Thanks for your list.
Cheers,
Bruce

List corrected.

Hi Guys, I've been silent for years, too much on my plate, but I thought I'd just had to add to this:

Battle of Tsushima

How bout all that business in the Falklands / Malvinas, years ago . It was a sea battle with modern warfare complete with missiles and other electronics. Lots of hits on both sides............Al

For me, the following rate for the preceding century:

Tsushima--the Japanese victory accelerated the ending of the War before Russia could launch a massive land campaign to retake all her lost ground.

Falklands December 1914--not only did this desperate stern chase eliminate the last significant German naval threat to Britain outside European waters, it was the only use of the battlecruiser in its intended role as an armored cruiser-killer.

Cape Matapan--coming just four months after the raid on Taranto, this Italian defeat inhibited more aggressive use of heavy Italian fleet units for the rest of the war.

Coral Sea--in addition to being the first all-aircraft naval action, this repulse of the Japanese bought valuable time for the defense of Australia and set the stage for the Battle of Midway as it a) convinced Nimitz to put his full faith in Rochefort's intelligence estimates and b) fatally weakened the Japanese carrier force heading into Midway.

Midway--this devastating defeat crushed Japanese carrier aviation and created a strategic pause which Admiral King capitalized on by launching a premature offensive at Guadalcanal two months later. The campaign succeeded months later due to the valor of the fighting forces and the fact that the Japanese were less prepared to repulse the offensive than the U. S. was ready to sustain it.

Philippine Sea--the outright destruction of Japanese carrier power in the air on a single day wrecked any chance then Imperial Navy had of resisting any further U. S. advances into the western Pacific.

--Karl

Jutland
Battle of Tsushima Straights
Battle of the Eastern Solomons
Battle of the Coral Sea
Battle of Philippine Sea
Operation Ten-go

I put the last one on the list for a specific reason. It proved to the allied forces just how serious Japan was about not giving up. They sacrificed the largest battleship in the world hoping to draw the American’s into a battle. It didn’t work, but the message was received in Washington and it helped bring about the use of Little Boy and Fat Man.

Hello All,
Thanks for your thoughts. If you look at a thread called just a thought you will see why I am asking what all of you think.
@ Alfred,
I forgot about the Falklands sea battle. I have only studied the land part of the campaign. I need to get a book on it. Thanks for your idea.
I hope there will be more list from thhe members here.
Cheers,
Bruce

Bruce, an awesome book on the naval battles of WW1 is Castles of Steel.

Tsushima
Jutland
Midway
Philippine Sea/Leyte Gulf

Battle of the Atlantic - many authors/historians consider BoA a continuos "battle" (longest of WW2). German U boats sank 1500+ vessels and 150+ warships.

Falklands/Malvinas - Only "modern" naval battle. Also proved the concept of using carrier battle groups as force projection onto far lands. Finally, entered the age of naval warfare "one shot-one kill" concept, in which one torpedo and/or ship-killing missile can sink a warship.

And James ...A lot of those 1500 ships and some U-boats were sunk were just off the coast of Florida and within sight of land. ....I vaguely remember some story about a U-boat sunk just outside of Tampa Bay.......Al