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{{short description|Combat involving sea-going ships}}
{{Redirect-multi|2|Naval history|Sea battle|the periodical|Naval History|the 1980 video game|Sea Battle}}
{{distinguish|Ship wars}}
'''Naval warfare''' is [[combat]] in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other [[battlespace]] involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Battles have been fought on water for more than 3,000 years.<ref name="RolfWarming" />▼
▲{{War}}'''Naval warfare''' is [[combat]] in and on the [[sea]], the [[ocean]], or any other [[battlespace]] involving a major body of water such as a large [[lake]] or wide [[river]].
The [[Military|armed forces]] branch designated for naval warfare is a [[navy]]. Naval operations can be broadly divided into riverine/littoral applications ([[brown-water navy]]), open-ocean applications ([[blue-water navy]]), between riverine/littoral and open-ocean applications ([[green-water navy]]), although these distinctions are more about strategic scope than tactical or operational division. The strategic offensive purpose of naval warfare is [[Power projection|projection of force]] by water, and its strategic defensive purpose is to frustrate the similar projection of force by enemies.▼
▲The [[Military|armed forces]] branch designated for naval warfare is a [[navy]]. Naval operations can be broadly divided into riverine/littoral applications ([[brown-water navy]]), open-ocean applications ([[blue-water navy]]), between riverine/littoral and open-ocean applications ([[green-water navy]]), although these distinctions are more about strategic scope than tactical or operational division. The strategic offensive purpose of naval warfare is [[Power projection|projection of force]] by water, and its strategic defensive purpose is to
==History==
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=== Mediterranean Sea ===
[[File:Seevölker.jpg|thumb|Scene from an Egyptian temple wall shows Ramesses' combined land and sea victory in the [[Battle of the Delta]].]]
The first recorded sea battle was
As recorded on the temple walls of the mortuary temple of pharaoh [[Ramesses III]] at [[Medinet Habu (temple)|Medinet Habu]], this repulsed a major sea invasion near the shores of the eastern [[Nile Delta]] using a naval ambush and archers firing from both ships and shore.
{{cns|[[Assyria]]n reliefs from the 8th century BC show [[Phoenicia]]n fighting ships, with two levels of oars, fighting men on a sort of bridge or deck above the oarsmen, and some sort of ram protruding from the bow. No written mention of strategy or tactics seems to have survived.|date=February 2024}}
[[Josephus Flavius]] (Antiquities IX 283–287) reports a naval battle between [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] and the king of Assyria who was aided by the other cities in Phoenicia. The battle took place off the shores of Tyre. Although the Tyrian fleet was much smaller, the Tyrians defeated their enemies.
[[File:Trireme.jpg|thumb|An [[ancient Greek]] [[trireme]] vessel]]
{{cns|The [[Greece|Greeks]] of [[Homer]] just used their ships as transport for land armies, but in 664 BC there is a mention of a battle at sea between [[Corinth, Greece|Corinth]] and its colony city [[Corcyra]].|date=February 2024}}
{{cns|Ancient descriptions of the [[Persian Wars]] were the first to feature large-scale naval operations, not just sophisticated fleet engagements with dozens of [[trireme]]s on each side, but combined land-sea operations. It seems unlikely that all this was the product of a single mind or even of a generation; most likely the period of evolution and experimentation was simply not recorded by history.|date=February 2024}}
{{cns|After some initial battles while subjugating the Greeks of the [[Ionia]]n coast, the Persians determined to invade Greece proper. [[Themistocles]] of [[Athens]] estimated that the Greeks would be outnumbered by the Persians on land, but that Athens could protect itself by building a fleet (the famous "wooden walls"), using the profits of the [[silver]] mines at [[Laurium]] to finance them.|date=February 2024}}
{{cns|The first Persian campaign, in 492 BC, was aborted because the fleet was lost in a storm, but the second, in 490 BC, captured islands in the [[Aegean Sea]] before landing on the mainland near [[Battle of Marathon|Marathon]]. Attacks by the Greek armies repulsed these.|date=February 2024}}
[[File:Battle of Salamis, 480 BC.png|thumb|The epic [[Battle of Salamis]] between Greek and Persian naval forces.]]
{{cns|The third Persian campaign in 480 BC, under [[Xerxes I of Persia]], followed the pattern of the second in marching the army via the [[Hellespont]] while the fleet paralleled them offshore. Near [[Battle of Artemisium|Artemisium]], in the narrow channel between the mainland and [[Euboea]], the Greek fleet held off multiple assaults by the Persians, the Persians breaking through a first line, but then being flanked by the second line of ships. But the defeat on land at [[Battle of Thermopylae|Thermopylae]] forced a Greek withdrawal, and Athens evacuated its population to nearby [[Salamis Island]].|date=February 2024}}
{{cns|The ensuing [[Battle of Salamis]] was one of the decisive engagements of history. Themistocles trapped the Persians in a channel too narrow for them to bring their greater numbers to bear, and attacked them vigorously, in the end causing the loss of 200 Persian ships vs 40 Greek. [[Aeschylus]] wrote a play about the defeat, ''[[The Persians]]'', which was performed in a Greek theatre competition a few years after the battle. It is the oldest known surviving play. At the end, Xerxes still had a fleet stronger than the Greeks, but withdrew anyway, and after losing at [[Battle of Plataea|Plataea]] in the following year, returned to [[Asia Minor]], leaving the Greeks their freedom. Nevertheless, the Athenians and Spartans attacked and burned the laid-up Persian fleet at [[Battle of Mycale|Mycale]], and freed many of the Ionian towns. These battles involved triremes or biremes as the standard fighting platform, and the focus of the battle was to ram the opponent's vessel using the boat's reinforced prow. The opponent would try to maneuver and avoid contact, or alternately rush all the marines to the side about to be hit, thus tilting the boat. When the ram had withdrawn and the marines dispersed, the hole would then be above the waterline and not a critical injury to the ship.|date=February 2024}}
{{cns|During the next fifty years, the Greeks commanded the Aegean, but not harmoniously. After several minor wars, tensions exploded into the [[Peloponnesian War]] (431 BC) between Athens' [[Delian League]] and the Spartan [[Peloponnese]]. Naval strategy was critical; Athens walled itself off from the rest of Greece, leaving only the port at [[Piraeus]] open, and trusting in its [[navy]] to keep supplies flowing while the Spartan army besieged it. This strategy worked, although the close quarters likely contributed to the plague that killed many Athenians in 429 BC.|date=February 2024}}
{{cns|There were a number of sea battles between [[galley]]s; at [[Battle of Rhium|Rhium]], [[Battle of Naupactus (429 BC)|Naupactus]], [[Battle of Pylos|Pylos]], [[Battle of Syracuse (415 BC)|Syracuse]], [[Battle of Cynossema|Cynossema]], [[Battle of Cyzicus|Cyzicus]], [[Battle of Notium|Notium]]. But the end came for Athens in 405 BC at [[Battle of Aegospotami|Aegospotami]] in the [[Hellespont]], where the Athenians had drawn up their fleet on the beach, and were surprised by the Spartan fleet, who landed and burned all the ships. Athens surrendered to Sparta in the following year.|date=February 2024}}
[[File:D473-birème romaine-Liv2-ch10.png|thumb|A [[Roman navy|Roman naval]] [[bireme]] depicted in a [[relief]] from the Temple of [[Fortuna (mythology)|Fortuna Primigenia]] in [[Praeneste]] ([[Palestrina|Palastrina]]),<ref>D.B. Saddington (2011) [2007]. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=1D612o_X2VYC&q=biremeClasses%3A&pg=PR10 the Evolution of the Roman Imperial Fleets]," in Paul Erdkamp (ed), ''A Companion to the Roman Army'', 201–217. Malden, Oxford, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. {{ISBN|978-1-4051-2153-8}}. Plate 12.2 on p. 204.</ref> which was built c. 120 BC;<ref>Coarelli, Filippo (1987), ''I Santuari del Lazio in età repubblicana''. NIS, Rome, pp. 35–84.</ref> exhibited in the Pius-Clementine Museum ([[Museo Pio-Clementino]]) in the [[Vatican Museums]].]]
{{cns|Navies next played a major role in the complicated wars of the successors of [[Alexander the Great]].|date=February 2024}}
{{cns|The [[Roman Republic]] had never been much of a seafaring nation, but it had to learn. In the [[Punic Wars]] with [[Carthage]], Romans developed the technique of grappling and [[boarding (attack)|boarding]] enemy ships with soldiers. The [[Roman Navy]] grew gradually as Rome became more involved in Mediterranean politics; by the time of the [[Roman Civil War]] and the [[Battle of Actium]] (31 BC), hundreds of ships were involved, many of them [[quinquereme]]s mounting [[catapult]]s and fighting towers. Following the Emperor [[Augustus]] transforming the Republic into the [[Roman Empire]], Rome gained control of most of the Mediterranean. Without any significant maritime enemies, the Roman navy was reduced mostly to patrolling for [[pirate]]s and transportation duties. It was only on the fringes of the Empire, in newly gained provinces or defensive missions against barbarian invasion, that the navy still engaged in actual warfare.|date=February 2024}}
=== Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa ===
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In the [[Nusantara (archipelago)|Nusantara]] archipelago, large ocean going ships of more than 50 m in length and 5.2–7.8 meters [[Freeboard (nautical)|freeboard]] are already used at least since the 2nd century AD, contacting India to China.<ref name=":112">{{Cite journal|last=Christie|first=Anthony|date=1957|title=An Obscure Passage from the "Periplus: ΚΟΛΑΝΔΙΟϕΩΝΤΑ ΤΑ ΜΕΓΙΣΤΑ"|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London|volume=19|pages=345–353|doi=10.1017/S0041977X00133105|s2cid=162840685|via=JSTOR}}</ref>{{rp|347}}<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Phantom Voyagers: Evidence of Indonesian Settlement in Africa in Ancient Times|last=Dick-Read|first=Robert|publisher=Thurlton|year=2005}}</ref>{{rp|41}} [[Srivijaya empire]] since the 7th century AD controlled the sea of the western part of the archipelago. The [[Kedukan Bukit inscription]] is the oldest record of Indonesian military history, and noted a 7th-century Srivijayan sacred ''siddhayatra'' journey led by [[Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa]]. He was said to have brought 20,000 troops, including 312 people in boats and 1,312 foot soldiers.<ref name="UNESCO Silk Roads Programme">{{Cite journal|author=Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abd Rahman|title=Port and polity of the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra (5th – 14th Centuries A.D.)|url=https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/default/files/knowledge-bank-article/port_and_polity_of_the_malay_peninsula_and_sumatra.pdf|journal=International Seminar Harbour Cities Along the Silk Roads}}</ref>{{rp|4}} The 10th century Arab text ''Ajayeb al-Hind'' (Marvels of India) gives an account of an invasion in Africa by people called Wakwak or [[Waqwaq]],<ref name=":122">Kumar, Ann (2012). 'Dominion Over Palm and Pine: Early Indonesia's Maritime Reach', in Geoff Wade (ed.), ''Anthony Reid and the Study of the Southeast Asian Past'' (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies), 101–122.</ref>{{rp|110}} probably the Malay people of Srivijaya or Javanese people of [[Mataram Kingdom|Mataram kingdom]],<ref name=":32">Lombard, Denys (2005)''. [https://archive.org/details/NJ2JA/mode/2up?q= Nusa Jawa: Silang Budaya, Bagian 2: Jaringan Asia]''. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama. An Indonesian translation of Lombard, Denys (1990). ''Le carrefour javanais. Essai d'histoire globale (The Javanese Crossroads: Towards a Global History) vol. 2''. Paris: Éditions de l'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.</ref>{{Rp|27}}<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|39}} in 945–946 CE. They arrived at the coast of [[Tanzania Mainland|Tanganyika]] and [[Mozambique]] with 1000 boats and attempted to take the citadel of Qanbaloh, though eventually failed. The reason of the attack is because that place had goods suitable for their country and for China, such as ivory, tortoise shells, panther skins, and [[ambergris]], and also because they wanted black slaves from [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]] people (called ''Zeng'' or ''[[Zanj|Zenj]]'' by Arabs, ''Jenggi'' by Javanese) who were strong and make good slaves.<ref name=":122" />{{rp|110}} Before the 12th century, Srivijaya is primarily land-based polity rather than maritime power, fleets are available but acted as logistical support to facilitate the projection of land power. Later, the naval strategy degenerated to raiding fleet. Their naval strategy was to coerce merchant ships to dock in their ports, which if ignored, they will send ships to destroy the ship and kill the occupants.<ref name="Naval Melaka Straits">{{Cite journal|last=Heng|first=Derek|date=October 2013|title=State formation and the evolution of naval strategies in the Melaka Straits, c. 500-1500 CE|journal=Journal of Southeast Asian Studies|volume=44|issue=3|pages=380–399|doi=10.1017/S0022463413000362|s2cid=161550066}}</ref><ref name="end">{{cite book|title=Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula|last=Munoz|first=Paul Michel|publisher=Editions Didier Millet|year=2006|isbn=981-4155-67-5|location=Singapore|pages=171}}</ref>
In 1293, the Mongol [[Yuan dynasty
In the 12th century, China's first permanent standing navy was established by the [[Southern Song dynasty]], the headquarters of the Admiralty stationed at [[Dinghai District|Dinghai]]. This came about after the conquest of northern China by the [[Jurchen people]] (see [[Jin dynasty (1115-1234)|Jin dynasty]]) in 1127, while the Song imperial court fled south from [[Kaifeng]] to [[Hangzhou]]. Equipped with the magnetic [[compass]] and knowledge of [[Shen Kuo]]'s famous treatise (on the concept of [[true north]]), the Chinese became proficient experts of navigation in their day. They raised their naval strength from a mere 11 squadrons of 3,000 marines to 20 squadrons of 52,000 marines in a century's time.
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[[File:Turtle boat.jpg|thumb|A replica of Korean [[turtle ship]]]]
==== Ancient and Medieval China ====
{{main|Naval history of China}}
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[[Qin Shi Huang]], the first emperor of the [[Qin dynasty]] (221–207 BC), owed much of his success in unifying southern China to naval power, although an official navy was not yet established (see Medieval Asia section below). The people of the [[Zhou dynasty]] were known to use temporary [[pontoon bridge]]s for general means of transportation, but it was during the Qin and Han dynasties that large permanent pontoon bridges were assembled and used in warfare (first written account of a pontoon bridge in the West being the oversight of the Greek [[Mandrocles of Samos]] in aiding a military campaign of Persian emperor [[Darius I]] over the [[Bosporus]]).
During the [[Han
In terms of seafaring abroad, arguably one of the first Chinese to sail into the [[Indian Ocean]] and to reach Sri Lanka and India by sea was the Buddhist monk [[Faxian]] in the early 5th century, although diplomatic ties and land trade to Persia and India were established during the earlier Han dynasty. However, Chinese naval maritime influence would penetrate into the Indian Ocean until the medieval period.
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==== 19th century ====
[[File:The Monitor and Merrimac.jpg|thumb|The first battle between ironclads: [[CSS Virginia|CSS ''Virginia''/''Merrimac'']] (left) vs. {{USS|Monitor}}, in 1862 at the [[Battle of Hampton Roads]]]]
[[File:
Trafalgar ushered in the ''[[Pax Britannica]]'' of the 19th century, marked by general peace in the world's oceans, under the ensigns of the Royal Navy. But the period was one of intensive experimentation with new technology; [[steam power]] for ships appeared in the 1810s, improved [[metallurgy]] and machining technique produced larger and deadlier guns, and the development of explosive [[shell (projectile)|shells]], capable of demolishing a wooden ship at a single blow, in turn required the addition of iron armour.
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The aftermath of World War II saw naval gunnery supplanted by ship to ship missiles as the primary weapon of surface combatants. Two major naval battles have taken place since World War II.
The [[Indo-Pakistani Naval War of 1971]] was the first major naval war post World War II. It saw the dispatch of an Indian aircraft carrier group, heavy utilisation of [[missile boat]]s in naval operations, total naval blockade of Pakistan by the [[Indian Navy]] and the annihilation of almost half of [[Pakistan Navy|Pakistan's Navy]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Can Pakistan Survive? The Death of a State|last=Tariq Ali|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1983|isbn=978-0-14-02-2401-6|location=United Kingdom|pages=95|quote=In a two-week war, Pakistan lost half its navy.}}</ref> By the end of the war, the damage inflicted by the Indian Navy and [[Indian Air Force|Air Forces]] on Pakistan's Navy stood at two destroyers, one submarine, one minesweeper, three [[patrol craft|patrol vessels]], seven [[gunboat]]s, eighteen [[Cargo ship|cargo, supply and communication vessels]], as well as large-scale damage inflicted on the naval base and docks located in the major port city of Karachi.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.defencejournal.com/nov98/angrysea.htm|title=The Angry Sea|last=Tiwana|first=M.A. Hussain|date=November 1998|website=www.defencejournal.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090313073901/http://www.defencejournal.com/nov98/angrysea.htm|archive-date=13 March 2009|url-status=live|access-date=15 November 2016}}</ref> Three merchant navy ships, ''Anwar Baksh'', ''Pasni'', and ''Madhumathi'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.irfc-nausena.nic.in/irfc/ezine/Trans2Trimph/chapters/39_transfer%20of%20ships1.htm|title=Chapter-39|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301204938/http://www.irfc-nausena.nic.in/irfc/ezine/Trans2Trimph/chapters/39_transfer%20of%20ships1.htm|archive-date=1 March 2012|url-status=dead|access-date=24 December 2014}}</ref> and ten smaller vessels were captured.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.orbat.com/site/cimh/navy/kills(1971)-2.pdf|title=Damage Assessment – 1971 INDO-PAK Naval War|website=B. Harry|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051030235952/http://www.orbat.com/site/cimh/navy/kills(1971)-2.pdf|archive-date=30 October 2005|url-status=dead|access-date=16 May 2005}}</ref> Around 1,900 personnel were lost, while 1,413 servicemen (mostly officers) were captured by [[Indian Armed Forces|Indian forces]] in [[Dhaka]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aeronautics.ru/archive/vif2_project/indo_pak_war_1971.htm|title=Military Losses in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War|website=Venik|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020225045411/http://www.aeronautics.ru/archive/vif2_project/indo_pak_war_1971.htm|archive-date=25 February 2002|url-status=dead|access-date=30 May 2005}}</ref> The Indian Navy lost 18 officers and 194 sailors
In the 1982 [[Falklands War]] between Argentina and the United Kingdom, a Royal Navy task force of approximately 100 ships was dispatched over {{convert|7000|mi}} from the British mainland to the [[South Atlantic]]. The British were outnumbered in theatre airpower with only 36 [[Sea Harrier|Harriers]] from their two aircraft carriers and a few helicopters, compared with at least 200 aircraft of the [[Argentine Air Force|Fuerza Aérea Argentina]], although London dispatched Vulcan bombers in [[Operation Black Buck|a display of long-distance strategic capacity]]. Most of the land-based aircraft of the [[Royal Air Force]] were not available due to the distance from air bases. This reliance on aircraft at sea showed the importance of the aircraft carrier. The Falklands War showed the vulnerability of modern ships to [[sea-skimming]] [[Anti-ship missile|missiles]] like the [[Exocet]]. One hit from an Exocet sank {{HMS|Sheffield|D80|6}}, a modern anti-air warfare destroyer. Over half of Argentine deaths in the war occurred when the nuclear submarine {{HMS|Conqueror|S48|2}} torpedoed and sank the light cruiser {{ship|ARA|General Belgrano}} with the loss of 323 lives. Important lessons about ship design, [[Damage control (maritime)|damage control]] and ship construction materials were learnt from the conflict.
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* [[Italian Navy]]
* [[Armada Española|Spanish Navy]]
* [[Pakistan Navy]]
* [[Portuguese Navy]]
* [[Philippine Navy]]
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==See also==
{{portal|Oceans
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Bibliography of early American naval history]]
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{{Warship types of the 19th & 20th centuries|state=collapsed}}
{{Military and war}}
{{Ancient seafaring}}
{{Authority control}}
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