Trafalgar: Adm. Horatio Nelson prevents la beau France from taking over Europe and perfidious Albion wins the Napoleanic wars. And the goddam British won’t even take care of his mistress and love child.
Midway: Along with El Alamein and Stalingrad, one of the three battles that determined the Allies were going to win WW2.
Jutland: Technically a draw, but Germany’s fate in WW1 is sealed
Battle of Tshushima: Japan serves notice to the world that it is a Great Power. And it is so cool to cross the T twice.
The Spanish Armada: May have saved the Protestants. Drake is pretty cool, too.
In spite of the colossal mistakes that lead to unacceptably tremendous losses on the part of the Allies, when the battle began Japan was winning the war at sea and when it ended they were losing the war. Plus Nimitz & Spruance made the correct call not to pursue, which would very probably extended then cost them the battle.
In addition to the victory on the part of the Allies and the ships and men it cost the Japanese it was one of the most important propaganda moments in world history. It gave a very disheartened America wonderful news and a much needed victory (the “30 seconds over Tokyo” and other moments were morale boosters but even at the time most people recognized as of no real significance in winning the war) and let the Philippines know “we might just get the Japanese out of here eventually after all”, while at the same time delivering an Ike Turner beatdown to the Japanese notion of their own invincibility by giving them not only their first major defeat since the 15th century but an ASS STOMPING defeat (i.e. not a tactical defeat or “brush yourself off and get back in the fray” defeat but “10 broken ribs and an amputated leg- you might fight again but it ain’t gonna be in the ring” defeat.
Have you ever read The Boats of Cherbourg? Interesting stuff on the complicated history of the Arab-Israeli missile boat race touched off by that sinking.
So here’s my best attempt at sorting the repeat entries and alphabetizing the nominees:
Actium - Octavian defeats Mark Antony; takes Roman Empire.
Battle of the Aegates Islands – Rome ends 23-year First Punic War, assumes lasting naval dominance
Aegospotami - Lysander’s destruction of the Athenian navy finished the Athenian Empire.
The Battle of Baltimore, AKA the attack on Fort McHenry
Battle of the Bismarck Sea: The Cannae of airpower vs naval power Black May-when the Western Allies finally got the upper hand against the u-boats for good.
Battle of Cape Bon ( 468 ) - Vandals destroy combined Roman fleet, nail in the coffin for the Western Empire.
Battle of Cartagena de Indias – British beaten by Spain in Colombia
Chesapeake: French defeat British; Cornwallis doomed
Battle of the Coral Sea – Introduction of aircraft carriers facing each other
Battle of the Denmark Strait - The Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen of Germany meet the Prince of Wales and the Hood of Britain.
Battle of Diu: Portuguese smash the Ottoman/Mamluk/Indian fleet
Battle of the Downs - Larger Spanish fleet crushed, rise of Dutch dominance.
Operation Dynamo – Evacuation of Dunkirk allowed the Allies to live to fight another day The Battle of the Falkland Islands in World War 1 seems pretty decisive.
Battle of Flamborough Head – I have not yet begun to fight!
Glorious First of June: Decisive British win over French
Gravelins: Spanish Armada turned back by England to meet their famous fate.
H.L. Hunley sinking the Housatonic. The first submarine to sink an enemy vessel.
Hampton Roads: USS Monitor vs. CSS Virginia; first ironclad duel
Battle of Hansan - Brilliant maneuvering leads to key victory in Imjin War.Jutland During WWI- Germany effectively neutralized.
The sinking of the INS Eilat, 1967 - the first battle in which a vessel was sunk using ship-to-ship guided missiles.
Kamakazi “divine winds” origin – Mongol invasion of Japan fails due to typhoon
Lake Erie: Perry defeats British fleet; “We have met the enemy…”
Lepanto: Ottoman high water (heh) mark
Sinking of the Lusitania – One sided, but helped doom the Germans in the big picture.
Battle of the Leyte Gulf: Swan song for Imperial Japan
Battle of Manila Bay – Led to Dewey being given the unique (at least for USA) honor of Admiral of the Navy
Marmara (677) - Greek Fire stopped the Arabs outside Constantinople - and the Byzantines would roadblock Islam for another 700 years.
Battle of the Masts - Arabs/Islam take to the sea and kick Byzantium butt.
Midway: U.S ambushes Japanese fleet
Battle of Myeongnyang - Shattered remnants of Korean fleet holds off and smashes a massively larger Japanese invasion fleet.
New Orleans: Farragut captures biggest Confederate city
Pearl Harbor
Battle of the Nile as being strategically more important than Trafalgar
Battle of Noryang – Japanese invasions of Korea repelled
The Battle of the Philippine Sea - aka The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot - The USN destroyed the remnants of the IJN carrier force.
Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse: The blow from which the British Empire never recovered (and cleared the way for Arthur Percival to seize the number two spot on the SDMB’s Worst Military Leader thread!)
Quiberon Bay - the cherry on the Year of Victory, it secured control over the Atlantic for Britain and doomed French Canada.
Salamis: Greeks turned back Persian fleet
Battle of Sluys - Massive French invasion fleet annihilated, preempting a descent on England.
Second Battle of Syracuse/Sicilian Expedition – Athenian expedition cut off/wiped out.
Taranto: ascendancy of the airplane over the “fleet in being” (even more notable considering the small, weak, obsolescent air units involved)
Trafalgar: Brits won against France/Spain in Nap.war
The Battle of Tsushima - Japan annihilates the Russian fleet
The Yalu - Japan’s victory was the start of Japanese imperial expansion, and a death blow to the Qing Empire.
Battle of Yamen – Mongol-controlled Yuan Dynasty crushed Song Dynasty in China
(Spoilered for scrolliness, and formatting wiped because I needed to cut and paste in/out of Word).
Nice work. I would delete the words “Battle of” wherever it appears, though, and add a description to “Pearl Harbor,” something like, “Japanese surprise attack sinks U.S. battleships.”
(also, as far as I can tell Noryang and Myeongyang are two separate battles - could someone with more military history knowledge than me make sure the Glorious First of June isn’t replicated in the list under another title?)
Actium - Octavian defeats Mark Antony; takes Roman Empire.
Battle of the Aegates Islands – Rome ends 23-year First Punic War, assumes lasting naval dominance
Aegospotami - Lysander’s destruction of the Athenian navy finished the Athenian Empire.
Baltimore, AKA the attack on Fort McHenry
Bismarck Sea: The Cannae of airpower vs naval power
Black May-when the Western Allies got the upper hand against the u-boats for good.
Cape Bon ( 468 ) - Vandals destroy combined Roman fleet, nail in the coffin for the Western Empire.
Cartagena de Indias – British beaten by Spain in Colombia
Chesapeake: French defeat British; Cornwallis doomed
Coral Sea – Introduction of aircraft carriers facing each other
Denmark Strait - The Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen of Germany meet the Prince of Wales and the Hood of Britain.
Diu: Portuguese smash the Ottoman/Mamluk/Indian fleet
The Downs - Larger Spanish fleet crushed, rise of Dutch dominance.
Operation Dynamo – Evacuation of Dunkirk allowed the Allies to live to fight another day
Falkland Islands in World War 1 seems pretty decisive.
Flamborough Head – I have not yet begun to fight!
Glorious First of June: Decisive British win over French
Gravelins: Spanish Armada turned back by England to meet their famous fate. H.L. Hunley sinking the Housatonic. The first submarine to sink an enemy vessel.
Hampton Roads: USS Monitor vs. CSS Virginia; first ironclad duel
Hansan - Brilliant maneuvering leads to key victory in Imjin War.
Jutland During WWI- Germany effectively neutralized.
The sinking of the INS Eilat, 1967 - the first battle in which a vessel was sunk using ship-to-ship guided missiles.
Kamakazi “divine winds” origin – Mongol invasion of Japan fails due to typhoon
Lake Erie: Perry defeats British fleet; “We have met the enemy…”
Lepanto: Ottoman high water (heh) mark
Sinking of the Lusitania – One sided, but helped doom the Germans in the big picture.
Leyte Gulf: Swan song for Imperial Japan
Manila Bay – Led to Dewey being given the unique (at least for USA) honor of Admiral of the Navy
Marmara (677) - Greek Fire stopped the Arabs outside Constantinople - and the Byzantines would roadblock Islam for another 700 years.
The Masts - Arabs/Islam take to the sea and kick Byzantium butt.
Midway: U.S ambushes Japanese fleet
Myeongnyang - Shattered remnants of Korean fleet holds off and smashes a massively larger Japanese invasion fleet.
New Orleans: Farragut captures biggest Confederate city
Pearl Harbor
The Nile: strategically more important Napoleonic battle than Trafalgar
Noryang – Japanese invasions of Korea repelled
The Battle of the Philippine Sea - aka The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot - The USN destroyed the remnants of the IJN carrier force.
Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse: The blow from which the British Empire never recovered
Quiberon Bay - the cherry on the Year of Victory, it secured control over the Atlantic for Britain and doomed French Canada.
Salamis: Greeks turned back Persian fleet
Sluys - Massive French invasion fleet annihilated, preempting a descent on England.
Second Battle of Syracuse/Sicilian Expedition – Athenian expedition cut off/wiped out.
Taranto: ascendancy of the airplane over the “fleet in being” (even more notable considering the small, weak, obsolescent air units involved)
Trafalgar: Brits won against France/Spain in Nap.war
Tsushima - Japan annihilates the Russian fleet
The Yalu - Japan’s victory was the start of Japanese imperial expansion, and a death blow to the Qing Empire.
Yamen – Mongol-controlled Yuan Dynasty crushed Song Dynasty in China
Thanks - looks better. Pearl Harbor still lacks a description, though (and after I so helpfully made one up!). I’d italicize Monitor and Virginia in the Hampton Roads entry. “Kamikaze” is usually spelled with an “e” on the end, isn’t it? And I’m a nitpicker, so I would use a consistent break between name and description every time - either a single dash or a colon. But that’s just me.
