Exploring the Largest Naval Battles in History

Naval warfare has long been a vital element of military strategy, evolving from skirmishes between rudimentary rafts and galleys powered by oarsmen to the largest naval battles in history between colossal warships and the world’s biggest aircraft carriers.

Control of the seas has enabled the spread of cultures, the expansion of trade routes, and the establishment of empires. History’s biggest sea battles have not only determined military supremacy but also reshaped political boundaries and economic systems.

In this time trip back to the high seas, we’ll discover the greatest sea battles in history, as well as finding out the truly astonishing size of the largest naval fleet ever assembled.

Determining the size of the world’s biggest naval battle involves assessing various factors such as the number of ships, the tonnage of fleets, and the scale of personnel involved.

Ancient clashes like the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC – where the Greek city-states faced the Persian Empire – and the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, which sealed the fate of Antony and Cleopatra, highlight the massive naval engagements of antiquity. In the modern era, battles such as Trafalgar in 1805, Jutland in 1916, and Leyte Gulf in 1944 showcase the immense industrial and military capacities of the nations involved.

In the 1970s, Austrian naval historian Helmut Pemsel attempted to quantify the size of the greatest sea battles in history by assigning a system of scoring to four key performance indicators, of which the highest score is nine –

• Number of personnel involved (1 – 4)
• Strategic significance (0 – 2)
• Tactical execution (0 – 2)
• Political significance (0 – 1)

While Pemsel’s system isn’t scientifically perfect, nor is it widely recognised or used in academic circles, it nevertheless is one approach to gaining a fair indication of the sheer size and scale of the largest naval battles in history.

While it’s almost certain there were earlier sea-based engagements, the first recorded naval battle was the Battle of the Delta around 1175 BC which occurred near the shores of the eastern Nile Delta in Egypt.

It took place between the Ancient Egyptians, led by Pharaoh Ramesses III, and a mysterious confederation of seafaring invaders known as the Sea Peoples, possibly made up of a number of disparate Mediterranean, Anatolian, and Aegean tribes.Using a combination of ship and shore-based archers, the Egyptians set up an ambush to trap the invading fleet, resulting in a decisive victory for the pharaoh’s men.

But what, according to Helmut Pemsel, is history’s biggest sea battle? Here are the runners and riders.

The Battle of Salamis was a pivotal naval engagement between the Greek city-states under the command of Themistocles, and the Persian Empire led by King Xerxes I. The Greeks deployed approximately 370 triremes (huge warships with three banks of oars), while the Persian fleet consisted of an estimated 600 to 800 ships (some ancient sources put the number as high as 1,271, which would be the largest number of ships involved in a single naval battle).

With each trireme carrying around 200 sailors and soldiers, including the famous Greek hoplite warriors, it’s thought there may have been as many as 250,000 personnel involved on both sides, although modern estimates are more conservative, at around 100,000 – 150,000.

The Greeks lured the bigger Persian fleet into the narrow Strait of Salamis, where the Persians’ numerical advantage was negated. The Greek victory crippled the Persian navy and significantly influenced the future of Western civilisation.

By the number of soldiers involved, the Battle of the Red Cliffs, fought at the end of the Han Dynasty between southern Chinese warlords Sun Quan and Liu Bei, and their northern adversary Cao Cao, may be the biggest naval battle in history. The southern alliance is thought to have consisted of around 50,000 men, while Cao Cao himself is said to have claimed an army of 800,000, however more conservative estimates put Cao Cao’s troops at a more realistic 200,000 – 240,000 men.

Using fire ships, a superior strategy, and an intimate knowledge of the field (or river) of battle, Sun Quan and Liu Bei’s men set Cao Cao’s anchored fleet alight on the Yangtze River, causing chaos and leading to a decisive victory. This triumph of the smaller and weaker force not only halted Cao Cao’s southern expansion but also paved the way for the Three Kingdoms period.

Believed to be one of the greatest sea battles in history between oar-driven ships known as galleys, the Battle of Lepanto pitted the Ottoman Empire (280 galleys, 67,000 men) against a Holy League coalition of Catholic states including the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Kingdoms of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia, and the Knights of Malta, which consisted of around 218 ships and 70,000 men.

The battle took place in the Gulf of Patras, near the coast of western Greece. The Holy League victory – including the prized capture of Admiral Ali Pasha’s flagship, given to Pope Pius V as the spoils of war – not only halted Ottoman dominance in the Mediterranean, but also marked a turning point in the struggle between European powers and the Ottoman Empire.

The Battle of Jutland, fought from May 31 to June 1, 1916, was the biggest naval battle of World War I and the only full-scale clash of battleships during the conflict. Taking place in the North Sea near Denmark’s Jutland Peninsula, the battle involved the British Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, and the German High Seas Fleet, led by Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer.

Including dreadnoughts, battlecruisers, armoured and light cruisers, destroyers and torpedo boats, the combined strength of both fleets was 250 ships and around 105,000 men. While the British suffered heavier losses, losing 14 ships and more than 6,700 men compared to Germany’s 11 ships and just over 2,500 men, the battle was strategically inconclusive. However, it effectively solidified British naval control, and denied the Germans access to the North Sea for the rest of the war.

By some criteria, including that of Helmut Pemsel where the battle scored eight out of a possible nine points, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, with around 370 ships, more than 1,800 planes, 200,000 personnel, and a combat area of over 100,000 square miles, was the biggest naval battle in history.

Occurring in the waters surrounding the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar, and Luzon in October 1944, the battle pitted the Allied forces – primarily the US and Australia – against the Imperial Japanese Navy. The IJN, attempting to stop the Allied invasion of the Philippines, committed virtually all their remaining major ships. Despite fierce fighting across several engagements, the Allies secured a decisive victory. This outcome effectively destroyed Japan’s capacity for large-scale naval operations and marked a significant turning point in the Pacific Theatre of World War II.

The United States Navy during World War II is widely considered to have been the largest naval fleet in history. At its peak in 1945, it had a colossal force comprising almost 6,800 ships of various classes, including battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and numerous amphibious ships and auxiliary vessels.

Perhaps the most impressive fact about the size of the US fleet is that in December 1941, it consisted of just 790 ships.

The fleet’s unprecedented size was crucial for multiple large-scale operations, such as the island-hopping campaigns in the Pacific, including the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Midway, the D-Day invasion support in Europe (which included 7,000 ships and landing craft from many different navies, transporting over 156,000 troops across the English Channel to the beaches of Normandy), and smaller skirmishes in North Africa.

The World’s Largest Current Naval Fleet

The current People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) of China, considered the world’s largest navy today, has approximately 355 battle-force ships and 250,000 active personnel. However it’s worth noting that modern navies tend to focus on fewer but more capable ships, making it unlikely that any future navy will match the numbers of the WWII-era US Navy.