Naval Battles

This is coolbert:

Continuing with another listing from The National Interest web site, thanks to Mr. James Holmes in this instance.

"Top Five Naval Battles of All Time"

Top naval battles of all time more correctly defined as DECISIVE NAVAL BATTLES.

That definition of DECISIVE most important to an understanding of the listing and ranking.

"Even the masters of strategy, however, appear ambivalent about what constitutes decisive victory. Carl von Clausewitz supplies a working definition, describing a decisive engagement as one that leads directly to peace. This implies an action carrying not just tactical but strategic and political import. Such an encounter impels the vanquished to accept the victor's terms at the bargaining table, whether because he's no longer capable of fighting on, believes he stands little chance of turning the tables and winning, or estimates that victory will prove unaffordable. A decisive battle, in this expansive interpretation, is the chief determinant of a war's outcome." [my emphasis in all cases]

Comments:

* Lepanto not necessarily decisive? More correctly understood as and END TO TURKISH DOMINANCE!

* Actium ever more significant than supposed? And surely bringing and end to conflict. MOST decisive. That Roman Civil War [my term] being concluded, the forces of Octavian [Augustus Caesar] victorious over the fleet of Marc Antony and Cleopatra. Forty years of subsequent Imperial peace the consequence.

* Tsushima, Trafalgar, Leyte Gulf not even making a credible mention?

coolbert.