In 1588, the tiny, young and untested Royal Navy faced the Spanish Armada and won, saving Great Britain from certain defeat over the Catholic Spanish Empire. In 1571 at Lepanto, a Christian states coalition decisively defeated the Ottoman Turks, also securing the Mediterranean northwestern shores of Islamic conquest (This was notably due to innovation, with the Galeasses). These years a famous “kamikaze” saved Japan for Centuries to come, also from the Mongols. In 1279 at Yamen off China, the Yuan mongols defeated the Song’s fleet, securing their rule over the middle empire for a century.

Back in the past, Salamine saw the destruction of the Persian fleet in the hands of Athenian triremes, probably saving ancient Greece, the cradle of Western civilization and democracy. And yet if this victory was not certain, intelligence, ruse, luck, but also reckless bravery had their part… One of the ten most decisive naval battles in Historyįew naval battles has been really decisive. Midway was not a “decisive” battle in the sense it did not saw the total destruction of the IJN, but the disappearance of four first-line fleet carriers and elite pilots for the IJN, while boosting the morale of the USN, showing overall the Japanese were not invincible. But this year 1942 was full of surprises and situation degraded fast for the axis on all fronts, which by caricaturing, lost initiative and went into the defensive for the remainder of the war. Until then, never had the USN in such bad position in the Pacific, with its battlefleet sank and left with less aicraft carriers than Japan, which until this summer of 1942 looked unstoppable. A downward slope for Japan in this occurence. The Battle of Midway was one of these moments in history that acts a bit as a hinge, or a crest between two slopes. Imperial Japanese Navy The turning point of the Pacific

Largest tank battle in ww2 coral sea