Transcript Battle of the Coral Sea

• Combat in and on seas, oceans and any other major bodies of
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water.
Controlled by the Allied Powers with Central Powers trying to
break blockade and establish blockade of their own
Technology dominated by battleship
British ships had larger guns and Germans had better optical
equipment and range-finding
Dreadnoughts were the best ships, the fastest and most powerful
ship of the time
Technology was dominated by the battleship (dreadnoughts)
• First naval battle of the war
• Germans lost 1200 men, British lost 35
• Influenced British Vice Admiral Beatty’s appointment to
Commander of the Grand Fleet in 1917
British Light Cruiser, HMS Arethusa
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Royal navy had spent months searching for German quadron
Five German vessels, four British vessels
British lost two ships and other two badly damaged
German victory that prompted Battle of Falklands
HMS Monmouth
British battle cruisers sunk 5 German cruisers
• Last sea fight determined by gunnery alone
• Cleared Pacific and South Atlantic of Germans
• Demonstrated British sea power
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British battle cruiser HMS Invincible
• German group attacked several North Sea English seaports
• Bombardment lasted from 8:10am – 9:30am
• Public outrage at Royal Navy
Remains after a sea raid
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German submarine war heavily in progress
Inspired by success of previous raids
British intercepted Germans at Dogger Bank
Not a major victory but morale booster for Britain
German ship Blucher sinking
• Torpedoed
by a German U-Boat
• Over 1198 deaths, including over 100 Americans
• Lusitania was carrying arms
• Contributing factor to United States joining the war
The Lusitania
• British fought running battle against Germans
• Largest sea battle of WWI
• Majority of Germans managed to escape
• German High Seas Fleet did not venture into North Sea again
• Intensive U-boat campaign started instead in 1917
German High Seas Fleet
German Kiserliche Marine raided Allied positions in Dover Strait
• Floating mines prevented Germans from entering the English Channel
• Two British ships were bombarded by German destroyers
• German fleet fled the channel without any losses
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HMS Dover, British Cruiser destroyed by Germans
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Three Austro-Hungrian cruisers and two destroyers
Sank two Italian ships and fourteen Allied patrols
Combined British, French and Italian flotilla attacked
Poor Allied tactics led to Austrians escaping
Damaged Austrian cruiser Novara
• British planned to neutralize German ports in Belgium
• Secretly planned to block the port exits of the Zeebrugge and Ostend
• British Cruiser, Vindictive, caught fire in the operation
• Blockage was unsuccessful, German’s remained in control of the ports
• 500 British casualties
British Cruiser, HMS Vindictive
 Largest naval battle of World War I
 Fought 31 May – 1 June 1916 in North Sea near Jutland,
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Denmark
Intention of Germans was to destroy portion of Grand
Fleet
Royal Navy wanted to destroy High Seas Fleet or at
least keep German force away from shipping lanes
Fourteen British ships and eleven German ships sunk
with great loss of life
Both sides claimed victory
 German plan was to lure out a battlecruiser squadron
from naval bases by sending in a fast German
battlecruiser force
 Allied squadron would then be defeated by large UBoat force
 British had copy of main German code book from
captured ship, and therefore knew the German plan
 British deployed battle squadron before Germans
could get into position, and prepared for battle
 British lost 155 000 tons of ships, while Germans lost
62 000 tons
 Germans lost 2500 ships while British lost 6000
seamen
 British maintained control of the North Sea, though
the winner of the battle was undetermined
 German High Seas Fleet did not venture into the
North Sea again, and instead started a more intensive
U-Boat campaign in 1917
 Aircraft carrier became premier vessel of fleet
 Submarines also became increasingly important and were
used primarily for stopping/destroying resources from
North America
 Most important shipboard developments were in the area
of anti-submarine warfare
 Aircraft were used much more often in conjunction with
sea vessels, and aircraft became a much more important
tool in destroying ships and submarines
 German U-Boats had large stealth advantage over Allied
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escorts as they could not be detected underwater
Allied scientists developed Anti-Submarine Detection
Investigation Committee (ASDIC) which allowed detection
(also known as sonar)
The system worked by emitting sound signals at regular
time intervals and the return ping from a solid object
(submarine) allows detection
Radar (Radio Detection and Ranging) emits radio waves
that are reflected by solid objects
on cathode ray screen
Development allowed detection of surfaced U-Boats and
surface ships when implemented in 1940-41
 First major battle of WWII
 Took place just off the River Plate estuary in the South
Atlantic, off the coast of Argentina and Uruguay
 More damage to Allied forces, but considered Allied victory
 False intelligence led to the scuttling of the Graf Spree, the
heavy cruiser that was the main target of the battle
 British victory in which 2 British destroyers were sunk and
9 German ships were sunk
 Took place in Narvik, Norway
 German torpedoes had severe problems with magnetic
detonator systems, likely due to high northern latitude
 Royal Navy considered victory at Narvik imperative
 First U-Boat, U-64, sunk by Allied plane (Fairey Swordfish)
 Three German destroyers sunk by Warspite and her escorts
and other five were scuttled by German crews due to low
fuel and ammunition
 Result was British victory with 8 German ships and 1 U-Boat
sunk or scuttled and no British ships sunk
 British air/sea attack based from HMS Illustrious designed
to cripple Italian fleet and permit re-supply of British in
North Africa
 British caught Italians by surprise with torpedo bombers
 Halved Italian battleship fleet – Italians withdrew to safer
anchorages
 Japanese studied attack when planning Pearl Harbor
 Cape is southwest coast of Greece’s Peolponnesian peninsula
 British Royal Navy ships accompanied by Royal Australian
Navy intercepted and severely damaged ships of Italian
Regia Marina
 Decisive Allied victory (2300+ Italians dead and 5 ships)
 Removed the United States Navy’s battleship force as threat
to Japanese Empire
 Aircraft carrier force attacked American fleet at Pearl
Harbor
 Within short time of strike, five of eight battleships were
sunk and the rest damaged
 Battle between Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval
and air forces of US and Australia
 Tactical victory for Japanese but strategic victory for Allies
 Japanese expansion stopped and allowed future Allied
offensive campaigns
 Regarded as most important naval battle of WWII in
Pacific Campaign
 United States decisively defeated Japanese attack and
caused irreparable damage to Japanese navy
 Battle paved the way for further offensive campaigns
against Japanese
 Decisive battle in months-long Guadalcanal campaign
(Solomon Islands)
 Allies seized airfield and ensuing naval battle caused
extensive losses on both sides
 U.S. was successful in protecting seized airfield and
prevented troops from reaching Guadalcanal
 Strategic victory for Allies
 Largest aircraft carrier battle in history and decisive
American victory
 Occurred between United States and Empire of Japan
 Over 600 Japanese planes were destroyed, as well as 3
carriers and 2 oil ships, while only 123 American planes
were destroyed
 Longest military campaign of the Second World War
 Arguably the most important
 Canada was major participant
 Determination of Allied sailors and airmen, North
American industrial capacity and breaking of German
codes allowed eventual success
 Height was mid-1940 to the end of 1943
 U-Boats and German warships battled Allied warships and
convoys
 Convoys travelled from North America and South Atlantic
and were destined for United Kingdom and Soviet Union
 British needed over one million tons of imported goods per
week to survive the war
 Axis powers (mostly Germany) wanted to cut off supplies
to Britain
 From 1942 on, Germans wanted to prevent buildup of
supplies that would allow British landing in occupied
Europe
 British needed to defeat German naval threat to allow
invasion of Europe
 Germans failed to stop flow of supplies to Britain
 This allowed massive buildup of troops and supplies for
Normandy landings
 Over 3500 Allied merchant ships were sunk and over 30
000 merchant sailors killed; 175 Allied warships were sunk
 783 German submarines were sunk and 28 000 sailors were
killed; 174 remaining U-Boats were surrendered to the
Allies
 Technological advances on ships (radar, weaponry, sonar, etc.)
 Aircraft carriers became huge part of naval warfare – perhaps the
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most significant military development of the war
Submarines played a larger role (in WWII) and became bigger
and more deadly
Attacks in WWII became more amphibious (airplanes became a
very important weapon against ships and submarines – hence
the importance of the aircraft carrier)
Naval warfare influenced battles on land as well as at sea in
WWII; naval warfare was strictly between sea-going vessels in
WWI (ex. Pearl Harbor)
Supply ships were a much more important target in WWII;
unrestricted warfare was not a large part of WWI
 Social: high casualties led to greater desire for improved
technology in anti-submarine warfare
 Political: mastering the seas was necessary for both sides
in winning the war
 Economic: supply convoys to Britain were necessary for
Britain to keep up the war and keep economy running
 Military: loss of ships on both sides led to the desire for
improved technology and designs for ships and submarines
 Anti-submarine improvements allowed Allies to fend off
the German U-Boat threat and receive supplies necessary
for landing at Normandy
 German U-Boat advancements led to heavy British
casualties throughout the war
 Development of aircraft carriers allowed navies to play
larger role in the overall war (more effective weapon against
land targets)
 Eventual Allied victory at sea allowed overall victory by
accommodating large troop and supply buildup
 Naval superiority was crucial to the war in several ways:
 Was needed to allow safe travel for merchant ships and
supplies/troops
 Allowed access to other countries (for Britain – ex.
Landing at Normandy)
 Was crucial in many joint land-sea campaigns (ex. Japan
island hopping)
 Allies would not have been able to keep up war effort
without the supplies from North America