Naval Warfare During World War II

When historians are asked when the birth of modern warfare occurred, they would all say World War II. World War II updated how war is fought to the way that many subsequent wars are fought even to this day. The Second World War was the first major war that involved many naval battles in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The four major players of such naval warfare were Britain, Germany, United States, and Japan. Only these countries set up navy forces of any significance, which to the surprise of most naval commanders, and they demonstrated to be most powerful. Throughout the war, Germany had faced off against Britain and occasionally United States, while Japan occasionally fought the former and focus on fighting the latter instead. The four
In a firm belief, British naval commanders were attached to the impression of a major decisive fleet action. With the commencement of the War, the British had most of their fleet limited to European waters. However, the American fleet was split between the Atlantic and Pacific. Due to Hitler and NAZI Germany being assessed as the greatest threat among the AXIS Powers, the Americans and the British agreed to deal with them first. Before America officially entered the War, the U.S. Navy was committed to the North Atlantic several months. The greatest sea battles were fought in the Pacific between the American Pacific Fleet and the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the turning point when the Japanese finally utilized two monstrous battleships. The most important naval campaign of the War was the one that was fought in the North Atlantic. Although most historians focus more on battles with the U-boats in Atlantic Ocean, U.S. Navy in the Pacific was the only successful submarine campaign during the
A major part of the War was how the carrier replaced the battleships as the main ship as it acted like a floating airfield able to move aircraft in the proximity of enemy fleet formations and land targets. Only three countries (America, Britain, and Japan) built and deployed carriers. The Germans tried to do the same, but military reverses did not allow them. The Japanese started the War with the most effective carrier aircraft with the elegant, but lightly armored A6M Mitsubishi Zero developed in 1941. The Japanese did not create the Zero fighter for carrier use, but rather adapted it for multiple uses. Due to their limited industrial capacity, the Japanese did not introduce new advance aircraft types after the invention of the Zero. Their pilots were still using it when the climatic naval battles were fought in 1944. Meanwhile, British Air Force were still using the venerable Fairey Swordfish biplane at the start of the War. The United States emerged to be the country most known for a remarkable series of aircrafts specifically designed for carriers. With the aid of new fast carriers, these planes were able to sweep the Japanese from the skies over the Pacific within a span of three years. The U.S. Pacific Fleet started the War with the rugged, but slow F4F Wildcat fighter. However, it was vulnerable to the faster Zero, but tactics were created to make up for its flaw which in turn, took away the