The Greatest Naval War Ever Fought

The greatest naval war ever fought occurred between 1939 and 1945. It involved most nations and every major body of water on earth. More than 15,000 ships, 43.7 million tons of shipping and 570,000 lives were lost at sea in these six years. The Greatest Naval War Ever Fought is a new one volume retelling of the maritime side of the Second World War. The book describes the wars major naval events, but its focus is the practice of sea power and the factors that brought success, or failure at sea to all of the conflicts participants. The passage of time and the expanding availability of new information sources has allowed greater perspectives on the war. The Greatest Naval War goes beyond the big events by the big navies; it eschews easy narratives like the dominance of the carrier. It integrates multiple perspectives and it strives to forge new understandings. It concludes that the true instruments of sea power were the oiler, the landing ship, and the escort were not the carrier, the battleship, or the submarine. Finally, the book considers how this immense event continues to affect global affairs even today.