5 Navy Victories that Prove America Owns the Oceans

Categories: Outdoor

Team AG October 13, 2016

The US Navy turns 241 today, and during that time they’ve managed to prove their mettle over and over again. Here are just a few battles through history that show how we earned our reputation as the strongest naval force on the globe.

1.) Battle of Flamborough Head, 1779

This is the face of a man who is totally done with your British shenanigans. Source: history.com

John Paul Jones’ thorough defeat of the British Navy on their own turf bolstered the reputation of US sailors as a force to be reckoned with. Overnight, he managed to deal a huge embarrassment to his enemies, and cement his place in American History. His cry of defiance, “I have not yet begun to fight!” was supposedly uttered in response to the British Captain Richard Pearson, who demanded his surrender after a few hours of struggling.

And we were just getting started.

2.) Battle of Lake Erie, 1813

"Wreck my first ship? Lol that's fine, Imma just go to this other one and still beat you!" Painting by Edward Percy Moran — “Wreck my first ship? Lol that’s fine, Imma just go to this other one and continue to beat you.” – Oliver Hazard Perry (probably) (Painting by Edward Percy Moran)

The British showed up again for the war of 1812, and quickly took over the waters of Lake Erie. Oliver Hazard Perry took one look at that mess and said, “Mmm, nah.”

He took them to task close to Put-in-Bay Island on the western part of the lake and soundly defeated them, even after they trashed his flagship. We’ve held on to the lake ever since. Nice place to vacation. You can also see the monument to Perry on that same island.

3.) Battle of the Atlantic, 1941-1945

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-xzcwCZNF8

We’re going to jump ahead just a couple year in history here, because the US Navy’s performance during World War Two was just too good to leave off this list. Now while this is listed as a “battle” it was actually a long campaign against the Germans and their pesky U-Boats.

These guys had been giving the rest of the world a really bad time, sinking British cargo ships faster than they could get built. When we finally came to the party, we put a stop to all that nonsense and allowed supplies to reach soldiers. The Navy also paved the way for the massive advances into the Mediterranian and Normandy. Yeah, that D-Day thing? Not possible without the Navy’s help.

4.) Midway, 1942

The USS Astoria passing the USS Yorktown shortly after the latter was hit by Japanese bombs during the Battle of Midway, northeast of the Midway Islands in the central Pacific, June 4, 1942. 2rd Class William G. Roy—U.S. Navy/NARA

This battle is widely considered to be the most influential victory that the US Navy has accomplished. For some, it is one of the greatest Naval victories in history. The Japanese were making a clean sweep of their enemies left and right, so we decided to head in there and destroy 4 of their aircraft carriers. And not only that, we wiped out the aviation experts that were on board them. The Japanese could not replace those men through their training system, and were ultimately crippled beyond hope of victory.