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Naval history of World War II

At the beginning of World War II, the Royal Navy was the strongest navy in the world,[1] with the largest number of warships built and with naval bases across the globe.[2] It had over 15 battleships and battlecruisers, 7 aircraft carriers, 66 cruisers, 164 destroyers and 66 submarines.[2] With a massive merchant navy, about a third of the world total, it also dominated shipping. The Royal Navy fought in every theatre from the Atlantic, Mediterranean, freezing Northern routes to Russia and the Pacific ocean.

In the course of the war the United States Navy grew tremendously as the United States was faced with a two-front war on the seas.[3] By the end of World War II the U.S. Navy was larger than any other navy in the world.[4]

10 battleships (11 by the end of the year)

6 fleet carriers

4 light fleet carriers

18 heavy cruisers

18 light cruisers

113 destroyers

63 submarines

Blockade of Germany (1939–1945)

Fleets overview[edit]

Allied Powers and Co-belligerents[edit]

Royal Navy


United States Navy


Royal Canadian Navy


Royal Indian Navy


Royal Australian Navy


Royal New Zealand Navy


South African Naval Service (later renamed Seaward Defence Force (SDF))


Royal Netherlands Navy


Free French Naval Forces


Soviet Navy


Royal Hellenic Navy


Polish Navy


Brazilian Navy


Chilean Navy


Turkish Naval Forces

Axis Powers and Co-belligerents[edit]

Kriegsmarine


Regia Marina


Imperial Japanese Navy


Finnish Navy


Romanian Navy during World War II


Royal Thai Navy


Bulgarian Navy

Neutral Powers[edit]

Swedish Navy


Spanish Navy

Air warfare of World War II

Naval warfare of World War I

Bertke, Donald A. et al. World War II Sea War (5 vol. 2011–13 in progress) ; 500pp each; includes warships and civilian ships from Allied, Axis, and neutral nations. Data is organized by month, then by geographical area, then by date.

excerpt and text search vol 5

Dear, Ian and M.R.D. Foot, eds. The Oxford companion to world war II (1995), comprehensive encyclopedia

Rohwer, Jürgen, and Gerhard Hümmelchen. Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Naval Institute Press, 2005)

Tucker, Spencer C. (2011). . ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781598844580., comprehensive naval encyclopedia

World War II at Sea: An Encyclopedia

Symonds, Craig L. World War II at Sea: A Global History (2018), 770pp

4000 short articles

"The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia" compiled by Kent G. Budge