Charting a course from medieval to modern times, Helen Doe discusses 50 key naval operations which have changed history. Included here are Britain's 1585 defeat of the Spanish Armada and the victory at Trafalgar that established the Royal Navy as the world's finest, and the naval duel at Hampton Roads, Virginia that marked the first clash between ironclads. Here too are Jutland—the largest naval engagement of the Great War—and the Battle of Midway, which turned the tide against the Japanese in World War II.