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In 1939, the German submarine U-47 launched a surprise attack on the British Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow and sank the battleship "Royal Oak", thus kicking off the naval battle of World War II. In 1930, representatives of the five major naval powers, Britain, the United States, Japan, Italy and France, held a conference in London to limit and reduce naval armaments. However, this move failed to avoid the advent of World War II. Within ten years, Europe was once again involved in a new global conflict, and the navy became one of the main forces in this global battlefield. This book covers all the important maritime battles in World War II and analyzes the connections between different battlefields and battles around the world. Simmonds provides a global historical perspective for interpreting the naval battles in World War II. He peels back the details from different levels, such as the differentiated combination of interests among the main participating countries, new fleet equipment, competition and upgrades in combat technology, decision-makers' sea power strategy duel, and combat generals' tactical games, so that the causes and consequences of all previous naval battles can be seen at a glance. Through the narrative in this book, it is not difficult to find that these naval battles did not occur in isolation in different waters, but were interrelated and closely related to the battles on land and the overall war situation. This was the real situation that the decision-makers at the time faced when strategizing.

This book begins with the evacuation from Dunkirk before the Normandy landings. It clearly, comprehensively and completely describes the complete story of the design of transportation, escort, artillery support ships, as well as different strategic views and cultural frictions. The characters described include not only major decision-makers such as Roosevelt, Churchill, Marshall, Eisenhower, and Ramsey, but also junior officers and soldiers.