ABSTRACT
World War Two was the violent, dramatic outcome of centuries of escalation in naval warfare. European navies projected power and applied force on an almost unbelievable scale, yet paradoxically, it seems, the war also marked the end of their perceived value. In many ways, the war had been a vindication of sorts for the continental theorists who had long faced the problem of confronting the Royal Navy at sea and who promoted navies as essential instruments of the protection of trade in peacetime and of essential transport of materials and supplies in times of war. The French navy retained two modern battleships until the late 1960s, whilst the British also kept some for royal tours of the colonies and for other displays of power. The destruction of the Japanese mercantile fleet by the United States Navy also demonstrates that, along with naval power, it was shipping that really mattered.
