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.
Over 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 by far the largest and most powerful navy in the world with 7,601 ships, including 28 aircraft carriers, 23 battleships, 71 escort carriers, 72 cruisers, over 232 submarines, 377 destroyers, and thousands of amphibious, supply and auxiliary ships.[4]
- ^ British and Commonwealth Navies at the Beginning and End of World War 2 Naval-history.net
- ^ a b Fleets 1939
- ^ Stephen Howarth, To Shining Sea: a History of the United States Navy, 1775–1998 (1999) [page needed]
- ^ Why Japan Really Lost The War Imperial Japanese Navy Page
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