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Naval warfare

Combat involving sea-going ships / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Battles have been fought on water for more than 3,000 years.[1]

Kamp_mellem_den_engelske_fregat_Shannon_og_den_amerikanske_fregat_Chesapeak.jpg
Battle between the British frigate Shannon and the American frigate Chesapeake, painted in 1836 by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg and depicting the capture of USS Chesapeake.

The armed forces branch designated for naval warfare is a navy. Naval operations can be broadly divided between riverine and littoral applications (brown-water navy), open-ocean applications (blue-water navy), and something in between (green-water navy), although these distinctions are more about strategic scope than tactical or operational division. The strategic offensive purpose of naval warfare is projection of force by water, and its strategic defensive purpose is to frustrate the similar projection of force by enemies.