War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding

right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its

size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Thank you. your host, James Early. Hello and welcome back to Key Battles of World War II in Europe, our 10,000-foot

survey of the Second World War in Europe and the areas around it. I'm your host, James

Early, as always. And my co-host as always is Sean McIber.

Today's episode is The War at Sea to 1941. From the first days of the Second World War through

the so-called phony war, the catastrophes on land, and the dramatic battle in the skies over Britain.

A very real and very active war raged in

seas around the globe. In today's episode, we look at the war at sea from 1939 to 1941.

In many ways, the World Navy was the most prepared for the Second World War. The British Navy was

the largest in the world. The interwar treaties and hardships of the Depression allowed all the

belligerents to achieve a naval parity, with Britain focusing her treaty allotments mostly on

building a series of excellent cruisers to protect her sea lanes from surface raiders.

She had a good number of modern destroyers and many submarines. She still had 12 powerful battleships

and three fast and handsome large

battle cruisers. As a pioneer of naval aviation, the Royal Navy had a mixed bag of six older

aircraft carriers of varying capability and effectiveness, with one new carrier and three more

being built. She also had five modern battleships in the works.

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