Military operations conducted on, under, or over the sea and waged against other seagoing vessels or targets on land or in the air.
The earliest naval attacks were raids by the armed men of a tribe or town using fishing boats or merchant ships. The first warships were galley s, replaced in the 16th and 17th centuries by sail-driven warships equipped with cannons. The British victory over the Spanish Ships of the line and cruiser s emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the later 19th century, steam replaced sail propulsion, and ironclad s offered greater protection against the increasing power of guns. The battleship , developed in these years, reigned until World War II, when the Pearl Harbor attack proved that bombers launched from aircraft carrier s could sink any and all surface ships. Since then, naval air power
missile s as well as carrier-based planes
has been the primary weapon of the world's fleets. {{link=submarine">Submarine s also play a major role in naval warfare.