This list of naval battles is a chronological list delineating important naval battles that have occurred throughout history, from the beginning of naval warfare with the Hittites in the 12th century BC to piracy off the coast of Somalia in the 21st century. If a battle has no commonly used name it is referred to as "Action of (date)" within the list below.

Ancient

Middle Ages

5th century

6th century

7th century

8th century

9th century

10th century

11th century

12th century

13th century

14th century

15th century

16th century

Northern Seven Years' War (1563–1570)

Later 16th century

17th century

Early 17th century

Danish–Swedish War (1643–1645)

Cretan War (1645–1669)

Anglo-Dutch Wars (1652–1674)

Later 17th century

18th century

Early 18th century

Great Northern War (1700–1721)

War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748)

Seven Years' War (1756–1763)

Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774)

American War of Independence (1776–1783)

Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)

Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790)

The Russian calendar was eleven days behind the Swedish during the 18th century, so Russian dates are eleven days earlier.

French Revolutionary War (1793–1802)

19th century

Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815)

South American Independence wars

War of 1812

Greek War of Independence

Cisplatine War

Mid 19th century

Liberal Wars (1828–1834)

Uruguayan Civil War (1839–1851)

Texas-Mexican Wars

Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata (1845–1850)

First Schleswig War (1848–1851)

Crimean War (1853–1856)

Ningpo massacre (1857)

American Civil War (1861–1865)

** April 10–11, 1862, Union forces on Tybee Island and naval operations conducted a 112-day siege, then captured the Confederate-held Fort Pulaski in Georgia

Late 19th century

Second Schleswig War (1864)

Paraguayan War (1864–1870)

Chincha Islands War (1865–1879)

Third Italian War of Independence (1866)

Boshin War (1868–1869)

Peruvian Coup attempt (1877)

War of the Pacific (1879–1883)

Sino-French War (1884–1885)

Chilean Civil War (1891)

Homestead Strike (1892)

Franco-Siamese conflict (1893)

Argentine Revolution of 1893 (1893)

Brazilian Naval Revolt (1893–1894)

First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895)

Anglo-Zanzibar War (1896)

Spanish–American War (1898)

20th century

Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901)

Markomannia incident (1902)

Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905)

Mexican Revolution (1910–1920)

Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912)

First Balkan War (1912–1913)

Second Balkan War (1913)

World War I (1914–1918)

Russian Civil War (1917–1922)

Turkish War of Independence (1919–1922)

Irish Civil War (1922–1923)

Colombia-Peru War (1932–1933)

Chaco War (1932–1935)

Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)

Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945)

Ecuadorian-Peruvian War (1941)

Italian Invasion of Albania (1939)

Winter War (1939–1940)

World War II (1939–1945)

Later 20th century

21st century