At its mouth was the scene of the decisive battle in 405 by which Lysander destroyed the Athenian fleet, ending the Peloponnesian War.

There does, however, seem to have been a delay between the Athenian arrival at Marathon, and the battle ; Herodotus, who evidently believed that Miltiades was eager to attack, may have made a mistake whilst seeking to explain this delay.

Connected with this episode, Herodotus recounts a rumour that this manoeuver by the Persians had been planned in conjunction with the Alcmaeonids, the prominent Athenian aristocratic family, and that a " shield-signal " had been given after the battle.

The battle was a defining moment for the young Athenian democracy, showing what might be achieved through unity and self-belief ; indeed, the battle effectively marks the start of a " golden age " for Athens.

According to Herodotus, an Athenian runner named Pheidippides was sent to run from Athens to Sparta to ask for assistance before the battle.

Then, following the battle, the Athenian army marched the 40 ( 25 miles ) or so kilometers back to Athens at a very high pace ( considering the quantity of armour, and the fatigue after the battle ), in order to head off the Persian force sailing around Cape Sounion.

It first prevented the candidate for expulsion being chosen out of immediate anger, although an Athenian general such as Cimon would have not wanted to lose a battle the week before such a second vote.

However, the Athenian warships participated in the battle nevertheless, and the arrival of additional Athenian warships was enough to dissuade the Corinthians from exploiting their victory, thus sparing much of the routed Corcyraean and Athenian fleet.

The Athenian strategy was initially guided by the strategos, or general, Pericles, who advised the Athenians to avoid open battle with the far more numerous and better trained Spartan hoplites, relying instead on the fleet.

He also persuaded the Athenian fleet to attack the Spartans at the battle of Cyzicus in 410.

In the battle, the Athenians obliterated the Spartan fleet, and succeeded in re-establishing the financial basis of the Athenian Empire.

Through cunning strategy, Lysander totally defeated the Athenian fleet, in 405 BC, at the battle of Aegospotami, destroying 168 ships and capturing some three or four thousand Athenian sailors.

During the first Persian invasion of Greece, he fought at the Battle of Marathon, and was possibly one of the 10 Athenian strategoi ( generals ) in that battle.

Although heavily outnumbered, the Greek Allies were persuaded by the Athenian general Themistocles to bring the Persian fleet to battle again, in the hope that a victory would prevent naval operations against the Peloponessus.

Marathon ( Demotic Greek: Μαραθώνας, Marathónas ; Attic / Katharevousa:, ) is a town in Greece, the site of the battle of Marathon in 490 BC, in which the heavily outnumbered Athenian army defeated the Persians.

* Returning to Athens after the battle, Theramenes leads Athenian agitation against the eight generals who have commanded in the engagement ; the six who have returned to Athens are condemned for negligence in not having picked up survivors from the ships disabled in the battle.

At the Battle of Cynossema, he commanded one wing of the fleet and prevented Athenian defeat by extending his flank to prevent encirclement ; the battle ended in Athenian victory.

That battle was a major Athenian victory ; after the battle, the generals in charge took the majority of their ships to attack the Peloponnesian fleet blockading Conon, leaving behind a force under Thrasybulus and his fellow trierarch Theramenes to rescue the survivors.

Apollo's role as the slayer of the Python led to his association with battle and victory ; hence it became the Roman custom for a paean to be sung by an army on the march and before entering into battle, when a fleet left the harbour, and also after a victory had been won.

Shortly before this battle the Spartan navy, of which he had received the supreme command, was totally defeated off Cnidus by a powerful Persian fleet under Conon and Pharnabazus.

After traveling up the River Stour, the fleet was met by Danish vessels that numbered 13 or 16 ( sources vary on the number ) and a battle ensued.

After an indecisive battle, Amalric retreated to Cairo and Shirkuh marched north to capture Alexandria ; Amalric followed and besieged Shirkuh there, aided by a fleet from Jerusalem.

* 1453 – The last naval battle in Byzantine history occurs, as three Genoese galleys escorting a Byzantine transport fight their way through the huge Ottoman blockade fleet and into the Golden Horn.

* A battle of annihilation is one in which the defeated party is destroyed in the field, such as the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile.

Despite vocal opposition from Contre-Admiral Armand Blanquet, who insisted that the fleet would be best able to respond in open water, the rest of the captains agreed that anchoring in a line of battle inside the bay presented the strongest tactic for confronting Nelson.

Although Nelson had previously been castigated in the press for failing to intercept the French fleet, rumours of the battle had begun to arrive in Britain from the continent in late September and the news Capel brought was greeted with celebrations right across the country.

Historian Edward Ingram has noted that if Nelson had successfully intercepted Bonaparte at sea as ordered, the ensuing battle could have annihilated both the French fleet and the transports.

Among ancient sources, the poet Simonides, another near-contemporary, says the campaign force numbered 200, 000 ; while a later writer, the Roman Cornelius Nepos estimates 200, 000 infantry and 10, 000 cavalry, of which only 100, 000 fought in the battle, while the rest were loaded into the fleet that was rounding Cape Sounion ; Plutarch and Pausanias both independently give 300, 000, as does the Suda dictionary.

In the immediate aftermath of the battle, Herodotus says that the Persian fleet sailed around Cape Sounion to attack Athens directly.

On the first day of September, he issued an address to his fleet, preparing them for battle.

Pointing to the overwhelming dominance of the aircraft carrier in the Pacific Theater, they asked the United States Congress to fund a large fleet of " supercarriers " and their supporting battle groups, beginning with the USS United States ( CVA-58 ).

In the midst of this battle, the Jews ( including Rebecca with her precious memories ) take refuge with the Bene Gesserit fleet.

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers.

A navy now had the potential to destroy a superior enemy battle fleet using steam launches to drop torpedoes.

At first, the danger to a battle fleet was considered only to exist when at anchor, but as faster and longer range torpedoes were developed, the threat extended to cruising at sea.

In response to this new threat more heavily-gunned picket boats called " catchers " were built which were used to escort the battle fleet at sea.

At that time, and even into World War I, the only function of destroyers was to protect their own battle fleet from enemy torpedo attacks and to make such attacks on the battleships of the enemy.

They also had the range and speed to travel effectively with a battle fleet.

Although it was tactically inconclusive, with significantly higher losses in the British fleet but with the German fleet fleeing the field of battle, it was effectively a strategic defeat for Germany.

* 242 BC: Rome constructs another major battle fleet.

This is perhaps a generation before the battle that Gildas says were commanded by Ambrosius Aurelianus.

Titus Statilius Taurus commanded Octavian's armies, who observed the battle from shore to the north of the straits.

As a result of the battle, the Roman army, commanded by Marcus Atilius Regulus, landed in Africa and began ravaging the Carthaginian countryside.

The First Battle of El Alamein ( 1 – 27 July 1942 ) was a battle of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, fought between Axis forces ( Germany and Italy ) of the Panzer Army Africa ( Panzerarmee Afrika ) commanded by Field Marshal ( Generalfeldmarschall ) Erwin Rommel, and Allied ( specifically, British Imperial ) forces ( Britain, British India, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand ) of the British Eighth Army commanded by General Claude Auchinleck.

Alexander commanded his battalion at Third Ypres, where he was slightly wounded, then at Bourlon Wood ( part of the battle of Cambrai ), where his battalion suffered 320 casualties out of 400 men.

The most senior centurion in a legion was known as the primus pilus ( first file or spear ) who directly commanded the 1st century of the first cohort and commanded the whole first cohort when in battle.

He first distinguished himself in the battle of Charnova ( 1807 ) where his regiment held out for 15 hours against the whole army commanded by Napoleon.

In the great battle of Borodino he brilliantly commanded the key positions until he was shell-shocked and taken away from the battlefield.

* May 29 – First Anglo-Dutch War: The opening battle is fought off Dover, between Lt .- Admiral Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp's 42 Dutch ships and 21 English ships divided into 2 squadrons, one commanded by Robert Blake and the other by Nehemiah Bourne.

* October 27 – Huguenot rebellions: The inconclusive Naval battle of Saint-Martin-de-Ré is fought between the Huguenot fleet of La Rochelle commanded by Jean Guiton, and a royal fleet under the command of Charles of Guise.

* June 7 – First Battle of Schooneveld: In a sea battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, fought off the Netherlands coast, the Dutch win with the fleet of the United Provinces ( commanded by Michiel de Ruyter ) against the allied Anglo-French fleet commanded by Prince Rupert of the Rhine.

A Polish-Hungarian crusade commanded by Władysław III of Poland set out to free the Bulgaria and the Balkans in 1444, but the Turks emerged victorious at the battle of Varna.

In the battle of the Lisaine, Bourbaki's men failed to break through German lines commanded by General August von Werder.

This may have had background in an important battle in 1716 that was fought in the town square in Moss in which Norwegian troops commanded by Vincent Budde prevailed over invading Swedish forces, sent by Charles XII to capture Akershus Fortress.

Lactantius states that, in the night before the battle, Constantine was commanded in a dream to " delineate the heavenly sign on the shields of his soldiers " ( On the Deaths of the Persecutors 44. 5 ).

The rods of both Moses and Aaron were endowed with miraculous power during the Plagues of Egypt ( Exodus 7: 17, 8: 5, 8: 16-17, 9: 23, and 10: 13 ); God commanded Moses to raise his rod over the Red Sea when it was to be parted ( Exodus 14: 16 ) and in prayer over Israel in battle ( Exodus 17: 9 ); Moses brings forth water from a stone using his rod ( Exodus 17, Numbers 20: 11 ).

The right battle was commanded by the Duke of Somerset.

The left battle was commanded by the Earl of Devon, another devoted Lancastrian.

Edward himself commanded the main battle, in which Clarence was also stationed.

At the battle of Tsushima, Admiral Tōgō was the officer commanding in Mikasa ( the other divisions being commanded by Vice Admirals, Rear Admirals, Commodores, Captains and Commanders for the destroyer divisions ).

The French army commanded by Philip VI was unrested and commenced fighting immediately after their arrival, rather than gathering their strength for a battle the next day.

According to a count after the battle, the bodies of 1, 542 French knights and squires were found in front of where the lines commanded by Prince of Wales, and Sumption assumes another " few hundred " men-at-arms that were cut down in pursuit.