Who should control the surface of the sea? This ongoing and as yet unanswered question has been debated since aircraft were first introduced to warfare and remains one of the fascinating conflicts of the twentieth century. This book describes the struggle from World War I and the debates of the interwar years to the great battles of World War II and the development of missiles for attack and defense in the post-war years.Twenty key battles are presented in vivid detail and analyzed in terms of the combatants' preparation, flaws in planning, mistakes made, and lessons learned. The contributions and shortcomings of the various navies and airforces involved in each battle are explained fully and fairly by a former captain in the Australian Navy who participated in some of the actions described. Such an approach provides the reader with an excellent understanding of not only the historical background to the adversarial relationship between ships and aircraft, but also its present status and itslikely developments.