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Unrestricted submarine warfare

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Unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of naval warfare in which submarines sink merchantmen without warning, as opposed to attacks per prize rules (commonly known as "cruiser rules"). Cruiser rules demand submarines surface and search merchantmen,[1] and place crews in "a place of safety" (for which lifeboats did not qualify, except under particular circumstances)[2] before sinking them, unless the ship in question showed "persistent refusal to stop...or active resistance to visit or search".[3]

Following the use of unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany in the First World War, countries tried to limit, even abolish, submarines. The effort failed. Instead, the London Naval Treaty required submarines to abide by "cruiser rules". These regulations did not prohibit arming merchantmen,[4] but arming them, or having them report contact with submarines (or raiders), made them de facto naval auxiliaries and removed the protection of the cruiser rules.[5] This made restrictions on submarines effectively moot.[6] While such tactics increase the combat effectiveness of the submarine and improve its chances of survival, they are considered by many[7] to be a clear breach of the rules of war, especially when employed against neutral country vessels in a war zone.

Instances

There have been four major campaigns of unrestricted submarine warfare:

  1. The U-boat campaign of World War I, waged intermittently by Germany between 1915 and 1918 against Britain and her allies. This warfare was also ostensibly the casus belli for the United States and Brazil's entry into the war in 1917.
  2. The Battle of the Atlantic during World War II between 1939 and 1945, waged by Germany and, from 1940 to 1943, by Italy, against Britain and her allies.
  3. The Naval War on the Eastern Front, also during World War II between 1941 and 1945, waged by Germany and the USSR against each other, primarily on the Baltic Sea, especially from 1942.
  4. The Pacific War during World War II, also between 1941 and 1945, waged by the United States against Japan.

All the four cases centered around attempts to navally blockade countries, especially those heavily dependent on merchant shipping to supply their war industries and feed their populations (like Britain and Japan), even though the countries waging the unrestricted submarine warfare were unable to institute a typical naval blockade.

See also

References

  1. ^ Holwitt, Joel I. "Execute Against Japan", Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 2005, pp.5-6.
  2. ^ Holwitt, p.92: quoting Article 22 of the London Naval Treaty.
  3. ^ Holwitt, p.93.
  4. ^ Holwitt, p.6.
  5. ^ Dönitz, Karl. Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days; von der Poorten, Edward P. The German Navy in World War II (T. Y. Crowell, 1969); Milner, Marc. North Atlantic run : the Royal Canadian Navy and the battle for the convoys (Vanwell Publishing, 2006)
  6. ^ Holwitt, p.6.
  7. ^ Holwitt, p.294, for instance. Holwitt, however, persistently refuses to acknowledge armed merchantmen are not protected, & most of the merchantmen sunk by both sides in World War II were armed.
  • Ronzitti, Natalino (1988). The Law of naval warfare: a collection of agreements and documents with commentaries, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, ISBN 9024736528, 9789024736522
  • Willmott, H. P. (2003). First World War - Dorling Kindersley
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