Unrestricted Submarine Warfare: Strategies, Tactics, and Consequences

By Fouad Sabry

What is Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

Unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of naval warfare in which submarines sink merchant ships such as freighters and tankers without warning. The use of unrestricted submarine warfare has had significant impacts on international relations in regards to both the First World War and the Second World War. Its history has been dominated by German decision making.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Unrestricted submarine warfare

Chapter 2: Karl Dönitz

Chapter 3: Laconia incident

Chapter 4: U-boat

Chapter 5: Battle of the Atlantic

Chapter 6: Second London Naval Treaty

Chapter 7: Submarine warfare

Chapter 8: Tonnage war

Chapter 9: Commerce raiding

Chapter 10: Sussex pledge

(II) Answering the public top questions about unrestricted submarine warfare.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: May 29, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Unrestricted submarine warfare

Unrestricted submarine warfare is a form of naval warfare in which merchant ships, such as freighters and tankers, are sunk by submarines without prior warning, as opposed to prize rules (also known as cruiser rules), which require warships to hunt merchantmen. To comply with the laws, a submarine must surface, which defeats the purpose of submarines and exposes it to attack.

The 1899 Hague Convention established restrictions on naval combat. Consider them a violation of the rules of war, especially when used against neutral ships in a conflict zone.

After World War I, there was a significant drive to establish international regulations barring submarine assaults on merchant ships. Since France did not ratify the pact, it did not enter into force.

States signed the London Protocol on Submarine Combat in 1936.

Interwar limits on unrestricted submarine warfare have been deemed insufficiently specific, resulting in disputes about how to interpret the laws and agreements.

Four significant campaigns of unrestricted submarine warfare have occurred, one during World War I and three during World War II:

The German U-boat campaign of World War I, waged intermittently between 1915 and 1918 against Great Britain and its allies. On May 7, 1915, U-boat U-20 deliberately destroyed the British Cunard luxury liner RMS Lusitania. This was one of the most heinous atrocities in history. Germany's reinstatement of unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917, together with the Zimmermann Telegram, prompted the United States to enter World War I on the side of the British.

The Atlantic Battle during World War II. It was fought between Nazi Germany and the Allies from 1939 to 1945, and between Fascist Italy and the Allies from 1940 to 1943.

World War II's Baltic Sea Campaigns on the Eastern Front. Between 1941 and 1945, particularly beginning in 1942, it was fought mostly in the Baltic Sea between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

During World War II, from 1941 and 1945, the Allies and the Japanese Empire fought the Pacific War.

The four incidents included attempts to impose a naval blockade on countries, particularly those largely dependent on merchant ships to supply their war industries and feed their populations (such as Britain and Japan), when their adversaries were unable to implement a traditional naval embargo.

{End Chapter 1}

Chapter 2: Karl Dönitz

Karl Dönitz (sometimes spelled Doenitz; German: [ˈdøːnɪts] ( listen); 1891–1980) was a German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in May 1945, Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies resulted in the dissolving of the Flensburg Government a few days later.

As Navy Supreme Commander commencing in 1943, He had a significant impact on the naval history of World War II.

Before World War I, he began his career in the Imperial German Navy. In 1918, while commanding UB-68, he was captured by British forces and held as a prisoner of war. During his time in a POW camp, he developed what he later termed Rudeltaktik (pack tactic, commonly called wolfpack).

By the commencement of the Second World War, the United States had become a superpower, Dönitz was supreme commander of the Kriegsmarine's U-boat arm (Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote (BdU)).

January of 1943, Dönitz achieved the rank of Großadmiral (grand admiral) and replaced Grand Admiral Erich Raeder as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy.

Dönitz was the main enemy of Allied naval forces in the Battle of the Atlantic.

From 1939 until 1943, the U-boats battled effectively, but as of May 1943, they lost the initiative.

Dönitz ordered his submarines into battle until 1945 to relieve the pressure on other branches of the Wehrmacht (armed forces).

Dönitz remained as head of state with the titles of President of Germany and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces until his cabinet was dissolved by the Allied powers on 23 May de facto and on 5 June de jure.

By his own account, Dönitz was a dedicated Nazi and supporter of Hitler.

Following World War II, On three counts, he was accused as a serious war criminal at the Nuremberg trials. conspiracy to commit violations of the peace, war crimes, as well as crimes against humanity; planning, initiating, and conducting aggressive wars; and violations of the laws of war.

He was judged not responsible for crimes against humanity, However, guilty of peace crimes and war crimes against the laws of war.

He was given a ten-year prison sentence; following his release, He resided in a village close to Hamburg until his 1980 passing, following a protracted sickness.

Dönitz was born in Grünau, near Berlin, to Anna Beyer and Emil Dönitz, an engineer, in 1891.

Karl has an older sibling.

In 1910, Dönitz enlisted in the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy).

After Peter's passing,, Klaus was prohibited from participating in battle and was permitted to leave the military to begin training to become a navy physician.

He returned to sea on 13 May 1944 and perished at sea; On his 24th birthday, he convinced his buddies to let him embark on the E-boat S-141 for a raid on Selsey.

La Combattante, a French warship, sank the vessel.

He continued his naval career in the naval branch of the armed forces of the Weimar Republic.

On January 10th, 1921, he became a Kapitänleutnant (lieutenant) in the new German navy (Vorläufige Reichsmarine).

Dönitz commanded torpedo boats, becoming a Korvettenkapitän (lieutenant-commander) on 1 November 1928.

On September 1st, 1933, he became a Fregattenkapitän (commander) and, in 1934, was given command of the Emden cruiser, The ship on which cadets and midshipmen underwent a year-long training circumnavigation.

On September 1st, 1939, Poland was invaded by Germany.

Britain and France declared war on Germany quickly, and World War II commenced.

Sunday, September 3, Dönitz chaired a conference at Wilhelmshaven.

At 11:15, the British Admiralty transmitted the message Total Germany..

B-Dienst intercepted the message and it was promptly reported to Dönitz.

Dönitz paced around the room and his staff purportedly heard him repeatedly say, Oh my God! Thus, war with England has resumed!

On October 1st, 1939, Dönitz became a Konteradmiral (rear admiral) and Commander of the Submarines (Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote, BdU).

During the initial phase of the war, Notwithstanding differences with Raeder over the optimal way to deploy his forces, he did so, Dönitz was given considerable operational freedom for his junior rank.

Intelligence played an essential part in the Atlantic War.

Signals security aroused Dönitz's suspicions during the war.

The German supply submarine U-459 arrived 800 nautical miles west of Freetown on January 12, 1942, far away from convoy lanes.

It was planned to meet up with an Italian submarine, until captured by a warship.

The German captain's report coincided with reports of a decrease in sightings and a period of tension between Dönitz and Raeder.

Following Hitler's 11 December 1941 declaration of war on the United States, Dönitz implemented Operation Drumbeat (Unternehmen Paukenschlag).

On January 30, 1943, Dönitz replaced Erich Raeder as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy (Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine) and Großadmiral (grand admiral) of the Naval High Command (Oberkommando der Marine).

In a message to the navy, he declared his aim to retain operational command of the U-boats and his determination to fight to the death for Hitler.

Innovative construction methods, Elimination of prototypes and abandonment of revisions To reach Speer's quota, we decreased construction times from 460,000 to 260–300,000 man hours.

The spring of 1944, It was anticipated that the Type XXI submarine would reach frontline units.

1943's Combined Bomber Offensive thwarted German schemes.

Dönitz and Speer were appalled by the destruction of Hamburg, A significant construction site.

Midway through June 1943, the technological and industrial dominance of the Allied warships made it possible for the United States to enter the war, Canadians, The United States and the United Kingdom will form hunter-killer groups comprising of swift anti-submarine escorts and aircraft carriers.

The purpose of naval operations changed from avoiding U-boats and safeguarding convoys to seeking them out and destroying them wherever they operated.[139] USN hunter-killer groups operated throughout the Atlantic.

Prior to the arrival of the Royal Canadian Navy in early 1943, Argentia had been an important naval taskforces base.

That month, 21 ships engaged in combat with two groups; Cargoes ONS 18/ON 202.

The engagement was a failure.

In October, a failed attack on Convoy SC 143, despite scant Luftwaffe air support, the