Bermuda Gazette of 12 November, 1796, calling for privateering against Spain and its allies, and with advertisements for crew for two privateer vessels.

Commerce raiding is to destroy the logistics (supplies) of an enemy, rather than engage the combatant themselves.

Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by the naval theorist A.T. Mahan, who regarded it as a distraction from the destruction of the enemy's fighting power. Alfred Thayer Mahan (September 27 1840–December 1 1914 was a United States Navy Flag officer, geostrategist, and educator Nevertheless, commerce raiding was an important part of naval strategy from the Early Modern period through until the Second World War.

Usually, commerce raiding is chosen by a weaker naval power against a stronger, or by a nation with little ocean-going trade against one with a great deal. The best protection against commerce raiding strategy is for merchant vessels to sail in convoy, protected by naval escorts. A convoy is a group of Vehicles (of any type but usually motor vehicles or ships traveling together for mutual support

Privateering

The first sort of commerce-raiding was for nations to commission privateers — privately-owned ships authorised to attack and capture enemy merchants. A privateer was a private Warship authorized by a country's Government by Letters of marque to attack foreign shipping Early instances of this type of warfare were by the British and Dutch against the Spanish treasure fleets of the 16th Century, and which resulted in financial gain for both Captain and crew upon capture of enemy vessels ("prizes"). Beginning in the 16th century the Spanish treasure fleets (or simply West Indies Fleet from Spanish Flota de Indias) transported various metal resources and agricultural Prize is a term used in Admiralty law to refer to Equipment, Vehicles, and Vessels captured during armed conflict

This quickly became a major commercial enterprise, with privateer vessels, often in groups, being outfitted by venture capital, with investors also sharing in the returns. The practice rapidly spread. A privateer was distinguished from a pirate by the letter of marque, by which the vessel was commissioned as a private man-of-war. Captured vessels and cargo were submitted, in Britain's case, to Admiralty courts, where they might be condemned for sale, or, if the captures were not found to be within the rules of war, they might be released, sometimes with awards for damages.

Napoleonic Wars

During Britain's wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France, the Royal Navy dominated the seas. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) France adopted a guerre de course strategy by licensing civilian privateers to seize British shipping. A privateer was a private Warship authorized by a country's Government by Letters of marque to attack foreign shipping British East Indiamen of the time were therefore heavily armed to protect themselves against such raids, at the cost of considerable speed and maneuverability. An East Indiaman was a Ship operating under charter or licence to the Honourable East India Company. Some East Indiamen such as the Arniston were successfully able to fend off these attacks that occurred in other parts of the world, however others such as the Kent were less fortunate. Overview East Indiaman operated under charter or licence to the Honourable East India Company, which held a monopoly granted by Queen Elizabeth I ^[1]

American Civil War

During the American Civil War, the Confederacy operated a fleet of privateers and naval commerce raiders. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South The Confederate States Navy ( CSN) was the naval branch of the Confederate States Armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress The naval raiders include the CSS Sumter, CSS Florida, CSS Alabama, and CSS Shenandoah. History Construction Alabama was built in secrecy by British shipbuilders John Laird Sons and Company in Liverpool, Merseyside History and mission She was designed as a British transport for troops to the East and was built on the River Clyde in Scotland Most of the ships used in this period were built in Britain.

Steel Navies

By the 1880's, the navies of Europe began to deploy warships made of iron and steel. The natural process that followed was more powerful guns to penetrate the new steel warships, which came with the inherent quality of more destructive power. No longer would navies fight for "prizes", in which capture of the enemy warship meant financial gain for Captain and crew, as well as their government when the prize and her cargo went under the hammer (only one warship was sunk at Trafalgar in 1805). Prize is a term used in Admiralty law to refer to Equipment, Vehicles, and Vessels captured during armed conflict "Auctioneer" redirects here For the DC Comics supervillain see Auctioneer (comics. The Battle of Trafalgar ( 21 October 1805) was a historic sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the The advent of steel and armor-piercing shells now meant the destruction and sinking of enemy "Men O' War"; first seen at Sinope in 1853, the change was little appreciated until 1905, when at Tsushima seven ships of the line were sent to the bottom, and the only "prizes" were those that had voluntarily surrendered upon the high seas, for the last time in naval history. An armor-piercing shell is a type of Ammunition designed to penetrate Armor. A man-of-war (also man of war, man-o'-war or simply man) is an armed naval vessel The naval Battle of Sinop (or Sinope) took place on 30 November 1853 at Sinop, a Sea port in northern Turkey, when The Battle of Tsushima ( Japanese: 対馬海戦 tsushima-kaisen, Цусимское сражение Tsusimskoye srazheniye) commonly known as the

World Wars in the Atlantic Ocean

During World War I and II, the First and Second Battle of the Atlantic saw Germany conducting guerre de course against Britain and its allies, mainly using U-Boats. The First Battle of the Atlantic ( 1914 &ndash 1918) was a naval campaign of World War I, largely fought in the seas around the British The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous Military campaign of World War II, (though some say it was a series of naval Military campaigns Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers

World War II

Limitations set by the Treaty of Versailles meant that Germany could not build a large battle fleet as it had during WWI, and chose to concentrate on air and land power instead. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. U-Boats were cheaper and quicker to build than capital ships, and consequently Germany built up submarine rather than surface strength. A submarine is a Watercraft that can operate independently below water as distinct from a Submersible that has only limited underwater capability This meant Germany would not be able to fight a war of "guerre d'escadre" (battles between fleets), but would have to pursue guerre de course; what small numbers of surface warships Germany possessed, such as the Deutschland class cruisers, would also participate. Description German capital ships were restricted by the Treaty of Versailles to a displacement of 10000 tons for "armoured ships"

During World War II, the United States Navy used its submarine fleet to pursue a merchant war against Japanese shipping, while the US Navy's surface fleets conducted offensive fleet engagements against the Imperial Navy. The bulk of the Japanese merchant marine was sunk by American submarines. By the end of the war, Japan only had 12% of the tonnage of her pre-war shipping afloat.

The Indian Ocean raid was a naval sortie by the Carrier Striking Task Force of the Japanese Navy from 31 March to 10 April 1942 against Allied shipping and bases in the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean raid was a naval sortie by the Fast Carrier Strike Force of the Imperial Japanese Navy from 31 March to 10 April 1942 The Imperial Japanese Navy (日本海軍 Nihon Kaigun at the beginning of World War II contained the world's largest carrier fleet For Combined Fleet, please see that article For Carrier Striking Task Force, please see that article In general allies are people groups or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's Oceanic divisions covering about 20% of the water on the Earth 's surface It was an early engagement of the Pacific campaign of World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

The staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy decided to send some raiders to Indian Ocean waters during December 12,1941-July 12, 1942. For Combined Fleet, please see that article For Carrier Striking Task Force, please see that article The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's Oceanic divisions covering about 20% of the water on the Earth 's surface The Germans had already been operating in the area and conducted mutual aid with Japanese submarines, in the form of re-supply and military intelligence. The German people (Deutsche are an Ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent and speaking the German language as The Indian Ocean was the largest operating area involving direct contact between the two axis partners, in which their primary objective was to keep the pressure on the shipping lanes. The Japanese Navy participated in Raider Warfare, but concentrated their powerful fleets on "Guerre d'Escadre", Fleet Warfare in the larger areas of the vast Pacific Ocean.

See also

Naval strategy

• Tonnage war
• Unrestricted submarine warfare
• Merchant raider
• German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis
• Indian Ocean raid
• Axis naval activity in Australian waters
• Japanese raiders in Indian Ocean Campaign
• Q-ship

In popular culture

• The Last Raider by Douglas Reeman (isbn 0-09-905580-5 Arrow books) Novel detailing the last voyage of a WW I German commerce raider. Naval strategy is the planning and conduct of War at sea the naval equivalent of Military strategy on land A tonnage war is a Military strategy aimed at merchant shipping Unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of Naval warfare in which Submarines sink merchant ships without warning as opposed to attacks per prize regulations Merchant raiders are Ships which disguise themselves as Non-combatant Merchant vessels whilst actually being armed and intending to attack enemy commerce Early history Formerly a Freighter named Goldenfels, she was built by Bremer Vulkan in 1937 and was owned and operated by the Hansa Line The Indian Ocean raid was a naval sortie by the Fast Carrier Strike Force of the Imperial Japanese Navy from 31 March to 10 April 1942 Although Australia was remote from the main battlefronts there was considerable Axis naval activity in Australian waters during World War II. Japanese raiders in Indian Ocean Campaign In late 1942, enemy activities in the Indian Ocean had virtually come to an end Mystery Ship redirects here For the 1917 film serial see The Mystery Ship.

References

Further reading

• Brown, David. Warship Losses Of World War II. 1995. ISBN 155750914X
• Blair, Clay, Jr. Silent Victory. Philadelphia: Lipincott, 1975.
• Mahan, Alfred, Captain. Influence of Seapower on History.