 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(February 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Underwater warfare, also known asundersea warfare[1] orsubsurface warfare,[2] isnaval warfare involvingunderwater vehicle orcombat operations conductedunderwater. It is one of the four operational areas ofnaval warfare, the others beingsurface warfare,aerial warfare, andinformation warfare. Underwater warfare includes:
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(June 2023) |
In the 20th century underwater warfare was dominated by the submarine. They first came to prevalence during theFirst World War, when GermanU-boats attacked and sank many allied vessels, such as the sinking of theLusitania in 1915. A similar scenario occurred during theSecond World War, when German U-boats launched a prolonged campaign against Allied shipping, especially in the mid-Atlantic. Japanese submarines also played a minimal role on thePacific front, and American submarines sank a total of 5.3 million tons of Axis shipping throughout the war, most of which was scored against the Japanese.[3] In the 21st centuryunmanned underwater vehicles are coming to play a significant part in underwater warfare.[4]
Seabed warfare is defined as "operations to, from and across the ocean floor."[5] In general the target of seabed warfare is infrastructure in place on the seabed such as power cables, telecom cables, or natural resource extraction systems.[6][7]
