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Submarine warfare is one of the four divisions ofunderwater warfare, the others beinganti-submarine warfare,mine warfare andmine countermeasures.
Submarine warfare consists primarily ofdiesel andnuclear submarines usingtorpedoes, missiles ornuclear weapons, as well as advanced sensing equipment, to attack other submarines, ships, or land targets. Submarines may also be used for reconnaissance and landing of special forces as well as deterrence. In some navies they may be used for task force screening. The effectiveness of submarine warfare partly depends on theanti-submarine warfare carried out in response.
The first attack by a submarine allegedly occurred on September 8, 1776, by the American submersibleTurtle in an unsuccessful attack on the British ship of the lineHMSEagle.[citation needed]
The age of submarine warfare began during theAmerican Civil War. The 1860s were a revolutionary period for naval warfare. Many new types of warships were being developed for use in theUnited States andConfederate StatesNavies. Submarine watercraft were among the newly created vessels. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a submarine occurred on17 February 1864, when the Confederate submarineH. L. Hunley, aprivateer, sank thesloopUSS Housatonic inCharleston Harbor,South Carolina. Shortly afterward, however,H. L. Hunley sank, with the loss of her entire crew of eight.
Submarine warfare in World War I was primarily a fight between German and Austro-HungarianU-boats and merchant vessels bound for the United Kingdom, France, and Russia. British andAllied submarines conducted widespread operations in theBaltic,North,Mediterranean andBlack Seas along with the Atlantic Ocean. Only a few actions occurred outside the wider European-Atlantic theatre.
The first round of major German submarine attacks on Allied merchant ships began in February 1915, but American civilian deaths, especially with thesinking ofLusitania, turned American public opinion against the Central Powers. The U.S. demanded it stop, and Germany conducted submarine attacks under prize rules from September 1915 to January 1917. AdmiralHenning von Holtzendorff (1853–1919), chief of the admiralty staff, argued successfully in December 1916 to resume unrestricted attacks from February 1917 and thus starve the British. The German high command realized the resumption ofunrestricted submarine warfare, now to include deliberate attacks on neutral shipping, meant war with the United States but calculated that American mobilization would be too slow to stop a German victory on the Western Front[1][2] and played a large role in the United States entering the war in April 1917. Oncenaval convoys were implemented, sinkings did not reach theGerman Imperial Admiralty Staff's optimistic projections.[3]
The sinking ofHMS Pathfinder was the first combat victory of a modern submarine,[4] and the exploits ofSM U-9, which sank three Britishcruisers in under an hour, established the submarine as an important new component of naval warfare.[5] During World War I more than 5,000Allied ships were sunk by U-boats.[6]
German submarines were used to laynaval mines and to attackiron ore shipping in the Baltic. TheBritish submarine flotilla in the Baltic operated in support of the Russians until theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk. During the war, the British invested efforts into developing a submarine that could operate in conjunction with abattleship fleet – the "Fleet Submarine". To achieve the necessary 20knots (37 km/h) (surfaced) theK-class submarines were steam powered. In practice, the K class were a constant problem and could not operate effectively with a fleet.
Between the wars, navies experimented withsubmarine cruisers (France,Surcouf), submarines armed with battleshipcaliber guns (UK,HMS M1) and submarines capable of carrying small aircraft for reconnaissance (HMS M2 andSurcouf).
Germany was denied submarines by the terms of theTreaty of Versailles, but built some anyway. This was not legitimized until theAnglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935, under which the UK accepted German parity in submarine numbers with theRoyal Navy.
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In World War II, submarine warfare was split into two main areas – the Atlantic and the Pacific. The Mediterranean Sea was also a very active area for submarine operations. This was particularly true for the British and French, as well as the Germans. The Italians were also involved, but achieved their greatest successes usingmidget submarines andhuman torpedoes.
In the Atlantic, German U-boats targeted allied convoys as they had in the First World War. Many British submarines were active as well, particularly in the Mediterranean and off Norway, against Axis warships, submarines and merchant shipping.
Initially,Hitler ordered his submarines to abide by the prize rules, but this restriction was withdrawn in December 1939. Although mass attacks by submarine had been carried out in World War I, the "wolf pack" was mainly a tactic of World War IIU-boats. The main steps in this tactic were as follows:
With the later increase in warship and aircraft escorts, U-boat losses became unacceptable. Many boats were lost, and the earlier experienced commanders with them.
Almost 3,000Allied ships (175 warships, 2,825 merchantmen) had been sunk by U-boats.[7] Germany's U-boat fleet suffered heavy casualties, losing 793 U-boats and about 28,000 submariners out of 41,000, a casualty rate of about 70%.[8]
In the Pacific, the situation was reversed, with US submarines hunting Japanese shipping. By war's end, US submarines had destroyed over half of all Japanese merchant ships,[9] totaling well over five million tons of shipping.[9] British and Dutch submarines also took part in attacks on Japanese shipping, mostly in coastal waters. Japanese submarines were initially successful, destroying two US fleetaircraft carriers, a cruiser, and several other ships. However, following a doctrine that concentrated on attacking warships, rather than more-vulnerable merchantmen, the smaller Japanese fleet proved ineffectual in the long term, while suffering heavy losses to Allied anti-submarine measures. Italian submarines and one German submarine[10] operated in the Pacific Ocean, but never enough to be an important factor, inhibited by distance and difficult relations with their Japanese ally.
Japanese submarines operated in the Indian Ocean, forcing the British surface fleet to withdraw to the east coast of Africa. Some German and Italian submarines operated in the Indian Ocean, but never enough to play a significant role.[10]
Since the Second World War, several wars, such as theKorean War,Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and theFalklands War, have involved limited use of submarines. Later submarine-launchedland-attack missiles were employed against Iraq and Afghanistan. With these exceptions, submarine warfare ceased after 1945. Hence strategic thinking about the role of submarines has developed independently of actual experience.
The advent of thenuclear-powered submarine in the 1950s brought about a major change in strategic thinking about submarine warfare. These boats could operate faster, deeper and had much longer endurance. Their larger sizes also allowed them to become missile launching platforms. Nuclear power would allow submarines to have greater accuracy and the ability to use torpedoes against ships, other submarines, and land targets.[11] In response to this theattack submarine became more important, particularly in regard to its postulated role as a hunter-killer. The US also used nuclear submarines asradar pickets for a while. There have also been major advances in sensors and weapons.[citation needed]
During the Cold War, the United States and theSoviet Union played what was described[by whom?] as a 'cat-and-mouse' game of detecting and even trailing enemy submarines.[citation needed]
As the likelihood of unrestricted submarine warfare has diminished, thinking about conventional submarines has focused on their use against surface warships. The mere existence of a submarine may curtail surface warships' freedom to operate. To counter the threat of these submarines, hunter submarines were developed in turn. The role of the submarine has extended with the use of submarine-launched autonomous unmanned vehicles.[citation needed] The development of newair independent propulsion methods has meant that thediesel-electric submarine's need to surface, making it vulnerable, has been reduced. Nuclear submarines, although far larger, could generate their own air and water for an extended duration, meaning their need to surface was limited in any case.[citation needed]
In today's more fractured geopolitical system, many nations are building and/or upgrading their submarines.[citation needed] TheJapan Maritime Self-Defense Force has launched new models of submarines every few years;[citation needed]South Korea has upgraded the already capableType 209(Chang Bogo class) design from Germany and sold copies to Indonesia.[12][13] Russia has improved the old SovietKilo model into what strategic analysts are calling equivalent to the 1980s-eraLos Angeles class, and so on.[citation needed]
At the end of his naval warfare bookThe Price of Admiralty, military historianJohn Keegan postulates that eventually, almost all roles of surface warships will be taken over by submarines, as they will be the only naval units capable of evading the increasing intelligence capabilities (space satellites, airplanes etc.) that a fight between evenly matched modern states could bring to bear on them.[citation needed]
However, thinking about importance of the submarine has shifted to an even more strategic role, with the advent of the nuclearballistic missile submarine carryingSubmarine-launched ballistic missiles withnuclear weapons to providesecond strike capability.[citation needed]
A 2024 study found thatclimate change may decrease the detectability of submarines in certain locations.[14][15]
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