World War II Naval Campaigns: Grand Strategy

German sailor
Figure 1.--This Australian boy is looking over a captured German Naval mine at a recruiting drive during World War II. This is a contact mine, which could be either moored to the bottom with a chain or set adrift in an enemy harbor to float free. When a ship hit it and broke off one of the horns seen protruding from the mine, it exploded. These were a large mine with enough explosives to sink a large warship. The Germans used mines, surface raiders, naval vessels, and U-boats to cut the sea lanes to Britain. The campaign in the North Atlantic proved perhaps the longest and most critical to the Allied war effort.

The two countries primarily involved in launching World War II, Germany and Japan, had different strategic concepts. For the Germans the naval war was a commerce war. German Führer Adolf Hitler and his Soviet ally launching the War by invading Poland (September 1939). Hitler had not planned to launch another world war, he had convinced himself that the British and French as at Munich would not fight. He seems to have been oblivious to how his invasion of Czechoslovakia (March 1939) in total violation of the pledges made at Munich would mean that the Allies would never again consider negitiation with him. Hitler did not seriously consider naval warfare when he invaded Poland. He still thought that he could arrange an understanding with Britain. And he thought that a victory in the East would provide Germany the resources needed to fight a protracted war if necessary. And the resources of the East could not be interdicted by a naval blockade. Only after the British proved intracrible and the U-boats unexpectedly proved a foirmidable weapon did Hitler warm to naval warfare. For the British, after the fall of France, the naval war became not just important, but a matter of national survival. Only if the sealanes to Ameica and the Dominions could be kept open could Britain avoid defeat. And only through these sealanes could America bring its enormous industrial power to bear on NAZI Germany. The Germans used mines, surface raiders, naval vessels, and U-boats to cut the sea lanes to Britain. The campaign in the North Atlantic proved perhaps the longest and most critical to the Allied war effort. Victory in the North Atlantic was central to Allied strategy. Japan had a very different strategic concept. Japan had no interest in a commerce war, although given the vulnerability of Pacific sea lanes this would have been a potentially useful strategy. The Imprtial Navy's strategic doctrine was to destroy the eneny in a climatic naval battle. Japan had been fighting a war in China for several years. America was increasing its diplomsatic and material support for China, much to the outrage of Japanese militarists. Japan joined the Axis (1940) to discourage the Americans. The impact was the exact opposite. Japanese expansion in China and Indochina (Vietnam) prompted increasingly severe American steps leading to an oil embargo, The result was that the Japanese who had been considering striking north against the Soviet Union decided on striking south and war with America and Britain. This meant a naval war aimed at securing the oil and others resources of Southeast Asia needed fight a war. Like the Germans, the Japanse were gambling that they could gain crippling early victories before America could mobilize and bring its enormous industrial strength to bear. And to achieve this, the Japanese ammassed a powerful carrier force which unbeknownst to the United States was superbly trained and equipped. American naval dicrtrine was also to seek out the eneny in a climatic naval battle. The damage sustained by the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor forced the united States to adjust its strategy. The climatic naval battle the two fleets sought would finally come at Leyte Gulf by which time the Japanese carrier fleet had been crippled and the Japanese merchant marine virtually destroyed.

The Atlantic War

For the Germans the naval war was a commerce war. This was not what the German Nacal High Command wanted. Hitler had promised them a vast fleet and they were thinking about major fleet engaements in the 1940s. Bismarck was to be the first of powerful battleships that would sweep the Royal Navy from the sea. German Führer Adolf Hitler and his Soviet ally surprised the world when they launched the War by invading Poland (September 1939). This was several years before Hitler had told the admirals that they would need to fight. The Admirals thus had to prepare a war strategy with what they had and that strategy became a commerce war. Hitler himself had not planned to launch another world war, he had convinced himself that the British and French as at Munich would not fight. He seems to have been oblivious to how his invasion of Czechoslovakia (March 1939) in total violation of the pledges made at Munich would mean that the Allies would never again consider negotiation with him. Hitler did not seriously consider naval warfare when he invaded Poland. He still thought that he could arrange an understanding with Britain. And he thought that a victory in the East would provide Germany the resources needed to fight a protracted war if necessary. Thus unlike World War I, an Allied naval blockade would have little effect. The resources of a German empire in the East could not be interdicted by a naval blockade. Only after the British proved intracrible and the U-boats unexpectedly proved a foirmidable weapon did Hitler warm to naval warfare. For the British, after the fall of France, the naval war became not just important, but a matter of national survival. The Brutish lost the suport of the French fleet and had an new eneny to face--the Italian fleet. And with French Atlantic-coat ports, the U-boat threat became even more deadly. Only if the sealanes to Ameica and the Dominions could be kept open could Britain avoid defeat. And only through these sealanes could America bring its enormous industrial power to bear on NAZI Germany. The Germans used mines, surface raiders, naval vessels, and U-boats to cut the sea lanes to Britain. The campaign in the North Atlantic proved perhaps the longest and most critical to the Allied war effort. Victory in the North Atlantic was central to Allied strategy. This was the central mission of the Royal Navy. And it became the central mission of the U.S. Navy even before the United states formally entered the War.

The Pacific War

Japan had a very different strategic concept than the Germans. Japan had no interest in a commerce war, although given the vulnerability of Pacific sea lanes this would have been a potentially useful strategy. Japan unlike Germany did have a poerful surface fleet. The Imperiall Navy's strategic doctrine was to destroy the eneny in a climatic naval battle. Japan had been fighting a war in China for several years. America was increasing its diplomatic and material support for China, much to the outrage of the Japanese militarists. Japan joined the Axis (1940) to discourage the Americans. The impact was the exact opposite. Japanese expansion in China and Indochina (Vietnam) prompted increasingly severe American steps leading to a potentially crippling oil embargo. The result was that the Japanese who had been considering striking north against the Soviet Union decided on striking south and war with America and Britain. This meant a naval war aimed at securing the oil and others resources of Southeast Asia needed to fight a war. Like the Germans, the Japanse were gambling that they could gain crippling early victories before America could mobilize and bring its enormous industrial strength to bear. And to achieve this, the Japanese ammassed a powerful carrier force which unbeknownst to the United States was superbly trained and equipped. American naval docrtrine was also to seek out the eneny in a climatic naval battle. The damage sustained by the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor was severe, but not fatal. But, it forced the United States to adjust its strategy. Given the power of the Imperial fleet at the start of the War, the Japanese attack probably saved thousands of lives. Many more sailors would have perished if the battleships had been sunk at sea. The American strategy became to first use its carriers to stage hit and run attacks and tghen taken on the Japanese carriers, first in the Coral Sea and then at Midway. Sucess enabled the Pacific Fleet to slug it out in around the Solomons. The result was that the Imperial Fleet withdrew from the South Pacific. The United States unlike the Imperial Fleet, launched a coomerce war which eventiually cut the Japanese Home Islands off from their resource-rich conquests--the Souuthern Resource Zone they went to war for in the first place. This enabled the United States to pursue its central strategy, build ships, ships, and more ships. Not only did the United States had a vastly superior capacity to build ships, but it built even more shipyards. And the Japanes despite their stunning comquests had no way of impeding American war production. Amazingly it was not even part of their strategy. The result was that when the climatic naval battles came, the Pacific Fleet out numbered the Japanese in every class of vessel and the increasing number of carriers carried modern new aircradt with outclassed the Japanese who were still using the aircraft they used to launch the War. The climatic naval battle the two fleets sought would finally come at Leyte Gulf. It proved to be cthe greatest battle in naval warfare. By this time the Japanese carrier fleet had been crippled and the Japanese merchant marine virtually destroyed.







HBC







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Created: May 5, 2003
Last updated: 11:49 PM 8/8/2010