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World War I Project Ash R. Kapur

What was the Convoy System?

By standard definition a Convoy System is a grouping of vehicles that travel together for mutual support and protection, though it is generally known as a military strategy, it is also a strategy in the civilian world as it is a tactic heavily utilized by truck drivers The first group to use convoys in WWI was the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) in 1914 when they were facing the Japanese, The most significant purpose and objective that defined the convoy system itself was for navies to protect their countries merchant ships by escorting them in the battle infested seas
RAF convoy ships escorting merchants

Example of an Coastal Convoy

How did it work?

-The convoy system was utilized the most by the Royal Navy (England) as they devoted a whole section of their fleet to protecting merchant ships -Historian John Abatiello classified the four categories of convoys used during World War I

Convoy System
Short Distance Convoys

Usage
-Used by Britain and her allies -Heavily incorporated commercial good carriers with Scandinavia and France

Warship Escorts

-Early usage of convoy system -The British Grand fleet is an example of this convoy because if was always safeguarded by a destroyer
-Safeguarded transoceanic trade -Main usage was to travel from Europe to the coasts of the United States and Canada -Protected trade and commerce on the coasts of the British shoreline -Used Aircrafts as protection as well

Ocean Convoys

The Convoy system worked heavily on the Strength in numbers system, as the main purpose for using such a system was to attach destroyers to Allied merchant ships and civilian watercraft in effort to protect them from German U-Boats

Coastal Convoys

Where was it used?

Convoy systems were mainly used off of the western coast of continental Europe Convoy systems were also an applied tactic by the ANZAC in the pacific while they were fighting aside the Japanese The coastal regions of both North America and Western Europe occupied the most convoy systems, mainly because the Germans used their U-Boats

Major European Convoy Zones

Impact and Importance

Impact: -According to historian Paul E. Fontenoy The convoy system defeated the German submarine campaign Historical Basis for this would lie in the fact that by the summer of 1917 the Germans were unable to sink their objective amount of weight (600,000 Tons), 1917 was the year that convoy systems became regular practice in transoceanic warfare -The convoy system also furthered the use of aircraft in warfare as they were used to protect ships in the Coastal Convoys -The overall impact lied in preventing a significant amount of Allied merchant losses thus aiding to demise of the U-Boat Importance: -The advent of the convoy system hindered the Germans goal of torpedoing merchant vessels as they ran the risk of getting sunk themselves by the convoys -Convoys also made it harder for U-Boats to find targets as it was easier to track the predicted routes of a single merchant ship

-Set a precedent for the convoy system employed by the British in World War II and the civilian convoy system employed by truck drivers

U- Boat versus Convoy system

Convoy Warfare

Works Cited

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/milit ary_conflict/p_convoy.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoys_in_World_War_I Paul E. Fontenoy, "Convoy System", The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social and Military History, Volume 1, Spencer C. Tucker, ed. (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2005), 31214.

http://www.cityofart.net/bship/u_boat.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oTZjbQdtaE