Blockade runner
Encyclopedia
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
of a port or strait, as opposed to confronting the blockaders to break the blockade. Very often blockade running is done in order to transport cargo, for example to bring food or arms to a blockaded city. In other cases the blockade runners would carry mail in an attempt to communicate with the outside world.
Operations
Blockade runners were the fastest ships available, and often lightly armed and armored. Their operation was quite risky since blockading fleets would not hesitate to fire on them. However, the potential profits (economically or militarily) from a successful blockade run were tremendous, so blockade-runners typically had excellent crews. Although having modus operandi similar to that of smugglers, blockade-runners were often operated by state's navies as part of the regular fleet. Notable users of blockade runners include the Confederate States of AmericaConfederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
during the World Wars.
Blockade runners have always been considered enemy combatants by the blockading party and have been fired upon or captured when detected.
Blockade runners are often the subject of press coverage when they reach port, giving the act of blockade running a propaganda value.
Ancient Greece, Peloponnesian War
There were numerous blockades and attempts at blockade running during the Peloponnesian WarPeloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...
.
- With his fleet blockaded, Leon of SalamisLeon of SalamisLeon of Salamis was a historical figure, mentioned in both Plato's Apology and Xenophon's Hellenica. This Leon may also be the renowned Athenian general Leon of the Peloponnesian War.- Plato's and Xenophon's Leon :...
dispatched blockade runners to seek reinforcements from Athens.
American Civil War
During the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, blockade running became a major enterprise for the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
due to the Union's
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
Anaconda Plan
Anaconda Plan
The Anaconda Plan or Scott's Great Snake is the name widely applied to an outline strategy for subduing the seceding states in the American Civil War. Proposed by General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, the plan emphasized the blockade of the Southern ports, and called for an advance down the Mississippi...
, which sought to cut off all the Confederacy's overseas trade. Twelve major ports and approximately 3,500 miles of coastline along the Confederate States were patrolled by some 500 ships that were commissioned by the Union government. Great Britain played a major role on the blockade running business, as they had huge investments in the south and were the recipients of many commodities exported goods, especially cotton. To protect their interests British investors had engineered steamships that were longer, narrower and considerably faster than most of the conventional steamers guarding the American coastline, thus enabling them to out-maneuver and out-run Union ships on blockade patrol. Among the more notable of these premier vessels was the CSS Advance
USS Advance (1862)
USS Advance, later known as the USS Frolic, was a blockade runner captured by the Union Navy during the closing years of the American Civil War. She was purchased by the Union Navy and outfitted as a gunboat and assigned to the blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America...
that completed more than 20 successful runs through the Union blockaded before being captured. < These vessels also served to import badly needed supplies, especially firearms, and also served to bring mail to and from the Confederacy. The blockade played a major role in the Union's victory over the Confederate states. By the end of the Civil War the Union Navy had captured more than 1,100 blockade runners and had destroyed or run aground another 355 vessels.
Cretan Revolt (1866–1869)Cretan Revolt (1866–1869)The Cretan Revolt of 1866–1869 or Great Cretan Revolution was a three year uprising against Ottoman rule, the third and largest in a series of Cretan revolts between the end of the Greek War of Independence in 1830 and the establishment of the independent Cretan State in 1898.-Background:The...
During the Great Cretan Revolt, Greek blockade runners supplied the Christians revolting against the Turkish oppression during this time. Names of the ships include: Arkadion (named after the Arkadi MonasteryArkadi Monastery
The monastery of Arkadi is an Eastern Orthodox monastery, situated on a fertile plateau 14 mi to the southeast of Rethymnon on the island of Crete ....
, sunk by the Turkish sloop-of-war Dere in August 1867); Hydra; Panhellenion; and Enosis (Unification), which was detained in Syros by Hobart Pasha in December 1868, just about the time the rebellion collapsed.
World War I
During World War I the Central PowersCentral Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
, most notably Germany, were blockaded by the Entente Powers. In particular the North Sea blockade made it nearly impossible for surface ships to leave Germany for the then neutral USA and other locations.
The blockade was run with cargo submarines, also called merchant submarines, Deutschland
German submarine Deutschland
Deutschland was a blockade-breaking German merchant submarine used during World War I. It was developed with private funds and operated by the North German Lloyd Line...
and Bremen
German submarine Bremen
Bremen was a blockade-breaking German merchant submarine of World War I. Developed with private funds and operated by the North German Lloyd Line, she was one of the first of seven U-151 class U-boats built and one of only two used as unarmed cargo submarines....
, which reached the then neutral USA.
The Marie successfully ran the British North Sea blockade and docked, heavily damaged, in Batavia, Dutch East Indies (now called Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
) on May 13, 1916.
In 1918 Germany tried unsuccessfully to supply their forces in Africa by sending Zeppelin LZ104
Zeppelin LZ104
Zeppelin LZ 104 , designated L.59 by the German Imperial Navy and nicknamed Das Afrika-Schiff , was a German dirigible during World War I, famed for attempting a long-distance resupply mission of the beleaguered garrison of Germany's East Africa colony.-Africa flight :The L.59 was a naval airship...
.
World War II
On the outbreak of war, the Royal Navy imposed a naval blockade against Germany. However, the fall of France provided the German occupying forces with access to the French Atlantic coast, and between 1940 and 1942, many blockade running trips succeeded in delivering cargoes of critical war supplies - especially crude rubber - through the port of Bordeaux; a trade that increased with the entry of Japan into the war in December 1941. Allied attempts to disrupt these operations initially had only a limited effect; as in Operation FranktonOperation Frankton
Operation Frankton was a commando raid on shipping in the German occupied French port of Bordeaux in the Bay of Biscay during the Second World War. The raid was carried out by a small unit of Royal Marines known as the Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment , part of Combined Operations.The plan was...
. From 1943, however, improved Allied air supremacy over the Bay of Biscay rendered blockade running effectively impossible, other than by cargo submarine.
In an attempt to transfer technology to Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany dispatched a submarine, U-234, to sail to Japan. The war ended before the ship could arrive in Japan. The Japanese submarine I-8
Japanese submarine I-8
The Japanese submarine I-8 was a World War II Junsen Type J-3 Imperial Japanese Navy submarine, famous for completing a technology exchange mission to German-occupied France and back to Japan in 1943....
completed a similar mission.
On Nov. 23, 1942, the German ship Ramses attempted unsuccessfully to sail from Batavia (now called Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
), the ship being in the Pacific when the war started, to Bordeaux with a cargo of rubber. The hope was that maintaining a sharp 24 hour lookout they would be able to evade the Allied blockade.
Modern era
In modern times, tracking equipment such as radar and sonar make evading a total blockade by a world power nearly impossible. Drug smugglers and groups like the Tamil Tigers are able to run blockades due to the partial nature of the blockade, or because the navy imposing the blockade is weak and under-equipped. Reminiscent of earlier German attempts, drug smugglers have used semi-submersibleSemi-submersible
A semi-submersible is a specialised marine vessel with good stability and seakeeping characteristics. The semi-submersible vessel design is commonly used in a number of specific offshore roles such as for offshore drilling rigs, safety vessels, oil production platforms and heavy lift cranes.The...
s (narco submarine
Narco submarine
A narco-submarine is a type of custom-made ocean-going self-propelled submersible vessel built by drug traffickers to smuggle drugs. They are especially known to be used by Colombian drug cartel members to export cocaine from Colombia to Mexico, which is often then transported overland to the...
) in their smuggling operations.
See also
- Blockade runners of the Confederacy
- Captured ships of the Civil War
- Airbridge (logistics)Airbridge (logistics)An airbridge is the route and means of delivering material from one place to another by an airlift.An airbridge is the means by which an airhead is kept supplied by overflying enemy held territory...
, the route and means of delivering material by an airliftAirliftAirlift is the act of transporting people or cargo from point to point using aircraft.Airlift may also refer to:*Airlift , a suction device for moving sand and silt underwater-See also:...
, sometimes across blockades - CSS LarkCSS LarkThe Lark was a paddle steamer employed by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. She was the last blockade runner to successfully escape from a Southern port before the Union blockade completely closed off this vital source of supplies.Lark was designed and built by John...
- Merchant submarineMerchant submarineA merchant submarine is a type of submarine intended for trade, and being without armaments, it is not considered a warship like most other types of submarines...
, first invented for blockade running in World War I - Union blockadeUnion blockadeThe Union Blockade, or the Blockade of the South, took place between 1861 and 1865, during the American Civil War, when the Union Navy maintained a strenuous effort on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast of the Confederate States of America designed to prevent the passage of trade goods, supplies, and arms...
- SmugglingSmugglingSmuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
- Hobart Pasha