convoy

convoy, one or more merchant ships sailing in company to the same general destination under the protection of naval ships. Convoy has a very ancient history and specific cases of ships proceeding in groups under naval protection have been traced back to the 12th century. It is probable that the general principle existed even long before this, mainly as a protection against piracy, and certainly later against privateers. However, in such cases the reason for ships sailing in company was more likely to be mutual protection rather than naval protection, as most merchant vessels in those days carried their own armament.

Warfare at sea has always resulted in an immense loss in merchant shipping. The only method of minimizing such loss is by the institution of convoy, in which adequate naval protection can usually deter enemy attacks on trade. During the Napoleonic Wars against France (1793–1815) losses of British merchant shipping were so immense that no merchant ship was allowed to sail out of convoy, and the owners and masters of those which attempted to do so were liable to a fine of £100.

In the two world wars of the 20th century, immense losses of merchant shipping were again experienced, almost entirely at the hands of submarines. In the First World War (1914–18) the principle of ocean convoy was not introduced until 1917, a failure in established and proved naval practice that very nearly lost the war for the Allied nations. In the Second World War (1939–45) convoy was instituted at the outbreak of war but a lack of sufficient escort vessels resulted in under-protection of convoys and once again tremendous merchant ship losses were experienced until an adequate strength in escort vessels was built up and the signalling code of the German submarines was broken.

Many of the great sea battles of naval history have been fought as a result of convoy protection, notably those of the Spanish Armada in 1588, the Glorious First of June in 1794, and the great Mediterranean sea battles of the Second World War fought around the convoys taking supplies to the besieged island of Malta. See also flota; waft, to.