Observance Of Law Hampers Navy In Wartime

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 15088, 23 September 1949, Page 4

Observance Of Law Hampers Navy In Wartime

Address By Chief Of Staff

To Rotarians

Unrestricted U-boat Warfare

The handicap imposed on the British Commonwealth's naval forces by their observance of international law at the beginning of a war was discussed by the First Naval Member and Chief of the Naval Staff (Commodore G. W. G. Simpson) in a talk at a Wellington Rotary Club luncheon. "I wish to point out that our Empire which depends on the sea, thrived upon the observance of international law, which is now virtually erased from the Statute Book because of its non-observance by our enemies," said Commodore Simpson. "But the situation is, in fact, more serious than this. "The Royal Navy and the Dominion Navies still enter a conflict bound by the rules of international law until an enemy's lawless activities force our respective Governments to waive all rules. Because international law favours us, we must give it a trial. Nevertheless., the inconvenience of fighting the first round of any contest with one arm tied behind one's back has its dangers. "Fortunately, the initiative for stopping the round and calling off all restrictions lies with our Governments. Thus one must rest assured that restrictions will be removed when it is abundantly clear that the enemy will not fight to rules, but, we may hope, before vital damage has occurred." The Invasion of Norway

Commodore Simpson illustrated this point by describing how British submarines were unable to sink ships carrying German forces invading Norway in April, 1940, because they were sailing under neutral flags. When Foreign Office permission was received in the afternoon of the third day after it had been sought, the German invasion had been virtually completed. Then, too, the Royal Navy was prevented for two years from pursuing U-boats into Spanish territorial waters.

The enemy waged unrestricted U-boat warfare from the beginning of World War II to the end. Broadly, however the contest was by no means confined to national effort in building shipping and warships on one side, and submarines on the other; it also largely concerned the air forces and the production of new weapons by the best scientists brains.

International law regarding the protection of trade and the control of sea communications w»s originally proclaimed, by Queen Elizabeth, said Commodore Simoson. It was later expounded by a Dutch lawyer, Grotius, who broadly laid down the accepted principle of the right of warships to visit and search merchantmen, to confiscate contraband, and to take as a prize the vessel carrying it. Thus, the penalties imposed on neutrals, in addition to belligerents, whose trade was assisting the enemy, was most severely punished. Britain's Advantage

When this law was made, however, the only means of fighting at sea was confined to surface ships. Today the major part of naval warfare occurred above and below the seas on which 99 per cent, of overseas trade still persisted. The law was to Britain's advantage and, after the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire expanded unchallenged for about 100 years because the Royal Navy was mistress of the seas. The advent of the submarine and of the naval ambitions of Germany at the beginning of the century altered this happy picture. The tv/o factors which saved •Britain from defeat through loss of control of her sea communications in World War I were the withdrawal by the German High Command of unrestricted U-boat warfare on three occasions in response to neutral protestations, and the institution of convoys in April. 1917. The first move gave British shipping breathing space for recovery. The second, though slowing the turnround of ships, enhanced their their protection. During World War 11, 4762 Allied and neutral merchant ships were sunk, the majority in the Atlantic. About 70 per cent, were sunk by U-boats in contravention of international law.