Submarines IX.

This is coolbert:

"Free supplies and open retreat are two essentials

to the safety of an army or a fleet"- -  Mahan."

Continuing with the various extracts from Internet web sites and the magazine: "SUBMARINES SINCE 1919" and of course my comments.

The submarine as a logistical transport ship!

The submarine, an offensive combat warship, used in a logistics role by a variety of combatants during the Second World War [WW2], submarines employed in a manner for which they were neither designed or equipped. Logistical transports ships bringing supplies to embattled and "cut-off" garrisons, troops for the most part on remote and surrounded islands, no other means of re-supply being available!!

Submarines, re-supply vessels, nonetheless, performing yeoman duty as befits elite units of what ever capacity. The exigencies of war requiring unconventional deployment of resources when needed. Desperate circumstances require desperate measures!

"yeoman  - - adjective 6. performed or rendered in a loyal, valiant, useful, or workmanlike manner, especially in situations that involve a great deal of effort or labor"

"ex·i·gen·cy - - 3. a case or situation that demands prompt action or remedy; emergency"

1. British. English mine-laying submarines used as logistical transport vessels during the Siege of Malta:

"the mine layers [British] proved even more successful when used as supply submarines to run precious cargoes to Malta in 1941-42. Their capacious mine-decks were filled with such assorted items as machine-gun ammunition, glycol coolant for Spitfires, and food"

"As early as May 1941, Malta's position had been precarious, and so the mine laying submarine HMS Rorqual was sent on an experimental supply run. She took three weeks to convert . . and finally sailed on 5 June with over 100 tons of urgently-need stores, including high-octane fuel, kerosene and medical supplies . . . a second trip . . . showed that with careful attention to stowage even more fuel could be carried . . . More runs were made [by other submarines] and by trhe middle of 1942 submarines had taken 65,000 tons into Grand Harbour."

2. American. Re-supply to the surrounded garrison in the middle of Manila Bay ONLY possible by submarine, a futile gesture that never came to fruition.

"USS Swordfish (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Smith) left Fremantle, Australia for her third war patrol [1 Apr 1942]. She was ordered to deliver 40 tons of provisions to the besieged island of  Corregidor, however Corriegidor fell before this mission could be carried through"

3. Japanese. Beginning with the Battle of Guadalcanal and for the remainder of the, Japanese submarines in a more of less INSTITUTIONALIZED MANNER providing re-supply to those Imperial units stranded on island outposts, conventional re-supply and evacuation deemed impossible! Submarine re-supply missions continuing throughout the war on a massive scale, again, becoming INSTITUTIONALIZED, submarines designed and built specifically for such missions deemed vital to the war effort!

"Beginning on November 16, 1942, and continuing for the next three weeks, 16 submarines made nocturnal deliveries of foodstuffs to the island [Guadalcanal], with one submarine making the trip each night. Each submarine could deliver 20 to 30 tons of supplies, about one day's worth of food, for the 17th Army"

The Japanese 17th Army, opposing the American landing at Guadalcanal, the amount of supplies delivered daily by submarine ONLY PROLONGING THE AGONY AND SUFFERING OF THE JAPANESE SOLDIERS! Measures ad hoc insufficient at best!

"Worse from a naval perspective, Japanese submarines were increasingly employed in running supplies to the starving garrisons of isolated islands.  The Japanese expended hundreds of sorties in this way, which might have otherwise been used offensively against the Allied war effort.  A submarine's cargo capacity was much less than that of a relatively inexpensive freighter . . . Additionally, many practically unarmed submarines (including 26 built for Army use) were built specifically for the supply role, consuming production resources as well."

4. German midget submarines in the VERY LAST DAYS OF THE WAR successfully carrying out re-supply missions to the by-passed and  surrounded German units - - Dunkirk.

"The last Seehund sorties took place on 28 April and 2 May 1945, when two special missions were performed to resupply the cutoff German base at Dunkirk with rations, the boats carrying special food containers (nicknamed "butter torpedoes") instead of torpedoes, and on the return voyage using the containers to carry mail from the Dunkirk garrison."

Desperate circumstances do indeed call for desperate measures. Using warships such as the submarine in the manner of a re-supply vessel surely is an indication of desperation. Yeoman work yes - - but yeoman work that is not productive, almost defeatist and better thought of as counter-productive!

coolbert.