command of the sea
A naval force has command of the sea when it is so strong that its rivals cannot attack it directly. With command of the sea, a country (or alliance) can ensure that its own military and merchant ships can move around at will, while its rivals are forced either to stay in port or to try to evade it. Most famously, the British Royal Navy held command of the sea for long periods from the 18th to the early 20th century, allowing Britain and its allies to trade and to move troops and supplies easily in wartime while its enemies could not (hence the famous British patriotic song, Rule Britannia, which contains the refrain, "Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves"). For example, Britain was able to blockade France during the Napoleonic Wars, the United States during the War of 1812, and Germany during World War I.
Countermeasures
During the age of sail, there were two primary countermeasures to another power holding
control of the sea: smuggling, and privateering. Smuggling
helped to ensure that a country could continue trading (and obtaining food and other vital supplies) even when under blockade,
while privateering allowed the weaker power to disrupt the stronger power's trade. A more modern countermeasure, similar to
privateering, was the use of submarine warfare by Germany during World War I and World War
II to attack allied merchant shipping primarily in the Atlantic Ocean,
Mediterranean Sea, and
During World War II, aircraft also became an effective countermeasure to command of the sea, since ships could not defend themselves well against air attack. The Battle of Britain was largely an attempt by Germany to eliminate the Royal Air Force, so that it would not be able to defend the Royal Navy from air attack and even to allow a maritime invasion of Great Britain proper.
Open seas
Historically, many powers attempted to extend command of the sea into peacetime, imposing taxes or other restrictions on
shipping using areas of open sea. For example, Venice claimed the Adriatic, and exacted a
heavy toll from vessels navigating its northern waters. Genoa and France each claimed portions of
the western Mediterranean. Denmark and Sweden claimed to share
the
Gradually, however, countries agreed that the open seas should be free to all shipping in peacetime and to neutral shipping in
wartime. Great Britain accepted the principle in 1805; Russia, in 1824; and the United States (tacitly) in 1894. Many treaties,
including the
References cited
- WE Hall, Treatise on International Law, 4th ed., 1895.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
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