naval blockade

(noun)

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 is usually directed at an entire country or region, rather than a fortress or city. Most blockades historically took place at sea, with the blockading power seeking to cut off all maritime transport from and to the blockaded country.

Related Terms

Examples of naval blockade in the following topics:

  • Neutral Rights and Submarines

    • Both the Allied powers and Germany attempted naval blockades, interrupting American neutral rights at sea.
    • The most important indirect strategy used by the belligerents was the naval blockade.
    • Germany also considered establishing a blockade.
    • We can bottle her up and destroy every ship that endeavors to break the blockade" .
    • Analyze how the Allied and German blockades, Germany's use of U-boats, and the Lusitania incident interfered with America's stance of neutrality.

  • The Aftermath of the War

    • Southern leaders needed to get European powers to help break up the blockade the Union had created around the Southern ports and cities.
    • Lincoln's naval blockade was 95% effective at stopping trade goods.
    • The abundance of European cotton and the United Kingdom's hostility to the institution of slavery, along with Lincoln's Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico naval blockades, severely decreased any chance that either the United Kingdom or France would enter the war.

  • American Neutrality

    • The most important indirect strategy used by the belligerents in the war was the naval blockade.
    • Germany also used a blockade.
    • We can bottle her up and destroy every ship that endeavors to break the blockade."
    • In January 1917, however, German Field Marshal Hindenburg and General Ludendorff decided that an unrestricted submarine blockade was the only way to break the stalemate with the Allies on the Western Front.

  • Naval Actions

    • The naval actions of the Civil War revolved around the Union Navy's blockades of Confederate ports.
    • The first shots of the naval battles of the Civil War were fired on April 13, 1861, during the Battle of Fort Sumter, by the Revenue Service cutter USRC Harriet Lane. 
    • The Union Blockade, or the Blockade of the South, took place between 1861 and 1865.
    • Confederate "blockade runners" that did manage to get through the blockade carried only a small fraction of the usual cargo.
    • It famously dueled with the USS Monitor, signaling the beginning of a new age of ironclad naval combat.

  • The Battle of the Atlantic

    • At its core was the Allied naval blockade of Germany, announced the day after the declaration of war and Germany's subsequent counter-blockade.
    • It has been called the "longest, largest, and most complex" naval battle in history.
    • The outcome of the battle was a strategic victory for the Allies—the German blockade failed—but at great cost.
    • British codebreakers, with brilliant mathematician Alan Turing leading the team, needed to know the wiring of the special naval Enigma rotors and the destruction of U-33 by HMS Gleaner in February 1940 provided this information.

  • The Cuban Missile Crisis

    • The United States considered attacking Cuba via air and sea but decided on a military blockade instead, calling it a "quarantine" rather than a "blockade" for legal and other reasons.
    • Kennedy signs a proclamation that authorizes the naval containment of Cuba

  • The Atlantic Theater

    • The Union Blockade of Confederate coasts eventually ruined the Southern economy.
    • The blockade was established on both the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.
    • Ships that tried to evade the blockade, known as blockade runners, were often newly built, high-speed ships with small cargo capacity.
    • The blockade was a triumph of the U.S.
    • Early battles in support of the blockade enabled the Union Navy to extend its blockade gradually southward along the Atlantic seaboard.

  • The Setbacks in the Atlantic

    • Although German naval strategy was initially successful, it faced challenges due to flaws in the U-Boat technology.
    • Instead, German naval strategy relied on commerce raiding using capital ships, armed merchant cruisers, submarines, and aircraft.
    • With the outbreak of war, the British and French immediately began a blockade of Germany, although this had little immediate effect on German industry.
    • Some British naval officials, particularly the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, sought a more 'offensive' strategy.

  • The War in the Chesapeake

    • Starting in March of 1813, a squadron under British Rear Admiral George Cockburn started a blockade and raided towns along the bay from Norfolk to Havre de Grace.
    • On July 4, 1813, Joshua Barney, a Revolutionary War naval hero, convinced the Navy Department to build the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla, a squadron of twenty barges to defend the Chesapeake Bay.
    • In response to Prevost's request, the British decided to employ this force, together with the naval and military units already on the station, to strike at Washington, D.C.
    • The naval yards were set afire at the direction of U.S. officials to prevent the capture of naval ships and supplies.

  • The Barbary Wars

    • In response, Jefferson sent a U.S. naval fleet to the Mediterranean on May 13, 1801, under the command of Commodore Richard Dale.
    • Throughout the war, the U.S. navy bombarded the various fortified cities along the coast and maintained a blockade in Tripoli's harbor.
    • After a stunning defeat at Tripoli and wearied from the blockade and raids, Yussif Karamanli signed a treaty ending hostilities on June 10, 1805, and the United States was given fair passage through the Mediterranean.
    • At the conclusion of the War of 1812, the United States returned to the problem of Barbary piracy, and on March 3, 1815, Congress authorized deployment of naval power against Algiers.