Sub Corner 30: the U-Boat Blockade of England

(I like this particular thing because it makes me look cute, okay! I’ll probably use it as the page-image for all non-specific-submarine sub corner pages. You know, the ones where I talk about things relating to submarines, but not necessarily the submarine itself!)

Okay! It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these. This is because a lot of the questions I’ve gotten are sort of hard to answer simply.

Dear Tautog,

My history textbook mentioned the submarine today! It said that one of the most important things submarines did during both World Wars is that they were able to cut off the economies of the Axis powers by creating naval blockades.

I’m not sure I get this. After all, in the very same page, not every German or Japanese ship was sunk by the submarine force. So, could you please explain a little about how this stuff works, then?

Sure. Let’s take a look.

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