Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimbuna
Well it certainly worked in the 40's  |
welllll...
From a convoy protection standpoint it worked. But from a shipping standpoint it was not a smooth tactic.
The convoy system was used during WWI and some of the history books I have comment on how much cargo was spoiled. There were similar stories during WWII.
One of the problems is that a convoy moves at the speed of the slowest ship. Different speed convoys helped with this by separating the faster cargo ships from the slower.
But one of the biggest problems was not the convoying across the ocean, the problem was the throughput at the harbours. Harbours were designed to support a steady flow of shipping in and out. What the convoy system does is break up this steady flow and deliver or remove a bunch of ships at one time. This creates not only logistical issues but also adversely affects the cargo and its market.
This put the merchant shipping companies in a quandary.
Trade some positive effect of increased security by participating in a convoy vs a measurable risk of spoilage or adverse effects on the market. and this is not an easy question to answer.
This is one reason that through both WWI and WWII, there was shipping that did not participate in the convoy system.