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- On May 24, 1917, driven by the spectacular success of the German U-boat submarines and their attacks on Allied and neutral ships at sea, the British Royal Navy introduces a newly created convoy system, whereby all merchant ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean would travel in groups under the protection of the British navy.
www.history.com/this-day-in-history/british-naval-convoy-system-introduced
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The Royal Navy honed its convoy tactics throughout the Napoleonic Wars – both protecting our own and attacking those of the enemy – and the chances of survival of single ships was so poor that there was no choice for a master but to join a convoys when crossing the ocean.
Convoy, vessels sailing under the protection of an armed escort. Originally, convoys of merchant ships were formed as a protection against pirates. During World War I and World War II, the practice was revived to protect Allied and neutral merchant shipping against German surface raiders and submarines.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The convoy system relied on several key tactics and technologies to outmaneuver German U-boats. One of the primary tactics used was zigzagging, where ships altered their course at random intervals to confuse enemy submarines.
On 24th May 1917, Britain introduced its convoy system. Under the new arrangements, a convoy of 10 to 50 merchant ships would be escorted by armed navy vessels.
To cover trade with the neutral Netherlands, the British instituted their first regular convoy on 26 July 1916, from the Hook of Holland to Harwich, a route targeted by the German U-boats based out of Flanders.
The convoy system was at the heart of British naval strategy, yet historians of the sailing navy have tended to regard convoying as incidental to the main business of winning the naval war. Victory was achieved by blockading enemy ports, or by battle.
