Combat and defense in Middle-Eastern waters...

I am neither a naval, nor a maritime expert, but that never stopped me from drawing a few conclusions...Noting the recent attacks on commercial shipping in the Gulf of Oman in the area bounded by Oman, the UAE and Iran, the blame for which has been attributed to the increasingly belligerent state of Iran, I am reminded of events which occurred during WWII...Commercial shipping only exists to supply the business interests of entities ranging in scope from the largest multi-national corporations to the smallest, singly-owned convenience store on a street near you...As I have pointed out in previous publications, a basic tenet of business is stated that nothing anywhere ever happens until somebody, somewhere sells something...Accordingly the step immediately following that sale becomes the transport of the product to the desired recipient...The interruption, or prevention of that step becomes detriment to the chain of interests dependent on that movement...The resulting impairment, to whatever degree it ascends, must be ultimately absorbed by the end user, and thus increases costs which are never fully recovered...

The addition of war to this composite formula, whether declared or implied, only adds new layers of complexity, of which some generate new business opportunities, but all add to the cost of the final product...This fact was known and felt in the immediate time following the opening shots in the conflagration that became WWII...How it was addressed determined the eventual outcome as well as the length of time needed to bring peace to the world's waters once more...In this study, I will only present the basic observations which have formed my own, admittedly skeletal, conclusions, leaving readers to flesh them out with their own thoughts...

All government and military leaders are aware of the fragile network of commerce which keeps an economy moving...Maintaining that network becomes increasingly difficult when leadership must consider the political pressures brought about by concerns other than those of commerce...The Axis powers, being led from dictatorial standpoints, were less encumbered by restraints on their movements than the democracies which they sought to dominate...Initially this gave the Axis leadership an advantage in which they were free to move aggressively against their chosen enemies without regard to the long term difficulties they created, in their belief that such offensives would be shortly followed by the capitulation of those attacked...The actions and reactions of both Axis and Allied powers can be studied now with the distance of time for their positive as well as negative effects...

The German command, under the leadership of a single-minded, self-possessed man unwilling to consider the expertise in some matters of far more qualified minds, took the initiative in attacks on commercial shipping against their most immediate perceived enemy, Great Britain...The idea was correct in its goal of strangling the flow of goods toward the island nation, but flawed in its execution by not concentrating on its immediate strong suit, it's U-Boat fleet...Der Fuehrer's desire to build an impressive surface fleet could only have been successful if he had allowed his undersea fleet unfettered permission to attack other shipping on the surface...They were instead cautioned against attacking the US naval presence expanding into the mid-Atlantic...Using the limited German resources in building his surface fleet, then keeping them bottled up in protected North Sea harbors, was unwise when his more learned Kriegsmarine advisers urged increased production of the undersea fleet to replace losses due to attrition...Such decisions gave his immediate enemy, Britain, the opportunity to acquire the allegiance of US manufacturing prowess in the procurement of both military and cargo vessels...

President Roosevelt, being the leader of a democracy was fettered with having to balance preparation for the impending war against opposition from the large pacifist movement which joined forces with the isolationists, both of which wanted no part of a new naval war...Roosevelt knew the war was inevitable, yet was hamstrung by these groups in initiating new shipbuilding while still emerging from a worldwide depression...He found new ways to aid those he knew we would eventually ally with, but until the Japanese attacks in the Pacific, he could not release the full powers of the dogs of war...The lack of long-range planning for war also caused a long learning curve in the convoy system which ultimately saved England from capitulation...US Navy leaders were quick to see that severing commercial shipping lines on the open sea was effective warfare, and used this knowledge aggressively against Japanese powers...Shortening supply lines to the enemy, while reinforcing our own commercial shipping was instrumental in bring the war to an earlier close...

The dictatorial powers leading the Japanese government from their military standpoint did not understand, nor did they employ the means they had at hand against Allied commercial shipping...The Japanese also had a powerful undersea fleet just like their Axis partners Germany and Italy, but hesitated to use them against the ever-increasing Allied Maritime fleet, choosing instead to target only combat vessels...They failed to understand that a military force can only exist as long as it is supplied with the means to wage war and feed its own personnel...Their final realization of the truth of this axiom came far too late, and only at the expense of their own fighting forces as they starved on outpost islands unable to receive vitally needed rations, ammunition, medical supplies and replacement troops...American naval forces destroyed Japanese commercial and cargo transportation at every opportunity, choking off the enemies lifelines...

From the distance of history, those in the present leadership of politically and culturally opposed nations all understand the importance of world trade, and the implications of the effect on populations when the transportation of goods is curtailed by aggressive forces...The recent attacks on an importantly vital commodity such as crude oil and petroleum products in the Gulf of Oman is an obvious act of aggression  either ordered or permitted by those in command in Iran...The power to protect these shipments is possessed in large strength by the US Navy, and in the opinion of this writer should be deployed aggressively and immediately toward that end...The costs of such protection is already being paid on worldwide markets...Allowing valuable commodities and their means of transportation to be attacked only adds to those costs...Why else do we maintain a naval force in that area?...

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