In the post- Cold War world order, with bipolarity a thing of the past and a more inclusive multi-polar world order beginning to emerge, the virtues of the submarine are becoming increasingly apparent as more and more nations are investing in this capability.
Submarines have played an integral role in naval warfare ever since their potential to shape the maritime battlespace with their inherent virtues of stealth, concealment and lethal firepower became apparent. In World War 1 it was submarines, rudimentary though they were, that shaped the course of that conflict at sea. In World War 2 , the legendary German U-boats almost won the war for Germany whereas the US Submarine campaign in the Pacific dealt decisive blows to the mighty Imperial Japanese Navy which accelerated the Allied victory in that theatre. However, it was in the post-World War 2 period, with the successful harnessing of nuclear power for military applications, that submarines really came into their own and were principally responsible in ensuring that the Cold War which ‘raged’ for over four and a half decades remained cold.Read More…
