Date of Award

Summer 1992

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

Committee Director

Willard C. Frank, Jr.

Committee Member

Patrick Rollins

Committee Member

Carl Boyd

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.H47S56

Abstract

This study analyzes cases in which U.S. submarines were attacked by friendly forces during World War II and identifies the causes of those incidents. Each case is interpreted in the context of the warfare doctrine, tactics, training, and procedures current at the time of the incident. The study determined that friendly attacks were primarily caused by the physical limitations of visually identifying a submarine. Contributing to the problem were inadequate recognition signal systems, poor communications, the latitude given to on-scene commanders to disregard safety procedures, the general attitude that any submarine detected was a threat, a sense of urgency to attack a submarine quickly, errors in human judgment, and the element of chance. The sources of documentation for this study, held by the Naval Historical Center and the National Archives, consist of submarine war patrol reports, ships logs, war diaries, action reports, operation plans, and directives issued by submarine commanders.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/jzsq-6285

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