Commerce raiding

The Bermuda Gazette of 12 November 1796, calling for privateering against Spain and its allies, and with advertisements for crew for two privateer vessels

Commerce raiding[1] is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging its combatants or enforcing a blockade against them.[2][3]

  1. ^ (French: guerre de course, "war of the chase"; German: Handelskrieg, "trade war")
  2. ^ Douglas Peifer, “Maritime Commerce Warfare: The Coercive Response of the Weak?” Naval War College Review vol. 66, nr.2 (Spring 2013), 83-104.
  3. ^ Norman Friedman (2001). Seapower as Strategy: Navies and National Interests. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-291-9.