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The effectiveness of Canada's navy on escort duty

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  • Karl Skogstad

Abstract

This paper examines the relative effectiveness of different vessels used as convoy escorts in the North Atlantic by the Allied navies during the Second World War. A data set is created that matches convoy movements to German U-boat locations in order to examine the escort composition and the number of merchant ships lost when an engagement occurred. I find that larger escort vessels, such as destroyers and frigates, were between 1.4 and 2.25 more effective than smaller escort vessels, such as corvettes, at preventing the loss of a merchant ship. As an application of these results, I examine the cost faced by the Allies from Canada failing to develop domestic naval manufacturing capabilities prior to World War II. By constructing a counterfactual scenario, I find that developing a Canadian domestic shipbuilding industry would have given the Allies a net benefit of 23.2 million 1940 Canadian dollars.

Suggested Citation

  • Karl Skogstad, 2017. "The effectiveness of Canada's navy on escort duty," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 21(1), pages 104-132.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:21:y:2017:i:1:p:104-132.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ereh/hew015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Glaser, Darrell J. & Rahman, Ahmed S., 2016. "Ex Tridenti Mercatus? Sea-power and maritime trade in the age of globalization," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 95-111.
    2. Alberto Abadie & Javier Gardeazabal, 2003. "The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case Study of the Basque Country," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 113-132, March.
    3. Gregory Hildebrandt, 1999. "The military production function," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 247-272.
    4. Rahman, Ahmed S., 2010. "Fighting the forces of gravity - Seapower and maritime trade between the 18th and 20th centuries," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 28-48, January.
    5. Rebecca Achee Thornton & Peter Thompson, 2001. "Learning from Experience and Learning from Others: An Exploration of Learning and Spillovers in Wartime Shipbuilding," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1350-1368, December.
    6. Mark Harrison, 1988. "Resource mobilization for World War II: the U.S.A., U.K., U.S.S.R., and Germany, 1938-1945′," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 41(2), pages 171-192, May.
    7. Richard Williams, 2012. "Using the margins command to estimate and interpret adjusted predictions and marginal effects," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 12(2), pages 308-331, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Karl Skogstad & Robert J. Petrunia, 2019. "The impact of labour policies on Canadian gold mines in World War II," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 13(2), pages 163-200, May.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F51 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Conflicts; Negotiations; Sanctions
    • F52 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - National Security; Economic Nationalism
    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • H57 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Procurement
    • N42 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-

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