The Admiralty's interwar studies of merchant shipping

Where can researchers find British merchant-shipping maps, and what do they reveal about Admiralty planning?

The National Archives holds large Admiralty collections whose recurring merchant-shipping studies show sustained interwar planning for convoy war and trade protection.

The Admiralty preserved extensive maps and studies of global merchant movement, evidence of continuing attention to convoy protection, submarines, and surface raiders. Those records sit uneasily beside narratives that reduce the 1920s and 1930s Royal Navy to capital-ship obsession. Fleet construction across carriers, cruisers, destroyers, and sloops further shows planning for a range of maritime tasks.