Systematic submarine sinkings broke with the older practice of capturing merchant ships and putting prize crews aboard. Rome depended on grain carried from North Africa and especially Egypt, making control of Mediterranean shipping one source of imperial power. Even Napoleonic France, despite its reputation as a land power, needed merchant hulls because water transport remained essential for moving goods over long distances. Belligerents therefore had strong incentives to divert and reuse valuable ships rather than reduce the total pool of maritime transport. Attacks on shipping destroy logistical capacity as well as cargo.
Notable Point · 22:54-25:20
Why older maritime wars preserved merchant hulls
Roman grain routes and Napoleonic transport illustrate why merchant ships were strategic infrastructure to capture and reuse, not merely targets to destroy.