The Gulf of Mexico: A Forgotten Frontier in the 1980s

Authors

William J. Cox

Abstract

In modern naval writings, rarely is the Gulf of Mexico mentioned as a strategic area of combat operations. It seems that we have already forgotten the painful lessons learned by a previous generation of combat veterans who fought a war in our own backyard barely 44 years ago. For a German perspective of the strategic significance of a Gulf campaign, the eminent German historian, Dr. Jurgen Rohwer, explains that "for Admiral Karl Donitz, the ultimate and decisive criterion for the use of the U-Boat weapon was the quickest possible sinking of the greatest possible enemy tonnage, and tonnage that was potentially useful to the enemy...He wanted his u-boats to be used economically, that is to say, at those points where they could sink the greatest possible tonnage of enemy shipping in the shortest possible space of time."

Recommended Citation

Cox, William J. (1987) "The Gulf of Mexico: A Forgotten Frontier in the 1980s," Naval War College Review: Vol. 40: No. 3, Article 7.
Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol40/iss3/7