The causes and consequences of dependence: British merchant shipping and Anglo-American relations, 1940-1943

The Second World War hastened an irrevocable shift in Anglo-American relations; overstrained Britain developed a thorough dependence upon the United States. One aspect of this many-faceted relationship requires examination: the linkage between strategy, logistics, bureaucratic methods, industrial capabilities, and coalition diplomacy evident in an analysis of the causes and consequences of British dependence upon American merchant shipping. The pitfalls of alliance cohesion, capacity for bureaucratic shipping control, and unstable civilian/military cooperation and rivalry are illuminated by the application of emerging American power to redressing British inadequacy. Anglo-American shipping relations reiterate basic themes of Anglo-American wartime relations: initial British leadership; growing American power and lagging resource management; difficult British adjustment to subservience.; The structural foundation of this dependence lay in Britain's failure to maintain its strategic shipbuilding industry and to undertake necessary transport infrastructure revitalization; early German triumphs further reduced British shipping capacity. Britain could not therefore match its commitments with its maritime resources, and relied upon American benevolent neutrality to assist partial recovery in its merchant shipping position during 1940-1941.; Full American participation assured the longer-term future, but increased short-term pressure. The American military's shipping appetite dictated disproportionate British responsibility for TORCH, drastic re-alignment of commitments at Christmas 1942, and a rededicated quest for defined, guaranteed American shipping assistance from June 1942. Roosevelt's bureaucratic ineptitude and inadequate consultation at Casablanca doomed the first attempt, but in March 1943 a specific American commitment was achieved over military objections while anti-submarine measures and the American shipbuilding miracle simultaneously created a temporary shipping glut amidst cargo shortages.; Britain's subsequent emphasis on Mediterranean needs angered the Americans. Its assistance implementation strategy therefore severely restricted British benefit from the improved shipping situation and disclosed the fragility of Britain's negotiating position amid shifting wartime power relationships. Britain had partly dissipated American goodwill, endangering Britain's future shipping position even as D-Day approached. In this obscure but critically important aspect of merchant shipping relations, therefore, the wartime alteration in relative Anglo-American power is fully evident.