Underwater warfare is one of the three operational areas of

naval warfare Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Even in the interior of large la ...

, the others being

surface warfare Modern naval warfare is divided into four operational areas: surface warfare, air warfare, submarine warfare, and information warfare. Each area comprises specialized platforms and strategies used to exploit tactical advantages unique and inhe ...

and

aerial warfare Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare. Aerial warfare includes bombers attacking enemy installations or a concentration of enemy troops or strategic targets; fighter aircraft battling for control o ...

. It refers to

combat Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

conducted underwater such as: *Actions by

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s actions, and

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

, i.e. warfare between

s, other submarines and

surface ship Surface combatants (or surface ships or surface vessels) are a subset of naval warships which are designed for warfare on the surface of the water, with their own weapons and armed forces. They are generally ships built to fight other ships, subma ...

s; combat

airplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spe ...

s and helicopters may also be engaged when launching special dive-bombs and torpedo- missiles against submarines; *Underwater special operations, considering: ** Military diving sabotage against ships and ports. ** Anti-frogman techniques. ** Reconnaissance tasks.

Name

Underwater warfare may also be referred to as undersea warfare or subsurface warfare.

History

In the 20th century underwater warfare was dominated by the submarine. In the 21st century

unmanned underwater vehicle Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), sometimes known as underwater drones, are submersible vehicles that can operate underwater without a human occupant. These vehicles may be divided into two categories: remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROU ...

s are coming to play a significant part in underwater warfare.

Seabed warfare

Seabed warfare is defined as “operations to, from and across the ocean floor.” In general the target of seabed warfare is infrastructure in place on the seabed such as power cables, telecom cables, or natural resource extraction systems.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Underwater Warfare Naval warfare Warfare

Name

History

Seabed warfare

See also

References