SYNOPSIS

LAW OF NAVAL WARFARE

ABSTRACT

LAW OF NAVAL WARFARE

ABSTRACT

“Naval warfare” is the term used to denote “the tactics of military operations conducted on,
under, or over the sea”. The general principles of International Humanitarian Law (IHL)
applicable to conflicts on land (which have to do primarily with sparing non-combatants and
civilian property) apply to this type of military operation. Naval warfare nevertheless has
certain singular features that necessitate a specific set of rules.

Though incomplete, most of the work codifying the law of war at sea was done in 1907, the
year in which the Hague Conventions were adopted.Eight of the Conventions tackle different
aspects of naval warfare. Their provisions deal both with the conduct of hostilities (the laying
of underwater mines: Convention VIII; bombardment by naval forces: Convention IX;
protection of the sick, wounded and shipwrecked: Convention X) and the protection of
certain ships (the status of merchant ships and their conversion into warships: Conventions
VI and VII; the right of capture: Conventions XI and XII, which never came into force; the
rights and duties of neutral powers: Convention XIII).

The inability of the rules adopted in those Conventions to limit the number of victims of
naval hostilities became evident during the two world wars. The rules also proved outdated in
the light of the technological progress made during that time. Indeed, a treaty was adopted in
London in 1936 stipulating that submarines were bound by the same rules as surface ships,
but it proved insufficient: the Second World War was ridden with torpedo attacks on neutral
vessels, merchant ships and hospital ships, the indiscriminate laying of underwater mines, etc.

In 1949 the Geneva Convention for the amelioration of the condition of wounded, sick and
shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea (Convention II) replaced the Hague Convention
X of 1907. In addition, Protocol I of 1977 states that all its provisions concerning protection
against the effects of hostilities also apply to naval operations “which may affect the civilian
population, individual civilians or civilian objects on land”. However, these two fundamental
instruments still failed to clarify matters concerning the conduct of hostilities at sea.

Between 1987 and 1994, experts and high-ranking government officials from 24 countries
convened several times at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo to
draft the San Remo Manual.

The Manual also clears up certain problems specific to maritime hostilities: it contains
detailed provisions on the use of certain weapons (mines and torpedoes) and addresses

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interaction between ships and aircraft; distinctions between different kinds of maritime zone
reflect developments in the law of the sea, etc.

OBJECTIVE

The main objective of this research is to discuss about the developments of law of Naval
warfare and legal aspects in law of naval warfare

SCOPE

The scope of the paper is limited to the works associated with the developments of law of
Naval warfare and legal aspects in law of naval warfare .The scope of this paper is confined
to a discussion of military objectives, that is, objects that may be attacked on, under, or above
the water, but not objects or persons on land.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The researcher opted for the doctrinal method completely based on the primary sources such
as reports, conventions, discussion papers, annual reports etc and secondary sources such as
e-journals, various published article, newsletters etc.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1. Why there is need for Law of Naval warfare?

2. Whether the present law is successful or not?

HYPOTHESIS

Do existing rules of international law have real relevance to present and foreseeable uses of
naval force in situations often characterized as short of war?

LITERATURE REVIEW:

1. LAW OF NAVAL WARFARE by William O. Miller, 62 Int'l L. Stud. Ser. US Naval

War Col. 263 (1980)

In this article author discussed “Whether or not existing rules of naval warfare are sufficient
to meet the needs of current naval operations. Stated in another way, do existing rules of
international law have real relevance to present and foreseeable uses of naval force in
situations often characterized as short of war? He discussed that most traditional international
law publicists have approached their subject by setting up two obvious categories with in
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which to discuss international legal rules- the laws of "war" and the laws of "peace. Use of
naval power was discussed in these two contexts. Using this rationale, the specific use of
force at sea in a given situation can be characterized as legal or illegal, depending up1oni the
existence of a state of war. He discussed about the neutrality in naval warfare.

2. Sources and Binding Force of the Law of Naval Warfare, The, 50 Int'l L. Stud. Ser.
US Naval War Col. 26 (1955)

The author discussed that the great dividing line in the historical development of the law
of naval warfare must be drawn at the outbreak of the first World War in 1914, for what
is generally referred to as the "traditional law" is substantially the law as it appeared at
this date. In the main, the traditional law of naval warfare is customary in character,
developing out of eighteenth and-particularly-nineteenth century practices. Author stated
that as a general rule, the binding force of conventional rules of war is limited to the
contracting parties, and then only to the extent specified by the terms of the convention in
question and by the conditions accompanying ratification or adherence.

TENTATIVE CHAPTERS:

1. Introduction
2. Sources of Law of naval warfare
3. Historical development of Naval warfare
4. Targeting theory in law of Naval warfare
5. Neutrality in law of naval warfare

C.H Rahul

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