Experiment at Dundee: The Royal Navy’s 9th Submarine Flotilla and Multinational Naval Cooperation during World War II

Abstract

Multinational naval operations have become almost routine for western navies, but little is known about how navies came to work together cohesively. This article suggests that the naval cooperation formalized by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after World War II had its roots in the wartime experience of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN), which incorporated the remnants of European navies driven from the continent by Germany. In particular, the article analyzes the RN’s 9th Submarine Flotilla based at Dundee, Scotland (1940– 45), which comprised British, Polish, Free French, Norwegian, and Dutch submarines, for lessons concerning successful multinational naval operations.