Editing Convoy (section)

===Age of Sail===
Naval convoys have been in use for centuries, with examples of merchant ships traveling under naval protection dating to the 12th century.<ref name="Oxford_companion_ships_sea_convoy">{{cite book|title=The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea|editor=I.C.B. Dear and Peter Kemp|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2007|series=Oxford Reference Online|chapter=Convoy|chapter-url=http://www.oxfordreference.com.rp.nla.gov.au:2048/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t225.e673|access-date=2008-12-07}}{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The use of organized naval convoys dates from when ships began to be separated into specialist classes and national navies were established.<ref name="Oxford_Companion_online">{{cite book|last=Robb-Webb|first=Jon|title=The Oxford Companion to Military History|editor=Richard Holmes|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2001|series=Oxford Reference Online|chapter=Convoy|chapter-url=http://www.oxfordreference.com.rp.nla.gov.au:2048/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t139.e316|access-date=2008-12-07}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

By the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] of the late 18th century, effective [[naval warfare|naval]] convoy [[naval tactics|tactics]] had been developed to ward off [[pirate]]s and [[privateer]]s. Some convoys contained several hundred merchant ships. The most enduring system of convoys were the [[Spanish treasure fleet]]s, that sailed from the 1520s until 1790.

When merchant ships sailed independently, a privateer could cruise a shipping lane and capture ships as they passed. Ships sailing in convoy presented a much smaller target: a convoy was as hard to find as a single ship. Even if the privateer found a convoy and the wind was favourable for an attack, it could still hope to capture only a handful of ships before the rest managed to escape, and a small escort of warships could easily thwart it. As a result of the convoy system's effectiveness, wartime insurance premiums were consistently lower for ships that sailed in convoys.<ref name="Oxford_Companion_online" />

Many [[naval battles]] in the [[Age of Sail]] were fought around convoys, including:
*The [[Battle of Portland]] (1653)
*The [[Battle of Ushant (1781)]]
*The [[Battle of Dogger Bank (1781)]]
*[[The Glorious First of June]] (1794)
*The [[Battle of Pulo Aura]] (1804)

By the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], the [[Royal Navy]] had in place a sophisticated convoy system to protect merchant ships.<ref name="Oxford_Companion_online" /> Losses of ships travelling out of convoy, however, were so high that no merchant ship was allowed to sail unescorted.<ref name="Oxford_companion_ships_sea_convoy" />