Semi-militarized in war and lack of recognition in peace: Norwegian and other Allied seafarers in the Second World War

Abstract

Ship transport was a decisive factor for the outcome of the Second World War and resulted in many casualties among merchant seafarers. A lesser-known consequence of the war was the challenges to the seafarers’ position as civilians, not least through the militarization of merchant ships. This article investigates how this took place and its consequences during and after the war. Both the seafarers’ questionable legal status in relation to the rules of war and the character of their situation are analysed. This is done by studying how the wartime seafarers were treated by their governments, the enemies’ perspective and the seafarers’ own identity, using empirical examples from the Norwegian and other Allied nations’ merchant fleets. An unclear and changing position between being a military and a civilian person, probably contributed to the lack of recognition of the seafarers’ long and dangerous wartime effort in the post-war era.