Blockade runner A blockade runner is usually a lighter - weight ship used for evading a naval blockade of a port or strait , as opposed to confronting the blockaders to break the blockade . Very often blockade running is done in order to transport cargo , for example to bring food or arms to a blockaded city . In other cases the blockade runners would carry mail in an attempt to communicate with the outside world . Operations . Blockade runners were the fastest ships available , and often lightly armed and armored . Their operation was quite risky since blockading fleets would not hesitate to fire on them . However , the potential profits ( economically or militarily ) from a successful blockade run were tremendous , so blockade - runners typically had excellent crews . Although having " modus operandi " similar to that of smugglers , blockade - runners were often operated by state ' s navies as part of the regular fleet . Notable users of blockade runners include the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War and Germany during the World Wars . Blockade runners have always been considered enemy combatants by the blockading party and have been fired upon or captured when detected . Blockade runners are often the subject of press coverage when they reach port , giving the act of blockade running a propaganda value . In history . Ancient Greece , Peloponnesian War . There were numerous blockades and attempts at blockade running during the Peloponnesian War . Ancient Rome , Punic Wars . During the Punic Wars , the Carthaginian Empire attempted to get around Roman blockades of its ports and strongholds . At one point , blockade runners brought in the only food reaching the city of Carthage , American Civil War . During the American Civil War , blockade running became a major 12 enterprise for the Confederacy due to the Union ' s Anaconda Plan , which sought to cut off all the Confederacy ' s overseas trade . Twelve major ports and approximately 3 , 500 miles of coastline along the Confederate States were patrolled by some 500 ships that were commissioned by the Union government . Great Britain played a major role on the blockade running business , as they had huge investments in the south and were the recipients of many commodities exported goods , especially cotton . To protect their interests British investors had engineered steamships that were longer , narrower and considerably faster than most of the conventional steamers guarding the American coastline , thus enabling them to outmaneuver and outrun Union ships on blockade patrol . Among the more notable of these premier vessels was the CSS Advance that completed more than 20 successful runs through the Union blockade before being captured . These vessels also served to import badly needed supplies , especially firearms , and also served to bring mail to and from the Confederacy . The blockade played a major role in the Union ' s victory over the Confederate states . By the end of the Civil War the Union Navy had captured more than 1 , 100 blockade runners and had destroyed or run aground another 355 vessels . < br > Cretan Revolt ( 1866 – 1869 ) . During the Great Cretan Revolt , Greek blockade runners supplied the Christians revolting against the Turkish rule during this time . Names of the ships include : " Arkadion " ( named after the Arkadi Monastery , sunk by the Ottoman sloop - of - war " Izzedin " in August 1867 ) ; " Hydra " ; " Panhellenion " ; and " Enosis " ( Unification ) , which was detained in Syros by Hobart Pasha in December 1868 , just about the time the rebellion collapsed . World War I . During World War I the Central Powers , most notably Germany , were blockaded by the Entente Powers . In particular the North Sea blockade made it nearly impossible for surface ships to leave Germany for the then neutral USA and other locations . The blockade was run with cargo submarines , also called merchant submarines , " Deutschland " and " Bremen " , which reached the then neutral USA . The " Marie " successfully ran the British North Sea blockade and docked , heavily damaged , in Batavia , Dutch East Indies ( now called Jakarta ) on May 13 , 1916 . In 1918 Germany tried unsuccessfully to supply their forces in Africa by sending Zeppelin LZ104 . World War II . Axis blockade runners . On the outbreak of war , the Royal Navy imposed a naval blockade against Germany . However , the fall of France provided the German occupying forces with access to the French Atlantic coast , and between 1940 and 1942 , many blockade running trips succeeded in delivering cargoes of critical war supplies - especially crude rubber - through the port of Bordeaux ; a trade that increased with the entry of Japan into the war in December 1941 . Allied attempts to disrupt these operations initially had only a limited effect ; as in Operation Frankton . From 1943 , however , improved Allied air supremacy over the Bay of Biscay rendered blockade running effectively impossible , other than by cargo submarine . In an attempt to transfer technology to Imperial Japan , Nazi Germany dispatched a submarine , " U - 234 " , to sail to Japan . The war ended before the ship could arrive in Japan . The Japanese submarine " I - 8 " completed a similar mission . On Nov . 23 , 1942 , the German ship " Ramses " attempted unsuccessfully to sail from Batavia ( now called Jakarta ) , the ship being in the Pacific when the war started , to Bordeaux with a cargo of rubber . The hope was that maintaining a sharp 24 hour lookout they would be able to evade the Allied blockade . Allied blockage runners . During World War II , trade between Sweden ( which remained neutral throughout the war ) and Britain was severely curtailed by the German blockade of the Skagerrak straits between Norway and the northern tip of Denmark . In order to import vital " materiel " from Sweden , such as ball bearings for the British aircraft industry , five Motor Gun Boat s , such as the " Gay Viking " , were converted into blockade runners , using winter darkness and high speed to penetrate the German maritime blockade . Modern era . In modern times , tracking equipment such as radar , sonar , and reconnaissance satellites make evading a total blockade by a world power nearly impossible . Drug smugglers and groups like the Tamil Tigers are able to run blockades due to the partial nature of the blockade , or because the navy imposing the blockade is weak and under - equipped . Reminiscent of earlier German attempts , drug smugglers have used semi - submersible s ( narco submarine ) in their smuggling operations . Bibliography . Coker , P . C . , III . Charleston ' s Maritime Heritage , 1670 - 1865 : An Illustrated History . Charleston , S . C . : Coker - Craft , 1987 . 314 pp .