The concept of Unrestricted Prowler Warfare is fundamentally similar to that of 20th and 21st Century unrestricted submarine warfare: Use a stealthed craft, difficult to detect, to hunt down a fleet of enemy merchant ships and destroy them using extreme force. Controversially, in both cases, the attacked craft cannot surrender, allowing the Prowler or submarine to do the maximum possible damage. The objective was to destroy enough merchant ships to effectively starve the enemy into submission.