diff --git a/src/ripple/app/misc/NetworkOPs.cpp b/src/ripple/app/misc/NetworkOPs.cpp
index 882c46d761..7a1f03f36b 100644
--- a/src/ripple/app/misc/NetworkOPs.cpp
+++ b/src/ripple/app/misc/NetworkOPs.cpp
@@ -838,6 +838,12 @@ bool NetworkOPsImp::isValidated (std::uint32_t seq)
 void NetworkOPsImp::submitTransaction (
     Job&, STTx::pointer iTrans, stCallback callback)
 {
+    if (isNeedNetworkLedger ())
+    {
+        // Nothing we can do if we've never been in sync
+        return;
+    }
+
     // this is an asynchronous interface
     Serializer s;
     iTrans->add (s);
diff --git a/src/ripple/overlay/impl/PeerImp.cpp b/src/ripple/overlay/impl/PeerImp.cpp
index 85adca0f1d..f4cf54b5d0 100644
--- a/src/ripple/overlay/impl/PeerImp.cpp
+++ b/src/ripple/overlay/impl/PeerImp.cpp
@@ -972,6 +972,14 @@ PeerImp::onMessage (std::shared_ptr <protocol::TMEndpoints> const& m)
 void
 PeerImp::onMessage (std::shared_ptr <protocol::TMTransaction> const& m)
 {
+
+    if (getApp().getOPs().isNeedNetworkLedger ())
+    {
+        // If we've never been in synch, there's nothing we can do
+        // with a transaction
+        return;
+    }
+
     Serializer s (m->rawtransaction ());
 
     try