chapter 14-battles of the atlantic wwi
TRANSCRIPT
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The U-Boat at War
August 6, 1914- ten German U-Boatsestablish the first patrol of the North Sea
Ineffective to begin with due to minefields,
mechanical failures, and inaccurate torpedoes September 5, 1914- first U-boat victory at
sea when U-21 sank the British Pathfinder
September 22, 1914- Sub U-9 sank threeaging British cruisers in less than an hour
Wake up call for the British Royal Navy
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The U-Boat at War
By October, 1914- German U-boats forcedthe most powerful navy (Britain) to leaveits home base at Scapa Flow in the OrkneyIslands
October 20, 1914- first U-boat sinking of amerchant ship Done by the rules of engagement, but would
not last as they resorted to unrestricted subwarfare
German U-boats began to sink suchneutral ships as ferries, hospital boats,merchant ships, and passenger ships
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The U-Boat at War
By early 1915- German policy becameunrestricted sub warfare to gain an advantage ata time of stalemate
British had established the unusually restrictive
blockade of Germany by this point (StarvationBlockade)
Bethmann-Hollweg advised against shootwithout warning policy because he did not wantto incite the U.S. to war
February 4, 1915- Kaiser establishes war zonearound the British Isles and declares unrestrictedsub warfare on neutral vessels
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The U-Boat at War
Early 1915- German U-boat base was at Ostend,Belgium
January 1915- 43,550 tons of shipping had beensunk
August 1915- 168,200 tons of shipping had beensunk
1915- no way for British ships to shell or fire upona submerged sub
U-29 was rammed by the HMS Dreadnought Only sinking of a sub by a battleship in WWI
British established a privateer fleet of yachts andtrawlers to hunt down German subs
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The U-Boat at War
1915- U-boats had become seriousweapons of war Stood a good chance of starving Britain
to a point of surrender However, from the standpoint of a
propaganda war, it was disastrous Confirmed the brutality and ruthlessness of
the Germans Deaths of U.S. citizens began to make the
newspapers
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The U-Boat at War
April 1915- Harpalyce was torpedoedwithout warning Headed to America to pick up food relief
for BelgiumCommission for Belgian Relief was
painted in white on the side of it
Flying a white flag
International opinion was outraged atthe German hostilities on the high seasand in Belgium itself
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Q-Ships
British decoy ships to avoid the German sub attacks Merchantmen concealed weapons on the decks When German subs would approach, a portion of the
crew would frantically run around the ship and thenabandon ship by life raft
German sub would figure that the ship had beenabandoned and approach to fire its top-deck machinegun- instead of wasting a torpedo
Remaining Q-Ship crew would unveil the heavyartillery and blow away the German sub
July 24, 1915- first successful Q-Ship counterattack
Brits waste no time creating a fleet of these special-serviceships
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Q-Ships
Concealment of weapons was verycreative Behind panels in the hull
Inside structures or cargo on the deck
Inside lifeboats that were cut in half andhinged open for firing
Theatrics Crew appeared sloppy, undisciplined
Sometimes dressed as women
Masquerade continued even in port so as not togive away their special-service status
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Q-Ships
Ships themselves were likechameleons Repainted during the night
Fake funnels, deck structures, masts,and deck cargoes were added and/orremoved
Flags were changed
Some installed special piping to allowthem to simulate battle damage withclouds of steam
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Q-Ships
Identity of Q-Shipsdetermined by incident on
August 19, 1915Nicosian was carrying 800
mules and 80 American
muleteersCame under German U-boat
attack
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Q-Ships
Baralong (Q-Ship) approached incognitoand then dropped its charade andpumped artillery into U-27 and sank it
German sailors swimming at sea were shotto death unmercilessly by the British sailors
Americans were told not to talk toanyone about this incident, but
inevitably told the American press Germany was outraged and Q-Ship kills
declined at this point
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U-Boats in the Mediterranean
Germans wanted to support their allies theTurks in their defense of Mediterraneanattacks by the Allies
Five U-boats sneaked through the Strait of
Gibraltar by fall of 1915 There were a significant number of
German U-boat kills in the MediterraneanAllies spent a lot of time and effort looking
for U-boat bases in the region and neverfound any because there were none (fleetwas too small)
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U-Boats in the Mediterranean
Allies began to divert shippingaround the Cape of Good Hope ratherthan through the Suez Canal
Allies became extremely desperateand asked for Japan to send twoflotillas of destroyers to the
Mediterranean in 1917
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Unrestricted Sub Warfareis Resumed
German diplomats would attempt tonegotiate a peace
Unsuccessful negotiations would result
in the reinstitution of unrestricted subwarfare
This time, the Germans could blame the
stubbornness of the Allies Negotiations went nowhere in early
1916 and the policy was resumed
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Unrestricted Sub Warfareis Resumed
134 submarines in German fleet by 1916
Blue-ocean U-boats
Four forward and two rear torpedo tubes
One or two 86 mm guns or a single 105 mm
Mine-laying U-boats (UE class)
Coastal patrol U-boats (UB class)
Small mine-layer U-boats (UC class)
Late 1916 154 sunken merchant vessels- 443,000 tons
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The Convoy System
Consolidation of merchant ships intoconvoys was a risky policy
Possible easy targets for German sub packs
Royal navy leaders were resistant to sucha policy
British PM- David Lloyd George
Instituted convoy system in early 1917
Losses for ships in convoy fell drastically
2% vs. 10% traveling on their own
Dropped to 1% in October 1917
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New Mines
Mark H2 Mine The Northern Barrage
70,000 mines ran across the North Sea from
the Orkney Islands to Norway German Naval Bases along the North
Sea 25,000 mines sealed off German bases
English Channel at the Dover Straits
Several dozen U-boats were sunk inthis fashion
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The Depth Charge
Credited to Admiral Sir Charles Madden
Inadvertently gave Admiral Sir John Jellicoethe idea when he suggested that he wishedthey had had a mine to drop on U-boats thatblew up at the U-boats depth
D-Pattern Mark III depth charge
Big can filled with 130 kg of TNT and a
pressure-sensitive detonator Could be set to blow up at six depths
From 30 m to 180 m
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The Depth Charge
First used in action in July 1916
December 6, 1916- first U-boat killusing depth charges
Americans adopted a similar ashcanAccounted for several dozen sunken U-
boats Even if the charges missed, the sub
crews were terrified and demoralized
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The Depth Charge
Projectors- a type of mortar depthcharge
Could be launched 75 yards from the
ship
Destroyers now had the ability tobracket the presumed position of the
U-boat
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The Hydrophone
First means of locating a submergedU-boat
A directional underwater microphone
that could be steered by an operator tolocate the source of an undersea sound
Tricky to use, easily confounded by
other sources of noise But better than nothing
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Air Power AidsNaval Powers
Maritime air patrols greatly increasedthe navys ability to seek out and findenemy vessels
Flying boats attacked U-boatscruising on the surface
Four hundred blimps accompanied
convoys through the dangerousapproaches to Britain
Patrolled the sea lanes for raids
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Results
1918- 55 U-boats sent to sea (16destroyed)
Both records for WWI
Summer of 1918- life expectancy of a U-boat was six combat patrols
Germany decided to take the war to U.S.shores
Deutschland class- long-range cruisers
Six torpedo tubes and at least two 150 mm guns
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Results
Patrols were executed, minefieldswere placed in strategic harbors (likeBaltimore, Delaware Bay), and
important telegraph wires were cutAmerica became better at detecting
and protecting themselves against U-boat attacks
U-boats had distinguishedthemselves in combat during WWI
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Results
Fleet of subs reached 365 ships bythe end of the war
They had sunk almost 5,000 Alliedships
13,000 men of which 5,000 died
Lost 178 subs
15,000 killed civilians