Chapter 14-Battles of the Atlantic WWI

7/31/2019 Chapter 14-Battles of the Atlantic WWI

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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

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Chapter 14-Battles of the Atlantic WWI