15.3.9

U-Boats

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U-Boats

Throughout the war, the British and German navies engaged each other at sea.

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Early battles

  • Between November and December 1914 AD, Germany attacked coastal towns such as Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough.
    • Despite this technically being a German victory, it provoked British public opinion and triggered a wave of recruits for the British army.
  • In January 1915 AD, the British decoded German messages and prevented a German attack on Dogger Bank.
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U-boats

  • The Germans turned to u-boat (submarine) warfare.
    • Using unrestricted u-boat warfare, the Germans targeted merchant (trade) ships to and from Britain.
  • In May 1915 AD, the Germans sunk a liner called Lusitania.
    • This caused 1,200 civilian casualties. 128 of these were American.
    • This seriously damaged relations between the US and Germany. Some argue that the sinking of the Lusitania brought America into the war against Germany.
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More attacks

  • Between 1915 AD and 1918 AD, the number of German u-boats grew from 21 to almost 200.
  • By 1917 AD, one in four merchant ships failed to reach their final destination because of German attacks.
  • This showed that German u-boat warfare seriously threatened Britain's survival in the war.
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Battle of Jutland

  • Britain was blockading the German home front.
  • In May 1916 AD, Germany tried to stop the British blockade in the Battle of Jutland.
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Convoy system

  • In response, the British established the ‘convoy system’. This meant that merchant ships sailed in a 'convoy' surrounded by naval ships.
  • Q ships (or Q-boats) were decoy ships. The Allies disguised armed ships as merchant ships to lure U-boats in. They would then shoot at the U-boats, aiming to sink them.
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Blockades vs. u-boats

  • Convoys significantly reduced the success of the German u-boats.
  • In the end, British blockades were very successful and starvation on the German home front seriously weakened the German war effort.

Jump to other topics

1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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