German Submarine Warfare 1914-1918 in the Eyes - British Naval ...

1 200
1 000
800
600
400
200
0
96
Table 1: The German Navy 1900-1914 in 1,000 BRT 13
B (battleship) C (cruiser) D (destroyer) U (submarine)
138 164
218
1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914
Numbers of ships by column: B-battleships; C-cruiser; D-destroyer, torpedo
boats, mining vessels; U-German submarines. The total size of the Navy is given in
Brutto Register Tonnage (BRT).
With characteristic theatricality and no small amount of disingenuousness
Churchill announced before the war
“All sorts of sober minded people in England began to be profoundly disquieted. What did
Germany want this navy for? Against whom, except us, could she measure it, match it, or
use it?” 14
“It is nothing. It is less than nothing. It is too foolish, too fantastic to be thought of in the
twentieth century. Or is it fire and murder leaping out of the darkness at our throats,
torpedoes ripping the bellies of half-awakened ships, a sunrise on a vanished naval
supremacy, and an island well guarded hitherto, at last defenceless? No, it is nothing. […]
It would be a pity to be wrong. Such a mistake could only be made once – once for all.” 15
“The British Navy is to us a necessity and, from some points of view, the German Navy is
to them more in the nature of a luxury. Our naval power involves British existence. It is
existence to us; it is expansion to them …” 16
Naval planning at this time was driven by numbers: number and speed of
ships, number of guns carried, their calibre and range, numbers of departments and
personnel, and so forth. It was axiomatic in those years that a fleet one third
stronger than its opponent would annihilate an enemy. Britain only needed to build
more ships than Germany and maintain a forty percent advantage. “Two keels for
13 Numbers based on: Groener, Deutsche Kriegsschiffe.
14 Churchill, World Crisis, p. 23.
15 Churchill, World Crisis, p. 30.
16 Churchill, World Crisis, p. 61.
268
2
364
6
520
12
710
xiii