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

vessels were sunk by UB-12; and UB-2 got a steamer of 672 BRT in the North Sea,
making it a total of 765 BRT for February.
These were the modest results of coastal patrols by Flanders based UB-boats
within five months (except for U-24). The only High Seas Fleet submarines out in
the first two months of 1916 were U-44, U-32, U-70 and U-22, all on military patrol
against the Grand Fleet in the North Sea.
For five whole months there was no concerted merchant war at all in the
Atlantic. The sinking of some small fishing vessels and coastal steamers seemed to
have been the basis for Falkenhayn’s calculations, and perhaps also stirred the
German public to support the notion “that unrestricted submarine warfare causes eight to
ten times more sinkings.”
Holtzendorff, Chief of the Admiralty Staff, joined the chorus when he
declared that by 1 March, 1916 “enough U-boats would be available for a submarine
campaign against Great Britain which, if conducted without restrictions, would induce the British
to make peace within four months.” 50
In light of the twenty-six ocean-going boats available in March, 1916 with an
average of six or seven on cruise per day the pronouncement was, at best, wishful
thinking. Less than thirty percent of available boats were on Atlantic merchant war
cruises, and the Mediterranean suffered from insufficient dockyard capabilities for
repair and maintenance. In April a passenger liner, Sussex, was torpedoed without
warning. Among the casualties were American citizens. Again, American protests
made it clear that resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare threatened a very
high price, likely even war with the United States.
The Submarines of the High Seas Fleet, May to October 1916
The merchant campaign stopped at the end of April at the directed of Admiral
Scheer, the new Commander of the High Seas Fleet, despite resistance from the
Admiralty. However, ocean-going submarines based in the North Sea were now
dedicated exclusively for military patrols, scouting the North Sea for the British
Grand Fleet. Only Mediterranean boats continued to prosecute restricted
submarine warfare.
What was behind Scheer’s ‘merchant war strike’? Consider his situation: costly
dreadnoughts of the High Seas Fleet were not quite a match for British Grand
Fleet supremacy. The navy was challenged by the army to do more to support the
war effort. Indeed, soldiers mocked the fleet with, “Lieb Vaterland magst ruhig sein, die
Flotte schlaeft im Hafen ein.” (“Dear Fatherland rest calmly the fleet sleeps safely in
port.”) If the war ended with a German Army victory, naval budgets on the prewar
scale were unlikely to be approved by the Reichstag. In such a grim
environment it was perhaps better to risk a great battle than financial asphyxiation
at some later date. Tactics were developed to give the Imperial Navy an edge
50 Birnbaum, Peace Moves and U-boat Warfare, p. 56, memo Holtzendorff to chancellor Bethmann-
Hollweg, 4 Jan. 1916.
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