German Submarine Warfare 1914-1918 in the Eyes - British Naval ...
German Submarine Warfare 1914-1918 in the Eyes - British Naval ...
German Submarine Warfare 1914-1918 in the Eyes - British Naval ...
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Table 17: Mio BRT World Tonnage sunk <strong>1914</strong>-<strong>1918</strong>, per phase<br />
<strong>British</strong><br />
Admiralty78 <strong>German</strong><br />
Admiralty79 % Diff<br />
<strong>German</strong> Adm.<br />
<strong>1914</strong> Aug - 1917 Jan 3.9 4.9 + 25 %<br />
1917 Feb - 1917 Dec 5.7 8.7 + 53 %<br />
<strong>1918</strong> Jan - <strong>1918</strong> Oct 2.6 5.1 + 96 %<br />
Total 12.2 18.7 + 53 %<br />
As far as <strong>the</strong> public, <strong>the</strong> Government and <strong>the</strong> Army was concerned, <strong>the</strong> Navy<br />
was happily s<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g Allied ships en masse. England was be<strong>in</strong>g bled white. Little<br />
wonder, <strong>the</strong>n, at Ludendorff’s consternation <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> summer of <strong>1918</strong> when he saw<br />
that France had become a virtual American military camp. About 200,000<br />
“Doughboys” a month were be<strong>in</strong>g safely transported to Europe <strong>in</strong> spite of Uboats.<br />
The Treaty of Versailles required <strong>German</strong>y to replace “ton for ton” Allied ships<br />
that had been sunk, so why did <strong>the</strong> Navy <strong>in</strong>sist on 18 million BRT <strong>in</strong>stead of <strong>the</strong><br />
actual 12 million? 80 Perhaps it was pride, alone. In a clearly defensive mood<br />
Admiral von Capelle declared after <strong>the</strong> war that “. . . submar<strong>in</strong>es did not fail. They did<br />
more than was required of <strong>the</strong>m. The fault lay <strong>in</strong> an underestimation of <strong>the</strong> enemy's stay<strong>in</strong>gpower.”<br />
81<br />
Results<br />
The U-5 to U-18 gasol<strong>in</strong>e class, <strong>the</strong> “smoky Kört<strong>in</strong>g boats”, was outdated at<br />
<strong>the</strong> beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g of war. Their div<strong>in</strong>g time was several m<strong>in</strong>utes. More than half of<br />
<strong>the</strong>m were lost <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> first 6 months of <strong>the</strong> war, mostly rammed by enemy<br />
warships. Internally <strong>the</strong>y were named “suicide boats”. The rest was decommissioned<br />
<strong>in</strong> summer 1915 and fur<strong>the</strong>r used as tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g boats.<br />
The UB I and UC I class was developed and built <strong>in</strong> expectation of a short<br />
war, to protect <strong>the</strong> Flanders bases and to operate under <strong>the</strong> south-east English<br />
coast. The UC I m<strong>in</strong>e boats were only armed with a mach<strong>in</strong>e gun, and <strong>the</strong> UB I<br />
boats had 2 torpedoes and used carrier pigeons to communicate with <strong>the</strong>ir base.82<br />
But <strong>the</strong>se boats were <strong>the</strong> workhorses of <strong>the</strong> Navy; <strong>the</strong>y went out every week for 2<br />
or 3 days with <strong>the</strong> regularity of a bus service, patroll<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> Flemish coast. They<br />
played an immense role <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> first years of <strong>the</strong> war for <strong>the</strong> tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g of new<br />
78 NA/ADM 137/3921.<br />
79 Michelsen, U-Bootskrieg, pp. 196-197, also Galster, p. 145 for Feb. 1917 – Sep <strong>1918</strong>. Stegemann,<br />
U-Boot-Krieg, p. 342, remarks that <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> first half year of <strong>1918</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>German</strong> Admiralty numbers were<br />
100% over <strong>the</strong> <strong>British</strong> Admiralty numbers, means double to those.<br />
80 Sp<strong>in</strong>dler, Volume V, p. 344ff.: Die Mar<strong>in</strong>eleitung im Reichswehrm<strong>in</strong>isterium, October 6, 1922, corrected<br />
<strong>the</strong> s<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>gs to around 12 million BRT.<br />
81 NA, HW 7/2, analysis of Room 40, page 220 <strong>in</strong> this book.<br />
82 NA, ADM 137/3899, p. 10. A “deserted” carrier pigeon from UB-6 was found <strong>in</strong> Calais 26 Nov.<br />
1915. The message: “23.11.1915. Pos. 51.31N, 2.46E. Please open <strong>the</strong> locks today at 2.30 a.m.”.<br />
xxxvii