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

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Table 20: German warships laid 1915-1918 in 1,000 BRT 88
52
34
71
173
B C D U
87
60
37
38
1915 1916 1917 1918
Until the summer of 1917 there were on average always seven to eight new
dreadnoughts under construction in the yards, along with a dozen light cruisers and
some 60-80 destroyers, compared with roughly 100 submarines. For the wartime
orders of heavy surface ships in 1915 and 1916 (eight dreadnoughts plus fifteen
light cruisers) 200 additional submarines could have been funded. The Navy could
have easily doubled submarine construction in 1915-1916.
German Submarine Orders 1914-1918
The submarine arm (Uboots-Inspektorat, UI) of the High Seas Fleet had
calculated in May, 1914 the need for a total of 222 U-boats for a merchant
blockade of the British Isles. Tirpitz simply ignored what he may have thought
were fantastic numbers, but the first successes of submarines against British
Warships in 1914 and 1915 put him under pressure to reconsider the situation: 89 In
April, 1915 the Kaiser received a memorandum from his naval staff requesting an
order of 200 additional submarines. In January, 1916 Navy leadership called for
another 350 submarines to mount a comprehensive blockade of Britain stretching
from the Atlantic, the North Sea and the English Channel, as well as re-enforce
Mediterranean operations.
In all, the hulls ordered amounted to a total of 170 available submarines a year
by January 1917. 90
Arguments in opposition were not slow in coming. In November, 1916
Admiral von Capelle complained about excessive ordering of submarines. He
believed that the war would end soon and an excess of submarines would have a
negative impact on the post-war naval budget for dreadnought construction. 91 The
88 Numbers based on: Groener, Deutsche Kriegsschiffe.
89 Weir, Kaiser's Navy, p. 172.
90 Rössler, Ubootbau, pp. 96-99.
91 Ibid. p. 107.
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