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

German submarines 1915-1918: Personnel
The dreadnoughts of the High Seas Fleet were battle-ready until the last
month of the war. The ships were fully equipped, ready to go out at any moment.
Their last sortie was in August, 1918 when they undertook a trip to the south coast
of Norway. Eleven obsolete pre-dreadnought battleships had been demobilised in
summer 1916 to release seamen for submarines duty, and another four – the last
pre-dreadnoughts – in October 1917. But nobody wanted to go further.
Dreadnoughts were taboo. In February, 1918 the High Seas Fleet Command
denied a further demand to decommission battleships or cruisers. 104
Table 24: Officer & men in the German Navy 1915-1918 105
104 Forstmeier, Grosskampfschiffe, p. 48.
105 Numbers based on: Groener, Deutsche Kriegsschiffe.
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