John Sweetman's Tirpitz: Hunting The Beast

Submarines, also known as U-boats. This U-boat was able to attack ships underwater without being spotted. The only Major problem is that it broke the International law. When the Germans attack a neutral ship, they are supposed to warn them beforehand but

After Great Britain made a blockade to stop trade between the U.S and Germany, Germany started to use their u-boats to have unrestricted warfare. On DBQ 16:Why Did We Enter WWI?-Document 5 it says”... the Imperial German Government that on and after the first day of February it [would] use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach… Great Britain… or the western coasts of europe…”Meaning that if they saw anything on the western coasts of europe or entering Great Britain, they would blow it up. This is an example of unrestricted warfare. Another example, according to an article called The Sinking of the Lusitania it says “At 2:10 in the afternoon a torpedo

This caused tensions to build up between Britain and Germany, who were constantly competing with naval warfare. Britain dominated the naval forces, with it being massive in numbers of battleships. Problems started to appear while they were constantly competing with each other’s numbers of naval ships as a comic in PUNCH Magazine states the two countries have a conversation “‘[Kaiser] I go three dreadnoughts!’ ‘[John Bull] Well, just to show there’s no ill-feeling, I raise you three!’(Doc

Germans also sunk many allied lading boats before they even reached the shored of Normandy by submerged water mines planted by the Germans before the invasion of D-Day (“D-Day” 70).

Naval warfare had not turned out to be an especially critical factor for either the Germans or the British, and there were no truly decisive naval battles. The submarine, however, produced some earth-shaking results. Submarine warfare led to the sinking of the Lusitania, a passenger ship. This occurred during a submarine blockade of Britain. The Germans placed no limit on their campaign of submarine warfare. This campaign helped draw the United States into the conflict. Without submarine warfare, perhaps the U.S. never enters the conflict. By June of 1918, the Allied lines were so devastated that the German commander Ludendorff felt he could wire the Kaiser and state that the war might end soon. Then, U.S. troops began to arrive, as many as 250,000 a month. The Allies rallied. Germany may well have won without the infusion of U.S. troops into the battle. So, in a very unexpected way, new technology-- the deadly submarine warfare of the Germans had a decided impact on the war.

The Germany Army was adamant of taking over the European Colonies that they even used their submarines and warships to sink passenger ships regardless who was aboard them. In one incident, the British passenger

From these early submarines evolved one of the world's most evocative killing machines, the U-Boats. Leading up to the development of the U-Boat were a series of military escalations, culminating in the start of the Great War. Throughout modern German history, military technologies like the U-Boat have been integral to strategic planning. Even when decisions regarding U-Boat development and deployment seemed senseless, as it

Meanwhile, the Germans launched the Bismarck, which was Germany’s most powerful battleship, in 1939. “The Bismarck was the most nearly unsinkable ship of the Battle of the Atlantic. A British fleet with its planes pouring ton after ton of shells and torpedoes into her, could not even send her down” (Sulzberger 195). In May of 1941 the cruiser Dorsetshire hit the Bismarck with three torpedoes. Finally, the Bismarck slowly turned over and sank (“World War II” 195). The Bismarck attack was the turning point for the German forces in the Atlantic. After her loss the major German warships were inactive.

This is another reason why America was close to joining the war. Germany waged submarine warfare against the United Kingdom when the British

Germany defended the sinking of the Lusitania by responding that the ship was carrying a load of ammunition. However, this fact mattered little to the outraged Americans. Wilson remained careful for any action that would bring America into the war, despite many Americans openly calling for war. Instead of declaring war, Wilson sent a series of notes to Germany, demanding them to end their submarine warfare. In response to the outrage of the Americans, Germany agreed to refrain from sinking defenseless ships. However, in August 1915, the British liner, the Arabic, was sunk by another German U-boat. Again, Wilson demanded that the submarine warfare had to end. Finally, the German government pledged to end its submarine warfare. However, this pledge proved to be temporary. In March of 1916, U-boats sunk the Sussex, a French steamer. At this point, Wilson threatened to end all diplomatic relations with Germany if U-boats continued to sink unarmed vessels. To prevent this, Germany agreed to not sink unarmed ships. In November of 1916, Wilson was reelected with slogans saying, “He kept us out of the war” and “peace without victory.” However, these attempt to make peace

Come 1918, Germany knew they needed a big push for the win. Their supplies were rapidly depleting as all efforts to thwart the continuation of Britain’s blockade via “unrestricted submarine warfare” were unsuccessful. American troops were being shipped in, albeit slowly, and Germany

The Battle of the St. Lawrence Seaway refers to the attacks on Allied shipping in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence from 1942 through to the end of the shipping season in 1944 . German submarines, commonly called U-boats, entered into these Canadian waters to hinder and delay Allied supplies from reaching Britain across the Atlantic . However, Allied convoys still made voyages to Britain and back, constantly supplying them with goods. Sailing across the middle of the Atlantic itself was considered far more dangerous than just leaving the Canadian ports. Therefore, through examining Germany’s intent for entering the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, effect on Allied shipping, and subsequent response by the Allies with respect to the attacks, it can be shown that U-boats entering into Canadian waters had very little impact on impeding Allied shipping.

Submarine operations by Germany and its allies were meant to target armed ships and merchant ships that were suspected of carrying weapons and

The other aspect of Germany's Weltpolitik that caused anxiety was their wish for a strong German navy. The Kaiser believed the fleet was necessary in order to support German interests across the globe. However this fleet was also aimed at negating the naval power of Britain. Admiral von Tirpitz designed the German naval fleet in order to have enough battleships to be able to substantially weaken Britain enough that Britain would no longer have an adequate fleet if the two powers came ever came to battle. Mark McAndrew argues that the whole basis of German naval policy was to intimidate Britain with little regard for the international tension it would create. In fact as early as 1896, members of the German government recognised that by developing their navy they would antagonize Britain and risk a major war. This knowledge did not restrain the Kaiser, nor Tirpitz. In a letter to the Kaiser's brother, Admiral Georg von Muller wrote "Either we harness the total strength of the nation, ruthlessly, even if it means accepting the risk of a major war, or we limit ourselves to continental power alone." The British quickly realised the implications of Germany's new naval policy and a naval arms race broke out between the two countries each trying to build more dreadnaughts (the most advanced type of

The Commencement of World War ll caught the British and the German navies by surprise. Germany had 50 undersea boats, U boats, available in 1939. The british were also quite unprepared, not having the right amount of escorts