World War I was the first time that submarines were widely used in warfare. The revolutionary technology was initially brought into the war by Germany, who called these submarines Unterseeboot. The initial intention for using submarines were coastal defense, blockades of enemy ships, and lookouts. The earliest wartime vessels were rudimentary and used diesel engines, giving them a 4,000 mile range, however, they moved very slowly and could not stay under the surface for long. This was a limitation of the optional war strategies available to the submarines. Most German U-boats carried defensive missiles and also included anti-aircraft guns. The U-boats were incredibly stealthy, staying submerged until locking onto a target. Then the submarines
Did the submarines only serve a military purpose or did they help in other ways?
The U-boats one of Germany’s of most intimidating naval weapons. The U-boat, also known as a submarine, which is a boat that could go underwater. The common U-boat during World War One could carry 35 men and 12 torpedoes (history.com). The Germans would use the element of surprise by torpedoing ships such as their enemies or neutral countries.For example, the ship the Lusitania, a british ocean liner that had been coming from New York to Liverpool had been torpedoed without warning, which ended up killing 1,189 people. The Germans would use the U-boat for unrestricted warfare which caused the Germans’ to have one of the most
A submarine that may be unfamiliar to you was called the Pioneer. It was later renamed the H.L Hunley. The most well known submarine during the American Civil War. This submarine belonged to the Confederate States of America. It played a small part in the American Civil War. The Hunley, nearly 4 high and 15ft wide ,was built in Mobile, Alabama and launched in July 1863. The Hunley sank the USS Housatonic on February 1864. The Pioneer or shall I say the H.L Hunley became the first ship ever to sink an enemy vessel during a war, but sadly the submarine itself sank along with all of the crew members. No survivors. What they did is they drilled a hole in the enemy vessel and put the dynamite into that hole and ignited the dynamite to blow a
They were plagued by design flaws; the subs vibrated excessively creating a dangerous amount of noise and the controls were unnecessarily complicated. Japan had numerous advantages over the United States at the beginning of the war. Japan’s submarines were not only slightly faster and larger, they were also better outfitted with exceptional optical gear and look outs, excellent torpedoes, and adequate underwater listening gear. They did not, however, have radar.
Ideas were made realities as the country discovered more efficient tactics of warfare. On the water, the idea of being completely submerged and attacking from below came from Southerner H.L. Hunley. Hunley was “involved in the construction of several submarines, including one named after him” (Bruce). Hunley was not the first to think of the idea of a submarine but was the first to create a working model. His model consisted of “a crew of nine, eight of whom turned hand cranks along a single screw shaft that served to propel the craft” (Bruce). His invention was not flawless but was the first completely underwater machine that was ultimately deadly to the Union ships. It was the first submarine which allowed for future generations to reflect upon this first invention and improve upon it for a more effective machine. This first inkling of a thought would help achieve much greater machines decades in the future. The newly built machine was fallible and many sailors died while operating the ship. On February 17, 1864, “the Hunley sank shortly the Union screw sloop Housatonic. Although the Hunley sank shortly thereafter, it was the first submarine to claim an enemy vessel” (Bruce). The first kill from a submarine was monumental because it proved that the submarine could be a useful and feared machine lurking in the water. It had proved itself to be valuable in the time that it served and convinced the army to continue to improve upon it after the war. Following the war, the “navy continued experiments but it was not until the end of the 19th century that inventors developed a truly effective submarine” (Bruce). The military realized that the submarine had much potential that could be derived with more intensive research and analysis. Still effective today, the invention thought of centuries ago proved to be an effective killing machine. Improvements on land warfare
The German U-Boats were like a submarine that was a lot more advanced than those that were built by other nations; and they were the first submarines made by the Germans. The U-boat was 214 feet long, it could carry 35 men, and 12 torpedoes at a time. And it could travel underwater for 2 hours at a time. With these Germany had a lot of success against the British warships. (https://www.britannica.com/technology/U-boat)
Another important weapon that changed Naval warfare would be the Torpedo. The first torpedos were not like today’s torpedos. They were at first not referred to as torpedos but rather Water Mines. I was surprised to find out that they were developed so early in history. There were torpedoes during the civil war, then the US Navy dedicated a whole station to the development of torpedoes. They however did not have much success. Around the 1870’s a new torpedo was developed, the Howell Torpedo. An interesting fact about the Howell Torpedo is that it is named after its creator, John Adams Howell, a US Navy rear admiral. The development of this weapon is key because torpedoes have been a very important asset to the US armed forces, for example they
A german submarine that was the first submarine employed in warefare, initially used during world war 1
Lastly, this message was sent by the minister of Germany named Arthur Zimmerman to the ambassador of Mexico. The U-boats also played a large part in the German Naval Policy. The U-boats were submarines that were created and used by Germany. The boats were used to take down other ships or boats during the war. A major thing that pushed the United States closer to declaring war was when a U-boat took down the Lusitania which was a British ship, this killing everyone on board of the Lusitania including 128 Americans.
The main reason the German U-boats were feared was because of their effectiveness, they sunk nearly 3,000 Allied ships (Mainly merchant) (Wikipedia.com).
Before World War II, the submarine was very predictable and easily managed with detection systems, depth detection, and antisubmarine forces. The aircrafts were harder to manage, and could easily penetrate enemy territory. It was not so predictable.[xii]
The Germans had sent out U-boats because they simply could no longer afford a purely defensive naval strategy. The Germans were the first to use torpedoes in battle to make their U-boats even more deadly. A torpedo is self-propelled underwater missile launched from a tube located on the deck or inside the hull of a warship. Torpedo tubes were first built into submarines in 1885 by the Swedish armaments manufacturer, Thortsen Nordenfelt. Torpedoes in 1914 carried a contact-triggered explosive warhead and had a range of 10,000 meters and could travel at 41 knots.1 However, their ideal range was about a kilometer because they tended to be inaccurate over longer distances.
Study sources A to D. Explain how useful these sources have been in informing you in your enquiry into the impact of German submarine warfare on Britain during the first and second world wars explain your answer using these sources and your own knowledge [16 marks]. Unrestricted submarine warfare was announced by Germany on January 9th 1917. Unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of naval warfare in which submarines sink vessels such as freighters and tankers without warning. Following the use of unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany in the First World War, countries tried to limit or even take out submarines. When it was announced unrestricted submarine warfare was to have a major impact on World War One and
U-boats is an abbreviation for ‘unterseeboat,’ which is German for submarine. U-boats were heavily used in both world wars by the Germans to devastating effect, sinking numerous merchant and naval allied ships during the world wars. This effect was limited when the enigma code was cracked by the allies and the U-boats could be easily tracked.
The land war in Europe had become a destructive beast which incessantly consumed supplies, equipment, and soldiers at massive rates. The British had established a naval blockade on Germany directly upon the outbreak of war in August 1914. The war on land quickly spread to the sea, with the first major battle on the water occurring on August 28, 1914, in a corner of the North Sea known as Helgoland Bight. This battle resulted in an early German defeat at sea which intimidated Kaiser Wilhelm II. The hesitation of the German naval forces contributed further to stalemate. The British had asserted their dominance in traditional naval warfare. But it did not last once the German new technologies came into play. Resupply ships streamed across the Atlantic, braving submarine attacks, underwater mines, and aerial bombardment. New technologies were invented and refined,