War at Sea

1. War at Sea By Vicky Jessett

2. The Naval Race – pre WWI • Britain had always had a very powerful navy • In1906, Britain launched the Dreadnaught • Germany wanted to build a navy of equal power to their military and so quickly expanded their fleet. This caused a naval scare. • Britain retaliated by building 8 more battleships • The naval race caused a lot of negative feelings towards Germany, and they were portrayed the new enemy (no longer France or Russia)

3. Importance of Sea • The sea was crucial during the war: • Britain needed to transport men and supplies to the areas of direct fighting • As an island, Britain relied on food and industrial imports from other countries particularly from USA • Therefore, the British navy was extremely cautious to avoid mines and battles - Winston Churchill believed that if they were to lose too many ships too quickly, they could lose the war in one afternoon. • Germany did not need the naval routes to help her allies, but they did need food and other supplies from overseas • Trade routes were vital for both sides for personal supplies • They both aimed to infiltrate the enemies trade route to starve them into submission.

4. Unrestricted Warfare 1915 • Britain is an island, so relies heavily in the merchant fleets to import food • German planned to end this trade by the use of U Boats • In Feb 1915, Germany claimed that all merchant ships entering or leaving Britain would be destroyed – Unrestricted Warfare. • Only sunk 4% of British ships during 1915 • Caused an American ship to sink – the Lusitania

5. The sinking of the Lusitania • An American passenger ship which was sunk by a German U Boat on 7th May 1915. • Germans claimed that they had intelligence that the ship was carrying munitions for Britain • This caused an outrage in America, and helped to solidify the role that America later played the war. • The sinking of the Lusitania was one of the main reasons that America joined the war.

6. Battle of Jutland - 1916 • There was only 1 main battle at the sea which challenged Britain's supremacy – the Battle of Jutland (31st May – 1st June 1916) • Germans tried to lure the a part of the British Fleet out of its base, so that it appeared that the British would be numerically superior • This worked, although the British had more ships (around 250) than the Germans anticipated • The artillery fire carried on for several hours until the Germans finally sailed back to port. • The Germans claimed a victory as they only lost 11 ships compared to Britain’s 14.

7. Unrestricted Warfare - 1917 • The Germans launched another campaign, and as they had more submarines, they were more successful • Britain used antisubmarine methods. Eg large minefields, depth charges and Q ships (disguised battleships) • But they were ineffective against the large number of German U Boats • In April, Lord Derby (secretary of state for War) announced the government was at ‘its wit’s end as to how to deal with these submarines’ • Introduced the convoy system – merchant ships were to sail together with Royal Naval destroyers to protect them • Losses dropped dramatically, and the U-Boat threat was defeated