Submarine Warfare

[What's A Submarine:]
-A warship with a streamlined hull designed to operate completely submerged in the
sea for long periods, equipped with an internal store of air and a periscope and
typically armed with torpedoes and/or missiles and deck guns.
-Submarines were also known as U-boat meaning unterseeboot boat in German.
-How were they used in the war: Submarines were excellent weapons again naval
units but were mainly used in an economic warfare role enforcing naval
blockades to stop enemy shipping and commerce. The German's were most known
to use U-Boats.
[Submarine technology:]
-Most submarines had two propellers powered by a diesel engine on the surface
and electric motors submerged usually moved at 9knots on the surface and 15
knots submerged. The electric motors could only be used for a short amount of time
so sometimes they reverted to diesel and the exhaust fumes accumulated inside
the sub & everyone breathed contaminated air.
-Submarines were fitted with A.S.D.I.C (Anti-Submarine Detection Investigation
Committee) better known as sonar to locate & destroy other subs but the
technology was introduced too late in the war to have a big impact.
[Weapons:]
-Torpedoes were the main weapons used by submarines; they were self-propelled
and used a compressed air drive system that powered propellers. The tip of the
torpedo had a pin; when it came in contact with a target it triggered the explosives
in the head of the torpedo.
-Submarines also had deck guns; 3-4 inch caliber and 150 millimetre guns. These
guns could only be used when the sub surfaced.
[Submarine Stats:]
-At the begging of the war Germans deployed 19 U-boats and sank 5 battleships in
10 weeks, throughout the war Germany built 360 U-Boats, 178 of which were lost.
-In total German U-boats were responsible for the loss of more than 11 million tons
of allied shipping.
-British deployed 252 subs throughout the war.
[Major Incidents:]
-RMS Lusitania Was the fastest liner afloat at the time, it was a passenger ship. On
May 1 1915, the
ship departed New York City bound for Liverpool. On May 7 the ship neared the
coast of Ireland
and the German sub u-20 fired a torpedo at the liner. An unknown second explosion
Completely crippled the ship in 18 minutes the ship sank. 1119 of 1924 aboard died
including 114 Americans. This is one of major causes for American to resign its
neutrality and join the war.

Submarine Warfare
-German Blockades:
-The Germans made naval blockades on trade routes of the allied powers. Their Uboats partook in
unrestricted submarine warfare; the submarines would fire
upon any vessel that came within range regardless of whether the vessel was
civilian or military. America lost many merchant ships due to unrestricted submarine
warfare.
-To counter unrestricted submarine warfare, Prize Rules were set in place; instead
of immediately firing on civilian vessels, the submarines were to come to the
surface, search the ship, give the merchantmen the option to leave via lifeboat, and
then sink the ship. Later on in the war Germans refused to abide by these rules
reverting to unrestricted submarine warfare. This added to the reasons for
Americas entry Into the war.