Download World War 1 The War at Sea

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WAR AT SEA
1914 - 1918
Introduction
It has been said that the failure of the generals of 1914 was largely a
pre-war failure. Whilst they had been able to adapt the technologies
ready to hand, such as the railways, they lacked the wit to perceive
the importance of new technologies, such as the internal combustion
engine or wireless technology, as radio was then called. No such
charge can be laid against the admirals of the years before 1914. The
Royal Navy abolished sail after the Crimean War, steel replaced
wood and sail gave way to piston and then turbine, with coal being
replaced by oil. Guns and ships became larger with the battleship
‘Dreadnought’, launched in 1906; a ship of 18,110 tons, with ten 12
inch guns, and bringing with it a new design, which made previous
big ships obsolete.
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By 1913 the
changes continued with the latest modern battleship in the Royal
Navy the Queen Elizabeth now displacing 26,000 tons, armed with 15
inch guns; and these advances in warships were copied by other
major nations in Europe and further afield, in a desperate effort to
keep up.
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a) Pre War Events
When Kaiser William II came to the throne in 1888, his main
aim was to develop Germany into a world power and the Royal
Navy, as the world’s largest navy, was seen as an obstacle to
achieving this objective. Consequently from 1897 Germany
commenced a warship building programme to increase the size
of their fleet. In order to maintain naval superiority Britain also
responded by increasing its warship building programme.
b) Blockade by the British on Germany
At the start of the war the decision was taken to enforce a total naval
blockade on Germany and its allies to prevent food shipment and
both military and non military items. All German ports and later
most European ports were blockaded. This gradually caused hardship
to the population and resulted in a later German counter blockade of
Britain by the use of submarines.
c) The first sea battles -War in the Pacific
After unification in 1871 Germany belatedly entered the scramble for
colonial territories in Africa and the Pacific. In the Pacific they
collected a number of Islands, including the Marianas in which the
German East Asiatic Squadron was based. At the start of war the
Squadron was ordered to return to Germany as it became clear that
the Germans had too few colonies and bases to sustain a worldwide
campaign. They sailed for South America and in doing so learnt that a
small British Squadron was close nearby to the Chilean coastal city of
Coronel.
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They surprised the British ships and sunk two cruisers, however two
ships escaped and made for Port Stanley. The Germans followed at a
slower pace, but the Admiralty had anticipated problems and sent a
larger force at high speed to the Falklands. When the Germans
attacked Port Stanley they were surprised and endeavoured to
escape. They were caught by the British ships which sank all the
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German ships bar one which escaped into the Pacific. Further navy
action insured that all the other German armed surface ships were
eliminated from the oceans by the spring of 1915.
d) War in the Mediterranean
In 1914 the cruiser Goeben
escaped to Constantinople and led to the Ottoman Empire joining
Germany against the Allies. Initially the French fleet assumed
responsibility, cutting off the Austrian Navy, by closing the Straits of
Otranto, whilst the RN concentrated on the Channel and the North
Sea.
e) War in the North Sea
In order to restrict the movement of the main German Fleet the
Royal Navy created the Grand Fleet, based at Scarpa Flow and Rosyth
as the major bases for a North Sea campaign against Germany. Ships
were also based in the Channel to protect the transportation of
troops to France. The first battle occurred on 28th August near
Helgoland
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initially involving cruisers and destroyers from Harwich and later a
Battle Cruiser Squadron, the Germans lost 4 ships. This result made
the Germans more cautious in using surface ships in the North Sea.
Another minor scrap occurred in October near Texel Island, when a
small British squadron sank 4 German vessels.
The Navy also assisted the army using 40 monitors to provide fire
support for troops within range of the Belgian coast. In November
German ships targeted Great Yarmouth, causing little damage. In
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December they returned to target Scarborough, Whitby and
Hartlepool. This time they inflicted considerable damage, with 137
deaths and nearly 600 injuries.
In December the Battle of Dogger Bank occurred in which Beatty’s
Battle Cruisers took on a similar German force. The Germans lost a
ship, with of 3 their ships suffering severe damage and the rest
retreated to base. Long range gunnery was becoming important
with ranges of up to 21,000yds on targets recorded; additionally the
effective use of mines also became a problem to both fleets.
In May 31 1916 the navies met at Jutland when the German Fleet left
port. The battle cruisers of both fleets engaged with the Germans
attempting to draw the British into the arms of the High Seas Fleet
resulting in the sinking of 3 British ships. The British battle cruisers
withdrew trying to entice the Germans into the arms of the Grand
Fleet. After further action the Germans retreated back to port. This
was not a decisive battle for the RN who lost a total of 14 ships, but
the German position had not changed, with losses of 10 ships. A
news correspondence compared this action to a prisoner – the
German Navy, who had escaped from his cell, punched the warder
on the nose – the Royal Navy, and returned to his cell, which the
warder promptly locked again.
f) Blockade of Britain and extension to other shipping by
Germany with the use of Submarines
Food shortages in the winter of 1914/15 led the Germans in February
1915 to announce a blockade of the British Isles and an increase in
building U Boats. ‘Every enemy vessel found will be destroyed
without it always being possible to warn crews or passengers of the
dangers’. This caused concern in the US regard the impact on US
shipping. Initially German action was insignificant in terms of allied
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losses. In May 1915 U20
sank the liner Lusitania off Ireland with a loss of 1198 passengers and
crew, including 128 Americans. President Wilson protested and the
Germans reduced their activities.
Steps to reduce the effect of submarines by the Royal Navy, included
the introduction of ‘Q-ships’ from 1915/16; these were merchant
ships with concealed deck guns, together with barrages for
protecting ports.
g) Entry of US into War as a result of German Blockade
On 1st Feb 1917 Germany announced the start of an unrestricted Uboat campaign and allied shipping started to take a heavy toll, which
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reached a monthly total by April of 860,000 tons. As a result the RN
started a convoy system, together with destroyers engaged in
antisubmarine patrols. On April 6th the US declared war on Germany,
imposing a further embargo on the Central Powers. The convoy
system led to a reduction in ship losses and the safe transportation
of 2,079,880 US soldiers and 7 1/2 mil tons of war material from the
US to Europe up to the end of the war.
Conclusion
German failed to succeed in its blockade of the UK and failed to
prevent US men and arms from joining the European battlefield
losing over half of its U-boats in the process. In addition they were
unable to prevent the safe passage of British and Empire troops and
material to the battlefield in France.
Germany was never able to use its surface ships to any great effect
and the morale of crews were reduced by lack of action.
Finally the economic blockade of Germany caused serious shortages
of food and material to the war effort and helped to shorten the war.