What are Submarines ?

This represented 50% of Germany’s total U-boat capacity and resulted in the deaths of around 5,000 members of U-Boat crew

In 1914 Germany had 29 U-Boats at its disposal by the time they surrendered in 1918 the fleet comprised 134.

On 8 June 1916 SS Principe Umberto was transporting Italy’s 55th infantry regiment back from Albania to Italy. Despite being under escort by other ships the Austo-Hungarian sumbarine U-5 was able to torpedo the Principe Umberto and it sank rapidly killing 1,926

Ships attacked by torpedo tended to sink rapidly hence the high casualty rates. The passenger ship Lusitania was torpedoed on 7 May 1915 and within 18 minutes its bow touched the sea bed. The sinking killed 1,198 of those aboard, leaving 761 survivors.

Submarines quickly became the most prolific killers in the Fleet of the German Empire.

In 1914 surface ships sank 55 ships against only 3 sunk by U-Boats. The following year this was reversed and Submarines sank 396 Allied ships compared to only 23 by surface craft.

The greatest disparity came with the resumption of unlimited submarine warfare in 1917 when 2,439 Allied ships were sunk by U-Boats against 64 in conventional naval battles.

The U-151 class of submarines were 315 feet long and could carry 700 tons of cargo. They traveled at around 12 knots and had originally been designed as merchant submarines under the name Deutschland

Although there were obviously other factors at work the USA and Brazil both cited the German attacks on civilian and merchant vessels as key provocations in bringing them into the war.

The Unrestricted submarine warfare of World War One was regarded by many at the time as a kind of war crime as it violated Prize Rules, naval codes common since the 19th century which stipulated that merchant vessels could not be attacked without warning.

Commander Karl Neumann was tried at Leipzig in 1921 for sinking the hospital ship Dover Castle in the war but was acquitted as he did so under orders. These apprehensions were abandoned by World War Two and all nations engaged in unrestricted submarine warfare leading to huge numbers of non-combatant deaths at sea.