The War At SeaBy: Anna Lopatukhin, Vaishnavie Sivanantham, Desciree Lyog and

Jennifer Le

Background

▸ 1914-1915: Germany attacked Belgium ▸ Britain declared war on Germany ▸ Resulted in battle of Germany vs Britain▸ Germany did this to:

○ decrease Britain’s superiority ○ to dominate waterways○ win against strongest Empire (Great

Britain)

New Technologyits effect on war

Dreadnaughts

▸ Began with the naval arms race between Britain and Germany to have the largest navy

▸ New ships→ dreadnaughts ▸ “Castles-of-steel”▸ Quickly lost their usefulness ▸ Soldiers who were trained in the new

technology now had seen their weapons become waste

▸ Detrimental to economy

German Dreadnought

Artillery

▸ Artillery on the ships was very destructive

▸ Ten 12 inch guns, eighteen 4 inch guns, five torpedo tubes

▸ Made the war much more destructive and dangerous

Navy Yard, big gun section of the shops

U-Boats (submarines)

▸ Dreadnaughts were used to transport materials by Britain

▸ U-boats could sink dreadnaughts▸ Forced Britain to come up with new ways to

transport and detect ships▸ Triggered a domino ally affect

Example of a u-boat under

construction

Complex inner machinery of a submarine

Value of the Submarine

German Counter Attack

❖ Germans plan to break blockade with “U-boats”

❖ Germans waited for enemy targets and released torpedos

★ German submarine sank 5 British cruisers

❖ Britain and Germany relied on U-boats for supplies of food, raw materials, medical equipment, artillery and more, to prevent enemies from damaging the supplies

❖ During the war submarines were fitted with deck guns

❖ British anti-submarines submarine-sank 17 U-boats during the conflict

❖ The sub vs. sub success led to British development of the R class submarine

History of U-Boats

★ Germany had a well respected, short history, of submarine building★ Britain, America, Japan etc., all took their share of the U-Boats and used them as a

template for their own versions.❖ War went downhill for Germany in 1918

-was not able to turn the war in their favor❖ The German retreat in 1918 affected the U-boats

*despite the enforcement of a massive U-boat building programmes

““To all U-boats: Commence return from patrol at once. Because of ongoing negotiations any hostile actions against merchant vessels are prohibited. Returning U-boats are allowed to attack warships only in daylight. End of message. Admiral”

Strategieshow the war at sea

played out

Trade Blockade

- a vital coercive element in the maintenance of British naval supremacy

- British navy moved quickly to strangle the supply of goods to Germany and it’s allies

- British naval ships spent the war patrolling the North Sea- aggressive displays of maritime power lead to considerable

anger in neutral countries

Trade Blockade

- tension was heightened when the North Sea was considered British ‘military area’ November 3, 1914

- blockade strategy worked effectively

- few supplies were reaching Germany or it’s Allies

- Austria’s Adriatic ports were subject to a French blockade since the first month of war

Submarine Warfare

- Germany used U-boats to counter the effects of the trade blockade

- U-boats were deployed intermittently against neutral and allied shipping most of the war

- February 1, 1917, Germany adopted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare

- policy of attacking all ships headed to Britain with torpedoes

- provoked the USA into entering war against the Central Powers

- blockade continued unabated

Convoy System

- Strategy based on a collection of ships travelling under armed protection

- Worked by providing escort vessels for merchant ships

- escorts guarded against surface gunfire attacks

Example of merchant ship

travelling under armed protection.

Convoy System

Merchant/neutral ships would be escorted by:- a cruiser- 6 destroyers- 11 armed trawlers- a pair of torpedo boats

with aerial reconnaissance equipment that could detect underwater submarines

Canada’s Contribution

1914 : Canada’s Lack of Preparation

● less than 350 men in troop● two ships: HMCS Rainbow & HMCS Niobe

○ due to this lack of armed forces, Canada had limited participation■ although, thousands went to serve in Royal Navy

● canada seacrafts carried out anti-submarine operations in coast○ also supported Royal Canadian Air Force along NE

seaboard of NA

Royal Canadian Army

● guards colonies & trade routes○ ensuring there are no blockades

● as war progressed, R.C.N. became 3rd largest fleet (in world)○ 100,000 men (soldiers)○ 6500 women (doctors/services)○ 471 warships/vessels

● sunk several enemy subs (28) and vessels● lost 24 ships/vessels but came out victorious (suffered several

casualties)

18th Canadian Field

Ambulance

Canada’s Significance:

● 3rd largest fleet + helped defeat enemy troops● supplied Britain with resources● allowed Britain to win war at sea

○ and remain as the most powerful on the sea

Bibliography

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