Explain the importance of the war at sea to the final outcome of WWI

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Explain the importance of the war at sea to the final outcome of the war.

The war at sea played quite a vital role in World War I, unlike the war at air, but possibly not as big a role as the war on land. Each side knew how vitally important it was to control the seas, as the land war was closely linked to the sea war, much more than the war at air was. It was unusual, in that there were not particularly any major sea battles or proper fighting – it was more of a struggle of stealth and caution to gain control of the seas. This is seen in the land war as well, which was meant to be a rapid affair yet turned out to be completely the opposite. The aim of the war at sea, therefore, was not necessarily to destroy as many enemy ships as possible in all out war but to cut off enemy supply lines and stop the enemy from cutting of your supply lines. This saw the rise of a new warfare strategy – submarine warfare.

It was clear to everyone, especially the Germans now that the war had started, that the British navy was superior to everyone else’s before the war and the years leading up to it. They were baring the brunt of the British navy because of the harsh blockade that was being set upon them. All German ships by the start of 1915 were safely secured in their ports along the North and Baltic Sea. The few German ships that had been across the seas of the globe had been destroyed by Britain. It was clear that there was no possible way Germany could defeat Britain through naval warfare on the surface. The blockade to stop supplies reaching Germany secured this fact. However, Germany realised the importance of Britain’s navy to its empire and Britain itself. As an island nation, their navy was depended upon to guarantee the transportation of goods and supplies around the globe with the maximum efficiency and minimal delays. To starve Britain of war supplies, just as Britain was enforcing upon Germany at the time, the U-Boat seemed the only remedy.

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The U-Boat (literally meaning ‘undersea boat’ from the German ‘Unterseeboat’) was the main weapon in the war at sea. This was the main weapon at sea. The new and powerful Dreadnought battleships, along with other ships, were surmised by people to fight. They proved too expensive to risk against the primitive yet affective submarines. These submarines could be launched from German ports and sail underwater without drawing attention that they were even there. This proved a valuable asset to the Germans to start off with and it caught the British by surprise. German U-Boats initially began with destroying British ...

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