In the early months of the war, the Royal Navy swept all German surface raiders from the seas. At the battle of the Falkland Islands (1914) British warships virtually wiped out the German Pacific Fleet, but only after the British themselves had sustained heavy losses at the earlier Battle of Coronel that same year. There had to be another form of attack. One which would be undetectable to the British Navy. The Kaiser had a secret weapon up his sleeve. The U-boat. It was a tougher and more elusive foe and the war against them was fought out at all times and in all weathers. They also had a new weapon. The torpedo made U-boat warfare so effective. Even the mightiest battleship was vulnerable to a torpedo from the smallest submarine.
By 1915 only the ships in German ports remained. This was due to the Kaiser not wanting to throw his battleships away as in previous battles. So in May 1915, the Germans launched their first full-scale submarine campaign. They’re best known victim being the Cunarder “Lusitania”. 1,198 people died, including over 100 American souls. The United States, still a neutral country, protested that if one more threat were shown towards America, they would show resistance.
The only major sea battle of the war was at Jutland in 1916. The Germans had the best of the exchanges but the British fleet was simply too large. On the one hand, the Germans caused more damage than they received. But on the other, the Battle of Jutland certainly failed to achieve the most important objective for Germany, which was to remove the blockade.
After Jutland the sea war continued below the surface. The Germans had adopted unrestricted warfare. They sank all shipping and it very nearly worked. In the spring of 1917 Britain’s supplies of food had reached crisis levels. At one point it was estimated that London’s food supply was down to a few days. Britain survived because the U-boats could not maintain their level of activity. Also the introduction of convoys made merchant ships easier to defend. Mines, other defences, and anti-submarine techniques also made life difficult for the U-boats.
The British blockade was a key factor in the defeat of Germany. Starved of supplies the German army was weakened and the German people lost their will to support the war. They had endured blockade since the beginning of the war and by 1916 (the year the German potato harvest failed) they were running short of food. This was one reason why the capture of the Ukrainian wheatfields was vital to Germany. Ultimate British control of the sea meant not spectacular victories in the tradition of Trafalgar, but slow starvation of the German people. The war at sea was therefore arguably as decisive as the war on land. In addition, the U-boats’ tactics also brought the USA into the war. As in other areas, the Germans gambled…and lost.
