U-BOOT ABOVE ALL

 

This explains the indecision, not to say timidity, with which the Germans began submarine warfare. The beginning it was very strange. On the second day of the war, on the morning of 2 August 1914 the command issued several boats from the harbour of the island of Helgoland, with orders to anchor in close proximity and to observe the sea. In the evening the whole party returned to its port. So poor “creative” can be explained, perhaps, by fears of an immediate RAID of the British Navy to establish a blockade near.

 

However, the British did not go to such stupidity, and the Germans slowly began to use submarines much more active. Although initially still failed. In the first campaign to the shores of Britain went from 10 boats. “U-15” seems to be immediately taken: August 8, near the Shetland Islands from the boat was noticed by British dreadnoughts, conducted target practice. She even made a torpedo attack, but missed. Divers decided to continue the hunt, but suddenly turned themselves into the game. The next morning, “U-15” were in a stationary state on the surface of the water, I noticed from the cruiser “Birmingham”. According to the British, on the boat not even monitored environment, and there is just not noticed a large ship! But the commander of the cruiser did not resist and immediately ordered to go to the RAM. Birmingham first hit the submarine in the stern, then turned sharply again and rammed his victim, this time severing it in half. The British could celebrate the victory, although the value of this boat for modern warfare was more than doubtful: “U-15”, most likely, there were some technical problems, and applied “Birmingham” reception came more ships, at least the last century. This first dozen not returned, and “U-13”, the fate of which remains unknown. (Most likely she died on the mines.)

 

It is clear that such “progress” could only confuse the German command. Even the Admiral Tirpitz suggested that the attacks of enemy ships in the open sea just technically impossible. Remained to guard the British in some key points, e.g. in the vicinity of their locations. This decision quite unexpectedly brought success. A couple of submarines went to the entrance of the Bay in the Firth of Fort, one of the British bases. It was there on 5 September “U-21” came across a flotilla of British destroyers at the head of a small cruiser “Pathfinder”. They were more like hunters than prey, and the excitement was quite strong and considerably rocked the boat. But all this did not prevent the submarine commander Otto Hersing accurately aim and hit a single to send the cruiser to the bottom with 259 crew members.

 

And this was only a prelude to the soon afterwards a disaster for Britain. The disaster, which can tell, and organized-something the British themselves. The leadership of the Admiralty allocated to patrol the area between the coasts of southern England and Belgium and Holland, which bore even a special name “Broad fourteenth” (to the depth of water, equal to about 14 nautical fathoms), the whole squadron of large cruisers and two fleet destroyers and a flotilla of submarines. Solely on the grounds that “Britain in all wars kept a squadron there”; in reality, slow-moving armored “cressey” could be is that the only easy prey for the German battle cruisers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, the executioner unexpectedly appeared the German submarine. And one of the first. “U-9” under the command of captain-Lieutenant Otto Weddigen came from Kiel, 20 September, with orders to attack the transports off the coast of Flanders. However, the “old lady” was unable to cope with strong wave that drove her to the coast of Holland. Within two days, the boat rested on the surface, fighting the waves, which carried it straight into the unexpected and coveted goal. On the morning of 22 September Weddingen noticed appropriate from the South, British armored cruisers. It was patrolling the “Aboukir”, “Hogue” and “cressey”, marching in slow speed. Two more ships of the 7th squadron, including the Admiral’s, for various reasons, went to the base-probably to their happiness. Destroyers were absent: they interfered with the same excitement.

 

“U-9” managed to take unnoticed (remember not heroic in this respect, the characteristics of the first German boat) and get off at the ideal position, 500 m from sedentary target – the head of the cruiser. The only released the torpedo hit almost in the middle of the “Aboukir”. The cruiser lurched heavily, and his commander, replaces part of the missing squadron commander, made a fatal mistake. It is not given the possibility of a torpedo attack, he decided that the ship struck a mine and ordered “hogu” and “cressey” approach to remove the command. First ripe “Hogue”, of the stalled cars and started to lower the boats. All this in 300 meters from the boat Weddingen! Tom just remained nothing how to release two more torpedoes. Both hit, and “lifeguard” followed save very quickly, disappearing under the water in ten minutes.

 

Meanwhile, the miracles continued. Through the periscope Weddingen with increasing astonishment saw that the third cruiser stand still! And this for more than 20 minutes. The German commander got the taste and decided to attack, despite the fact that the batteries are slender boat was almost fully discharged. But the boat had to be deployed to enter into business aft torpedo tubes. No matter: the British, too, not in a hurry. The periscope they are, after all, noticed but it was too late. Two torpedoes, one hit the target in the middle. “Kressi” banked and could not provide any resistance. “And-9” was the only torpedo. She reloaded the bow apparatus and released into the helpless cruiser. He turned over, and 15 minutes later on the surface there is nothing left except a few boats and hundreds fighting for their lives in the waves of British sailors. And “U-9” surfaced quietly and went home, her battery is really fully discharged.

 

Losses from a rather primitive and outdated submarine was monstrous. Killed nearly fifteen thousand people, not to mention themselves cruisers with a total displacement of more than 35 thousand tons. Weddigen well as his team, waiting for the highest rewards. The commander received the Iron Cross first and second class once, and the whole crew the Iron Cross second class. Although the enemy rewards could well be to give British admirals of the Admiralty, who sent their ships to slaughter. As commanders of the cruisers themselves, of wine which, however, partly kompensiruet complete ignorance of the capabilities and qualities of new types of combat forces at sea – submarines.

 

Of course, the British drew the necessary conclusions. Threat in terms of possible submarine attacks, the waters of the big ships were instructed to only move in a zigzag pattern and at a high enough speed. And in any case not to stop to rescue the crew, even when one of them became a victim of underwater blast! For this purpose, you could only “expendable” – small escort ships.

 

But what could I do in those cases when such rescue was not at hand? The harsh response to the question gave the same Weddingen, as before, with the participation of the British Admiralty, continuing the vicious practice of obsolete cruisers patrol those waters, where they could do that to play the role of targets for the enemy. This time it was about the 10th squadron, which consisted of large armored cruisers of the “Edgar”, who was 15 in the line of patrols in the same North sea. Once again, the Admiral was absent on the spot: his ship went to take the coal. The rest of the cruisers stretched out in a line at a distance of 10 miles from each other. About one o’clock on the flagship “the Edgar” received a radiogram from another cruiser, “Theseus”, stating that he was attacked by a submarine, but evaded the torpedoes. The detachment was ordered to immediately leave the patrol area, but one of the ships, “hawk”, is not answered. The orders came to him too late: “hawk” by that time it was at the bottom. In 9:30 he stalled the car to pull the boat for the reception of the mail, which is delivered “colleague”, “Endymion”. “Hawk” had to move, but by the time the fixed target have tracked Weddingen, had time to occupy a favorable position. And at 10:30 followed by a hit, as usual, knight Iron cross sent almost in the middle of the body. From the cruiser managed to pull only two boats; they were only 68 sailors and escaped. The remaining five hundred were killed – and this despite the fact that the rest of the cruisers would have to be within line of sight! Again the failure to observe the simplest of safety precautions was the cause of death of people who didn’t even see your enemy. Four days before in the Baltic sea a similar fate in approximately the same circumstances – patrol cruisers low speed and straight course, had met a Russian cruiser “Pallada”. A torpedo from “U-26”, attacked despite the presence of “on stage” destroyer “Novik”, entered the cellar of ammunition, and the subsequent explosion literally tore the ship and his entire team to shreds.

 

Not surprisingly, the nervousness of the sailors in all ranks, not wishing to die from the “vile enemy”, has increased. Everything and everywhere was now seeing periscopes. This often led to very serious consequences. So, a few of the famous squadrons of the Grand fleet on 1 September 1914, urgently out to sea from its main base at Scapa Flow after duty sailors from the cruiser “Falmouth” notice “submarine”. Admiral Jellicoe kept the entire fleet at sea for 5 days, spending a lot of expensive and scarce fuel and thoroughly “loaded” people and mechanisms, and not finding the boat, most likely, a panic provoked not surfaced in time… seal. This episode even got inclined to the irony of the English title “the First battle of Scapa”. A month later hosted the “Second battle of Scapa”. Again was seen the any signs of the torpedoes, or the periscopes of several submarines. Ships also opened fire indiscriminately on the waves. Shells ricocheted from the water, and only by miracle nobody has suffered. As a result, the Admiral Jellicoe again took their battle fleet away from the German boat, now on the other side of the British Isles in the Loch, Scilly, on the North coast of Ireland. As a result, the Grand fleet was out of the game for more than three weeks, leaving the North sea in the hands of the Germans. (Fortunately for the British, the enemy about this and did not know). Only at the very end of 1914, have taken significant measures to protect the main base of the British fleet. In the Straits, leading to a huge RAID, set minefields, and on the banks offers a variety of batteries and spotlights, subsequently blocking part of the Straits fully booms and even sunken merchant ships. And no wonder: for all of these measures were already the real reason. In November, “U-18” tried to implement what seemed to the English sailors. Fox entered the RAID Scapa Flow through the Strait of hawks Sound, but, fortunately for the British, the hen house was empty – the ships of the Grand fleet at this time were in the sea. Frustrated, the commander had already gone back, but the periscope “U-18” was observed aboard a small trawler on duty, who bravely crushed the “eyes” of the enemy. The Germans tried to escape on a winding Strait, but stumbled on a rock and floated to the surface, where the brave trawler struck a second ramming punch. He was joined by the destroyers, opened fire, and the crew had to scuttle the boat and surrender.

 

It should be noted that losses in men, but still noticeable damage to the status of “mistress of the seas” became the most unpleasant effects of the combat fleet of the British Empire. Although the number sunk during the First world war, German submarines combat units is noticeable (and in addition to Weddingan there were many other commanders, including such masters as we have already mentioned, Otto Hersing, sink two British battleships and two cruisers, or Hugo von Heimburg sending to the bottom four submarines), from the financial point of view, these losses were not so important. Most of the sunk large ships, battleships and cruisers were old and not meant a lot in the overall balance of forces. Victims of German submarines during the war were only two modern ship that had real military value – light cruisers “Nottingham” and “Falmouth”, sunk in 1916.

However, many times stronger the threat of a German boat was not military ships, and peaceful “merchants”. Initially, the use of submarines for trade war in all countries was seen as a minor task. Indeed, the rules of war provided for a complicated procedure: inspection of the suspect vessel a prize party and, in the case of the existence of contraband, escorting it to the port where the validity of the detention was to be decided by the court, which could release “the suspect even” together with its cargo. It is clear that the submarines, with their low speed and weak armament is not always able to do all these necessary steps.

 

The violations were inevitable. And they followed quickly enough. 20 Oct 1914 “U-17” stopped by a small British steamer “Petra” coming from Norway. The load not pulling on a military smuggling: sewing machines and whiskey, even with a very big imagination difficult to attract such. However, the commander of the boat Lieutenant Feldkirchner ordered the British team to go to the boats, and then landed on the ship, the Germans opened the seacocks.

 

The commander of “U-17” was not happy with his “victory” over workers and heavy drinkers. He clearly has not fulfilled the requirements of the rules of war at sea and were very concerned that after returning to the port it will give a judgment. However, on the contrary, his actions caused complete approval. Moreover, they took a sample. Admiral-staff has asked the government and the Kaiser for permission to use much more brutal methods. The idea seemed simple: if you sink the merchant ships without any examination and prevention, together with the teams, the sea-trade, which is very much dependent on England, stop. No one wants to risk their goods, especially lives.

 

It was a start. The basic principles of unrestricted submarine warfare formulated. But the execution still remain in limbo: the German government was more hesitant. Until the end of 1914, German submarines sank only three merchant ship of the allies. But in February of the following year, a decisive step was taken. Any ship in British waters knowingly declared the purpose to be destroyed without notifying his team. The war started the German submarines against the rest of the world. However, it actually started before. In October 1914 “U-24” Lieutenant-commander Schneider, without warning, torpedoed in the English channel, the French steamer “Amiral Gant”, on Board of which there were about 2,000 Belgian refugees, including women and children. Then innocent people are lucky: the torpedo only damaged the ship and it was towed into port, although 40 people still died. However, this crime was only the first “flower” of the German submariners. Bloodshot “berries” were found.

 

Next month a number of sunken British ships abruptly increased to nearly three dozen. But the decisive was the April, when the submarine has reached the major in the war of “success”, dropping to the bottom of the liner “Lusitania” with a displacement of 44 tons. “Distinguished” Lieutenant commander Walter Swiger, the commander of “U-20”. He was ambushed by the transatlantic, on Board of which there were almost 2,000 people, and, without surfacing and without warning, hit him with a torpedo. The huge ship sank quickly, within 20 minutes, killing 1,200 passengers and crew members.

 

The ensuing international scandal involving the US led to the fact that the German government cancelled the order on the conduct of a total submarine war. But not immediately (it took almost four months) and not fully, but with numerous reservations. It was clear that such a beneficial way inflict great damage finally nestled in the minds of German Ministers and admirals. The renewal of the “extraordinary measures” it was only a matter of time.

 

And Germany decided not to waste our time. To total action truly effective, needed to have a lot of submarines, while the number of mid-1915 was still a minor. But the measures had already been taken and had to wait for the results.

 

As for the types of submarines, there was not a problem. Additional time to develop something radically new was required. Developed by the beginning of the war option, usually referred to as “type III” quite meet the German command. So literally in the first weeks followed by a mobilisation order for six units: “U-51” – “U-56”, almost no different from those prescribed before the war subtypes “U-31” and “U-43”. They were soon followed by the next six, “U-57” – “U-62”, as well inherited company “Weser”. The following three units, “U-63” – “U-65”, got “Germaniawerft”. On the stocks of the same company built five similar submarines for the allied Austro-Hungary, that has not prevented to seize them in its favor. They got number: “U-66” “U-71”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the first successes of their submarines off the coast of Britain, the Germans realized that the most popular technical parameters of the boats at the moment, be the cruising range and speed of immersion. Therefore, the fuel supply was increased to 130 tons, and to escape from the surface of the water, the new “mobilization” of the submarine was able, in less than a minute, which served as a special tank, emergency dive. The range of the underwater stroke were very small, only 50 miles. But for the destruction of merchant ships and it was not required, in contrast to the “artillery”, which has already doubled in the project up to two 88-millimetrovogo. And in the course of the war some of the submarines instead of one of those guns appeared long-barreled 105-mm gun – very serious “argument” in the battle with armed trawlers and steamers.

 

Series slightly modified “threes” followed one after another. The most serious changes are the appearance of the nose of the second pair of torpedo tubes. For the first time, this reinforcement was made on the cancelled forfeited “austriackich”, spreading then to the domestic submarines. At the same time increased the supply of torpedoes -from 6 to 12 pieces (a pair on each machine). The rest of the development of submarines were all on the same starting line: a dozen or more tons of fuel for a few seconds more than a quick dip. At the latest in the war series submarines torpedoes the number again increased to 16 years. The reason lay in the changed circumstances of the attacks, which we still tell. And so, in fact, Germany had ended the war with the same basic boat with which it begins. Ordered the last “treshki”, “U-229” – “U-262”, although he had a displacement, which reached 900 tons, but almost all his growth went to increased fuel capacity (up to 160 tons – one and a half times more than the first “mobilization”).

 

Yes, the type of submarine fleet and its command quite satisfied, but not the speed of construction. In the fateful August of 1914, almost all assumed that the war wouldn’t last longer than a year, maximum a year and a half. The Germans were well aware that units of the type “U-51” will not ripen in this period.