War at Sea
War at Sea
BY:
OLIVIA ANAND
PAIGE CORDLE
BUCK HORN
German Navy (before the war)
By 1914 2 nd largest navy in the world
Due to the fact that the Kaiser granted for a massive increase of the navy
British Navy (before the war)
#1
Preformed some of the same jobs as will in the war
Increased its naval empire after news of
Germany’s expansion
Battle Ship
WEAPONS
Cruiser Other
Dreadnought highly armed
Types:
Pre
Semi
Regular
Battlecruiser scouts, hunts lone ships
Types:
Armored
Protected
Scout
Light
Submarine set mines, attack boats
Other Types:
Destroyers- destroy torpedo boats
Torpedo Boats- fast, carried torpedoes
Anti-Submarine/U-boat Tactics
Setting up light wool nets to hang below the ship to catch incoming torpedoes (fail)
Ramming the submarines when emerge
-19 sunk
Depth charges-bombs that explode at a certain depth
-1915-1917(fail=9 sunk)
-1918 (success) 22 sunk
Placing mines at different depths
-75 sunk
Admiral John
Arbuthnot Fisher
“greatest Royal Navy
Admiral since Nelson”
-pushed for the development of larger and far more powerful battleships, Dreadnought
-greatly improved gunnery standards
-encouraged the conversion from coal to oil power
-criticized for initiating the arms race with Germany
Sir Reginald Hugh
Spencer Bacon
• commander of the Dover
Patrol
• known for his innovative thinking from ship design to electricity to submarines
• he conducted the first Royal
Navy trials to mining
Battle of Jutland
(May 1916)
Largest Surface Naval
Battle
British vs Germany
(epic)
-
British strategy was to lure the
Germans into open battle in the North
Sea
-basically Germany kept retreating to areas with more German ships and
British kept following them
Casualties-
Britain- lost 3 battle cruisers, 3 cruisers, 8 destroyers, and 6,100 total men
Germany- lost 1 battleship, 1 battle cruiser, 4 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, and 2,550 men
Sir David Beatty
Admiral of the British grand fleet during second half of WWI
-commander of the prestigious 1st
Battlecruiser Squadron of Britain
-led the Battlecruiser
Fleet at the Battle of
Jutland
Sir John Rushworth
Jellicoe
•
Britain's best-known
Admiral at the start of
WWI
•
successful at maintaining an economic blockade of
Germany
•
criticized for being too cautious
Admiral Franz von Hipper
aka “the 'baby killer' of the German navy” known for his bold raids on the
British coast led the High Seas Fleet his squadron, the High Seas fleet initiated the hostilities at the Battle of
Jutland where he succeeded in inflicting severe damage on Beatty's squadron and, towards the close of the battle, saved Admiral Scheer’s fleet by a remarkably bold (and apparently suicidal) charge towards
Jellicoe’s battleships
Strong advocated of unrestricted submarine warfare against the British
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
(1915-17)
The Germans saw they could not beat the British when they were forced to retreat in the Battle of Jutland
Bethman Hollweg, the German Chancellor, decided on enforcing unrestricted submarine warfare as part of the
German strategy
Germany was, however, concerned with the attitude of the Americans, because they did not want to bring them into the war. They were fearful that a submarine would attack a neutral, legal American ship transporting goods to the Allies and cause the U.S. to enter the war
Soon the sinking of the Lusitania soon occurred and
“help cause” the U.S. to enter the war two years later
Lusitania
(May 7 th 1915)
Despite the warnings in the papers the day of the departure, the Lusitania was full of passengers
Of the dead 128 were
Americans
This established the
German’s new way of attacking by submarine, when previously they had surfaced and allowed the passengers to leave the boat
Captain Walter Schwieger
captain of a German U-boat-
20 sank the Lusitania with a single torpedo April 30 th
1915 known for attacking ships without warning them also known for firing at any neutral ships he suspected to be British
Naval Treaties (after war)
*tonnage means carrying capacity in tons
1921-22 - Washington Naval Treaty - Britain, United States, Japan, France and
Italy agreed to limit the displacement and main armament of capital ships, aircraft carriers and cruisers, and total tonnage and age of the first two categories.
1927 - Geneva Naval Conference failed to reach agreement on total tonnage of cruisers, destroyers and submarines.
1930 - London Naval Treaty - Britain, US and Japan agreed on total tonnage, tonnage and armament limitations for cruisers, destroyers and submarines. Also that no new capital ships were to be laid down until 1937. Neither France nor Italy were signatories.
1934 - The 1932 Geneva Disarmament Conference finally broke down and
Japan announced its intention to withdraw from the 1922 and 1930 Naval Treaties when they expired in 1936. Planning started on the giant battleships of the Yamato class.
1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement - Germany was allowed to build a fleet up to 35% of British total tonnage and 45% of submarines. Parity in numbers of submarines was allowed if notice was given
1936 London Protocol -The major powers including Germany agreed to prohibit unrestricted submarine warfare against unarmed ships
Sailor Life
Life at sea during WWI was something new for all armies as the arms race as well as the industrial revolution gave birth to bigger, badder, faster and more powerful ships, changing the course of war at sea forever
The submarine proved to be a deadly weapon through history, being able to creep up into enemy territories and sink ships without any warning. This was one of the greatest fears for the sailors, as well as the attack from the air.
A sailor’s life at sea during the war was one of the most stressful jobs to say the least. With such large ships it was easy for them to be targeted from the air and even from the shore.
During the war it was also common for ships to be captured by other countries and kept as a POW. Sailors had to know many different tactics from how to fight the battle in the water to moving cargo and supplies around Europe and even defending themselves from intruders.
War at sea for sailors was not easy, with many worries and lots of pressures, to tight living spaces and little food, sailors carried out an important role in the war.
SUMMARY!
The war at sea was often about the blockade and transportation of goods, rather than direct conflict. S
Submarines were a useful tactic because they required little man power, took little time to build and added the aspect of mass unpredictability
The Germans “mastered” this versatile weapon by using unrestricted submarine warfare
That led to the sinking of the Lusitania and eventually the
U.S. entering the war
Large battles between warships were uncommon in this war, even though several ships were built during this time
More individual sinking of ships
Bibliography
http://europeanhistory.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya
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http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWsea.htm
http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/warship.html
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/unrestricted_sub marine_warfare.htm
techcenter.davidson.k12.nc.us/Group9/seawar.htm
www.gwpda.org/naval/csayrch1.htm
www.britannica.com/EBchecked/.../Dardanelles-
Campaign
