Naval warfare of World War I
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2008) |
Naval warfare of World War I | |||||||
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Part of Austro-Hungarian fleet with the Tegetthoff in the foreground | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Central Powers: |
Allied Powers: United Kingdom France Italy (1915–18) United States (1917–18) Russia (1914–17) Japan Australia Greece (1917–18) | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Hugo von Pohl Gustav Bachmann Von Holtzendorff Reinhard Scheer Maximilian von Spee † Anton Haus Maximilian Njegovan Miklós Horthy Wilhelm Souchon Hubert von Rebeur |
Naval warfare in World War I was mainly characterised by blockade. The Allied Powers, with their larger fleets and surrounding position, largely succeeded in their blockade of Germany and the other Central Powers, whilst the efforts of the Central Powers to break that blockade, or to establish an effective counter blockade with submarines and commerce raiders, were eventually unsuccessful. Major fleet actions were extremely rare and proved less decisive.
Prelude
The naval arms race between Britain and Germany to build dreadnought battleships in the early 20th century is the subject of a number of books. Germany's attempt to build a battleship fleet to match that of the United Kingdom, the dominant naval power of the 20th-century and an island country that depended on seaborne trade for survival, is often listed as a major reason for the enmity between those two countries that led the UK to enter World War I. German leaders desired a navy in proportion to their military and economic strength that could free their overseas trade and colonial empire from dependence on Britain's good will, but such a fleet would inevitably threaten Britain's own trade and empire.
Ever since the First Moroccan Crisis (over the colonial status of Morocco, between March 1905 and May 1906), there had been an arms race, involving their respective navies. However, events led up to this. Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan was an American naval officer, extremely interested in British naval history. In 1887, he published The Influence of Sea Power upon History. The theme of this book was naval supremacy as the key to the modern world. His argument was that every nation that had ruled the waves, from Rome to Great Britain, had prospered and thrived, while those that lacked naval supremacy, such as Hannibal's Carthage or Napoleon's France, had not. Mahan hypothesised that what Britain had done in building a navy to control the world's sea lanes, others could also do - indeed, must do - if they were to keep up with the race for wealth and empire in the future.
Mahan's thesis was highly influential and led to an explosion of new naval construction worldwide. The US Congress immediately ordered the building of three battleships (with a fourth,
Mahan wrote in his book that not only world peace or the empire, but Britain's very survival depended on the Royal Navy ruling the waves. The Cambridge 1895 Latin essay prize was called "Britannici maris", or "British Sea Power". So when the great naval review of June 1897 for the
Fisher's reforms
When he became
German response
Admiral Alfred Tirpitz had often visited Portsmouth as a naval cadet and admired and envied the Royal Navy. Like the Kaiser, Tirpitz believed Germany's future dominant role in the world depended on a powerful navy. He demanded large numbers of battleships. Even when Dreadnought was launched, making his previously constructed 15 battleships obsolete, he believed that eventually Germany's technological and industrial might would allow Germany to out-build Britain ship for ship. Using the threat of his own resignation he forced the Reichstag to build three dreadnoughts and a battle cruiser. He also put aside money for a future submarine branch. At the rate that Tirpitz insisted upon, Germany would have thirteen in 1912, to Britain's 16.
When this was leaked out to the British people in spring 1909, there was public outcry. The people demanded eight new battleships instead of the four the government had planned for that year. As
By the start of the war Germany had an impressive fleet both of capital ships and submarines. Other nations had smaller fleets, generally with a lower proportion of battleships and a larger proportion of smaller ships like destroyers and submarines. France, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Japan, and the United States all had modern fleets with at least some dreadnoughts and submarines.
Naval technology in World War I was dominated by the dreadnought battleship. Battleships were built along the dreadnought model, with several large turrets of equally sized big guns. In general terms, British ships had larger guns and were equipped and manned for quicker fire than their German counterparts[citation needed]. In contrast, the German ships had better optical equipment and rangefinding and were much better compartmentalized and able to deal with damage[citation needed]. The British also generally had poor propellant handling procedures, a point that was to have disastrous consequences for the British battlecruisers at Jutland[citation needed].
Many of the individual parts of ships had recently improved dramatically. The introduction of the turbine led to much higher performance, as well as freeing up room and thereby allowing for improved layouts. Whereas pre-dreadnought battleships were generally limited to 12–17 kn (14–20 mph; 22–31 km/h), modern ships were capable of at least 20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h), and in the latest British classes, 24 kn (28 mph; 44 km/h)[citation needed]. The introduction of the gyroscope and centralized fire control, the "director" in British terms, led to dramatic improvements in gunnery. Ships built before 1900 had effective ranges of around 2,000 yd (1,800 m), whereas the first "new" ships were good to at least 8,000 yd (7,300 m), and modern designs to over 10,000 yd (9,100 m)[citation needed].
One class of ship that appeared just before the war was the battlecruiser. There were two schools of thought on battlecruiser design: British and German. The British designs were armed like their heavier dreadnought cousins, but deliberately lacked armor to save weight in order to improve speed. The concept was that these ships would be able to outgun anything smaller than themselves, and get away from anything larger[citation needed]. The German designs opted to trade slightly smaller main armament (11 or 12 inch guns compared to 12 or 13.5 inch guns in their British rivals) for speed, while keeping relatively heavy armor. They could operate independently in the open ocean where their speed gave them room to maneuver, or, alternately, as a fast scouting force in front of a larger fleet action[citation needed].
The torpedo boat caused considerable worry for many naval planners. In theory, a large number of these inexpensive ships could attack in masses and overwhelm a dreadnought force. This led to the introduction of ships dedicated to keeping them away from the fleets, the "torpedo boat destroyers", or simply, "destroyers". Although the mass raid continued to be a possibility, another solution was found in the form of the submarine, increasingly in use. The submarine could approach underwater, safe from the guns of both the capital ships and the destroyers (although not for long), and fire a salvo as deadly as a torpedo boat's. Limited range and speed, especially underwater, made these weapons difficult to use tactically. Submarines were generally more effective in attacking poorly defended merchant ships than in fighting surface warships, though several small-to-medium British warships were lost to torpedoes launched from German U-boats.[citation needed]
Oil was just being introduced to replace coal, containing as much as 40% more energy per volume, extending range and further improving internal layout. Another advantage was that oil gave off considerably less smoke, making visual detection more difficult. This was generally mitigated by the small number of ships so equipped, generally operating in concert with coal-fired ships[citation needed].
Radio was in early use, with naval ships commonly equipped with radio telegraph, and merchant ships less so[citation needed]. Sonar was in its infancy by the end of the war[citation needed].
Aviation was primarily focused on reconnaissance, with the aircraft carrier being developed over the course of the war, and bomber aircraft capable of lifting only relatively light loads[citation needed].
1914
1916
Theaters
North Sea
The North Sea was the main theater of the war for surface action. The
Major battles included those at Heligoland Bight (in
The set-piece battles and maneuvering have drawn historians' attention; however, it was the naval blockade of food and raw material imports into Germany which ultimately starved the German people and industries and contributed to Germany seeking the
English Channel
Although the English Channel was of vital importance to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fighting in France, there were no big warships of the British Royal Navy in the channel. The primary threat to the British forces in the channel was the German High Seas Fleet based near Heligoland; the German fleet, if let out into the North Sea, could have destroyed any ship in the channel. The German High Seas Fleet could muster at least 13 dreadnoughts and many armored cruisers along with dozens of destroyers to attack the channel.[4] The High Seas Fleet would be fighting against only six armored cruisers that were laid down in 1898–1899, far too old to accompany the big, fast dreadnoughts of the Grand Fleet based in Scapa Flow.[5]
The U-boat threat in the channel, although real, was not a significant worry to the Admiralty because they regarded submarines as useless.[6] Even the German high command regarded the U-boats as "experimental vessels".[7] Although the channel was a major artery of the BEF, it was never attacked directly by the High Seas Fleet.
Atlantic
While Germany was strangled by Britain's blockade, Britain, as an island nation, was heavily dependent on resources imported by sea. German submarines (
In 1915, Germany declared a naval blockade of Britain, to be enforced by its U-boats. The U-boats sank hundreds of Allied merchant ships. However, submarines normally attack by stealth. This made it difficult to give warning before attacking a merchant ship or to rescue survivors. This resulted in many civilian deaths, especially when passenger ships were sunk. It also violated the
This turned neutral opinion against the Central Powers, as countries like the U.S. and Brazil suffered casualties and losses to trade.
In early 1917, Germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare, including attacks without warning against all ships in the "war zone", including neutrals. This was a major cause of U.S. declaration of war on Germany.
The U-boat campaign ultimately sank much of British merchant shipping and caused shortages of food and other necessities. The U-boats were eventually defeated by grouping merchant ships into defended convoys. This was also assisted by U.S. entry into the war and the increasing use of primitive sonar and aerial patrolling to detect and track submarines.
Mediterranean
Some limited sea combat took place between the navies of Austria-Hungary and Germany and the Allied navies of France, Britain, Italy and Japan. The navy of the
The main fleet action was the Triple Entente attempt to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war by an attack on
For the rest of the war, naval action consisted almost entirely in submarine combat by the Austrians and Germans and blockade duty by the triple entente.
Black Sea
The Black Sea was mainly the domain of the Russians and the Ottoman Empire. The large Russian fleet was based in Sevastopol and it was led by two diligent commanders: Admiral Andrei Eberhardt (1914–1916) and Admiral Alexander Kolchak (1916–1917). The Ottoman fleet on the other hand was in a period of transition with many obsolete ships. It had been expecting to receive two powerful dreadnoughts fitting out in Britain, but the UK seized the completed Reşadiye and Sultân Osmân-ı Evvel with the outbreak of war with Germany and incorporated them into the Royal Navy.
The war in the Black Sea started when the Ottoman Fleet
A continual series of cat and mouse
The Russian Black Sea fleet was mainly used to support General
However, by 1916, this situation had swung in the Russians' favor – Goeben had been in constant service for the past two years. Due to a lack of facilities, the ship was not able to enter refit and began to suffer chronic engine breakdowns. Meanwhile, the Russian Navy had received the modern dreadnought Imperatritsa Mariya which although slower, would be able to stand up to and outfight Goeben. Although the two ships skirmished briefly, neither managed to capitalize on their tactical advantage and the battle ended with Goeben fleeing and Imperatritsa Mariya gamely trying to pursue. However, the Russian ship's arrival severely curtailed Goeben's activities and so by this time, the Russian fleet had nearly complete control of the sea, exacerbated by the addition of another dreadnought, Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya. German and Turkish light forces, however, continued to raid and harass Russian shipping until the end of the war in the east.
After Admiral Kolchak took command in August 1916, he planned to invigorate the Russian Black Seas Fleet with a series of aggressive actions. The Russian fleet mined the exit from the Bosporus, preventing nearly all Ottoman ships from entering the Black Sea. Later that year, the naval approaches to Varna, Bulgaria, were also mined. The greatest loss suffered by the Russian Black Sea fleet was the destruction of Imperatritsa Mariya, which blew up in port on October 20 (October 7 o.s.) 1916, just one year after being commissioned. The subsequent investigation determined that the explosion was probably accidental, though sabotage could not be completely ruled out. The event shook Russian public opinion. The Russians continued work on two additional dreadnoughts under construction, and the balance of power remained in Russian hands until the collapse of Russian resistance in November 1917.
To support the Anglo-French attack on the Dardanelles, British, French and Australian submarines were sent into the Black Sea in the spring of 1915. A number of Turkish supply ships and warships were sunk, while several submarines were lost. The boats were withdrawn at the evacuation of the Dardanelles in January 1916.
The small Romanian Black Sea Fleet defended the port of Sulina throughout the second half of 1916, causing the sinking of one German submarine. Its minelayer also defended the Danube Delta from inland, leading to the sinking of one Austro-Hungarian Danube monitor. (See also Romanian Black Sea Fleet during World War I)
Despite losing most of their coastline to the Central Powers after the Second Battle of Cobadin in October 1916, the Romanians still managed to keep the mouths of the Danube and the Danube Delta under their control, due to the combined actions of their riverine flotilla of four monitors[8] and the protected cruiser Elisabeta, based at Sulina.[9] The Romanian Navy repelled two attacks of the Imperial German Navy on the port of Sulina. The first attack took place on 30 September 1916, when the Romanian torpedo boat Smeul engaged the German submarine UB-42 near Sulina, damaging her periscope and conning tower and forcing her to retreat.[10][11][12] The second attack took place on 7 November, when German Friedrichshafen FF.33 seaplanes bombarded Sulina but two of them were shot down into the sea by Romanian anti-aircraft defenses (including the cruiser Elisabeta) and were subsequently captured by Romanian motorboats.[13][14] In mid-November 1916, UC-15, the only minelaying submarine of the Central Powers in the Black Sea,[15] was sent to lay 12 mines off Sulina and never returned, being most likely sunk by her own mines along with all of her crew.[16][17] She could have also been sunk by the barrage of 30 mines laid at Sulina by the Romanian minelayer Alexandru cel Bun.[15][18]
When Bulgaria entered World War I in 1915, its navy consisted mainly of a French-built torpedo gunboat called Nadezhda and six torpedo boats. It mostly engaged in mine warfare actions in the Black Sea against the Russian Black Sea Fleet and allowed the Germans to station two U-boats at Varna, one of which came under Bulgarian control in 1916 as Podvodnik No. 18. Russian mines sank one Bulgarian torpedo boat and damaged one more during the war.[19]
Baltic Sea
In the Baltic Sea, Germany and Russia were the main combatants, with a number of British submarines sailing through the Kattegat to assist the Russians. With the German fleet larger and more modern (many High Seas Fleet ships could easily be deployed to the Baltic when the North Sea was quiet), the Russians played a mainly defensive role, at most attacking convoys between Germany and Sweden.
A major coup for the Allied forces occurred on August 26, 1914 when as part of a reconnaissance squadron, the light cruiser SMS Magdeburg ran aground in heavy fog in the Gulf of Finland. The other German ships tried to refloat her, but decided to scuttle her instead when they became aware of an approaching Russian intercept force. Russian Navy divers scoured the wreck and successfully recovered the German naval codebook which was later passed on to their British Allies and contributed immeasurably to Allied success in the North Sea.
With heavy defensive and offensive mining on both sides, fleets played a limited role in the Eastern Front. The Germans mounted major naval attacks on the Gulf of Riga, unsuccessfully in August 1915 and successfully in October 1917, when they occupied the islands in the Gulf and damaged Russian ships departing from the city of Riga, recently captured by Germany. This second operation culminated in the one major Baltic action, the battle of Moon Sound at which the Russian battleship Slava was sunk.
By March 1918, the Russian Revolution and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk made the Baltic a German lake, and German fleets transferred troops to support the White side in the Finnish Civil War and to occupy much of Russia, halting only when defeated in the west.
Other oceans
A number of German ships stationed overseas at the start of the war engaged in raiding operations in poorly defended seas, such as
Allied naval forces captured many of the isolated German colonies, with
Fleets overview
Allied Powers
Central Powers
References
- ^ Marder, Arthur. From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow: Volume I: The Road to War 1904-1914. Seaforth Publishing, Jun 19, 2014, p. 74.
- ^ a b http://www.historicgreenslopes.com/documents/Booklet_The%20Great%20War%20@%206%20Sep.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Pemsel, Helmut A History of War at Sea, Naval Institute Press, 1977, page 160.
- ^ "BBC - History - World Wars: The War at Sea: 1914 - 1918".
- ^ Castles of Steel by Robert K. Massie pg. 129
- ^ Castles of Steel by Robert K. Massie pg. 122
- ^ Castles of Steel by Robert K. Massie pg. 126
- ^ Spencer Tucker, Priscilla Mary Roberts, World War I: Encyclopedia, Volumul 1, p. 999
- ^ Warship International Volume 21, p. 166
- ^ Constantin Cumpănă, Corina Apostoleanu, Amintiri despre o flotă pierdută, Volumul II – Voiaje neterminate (Memories of a lost fleet, Volume II - Unfinished journeys) (in Romanian)
- ^ Revista de istorie, Volume 40, pp. 681-682 (in Romanian)
- ^ Cristian Crăciunoiu, Romanian navy torpedo boats, pp. 22-24
- ^ Raymond Stănescu, Cristian Crăciunoiu, Marina română în primul război mondial, pp. 199, 50 and 30 (in Romanian)
- ^ Revista de istorie, Volume 40, p. 682 (in Romanian)
- ^ a b Marian Sârbu, Marina românâ în primul război mondial 1914-1918, p. 68 (in Romanian)
- ^ René Greger, Anthony John Watts, The Russian fleet, 1914-1917, p. 59
- ^ H. P. Willmott, The Last Century of Sea Power: From Port Arthur to Chanak, 1894–1922, Volume 1, p. 404
- ^ Raymond Stănescu, Cristian Crăciunoiu, Marina românâ în primul război mondial, p. 26 (in Romanian)
- ^ Spencer Tucker, Priscilla Mary Roberts, Encyclopedia of World War I, Volume 1, p. 240
- ^ A Brief History of the Austrian Navy by Wilhelm Donko pg. 79
Further reading
- Benbow, Tim. Naval Warfare 1914–1918: From Coronel to the Atlantic and Zeebrugge (2012) excerpt and text search
- Dupuy, Trevor Nevitt and The military history of World War I: naval and overseas war, 1916–1918 (1967)
- Friedman, Norman. Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines, and ASW Weapons of All Nations: An Illustrated Directory (2011)
- Halpern, Paul. A Naval History of World War I (1994), the standard scholarly survey excerpt and text search
- Herwig, Holger H. Luxury Fleet: The Imperial German Navy, 1888–1918 (1987)
- Marder, Arthur. From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow: The Royal Navy in the Fisher Era (5 vol, 1970), vol 2–5 cover the First World War
- Morison, Elting E. Admiral Sims and the Modern American Navy (1942)
- Stephenson, David. With our backs to the wall: Victory and defeat in 1918 (2011) pp 311–49
- Terrain, J. Business in Great Waters: The U-Boat wars, 1916–1945 (1999)
External links
- Media related to Naval warfare of World War I at Wikimedia Commons
- Osborne, Eric W.: Naval Warfare, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Halpern, Paul G.: Mediterranean Theater, Naval Operations, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Bönker, Dirk: Naval Race between Germany and Great Britain, 1898-1912, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Abbatiello, John: Atlantic U-boat Campaign, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Karau, Mark D.: Submarines and Submarine Warfare, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Miller B., Michael: Sea Transport and Supply, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Official Royal Navy despatches concerning notable engagements
- World's Navies in World War 1, Campaigns, Battles, Warship losses
- Turkish Navy in the First World War
- German Naval Warfare – Room 40 Documents