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It had been a Crown Council of 31 May 1915 that had ended the first phase of unrestricted submarine warfare, one at Potsdam on 21 December had decided on the Verdun Offensive and one in March 1916 had permitted U-boat commanders to attack Allied merchant vessels without warning, whilst sparing passenger liners and neutral vessels. [7] [8] [9]
The new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare was initially a success. In January 1917, prior to the campaign, Britain lost 49 ships; in February, after it opened, 105; and in March, 147. In March a full 25% of all Britain-bound shipping was sunk. At first, the British Admiralty failed to respond effectively to the German offensive.
U-995, a typical VIIC/41 U-boat on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial. U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars.The term is an anglicized version of the German word U-Boot ⓘ, a shortening of Unterseeboot (under-sea boat), though the German term refers to any submarine.
The Atlantic U-boat campaign of World War I (sometimes called the "First Battle of the Atlantic", in reference to the World War II campaign of that name) was the prolonged naval conflict between German submarines and the Allied navies in Atlantic waters—the seas around the British Isles, the North Sea and the coast of France.
Deutschland made two successful commercial voyages before being commissioned into the Kaiserliche Marine on February 17, 1917, as U-155. [citation needed]Max Valentiner commanded a Type U 151 U-boat, U-157, and undertook the longest cruise in the war from 27 November 1917 to 15 April 1918, a total of 139 days.
By the end of June 1915, the Germans had assembled a further three pre-fabricated Type UB I submarines at Pola in Istria, two of them intended for transfer to the Austrian Navy. They were also assembling three Type UC I minelaying submarines, which were ordered converted into transports to carry small quantities of critical supplies to Turkey.
A 16th-century Islamic painting depicting Alexander the Great being lowered in a glass submersible. The concept of underwater transport has roots deep in antiquity. There are images of men using hollow sticks to breathe underwater for hunting at the temples at Thebes, and the first known military use occurred during the siege of Syracuse (415–413 BC), where divers cleared obstructions ...
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.