Published Resources Details Book Section

Author
Brown, D. K.
Title
Defeat in the Atlantic? Anti-submarine Warfare 1917-19
In
Warship 2002-2003
Editor
ed. A. Preston
Imprint
Conway Maritime Press Ltd., London, 2003, pp. 126-166
Description

Accession No.1990

Abstract

It is often said that the U-boat was not defeated in the First World War and that the outcome of the campaign was a stalemate. This article will show that the U-boat was indeed defeated by 1918 and that the chance of any resurgence in 1919 was slight.

During the war the U-boats had three primary objectives:
• Weakening the Grand Fleet to reduce it to the level of the High Seas Fleet;
• Defeating the UK by starvation;
• Preventing the US Army reaching France.

They failed in all three, although the margin by which they were defeated in the war against merchant ships was small.

Glossary Terms