WW1 Naval Warfare

The Lusitania was a victim of Germany's U-boats during their policy of unrestricted submarine warfare before WWI. The sinking of the Lusitania was a main reason why the United States entered into WWI.

1914 marks the beginning of WW1. One of the issues leading to WW1 was Germany's increasing Navy size and strength. Britain's Royal Navy, was the best in and largest in the world, and Germany was attempting to even the playing field. So with that being said, Britain had the largest Navy in 1914, but Germany wasn't far behind.

foods and other goods

100+ American lives that could have made a change whether big or small wont.

The 2 main ones were mustard and chlorine gas. mustard would make you blind and chlorine was worse it would burn your lungs.

She was torpedoed on May 7 1915 and sank within eighteen minutes.

The Somme had good and bad results/effects.

Good:

Tired out the German Army

Was the start of the decline of the German Army

More German casualties than British ones

Made British and allied soldiers better the hard way - was the training ground of the British Army

WITHOUT IT THE ALLIES WOULD NOT HAVE WON THE WAR IN 1918

Bad:

Lots of British casualties - the Somme has become a metaphor for slaughter and has been called a 'self sacrifice

The principle of 'Freedom of the seas' was important in World War 1 because the Germans had declared unrestricted warfare in the seas, severely disrupting trade and shipping. American president Woodrow Wilson included 'freedom of the seas' in his Fourteen Points.

The most successful warships in terms of sinking the most "enemy" vessels in both World War One and Two were German submarines sinking unarmed or lightly armed and mostly privately-owned, non-military civilian-manned merchant ships and tankers, often at night without warning. Early in both wars anti-submarine threats were weak and many German subs acted chivalrously and allowed crews time to escape in their lifeboats, though successful rescue was far from certain. U-35 was most successful by far, and by a wide margin compared to the second most successful sub of either world war; near 200 ships sunk for a little over a half a million gross tons, in WWI, over a 3 year period, most under a single captain. The sub and captain survived the war. Almost all were merchant ships, and some were quite small, even sail powered, and many were sunk with the sub's 88mm deck gun or scuttling explosives. These were usually one-sided engagements where the ships had little chance once sighted by the sub. Only in rare instances did any single sub or warship in either WWI or WWII sank any significant number of enemy warships; or any surface warship sink a number of any warships. Some "armed merchant raiders" - disguised merchant ships with hidden guns and torpedo tubes - managed A few USN subs earned well-deserved reputations as deliberate Japanese Navy Destroyer killers, sometimes scoring with ill-advised if gustsy close-range "down the throat" shots at oncoming destroyers that likely would have pulverized the sub if one of the 4-6 or more torpedoes had not hit. But in general subs only sank anti-submarine warships in lucky encounters where the sub and its torpedoes were entirely undetected or only spotted at the very last moment, and rarely in desperate self-dense shots that were easily avoided by the alert warship.

The most successful surface warship of either war and almost certainly WWII, in terms of number of enemy "ships" sunk, if not tonnage, was the USS England. She was an American destroyer escort launched after the midpoint of the the war that, with little previous combat experience, sank an astonishing 6 of the relatively rare Japanese submarines late in World War II in the mid-Pacific with assistance from 2 other ships- in only a 2 week period. It should be noted that by this point, all subs were clearly obsolete, Japanese subs being particularly vulnerable, and once detected by a group of up-to date Allied warships, stood little chance of escaping or attacking against the sophisticated detection and anti-submarine weapons in use with the latest Allied anti-submarine warships. At the war's end, the Germans tried to regain some measure of effectiveness with the radically advanced German "XXI" subs that abandoned the surface-performance focus of subs with greatly increased underwater battery endurance and speed. The Japanese built roughly similar prototypes. These were introduced at the very end of WWII and were much more capable against surface ships including naval escorts, and reduced the effectiveness of the most deadly sub killers (aircraft with radar and homing torpedoes). These would have restored much the subs' effectiveness, had their design flaws been corrected and large numbers been available earlier. This type of sub set the standard for all "conventional" powered subs going forward to the present day.

Like German soldiers and aircraft and tanks and anti-tank guns - German subs had a lot more to shoot at, and their weapons, training, leadership and tactics were generally first class until late in both wars, while that of many of their adversaries varied early in both wars then steadily improved. There were some spectacular success against large warships but overall submarines proved to be ineffective and more at risk than vice versa. The exception was the record of American subs against the Japanese Navy. American subs were aided by code-breaking to be able to place subs in intercept positions. In addition, Japanese aircraft and ships had no effective radar until too late in the war, while American subs had very effective radar. The big killer in Word War II of ships and subs alike were aircraft, especially later in the war when radar equipment became widely used, especially in numerous Allied aircraft. Subs had far less success against aircraft, especially speedy small aircraft carrier aircraft or the speedy B-24 bombers converted for maritime patrol. German U-48, early in the WWII before effective anti-submarine technologies and numerous aircraft and ships employing them were deployed, sank about 300,000 tons of Allied merchant ships and a destroyer or two (50? ships total), mostly British, between 1939 and 1941, before the US or Russia were even in the war. U-48 had at least 3 different captains. See Uboat.net for exact info. A couple of dozen other German submarines also sank large numbers of ships, mostly during this time. Later in the war (until April 1943) German subs continued to sink large numbers of ships (rarely warships, mostly merchant ships), but it took far more submarines and many were lost, often having never sank anything. In the Pacific, the Japanese had poor anti-submarine technologies, and American submarines were very successful, though Japanese ships were fewer and smaller, and individual submarine scores were far lower than the top German subs, about 100,000 tons max (USS Tang). This was about the same as the top British subs (like HMS Upholder), which made their scores against poorly defended Italian merchant ships in the Mediterranean. The top Italian subs attacked independent Allied merchant ships in primarily the South Atlantic, and had little success against heavily defended Allied ships in the Mediterranean . Other than the various subs, the ever changing aircraft and pilots of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise probably sank the most ships, including the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Hiryu at Midway, and contributing to many others including the battleships Hiei and Musashi, and many smaller ships. Lt. Best of the Enterprise is crediting with hitting both the Japanese carriers Akagi (morning of June 4) and in second mission of the same day the Hiryu, each with a 1,000 pound bomb with his navy dive-bomber, then taking medical sick leave shortly after for the rest of the war with a bad lung condition. Few if any pilots can match his record, in absolute terms, or in strategic importance. His initiative in making a last-moment decision to break away from his squadron's diving attack on the carrier Kaga and instead dive on - and hit - the Akagi likely prevented the Akagi from launching a devastating attack on the US Fleet. like the ones that led to the sinking of US carriers Lexington, Yorktown, and Hornet during the first year of the war. And more so than the ships or even their crews, you should consider the captains, as esp. on small vessels like submarines the captain is the dominant determining factor in success in all the cases above. Even successful subs usually stopped being successful if the captain left and was replaced by one less capable, as often occurred. On the other hand, successful captains who went to an existing but previously unsuccessful sub almost always continued their success and turned a loser sub into a winner.

Above is for WWII mostly. For WWI, the far and away most successful warship was one particular German submarine (U-35) and its longest serving of multiple captains, CaptainLothar von Arnauld de la Periere ("U-boat" or undersea boat as the Germans and the Allies called German subs). This sub served mostly in the Med Sea and sank about 3 times as many times the ships and over 1.5 times the tonnage than any ship in any war. Many of these were dispatched by deck gun or scuttling charges and many were sail powered and not deemed worth the expense of a torpedo when a few 88mm/3.5" deck gun shells were sufficient. In contrast, the world's 100+ expensive battleships that were built just prior or during the WWi sank relatively little, not even a single opposing battleship. Battleships sailed often and were greatly feared, but rarely engaged in combat with any other ships. They were simply too valuable to risk. The one chance the British Royal Navy had to close and crush the already damaged German battle line at the climax of the Battle of Jutland was thwarted when the British Admiral rightly judged that he must turn away in the face of a German torpedo boat attack launched to cover the German fleet's withdrawal. Although heavily criticized, the British High Command had previously considered this exact scenario and agreed exactly this caution was to be taken. Had the British admiral not turned away, his largely undamaged 28 modern battleships likely would have crippled numerous if not all of the German's 16 battleships, many already significantly damaged, with minor losses to his battle line from the German battleships. Crippled battleships are difficult to finish off with even battleship gunfire, but once crippled are easy prey for torpedo boats. The big unknown is how many British battleships would have been lost in that closing torpedo attack had the British admiral not turned away. WWI battleships were found to be be able to sustain a single torpedo hit and continue on, but two or three would be fatal, and a large portion of the crew could be expected to be lost in the rapid sinking. It is likely that the British would have suffered numerous losses, perhaps even heavy losses. Politically, that was not a acceptable price.

what was the first weapon used in world war 1

Over 1,200 passengers including 100 kids(125 US citizens) and 417 crew lost their lives aboard the Lusitania on May 7, 1915 during World War 1. The Lusitania was struck by the German World War 1 submarine(the U-20).

Mostly in the ocean.

The Lusitania was sunk because the Germans thought that it was carring more than just passengers. The Germans thought that Great Britain were smuggling in weapons to help them fight the war. There were American passengers on the ship and when the Germans sunk it that pushed USA sentiment towards anti-germanism

The Royal Navy by Virtue of its Grand Fleet Commander Sir (later Earl) John Jellicoe who understood both his own navy and The German High Seas Fleet he always fought for supremacy over the High Seas Fleet and the stress on him nearly broke him he was ousted quite Unfairly by another great man in the Royal Navy Sir (later Earl) David Beatty who while being a brave leader didn't even know the flaws in his own Battlecruisers remarking famously at the Jutland after losing two of his battlecruisers "There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today" However despite these problems at the end of WW1 it was the German Navy who scuttled itself in Scapa Flow

Therefore the best navy in ww1 was His Royal Britannic Majestys Royal Navy Which by the end of ww1 had some 33 Battleships and 9 Battlecruisers which made it larger in terms of capital ships larger than the American Russian French and Japanese navies combined

Aircraft played a major role in the first world war. At first they were unarmed observation aircraft, getting information on enemy troop movements and being the "eyes and ears" for the artillery.

In later years they carried either one or two forward firing machine guns(on a single seater aircraft) and if you shot down 5 aircraft, you were considered an Ace. Both sides started using fighter squadrons to shoot down enemy aircraft/ enemy observation balloons and assist in ground operations.

Both sides also started using twin engine bombers to hit key enemy positions , usually with devasting effects. Bombs were first dropped out of the observers cockpit since there were no bombsite and no bomb-racks on the bottom side of the fuselage,these came in later years.

The only thing about flying these aircraft is that they where made of wood, you chocked on engine fumes and were exposed to the elements because you were in a open cockpit, also if you were shot down, there was no way to bail or jump out since the parachute was frowned upon and it was also in the experimential stages in some countries.

The aces were looked upon as national heroes such as Eddie Rickenbacker, Raoul Lufbery, Manfred Von Richtofen, Max Immelman, Albert Ball, Mick Mannock, Billy Bishop, Billy Barker and many more.

Friday May 7 1915

Battleships (called Dreadnaughts based upon the design of HMS Dreadnaught), Battlecruisers, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and one aircraft carrier.

Germany thought they would defeat France easily but they were wrong ,they were evenly matched and couldn't defeat each other.So they held their positions by digging trenches and tried to gain the land in between them known as no-man's-land.

She was carrying 1,959 people at the time of her sinking.
(1,257 passengers and 702 crew)

1,198 died

It wasn't won using U-boats, but it was one of Germany's most effective strategies. The Battle of the Atlantic was fought by U-boats against the convoys taking supplies across the ocean. If they had been able to prevent the convoys getting through, the Germans might have been able successfully destroy England and Russia.

The Germans had decided that they would sink any ship they wanted without warning even if it was a merchant ship. This had upset the Americans because they soon started losing many American lives even though they were neutral. One of the worst incidents was the sinking of the Lusitania, a British luxury liner which the Germans sunk without first warning the ship. The Germans had killed 128 Americans that were on the luxury ship. This brought the U.S into the war.

(America eventually entered World War I.)