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A German submarine U27 forced a merchant ship to stop. Before it could sink, a ship flying an American flag came from afar.

The Baralon signaled to the warring parties that we were willing to take in the crew on that ship.

The German relaxed his vigilance when he saw it, but when the Baralon approached, he suddenly lowered the American flag and raised the British flag. He quickly fired a gun and sank the U27.

The people on the merchant ship that was forced to stop by a German submarine could not bear it. They felt that this was done too much.

After they returned, they made such a case public to the newspaper.

When the news reached Germany, the secret of the Q ship was finally revealed, and William II was shocked.

On January 9, 1917, German Emperor William II ordered the German Navy to start the unlimited submarine warfare from February 1, 1917, that is, German submarines could sank any ship heading to British waters at will without warning in advance.

No matter what kind of flags these ships hang, they will inevitably be sunk by German submarines.

The maritime struggle of World War I entered a new stage in an unprecedented form.

The British cleverness opened a Pandora's box for maritime combat. A bigger maritime disaster was about to come. After the unlimited submarine war broke out, German submarine ships attacked everywhere. Most of the warships of the Allies were unpredictable, and ordinary merchant ships were even more vulnerable.

Unlimited submarine warfare has turned these killers independent of surface ships into a fearsome proper noun.

However, William II launched an unlimited submarine warfare not only because of the British Q-ship tactics, but also for another and more important reasons.

In fact, not long after the war began, Germany used a lot of manpower, financial resources and material resources to develop submarines.

Since 1914, the number of German submarines has increased several times each year.

The famous German Krupp Steel Company continuously provides the best steel to build German submarines.

The German Navy has also established a mature submarine combat system in actual combat.

Since the war began in August 1914, some potential of German submarines have been shown in front of some keen generals.

Among these generals, the most famous one was the German Marshal Alfred von Tirpitz.

Tirpitz is a very courageous person.

Before the start of the stop, he proposed a plan to expand the German naval fleet, and his personal relationship with William II was also very good.

William II wanted to vigorously develop the navy, and he also wanted to vigorously develop the navy. He also implemented William II's intentions specifically, so that other ministers were replaced.

Under the leadership of Tirpitz, Germany's naval expansion plan was perfectly implemented.

Later, when the stop started, the total number of warships of the German Navy had risen from the seventh in the world to the second in the world, which was roughly equivalent to a man taking medicine, a gap from 7cm to 17cm!

At this time, the German Navy had a high seas fleet that could compete with the Royal British Navy, and a submarine force that would hurt the Allies' brains.

Unfortunately, although German submarines succeeded repeatedly at sea, German Emperor William II and Navy Marshal Tirpitz were even more interested in the high seas fleet they built.

This idea of ​​the British was not a fantasy, because as early as the early days of World War I, the ugly people really changed the strategies and tactics of the German Navy, and that time left an unforgettable impression on the British.

As early as February 1915, German Emperor William II ordered Germany to start submarine warfare. Within ten weeks, as many as 63 merchant ships were sunk without warning, and more than 200 people in neutral countries died.

However, an accident happened. Three months after Germany started the submarine war, on May 7, 1915, a British luxury cruise ship, the Lusitania, was sunk by a German submarine, killing 1,198 people.

The British government had planned to convert the Lusitania into a heavy cruiser to destroy the enemy's maritime shipping and seize the enemy's merchant ships.

However, amid many oppositions, the Lusitania was allowed to continue to engage in passenger transport services to facilitate war exchanges between the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Lusitania's originally beautiful white, black and infrared appearance was painted all black, and it did not hang any flags, and the ship's name was also covered.

Unfortunately, this time, the Lusitania, which was loaded with passengers, was accidentally encountered by a German submarine.

Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine, causing extreme shock on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and the United States and Britain accused it of a cruel murder.

German newspapers claim that the Lusitania was an arms ship that would not have sunk so quickly.

128 of the passengers who died in Lusitania were Americans, so this behavior caused strong protests from the ugly government.

In the ugly society, it also affected the uproar, criticizing the Germans for a lot of criticism, and using all kinds of vicious words.

Therefore, after the Lusitania sank, calls for war against Germany immediately in the United States rose one after another.

William II was very afraid of Americans. He believed that as long as the ugly country did not come in, Germany, could still fight.

If the Ugly Kingdom comes in, then Germany may not be able to hold on.

In this way, under pressure from public condemnation, William II announced the temporary cancellation of the attacks on passenger ships or neutral ships by German submarines.

This is an incident that remains fresh in the memory of the British.

Therefore, when William II announced the launch of the unlimited submarine war in 1917, he was forced to send a signal to the Ugly Kingdom to ask for help.

However, the Germans in 1917 were no longer Germans at the beginning of the war. On the one hand, because their maritime power was not as good as Britain, they had to use German submarines to defeat Britain's maritime hegemony.

On the other hand, the Germans already owned more than 100 submarines. At this time, the war had been fought for three years. The Germans believed that the war should be won as soon as possible, especially before the US military took an active role in the European battlefield.

To defeat Britain, submarines must be used, and a large number of German soldiers also firmly believe that only through unlimited submarine warfare can the war be won.

In 1917, William II agreed to the plan to launch unlimited submarine warfare.

After receiving the distress signal from Britain, the boss of the Ugly Kingdom, Wilson, was hesitant.

As mentioned before, Wilson had another consideration for this war that took place in Europe.

Wilson knew that a considerable number of ugly people did not sympathize with Britain, especially the ugly people of Irish people were not dissatisfied with the way Britain ruled Ireland, and millions of German Americans hoped that Germany would win the war.

The Russian Jews who were exiled to the ugly country hated the Tsar to the core, hoping that Germany would defeat Russia.

However, anti-German sentiment in the ugly country grew after the Lusitaya was sunk by a German submarine.

After repeated consideration, the Ugly Kingdom finally decided to announce its participation in the war and unite with Britain to contain Germany.

To curb Germany, it is necessary to effectively block German submarines.

After Germany launched the unlimited submarine war in 1917, the total tonnage of the UK sunk was almost the same as the total tonnage lost in 1916.

Faced with the threat of submarine warfare, the Allies could not come up with effective means of dealing with each other, and the situation on the battlefield turned sharply.

In dealing with German submarines, the Allies came up with various solutions.

In the various anti-submarine plans, the Allies quickly came up with a new anti-submarine measure to establish a mine barrier line.

With the strong economic support of the United States, the Allies established a total of three mine barrier lines, the most famous of which is the "North Sea Mine Curtain".

This blocking line extends from the Orkney Islands in the North Sea to Norway. It is 230 nautical miles long and 15 to 20 nautical miles wide. It consists of 24 mine lines located at different depths. It is planned to lay a total of about 100,000 mines.

However, the effect of the mine barrier line is not ideal, especially the major obstacle in the North Sea.

Only one submarine successfully hit the mine here. Of the 13 submarines lost by Germany in the Mediterranean, only two were sunk on the blocking line.

At this time, the Allies adopted sonar technology to counter-submarines, using sound waves to detect underwater German submarines.

However, due to the limited technological power at that time, sonar technology was not mature.

In addition to the shallow detection depth and the effect is not obvious, more often, sonar operators mistakenly regard the fish in the sea as German submarines and waste torpedoes in vain.

Just as the Allies were helpless in unrestricted submarine warfare, a group of young officers from the British Admiralty proposed the escort tactics.

When Germany first started to engage in unlimited submarine warfare, there were no wolves or sheep, and neither side had much tactical awareness.

The situation at that time was like sprinkling a handful of sesame seeds on the football field and then putting a group of ants to eat sesame seeds. The probability of ants hitting sesame seeds is high, and they can eat one if they hit one.

If there are only a bunch of sesame seeds on the huge football field, the probability of encountering ants will naturally decrease, and even if one or two ants happen to encounter two pellets, they will not be able to chew them. This is the simplest metaphor of the escort system.

The opponent quietly changed his moves, but the German side was still ignorant. The submarines sailed as usual, but returned empty-handed again and again.

In the words of a German captain at that time, the sea suddenly became empty, the combat loss rate of German submarines increased greatly, and the anti-submarine technology of the Allies became stronger and stronger.

The British escort forces had a large number of anti-submarines and sunk a large number of German submarines, which also had a great blow to Germany's psychological morale, which put German submarines at a greater threat.

In 1918, the German submarine was finally defeated due to the Allies' anti-submarine warfare of the escort fleet, but the deterrence brought by the German submarine is still fresh in the world.

Therefore, after the end of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles clearly proposed to prohibit Germany from building submarines, and the original submarines were borne by Britain, France, and Russia.
Chapter completed!