War at Sea ww1 Flashcards
main dates in 1914
august 1914 - german code book washes ashore with a dead sailor
november 1914 - turkey joins the war and closes the dardenelles strait, which cuts off supplies to russia
main dates in 1915
4 february 1915 - britain begin the naval blockade
february 1915 - gallipoli campaign is launched
7 may 1915 - lusitania is sink by the german u-boat, germany ends unrestricted submarine warfare
main dates in 1916
31 may - 1 june 1916 - the battle of jutland
summer 1916 - german potato harvest fails
december 1916 - german chancellor asks peace from america but german generals ammend the letter to make the “offer” unacceptable
main dates in 1917
february 1917 - germany restarted unrestricted submarine warfare to break the blockade
april 1917 - britain has 6 weeks left of food
2 april 1917 - america declares war on germany
explain what happened with the Lusitania
7 may 1917
german u-boat sunk the lusitania which was a US ship
it resulted in the death of 1,198 passangers including 128 US citizens
angry protests from the USA caused germny to stop unrestricted submarine warfare (fearing usa would join the allied forces in the war)
developments in the navy to stop german U-boats
april 1917 - the convoy system was introduced (the supply ship was protected by destroyers on either side looking out for german u-boats and blowing them up)
_afterwards only 1/100 british ships were sun_k
Q-boats - battleships disguise as merchnt boats to fool u-boats into attacking them but then blow the u-boat out the water
other improvements in the navy
torpoedos were developed so they could be launched from ships, submarines of the air
radio improvements lead to better communications between boats and the shore
submarines were new to warfare, both sides had them but germany was quickers to use them effectively
unrestricted submarine warfare
february 1917 - germany restarted unrestricted submarine warfare in hopes of destroying the british blockade and crippling supply lines
600 allied ships were sunk in march
april 1917 - 1 million tonnes of shipping destined for britain was sunk
by the end of april 1917 britain only had 6 weeks worth of food left
date for the battle of jutland
31 march - 1 june 1916
battle of jutland events
german admiral von scheer had set out a trap for the british navy but his message was intercepted and decoded by the british so they set out a counter attack
the bitish pretended to fall into the trap before surprising the german navy with thier own full naval force, the two emenies foought throughout the night
reasons britain won the battle of jutland
the german navy was so badly damaged it never left the harbour again for the rest of the war
the battle of jutland failed to achieve the german goal of ending the blockade which continued throughout the war
reason that germany won the battle of jutland
germany suffered less lossing numbers of men and ships:
britain - 6,077 men + 112,000 tons of shippping
germany - 2,551 men + 62,000 tonnes of shipping
germany also cut off allied access to the baltics which was another russian supply line
