Submarines of the First World War, which celebrated the 15-year birth in 1914, did not affect in any way the course of hostilities and the outcome of the war. But this is the time of origin, the formation of the most powerful kind of troops. Submarines will play a significant role in World War II, showing the importance and power of the submarine fleet.
The emergence of the submarine fleet
By the start of World War I, submarines were a new unexplored means of warfare on the water. They were treated in the navy and in the upper strata of the military leadership with misunderstanding and distrust. Among naval officers was considered a very prestigious service in submarines. However, the first submarines in World War I went through baptism of fire and worthily took their place in the Navy of the countries participating in the conflict.
In the Russian Empire, the first submarine "Dolphin" appeared in 1903. But the development of the submarine fleet did not go well, because due to a reluctance to understand its full importance, funding was insignificant. The lack of understanding of how to use submarines by the main marine experts not only in Russia, but also in other European maritime powers, led to the fact that by the time the hostilities began, submarines practically did not play a significant role.
Foreseeing future use
By the beginning of the First World War, the use of submarines had their supporters, one might say, fanatically believing in the future. In Germany, the navy lieutenant commander sent a memorandum to the command, in which he counted the use of submarines against England. The Commander-in-Chief of the British Navy, Lord Fisher, submitted to the government his memoranda, in which he indicated that submarines, in violation of maritime laws, would be used both against military and commercial ships of the enemy.
However, it should be emphasized that the majority of military specialists represented the use of submarines, in view of their specificity, only as a coastal position guard. They were predicted to play the role of mine barriers in the construction of mobile minefields. Their attack by enemy ships was presented as a special case at the time of anchorage of the ship.
Russia was no exception. So, I. G. Bubnov, a leading Russian submarine designer, in the First World War assigned them the role of “typical mine cans”. The Russian fleet at that time was one of the few who had already used submarines in the Russian war with Japan. It should be noted that the high command of the Russian navy was more attracted to huge multi-gun ships and frankly did not attach much importance to submarines.
Russian submarine fleet at the beginning of the First World War
Submarines in Russia were in three fleets, their total number consisted of 24 combat and three training boats. A brigade consisting of 11 submarines was based on the Baltic Sea, of which 8 combat and 3 training boats. There were 4 submarines in the Black Sea Fleet. The Pacific Fleet was represented by a detachment that included 14 submarines.
In the First World War, Russian submarines were assigned the role of coast guard, and the main load fell on the Baltic Brigade, since the main maritime power Germany participated in the war as the opposing side of Russia. The most important naval actions against Russia were supposed in the Baltic. The main goal is to protect the Russian capital and prevent the breakthrough of the German fleet, which at that time was considered one of the most powerful and equipped in the world.
Black Sea Fleet
Before Turkey entered the war against the Entente, the command of the Black Sea Fleet pursued a policy of passively waiting for the attack of the Turkish fleet. Nothing has practically changed at the beginning of Turkey’s entry into the war. The frank connivance and betrayal by the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Ebengard, caused great damage to the Russian forces in the attack first of the Turkish squadron, then in a collision with two German cruisers, "Geben" and "Breslau." It became clear that the “Hon.” Admiral Ebengard, to put it mildly, did not correspond to his position. During his command, submarines were not even remembered.
New Russian submarines of the First World War in the Black Sea Fleet appeared only in the autumn of 1915, at the same time the mine crab "Crab" began to operate. The use of submarines at first was single (positional) in nature. Subsequently, the maneuvering method was already used - cruising a certain water area. This method has received significant development.
The first campaigns of Russian submarines on the Black Sea
By the end of the winter of 1916, the tactics of using submarines had changed significantly, they became the main weapon of struggle in enemy communications. Cruising trips were ten days. Two for the transition and eight for the search for the enemy. During the campaign, in the above-water position, submarines traveled up to 1,200 miles, under water - more than 150 miles. The main submarine area was the southwest of the Maritime Theater.
In World War I, the Tyulen submarine was especially distinguished under the command of Lieutenant Kititsyn, which met the Rodosto armed steamer, with a displacement of 6 thousand tons and equipped with two 88-mm and two 57-mm guns, under the command of the German commander, near the Bosphorus Strait and mixed German-Turkish crew.
“Seal”, due to a breakdown being in the water position, entered the battle at a distance of 8 cables, and inflicted more than 10 hits to the ship. The ship’s team raised the white flag and was escorted to Sevastopol under the escort of the submarine. During the fighting, “Seal” damaged or captured 20 enemy ships. For the first time on the Black Sea, Russian submarines of the First World War began to go camping together with destroyers, which gave more significant results.
Disadvantages of using submarines
First of all, this is a short time spent under water, during which the boat could travel only 150 miles. The buruns during the dive made the boat vulnerable, and the track from the fired torpedo issued an attack and gave time for maneuver to the enemy ship. Great difficulty was the management of submarines. They were equipped with radio stations whose range was limited to 100 miles. Therefore, at a greater distance to control their command was impossible.
But in 1916 a solution was found that consisted of the use of “repetitive” ships, for the most part they were destroyers. They received a radio signal and transmitted it further. At that time, this was a way out of the situation, which allowed submarines to keep in touch with the command.
Russian submarines in the Baltic
The main center of naval operations unfolded on the Baltic Sea. The original goal of the German fleet was to break into the Gulf of Finland, where to defeat Russian ships and strike from the sea in Petrograd. At the very beginning of the cruiser Magdeburg and Augsburg, which accompanied the destroyers and submarines, they attempted to break into the Gulf of Finland. But they did not succeed in doing this. To protect the Russians, a mine-artillery position was created that stretched between the Porcalla-Udd Peninsula and the island of Nargen. The task of the submarines was to serve before the position with the aim of joint firing with cruisers.
The creation of mine-artillery positions was carried out before the war. With its beginning, submarines served at certain distances. The fighting in the Baltic was fundamentally different from the fighting on the Black Sea coast. Most German ships were sunk or damaged due to Russian mines. It was they who forced the German command to abandon attempts to break into the Gulf of Finland.
Russian legend
In May 1916, the Baltic Fleet received a new submarine, the Wolf. The First World War knew many examples of the selfless courage and heroism of submarines. But the crew of one of them became legendary. About the submarine "Wolf", commanded by Senior Lieutenant I. Messer, the son of Vice Admiral V.P. Messer, legends were made in the Baltic Fleet.
On his personal account, I. Messer had many victories before he took command of the Wolf. In 1915, as the commander of the Cayman submarine, he and his crew in the Strait of Olandsgaf captured the German steamer Shtalek. The submarine "Wolf" 05/17/1916 ambushed in Norchepino Bay, on the border with the Swedish territorial waters, where she sunk three transport steamships - "Hera", "Kolga" and "Bianka". Almost a month later, the Dorita military transport was sunk.
Features of the Baltic War
The German fleet was forced to fight on two fronts with England and Russia. The Gulf of Finland was reliably covered by mines. Great Britain had at that time the most advanced fleet, so all the main forces of Germany were diverted to it. She bought ore from neutral Sweden, so the war in the Baltic Sea was reduced mainly to the capture and sinking of German merchant ships carrying metal ore. The Russian command had the goal of preventing the enemy from transporting raw materials without hindrance. And it was achieved in part thanks to submarines.
German submarines
From the first moment of the Entente war, it was mainly the English fleet that began the siege of Germany. In response, Germany began to block Britain with submarines. By the way, during the war period the Germans launched 341 submarines, and 138 remained on the slipways. The German submarines of World War I were distinguished by their survivability and could go camping for up to 10 days.
Separately, it is worth mentioning about the crews of submarines, distinguished by special cruelty. They never offered to surrender to the crews of transport ships and did not save the crew members, but drowned the ships in cold blood. For this, all ships of the British Navy were given an order that ordered the German submariners not to be captured.
German submarines of World War I inflicted tangible damage on England. In 1915 alone, the Entente countries lost 228 merchant ships. But the surface fleet of England they could not defeat, in addition, by 1918, the opponents of Germany learned to fight with submarines. During this year 50 German submarines were sunk, which significantly exceeded the number of people descending from the slipways.
Submarine fleet of Austria-Hungary
The Austro-Hungarian submarines of World War I could not have any effect on the course of naval combat clashes. Austria-Hungary had access to the small Adriatic Sea. But to maintain prestige, long before the start of the submarine war, in 1906, she purchased a submarine project from the American company S. Lake. By the beginning of the war, two submarines U-1 and U-2 were built.
These were small submarines with quiet speed, a gasoline engine, ballast systems on a sturdy hull, a helm for controlling the surface of the boat was installed only after surfacing. They could hardly compete with any submarine of the countries participating in the war.
But it is worth noting that already in 1917, Austria-Hungary had 27 submarines, causing significant damage to the enemy, mostly Italians. Got from them and the British. For an empire falling apart for national reasons, this is a pretty good result.
World War I drastically changed attitudes towards submarines. It became clear that they had a future when they became a formidable force and could travel thousands of miles to strike at the enemy.