The submarines of the First World War, which celebrated their 15th anniversary in 1914, did not in any way affect the course of hostilities and the outcome of the war. But this is the time of the birth, 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 birth of the submarine fleet
By the beginning of the First World War, submarines were a new and 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, service on submarines was considered very unprestigious. However, the first submarines in the First World War went through a 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. Butthe development of the submarine fleet was going poorly, because due to the unwillingness to understand all its importance, funding was negligible. The misunderstanding of how to use submarines on the part of the main naval specialists 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.
Foresight for future applications
By the beginning of the hostilities of the First World War, the use of submarines had its supporters, one might say, fanatically believing in the future. In Germany, the captain-lieutenant of the navy sent a memorandum to the command, in which he gave an estimate of the use of submarines against England. The Commander-in-Chief of the British Navy, Lord Fisher, submitted his memorandums to the government, in which he indicated that submarines, in violation of maritime laws, would be used against both military and commercial ships of the enemy.
However, it should be emphasized that most military experts represented the use of submarines, due to their specifics, only as a coastal position guard. They were predicted to play the role of minelayers in the construction of mobile minefields. Their attack on enemy ships was presented as a special case at the time of the ship's anchorage.
Russia is no exception. So, I. G. Bubnov, the leading Russian designer of submarines, assigned them the role of “typical mine cans” in the First World War. The Russian navy totime was one of the few who have already used submarines in the war between Russia and Japan. It should be noted that the high command of the Russian navy was more inclined towards huge multi-gun ships and frankly did not attach much importance to submarines.
Russian submarine fleet at the beginning of World War I
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 B altic Sea, including 8 combat and 3 training boats. The Black Sea Fleet had 4 submarines. The Pacific Fleet was represented by a detachment that included 14 submarines.
Russian submarines in World War I were assigned the role of coast guards, with the main burden falling on the B altic Brigade, since Germany, the main maritime power, participated in the war as the opposing side of Russia. The most important naval actions against Russia were supposed to be in the B altic. The main goal is to ensure the protection of 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 an attack by the Turkish fleet. Nothing practically changed at the beginning of Turkey's entry into the war. Frank connivance and betrayal from the sidecommander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Ebengard, brought great damage to the Russian forces when attacked first by a Turkish squadron, then in a collision with two German cruisers Goeben and Breslau. It became clear that the "honorable" Admiral Ebonheart, to put it mildly, did not correspond to his position. During his command, submarines were not even mentioned.
New Russian submarines of the First World War in the Black Sea Fleet appeared only by the autumn of 1915, at the same time the mine layer "Crab" began to operate. The use of submarines at first had a single (positional) character. Subsequently, a maneuvering method was already used - cruising a certain water area. This method has received significant development.
The first campaigns of Russian submarines in the Black Sea
By the end of the winter of 1916, the tactics of using submarines had changed significantly, they became the main weapon in the fight against enemy communications. Cruising trips were ten days. Two for the transition and eight for the search for the enemy. During the campaign in the surface position, the submarines passed up to 1,200 miles, under water - more than 150 miles. The main area of application of submarines was the southwest of the maritime theater.
The submarine "Seal" under the command of Lieutenant Kititsyn especially distinguished itself during the First World War, which met the armed steamer "Rodosto" near the Bosphorus Strait, with a displacement of 6 thousand tons and equipped with two 88-mm and two 57-mm guns, undercommand of a German commander and a mixed German-Turkish crew.
"Seal", being on the surface due to a breakdown, entered the battle at a distance of 8 cables, and inflicted more than 10 hits on the steamer. The crew of the ship raised a white flag and was taken to Sevastopol under the escort of the submarine. During the fighting, the "Seal" damaged or captured 20 enemy ships. In the Black Sea, for the first time, Russian submarines of the First World War began to go on campaigns 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 go only 150 miles. The breakers during the dive made the boat vulnerable, and the trail from the fired torpedo betrayed the attack and gave the enemy ship time to maneuver. The big difficulty was the management of submarines. They were equipped with radios, the range of which was limited to 100 miles. Therefore, it was impossible for the command to control them at a greater distance.
But in 1916 a solution was found, which consisted in the use of "rehearsal" ships, for the most part they were destroyers. They received the radio signal and transmitted it further. At that time, this was a way out of the current situation, which allowed the submarines to keep in touch with the command.
Russian submarines in the B altic
The main center of naval operations deployed in the B altic Sea. The original goal of the German fleet was to break into the Gulf of Finland, where to smash Russian shipsand hit Petrograd from the sea. At the very beginning, the cruisers "Magdeburg" and "Augsburg", which were accompanied by destroyers and submarines, made attempts to break into the Gulf of Finland. But they failed to do this. For protection, the Russians created a mine-artillery position, which stretched between the Porkalla-Udd Peninsula and Nargen Island. The task of the submarines was to serve in front of the position in order to jointly fire with the cruisers.
Mine-artillery positions were created before the start of the war. Since its inception, submarines have served at certain distances. The fighting in the B altic was fundamentally different from the fighting on the Black Sea coast. Most of the German ships were sunk or damaged by 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 B altic Fleet received a new submarine "Volk". The First World War knew many examples of selfless courage and heroism of submarine sailors. But the crew of one of them became legendary. There were legends about the Volk submarine, commanded by Senior Lieutenant I. Messer, son of Vice Admiral V. P. Messer, in the B altic Fleet.
On the personal account of I. Messer there were many victories before he took command of the "Wolf". In 1915, as commander of the Cayman submarine, he and his crew captured the German steamer Stahleck in the Olandsgaf Strait. Submarine"Wolf" 1916-17-05 ambushed in Norchepinskaya Bay, on the border with Swedish territorial waters, where she sank three transport ships - "Hera", "Kolga" and "Bianka". Almost a month later, the Dorita military transport was sunk.
Features of the war in the B altic
The German fleet was forced to fight on two fronts with England and Russia. The Gulf of Finland was securely closed 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 B altic Sea was reduced, mainly to the capture and sinking of German merchant ships carrying metal ore. The goal of the Russian command was to prevent the enemy from freely transporting raw materials. And it was achieved in part thanks to submarines.
German submarines
From the first moment of the war, the Entente, mainly the English fleet, began to lay siege to Germany. In response, Germany began blockading Great Britain with submarines. By the way, during the war period, the Germans launched 341 submarines, and 138 remained on the stocks. German submarines of the First World War were distinguished by survivability and could go on campaigns for up to 10 days.
Separately, it is worth mentioning the crews of submarines, which were distinguished by particular cruelty. They never offered to surrender to the crews of the transport ships and did not save the crew members, but in cold blood they sank the ships. For this to all ships of the NavyBritain was given an order in which it was ordered not to take German submariners prisoner.
German submarines of the First World War caused significant damage to England. In 1915 alone, the Entente countries lost 228 merchant ships. But they failed to defeat the surface fleet of England, in addition, by 1918, Germany's opponents had learned to fight with submarines. During this year, 50 German submarines were sunk, which significantly exceeded the number of those launched from the stocks.
Austria-Hungarian submarine fleet
The Austro-Hungarian submarines of the First World War could not have any influence on the course of naval combat clashes. Austria-Hungary had access to the small Adriatic Sea. But in order 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 a quiet ride, gasoline engine, ballast systems on a solid hull, the steering wheel to control 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 that inflicted significant damage on the enemy, mostly Italians. Got it from them and the British. For an empire falling apart for national reasons, this is a pretty good result.
The First World War dramatically changed the attitude towards submarines. It became clear that they were the future whenthey will become a formidable force and will be able to travel thousands of miles to strike at the enemy.
