The "unlimited submarine warfare" pursued by the German Navy during World War I made the British Empire suffer enough to survive and fight on the safety of the sea lifeline, and the extreme fear and resentment of submarine warfare made Britain invest great energy in anti-submarine warfare and pay a heavy price. Among the various anti-submarine means during World War I, a maritime combat method called Q-ship is undoubtedly a very unique one. The Q ship is a special anti-submarine ship modified from various merchant ships, equipped with weapons and unarmed ships, in short, the "Trojan horse at sea" in the anti-submarine warfare of World War I.
As for the operational performance of the Q ship in World War I, after experiencing the early stunning appearance, it inevitably fell into a gradual dilemma, and as the captains of the U boats increased their vigilance, the anti-submarine warfare results of the Q ship shrank sharply, and by the second half of 1917, they had actually withdrawn from the anti-submarine front-line battle. In August 1917, in the final stage of its counter-U-boat efforts, a deadly struggle between the Q-boat and the U-boat was staged.
Group photo of the crew on the Q boat
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > "mysterious" "bait"</h1>
On September 22, 1914, shortly after Britain and Germany entered the war, a small U-boat built before the war, the U-9, actually sent three 12,000-ton cruisers of the British Royal Navy, HMS Aboukir, HMS Cressy, and HMS Hogue, to the bottom of the sea in less than an hour, causing a great explosion of hatred and fear of U-boats within the British Navy.
It was in this context that the order for the formation of the Q-Ship Force was issued – on 26 November 1914, churchill, the British Secretary of the Navy, personally issued the order to form the force. However, at that time, the camouflaged anti-submarine ship that was intended for anti-submarine warfare was not called the Q ship, which was officially called "Decoy Vessel" and the informal name was "Mystery Ship". Its sole purpose is to deceive, trap and destroy U boats.
Just days after the formation order was issued, the first bait ship, the HMS Victoria, entered service, which was converted from a tugboat. In the months that followed, various vessel types considered suitable, such as sailing boats, coal carriers, trawlers, fishing boats, and trawlers, were listed as bait boat modifications. On the outside, decoy ships are no different from ordinary merchant ships, but beneath the seemingly weak appearance are artillery, depth charges, and torpedoes that pose a substantial threat to U-boats.
At the same time, the tactics of this special combat ship are also constantly improving in actual combat. In general, the main point of its tactics is to attract the attention of the U-boat, so that the U-boat captain who let down his vigilance thinks that he is just an ordinary small merchant ship, for such targets, in order to retain the limited number of valuable torpedoes carried on the boat for larger targets, the captains usually choose to make the U-boat surface to attack with deck guns, and the bait ship is waiting for such an opportunity, when the U-boat floats and approaches itself, the guns hidden on the ship suddenly tear off the camouflage and wait for the opportunity to raid the U-boat.
In July 1915, a figure who had an important role in promoting the development of the Q ship entered the stage of history, he was Rear Admiral Lewis Bailey. This man devoted great energy to the construction of the bait ship force, which in his view was "the best means of sinking a submarine". Under Bailey's auspices, a number of large-tonnage, new-aged merchant ships were converted into camouflaged anti-submarine ships, and the ship's armament was significantly stronger than before, because most of these newly inducted decoy ships were stationed in the Irish port of Queenstown, and these bait ships with specific anti-submarine purposes or "mysterious ships" were given the official name Q ship after the initials of the port.
No one had invested more energy in the development of the Q ship than Major General Bailey, who in his opinion had to be large enough to attract the attention of the U captains, but not so big that the captains were willing to use their precious torpedoes. To ensure that U captains both identify this as a valuable target and choose deck guns rather than torpedoes in the means of attack, freighters with displacements between 1,000 and 5,000 tons are the most suitable.
In terms of specific ship types, Bailey regards coal carriers as the best choice, although the maximum speed of coal carriers generally does not exceed 10 knots, but its hull structure is strong, the ability to resist blows is strong, and its coal carrying capacity can ensure that the ship can sail at sea for a month, which can significantly increase the probability of encountering U boats.
Initially, Bailey's main weapon for the Q ship was the MK IV 4-inch (102 mm) gun, a new type of gun that was installed in 1911 and was standard for most British destroyers of the time, firing 31 pounds (14 kg) and a maximum range of 9140 meters. However, precisely because the limited production of the gun was to give priority to meeting the needs of regular ships such as destroyers, the Q ship was once unable to obtain a 4-inch gun.
The second-duty armament was the 12-pounder rapid-fire gun. Developed by Armstrong Whitworth, the gun was equipped by the British army as early as 1894 with a rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute, named after a shell that fired a weight of 12 pounds (5.4 kg). To improve operational efficiency, the Q-ship's 12-pounder gun is equipped with a special launch platform that ensures a transition from camouflage to firing in 30 seconds.
After a period of time, Q ships were also given 4-inch guns, so that each Q ship was usually equipped with 1 4-inch gun and 4 12-pound rapid-fire guns. The conventional layout of these weapons on Q ships was: a 4-inch gun hidden in the stern at the rear of the ship, 2 of the four 12-pound guns distributed in a small cabin on the left and right sides, and the other 2 were arranged in a position near the bow and the lifeboat, covered with camouflage such as canvas and cable.
A 12-pound rapid-fire gun on a Q ship
The position of the 4-inch gun, which was the ship's main weapon, was carefully designed, and the gun positions inside the stern had wooden partitions on the four walls that could be put down when firing, and a camouflaged dinghy was often placed at the top. Since fire was fired at the U boats that were closer together, the gun positions were set high, and the gunners had to climb to enter the gun positions from the deck.
The Q vessel is also equipped with two 533 mm torpedo tubes, located on the left and right sides, each with a camouflaged launch port on the side of the ship. Although the ability to launch torpedoes is a seemingly good performance highlight, in fact, these tubes are basically a decoration in actual combat, and the crew does not expect them to play any role. Crews from different Q ships have a similar assessment of these torpedoes: British torpedoes are of unreliable quality, usually thrown directly to the bottom of the sea after they are launched.
Another anti-submarine weapon was the depth charge, the initial charge of 100 pounds (45 kg), which began in the second half of 1916 with two specifications, one charge of 300 pounds (135 kg) and the other charge of 120 pounds (54 kg). Depth charges have a similar status to a torpedo on the Q ship: they look beautiful and are average to use.
As for the personnel serving in the Q ship force, the composition is also more complicated. At first, the British Navy stipulated that all personnel serving on Q ships must be regular personnel of the Navy, and later, retired personnel who joined the Royal Navy, and later allowed the recruitment of merchant mariners who volunteered to join, and experienced merchant ship captains became the preferred candidates.
Although the characteristics of the Q ship determined that its mission was extremely dangerous, there was never a shortage of volunteers during the war, and one of the main reasons was that high risk was accompanied by high reward. The British Admiralty clearly declared that once the Q ship sank the U-boat, then the captain could receive a prize of £1,000 directly from the Admiralty for everyone to share. You know, this figure was quite impressive in the era of World War I. In addition to cash prizes, the military is also not hesitant to award various medals and honors to the crew of the successful Q ship, which has stimulated many Britons who "eat the sea by the sea" to sign up for the Q ship force.
Usually, the Q ships that are converted from thousands of tons to Q ships are equipped with 70 to 100 people each. According to Major General Bailey, "Success depends on everyone on board, and everyone has the potential to sabotage the team's efforts." The crew of the Q ship naturally had a great desire to succeed, and their general mentality was: we were eager to sink the U-boat, and we had no pity for the Germans. In turn, the Germans, aware of the existence of the Q ship, accused the British of violating the laws of war by this "despicable" method, and since none of the crew of the Q ship wore naval uniforms, the German ships were not required to obey any of the laws of war when engaging the Q ship.