ILLUSTRATED HISTORY: RELIVE THE TIMES: Images Of War, History , WW2: First World War: War In The Seas

Ever since WW1 began British ships had an upper hand. It destroyed most of Germany's surface ships. In desperation the Germans took to using U-Boats to sink allies ships. The British used neutral country flags to fool the Germans. The Germans started sinking all ships to cut off Britain's supplies. This hurt the USA and forced it join the war on the sides of the British. Another reason was the Americans learnt that Germany was inciting Mexico to attack the USA. That was the last straw.

One of the reasons why USA joined WW1 on the side of Britain and France

The Lusitania sinks. There were 2000 people on it, out of them there were 127 Americans. It pushed the Americans to join the war. Lusitania was not really a passenger ship. It contained arms and ammunition. The Germans knew this and so they sunk it. The British created a big fuss and accused Germany of acting like barbarians and killing innocent people.

BATTLE OF JUTLAND

It was the only major confrontation between British and German ships during WW1. Though Britain lost more ships, the Battle Of Jutland established the supremacy of Britain over the seas.

British ships during Battle Of Jutland

A British ship fires a torpedo

GERMAN U-BOATS

In desperation Germany decided on 'Unrestricted' Submarine Warfare. The aim was to sink all ships supplying Britain with food and starve it before America's presence began to be felt. The policy was a success. In April 1917 430 ships were sunk and Britain had only six weeks of corn left. It was then that Lloyd George came up with the idea of ships moving in convoys. The convoys were guarded by warships. It was a success. Losses fell drastically and Britain was saved.