World War I Submarine Essay

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The Submarine is a vessel that can function both above water as well as underwater (Submarine). The first submarine was built by the dutch inventor Cornelius van Drebel, and its design was first refined during the American Revolutionary War (Submarine). The submarine was used in many wars, but did not show great success until World War I and World War II (Submarine). It was during these wars that germany began calling their fleet of submarines U-Boats. The U-Boat during world war I was the same as most experimental submarines except for the fact that it included torpedoes for weapons and was built stealthier than the earlier submarines (U-boat). During World War I the U-Boat was a vital part in the german navy’s success and destroyed many enemy …show more content…

This tactic was used by almost 200 german submarines and was devastating to allied shipping, one example of how devastating the tactic was that at its peak the wolfpack tactic destroyed over 700,000 tons of allied shipping in just one month (Rauch). There are many examples of the U-Boats and the wolfpack tactic executing these intertwined reasons for the US to enter both World Wars. During World War I one of the main examples of the utilization of the Wolfpack tactic that brought the US into World War I was the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. This ship was a british luxury liner that was had sailed over 200 trips in the atlantic ocean (Sterling). When the ship embarked on its 202nd journey everything was normal, the trip to liverpool was a routine one (Sterling). There was some danger due threat of U-Boats in the english channel, however the ship continued on its journey (Sterling). Under the water a U-Boat lay waiting for a ship to come, and the RMS Lusitania stumbled into its trap (Sterling). The RMS Lusitania was struck with a single torpedo to the hull of the ship and sank within 20 minutes, it took its 2000 passengers with it (Sterling). Almost nobody escaped including the 128 US citizens aboard