U.S. Submarines:
A Technological History

Part 4: Development During WWI

by Charles Gundersen (205-C-1986)


Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: First Submarine for US Navy
Part 3: Development Prior to WWI

Submarine warfare at the beginning of World War I was timid in the extreme, until a German U-Boat sank three British cruisers in an hour. Then Germany unleashed ‘unrestricted submarine warfare’.

By the time U. S. submarines were sent into the Atlantic and to European waters, the British fleet had already driven the German fleet from the high seas. The U. S. Navy didn’t gain much practical submarine experience, but the war surely demonstrated the potential of the submarine. The German U-Boats nearly severed the sea lines of communication to England.

The war provided a lot of new designs and concepts for submarine use. There were steam-powered submarines from England; and from Germany came minelayers of all sizes, heavily armed attack types, transports and supply vessels, and long-range ‘cruiser’ submarines for commerce-raiding with heavy deck guns.

In general the most successful types were those designed to operate alone for long-range operations. These long cruises were made on the surface with the submarine submerging only when the enemy was sighted during the day. Surface seakeeping, speed, and endurance took precedence over submerged operations. Use of the gun against merchant and other surface vessels and land targets encouraged the installation of several different types of deck guns. Submerged drag was therefore high due to the requirements for surface cruising and the armament mounted on the upper deck. The submerged requirement was to just stay underwater all day until the submarine could surface at night and recharge its batteries.

More USN Technical History

Back to KTB #109 Table of Contents
Back to KTB List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1994 by Harry Cooper, Sharkhunters International, Inc.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles articles are available at http://www.magweb.com
Join Sharkhunters International, Inc.: PO Box 1539, Hernando, FL 34442, ph: 352-637-2917, fax: 352-637-6289, www.sharkhunters.com