Transcript

Best of Submarines: Volume 3

From The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 41 min · 7,251 words · 56 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Best of Submarines: Volume 3", an episode of The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered published January 9, 2026 (41 min, about 7,251 words). It mentions 30 people, works and ideas, including Arthur Carpenter, Gustaf Amber, SM U58, USS Fanning, USS Nicholson.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Frank Barryian, William Sims, Henig Rudolph Adolf Carl von Holtzenorf, Herbert Taylor
  2. – 10:00: USS Fanning, USS Nicholson, Gustaf Amber, Walter Owen Henry
  3. – 15:00: Arthur Carpenter, USS Fanning
  4. – 20:00: SS Glitra
  5. – 25:00: HMS Farmborough, HMS Prince Charles
  6. – 30:00: HMS Birmingham
  7. – 35:00: HMS Badger, HMS Ferry, HMS Birmingham, U19
  8. – 40:00: RMS Olympic, U103, U29, HMS Ferry

Notable quotes from "Best of Submarines: Volume 3"

  • 21 wins, five losses, three ties. Bryian commanded USS Nicholson, commissioned at the end of April 1915. The Nicholson was an O'Brien class destroyer, one of six United States Navy had ordered in 1913.
    about USS Nicholson · at
  • Deck gun, the submarine carried seven torpedoes with two tubes each in the bow and the stern. The boat was commanded by 30-year-old Captain Lieutenant Gustaf Amber, only 8 days into a new command, having previously commanded the SM U80.
    about Gustaf Amber · at
  • Fanning, moving quickly to assume its position, covering the rear of the convoy. The Fanning was under the command of 33-year-old Lieutenant Arthur Carpenter, a 1908 graduate…
    about Arthur Carpenter · at
  • Owen Henry was officer of the deck. He ordered general quarters, called for the rudder hard left and full speed. As Rear Admiral Walter Sims noted in his description of the…
    about William Sims · at
  • After the sinking of the Arabic several months later in which three Americans were killed. Perhaps the most famous Q ship was HMS Farmborough, commanded by Gordon Campbell. In…
    about HMS Farmborough · at
  • Reports were not forthright on the tactics, they did not miss the significance. The Birmingham was the first warship to sink a submarine in the Great War. Cruise turns out to have been a disaster for the Imperial German Navy.
    about HMS Birmingham · at
  • HMS Dreadnot was the pride of the fleet when she was commissioned in 1906. BBC noted in 2013, Dreadnot brought together for the first time a series of technologies which had been developing.
    about HMS Dreadnought · at
  • To ram and sink a submarine during the Great War. When she was launched in October 1910, RMS Olympic, sister ship to the Titanic, was at more than 45,000 gross registered tons, the largest ship in the world.
    about RMS Olympic · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Arthur Carpenter — Person · Allied ship commander (USS Fanning) · 3 mentions · first at
    Commanding officer of USS Fanning, the destroyer that first attacks U-58 with depth charges and receives the formal surrender of the U-boat commander.
  • Gustaf Amber — Person · Opposing commander (German U-boat captain) · 2 mentions · first at
    Identified as the commander of SM U-58 during the Nov 17, 1917 action; his decisions (surfacing/surrender) drive the climax of the episode’s combat narrative.
  • Frank Barryian — Person · Allied commander (U.S. destroyer division leader) · 2 mentions · first at
    Described as the commander leading the escort of Convoy OQ20 and commanding USS Nicholson; participates directly in the depth-charge attack and is later decorated.
    The escort was under the command of 40-year-old United States Navy commander Frank Barryian. A 1900 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Barryian had served as the Academy football coach.
  • William Sims — Person · Referenced military leader / narrator-cited authority · 1 mention · first at
    Presented as the senior U.S. naval commander in London who pushed convoy tactics and later documented the U-58 engagement, framing its significance.
  • Daniel David Lumis — Person · Referenced participant (spotter / coxswain) · 1 mention · first at
    Credited with spotting the U-58 periscope in fog—triggering the attack sequence; later awarded the Navy Cross for the action.
    The second time that day were it not for the coxin standing watch on the bridge of the USS Fanning. Daniel David Lumis had what one officer described as a most extraordinary…
  • Walter Owen Henry — Person · Referenced participant (officer of the deck) · 2 mentions · first at
    As officer of the deck on USS Fanning, he orders general quarters and maneuvers the ship onto the periscope sighting; later awarded the Navy Cross.
    Inch and a half diameter periscope 400 yd off the Fanningsport bow. Telescope, he yelled. 25-year-old Lieutenant Walter Owen Henry was officer of the deck. He ordered general…
  • Henig Rudolph Adolf Carl von Holtzenorf — Person · Referenced military leader · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as the German admiral who proposed resuming unrestricted submarine warfare, setting the strategic backdrop for the U-boat campaign described.
    Following November. It is history that deserves to be remembered. In December 1916, German Admiral Henig Rudolph Adolf Carl von Holtzenorf proposed a daring plan to the Kaiser.…
  • Herbert Taylor — Person · Referenced inventor/engineer · 1 mention · first at
    Named as the Royal Navy engineer/inventor associated with developing the depth charge, the key technology enabling the U-58 kill sequence.
    Developed by Royal Navy engineer and inventor Herbert Taylor, the depth charge was essentially a mine fitted with a hydrostatic pistol set to detonate the mine at a preset depth.

Products & tech

  • SM U58 — Product · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    German submarine involved in a significant naval encounter with US destroyers, marking the first confirmed U-boat sunk by the US Navy.
    Of the dreaded yubot in its midst. Part of the German second submarine flotillaa, the SM U58 was one of 12 Type 57 oceangoing diesel-powered torpedo attack boats of the…
  • USS Fanning — Product · Case study · 4 mentions · first at
    US destroyer that first spotted and engaged SM U58, leading to its sinking, highlighting the effectiveness of depth charges.
    The approaching ship was the USS Fanning, moving quickly to assume its position, covering the rear of the convoy. The Fanning was under the command of 33-year-old Lieutenant Arthur.
  • USS Nicholson — Product · Case study · 3 mentions · first at
    US destroyer that played a key role in the sinking of SM U58, showcasing early US naval involvement in WWI.
  • HMS Dreadnought — Product · Case study · 4 mentions
    Revolutionary British battleship that sank a German submarine, marking the only submarine sunk by a battleship in history.
  • HMS Birmingham — Product · Case study · 3 mentions · first at
    British light cruiser that sank the first German submarine in WWI, demonstrating early anti-submarine tactics.
  • HMS Farmborough — Product · Case study · 2 mentions · first at
    British Q-ship that successfully engaged and sank German submarines, illustrating the effectiveness of decoy ships.
  • RMS Olympic — Product · Case study · 2 mentions · first at
    Sister ship to the Titanic that rammed and sank a German submarine during WWI, showcasing unconventional naval tactics.
  • Mark 2 depth charges — Product · Case study · 2 mentions · first at
    Early anti-submarine weapon used by US destroyers, crucial in the sinking of SM U58.
    The US had requested full working drawings in 1917, and US depth charges, called the Mark 2, were virtually identical to the British type D charge, except with an improved hydrostatic gun.
  • U29 — Product · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    German submarine sunk by HMS Dreadnought, marking a rare instance of a battleship sinking a submarine.
    Ferry to ram a yubot, but not so much for the 20,000 ton Dreadnot. Farley writes, After a chase that lasted only a few minutes and almost involved a collision between Dreadnot…
  • U103 — Product · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    German submarine sunk by RMS Olympic, showcasing the use of large civilian ships in naval warfare.
    Olympics gunners while the captain swung his ship round to try and run the submarine down. U 103 crash dive to a depth of 30 m. But almost immediately the liner's port propeller sliced through the submarine's pressure hole.
  • HMS Badger — Product · Case study · 3 mentions · first at
    British destroyer that rammed U19, demonstrating the dangers and challenges of anti-submarine warfare.
    The Badger's balls were somewhat damaged and the Stafford Sentinel reported that her commander and crew had an enthusiastic reception. Cheer after cheer being given by the warship crews.
  • HMS Ferry — Product · Case study · 3 mentions · first at
    British destroyer that sank UC75 but was itself lost, highlighting the risks of ramming submarines.
    That risk was demonstrated in May of 1918. The aged destroyer HMS Ferry was escorting a convoy off of Britain's east coast when the convoy came under attack by the submarine UC75.
  • U19 — Product · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    German submarine that survived a ramming by HMS Badger, illustrating the risks of anti-submarine tactics.
    Is to be noted that the collision is almost always fatal to a submarine when it is she who was struck. The paper concludes that putting two and two together, it would seem that…
  • U75 — Product · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    German submarine mentioned in the context of WWI naval warfare.
    Displaced less than the mine lane submarine. But nonetheless, Sar Gibson writes, The submarine failing to take precautions was rammed by the destroyer. The commander of HMS…
  • HMS Prince Charles — Product · Case study · 2 mentions · first at
    British Q-ship that successfully sank U36, marking the first unassisted sinking of a submarine by a Q-ship.
    Maneuver into a position unnoticed and sank U40 with a single torpedo. The following month, the small HMS Prince Charles fitted as a mystery ship off the coast of the outer…
  • HMS Abukir — Product · Case study · 2 mentions · first at
    British armored cruiser sunk by U9, illustrating the early effectiveness of German submarines.
    Ship with a self-propelled torpedo, sinking the scout cruiser HMS Pathfinder. And on September 22nd, the UN9 encountered and sank three older Royal Navy armored cruisers, HMS…
  • U7 — Product · Case study · 2 mentions
    German submarine that followed cruiser rules early in WWI, illustrating early submarine warfare tactics.
    On October 20th, 1914, U7 stopped the British steam cargo ship SS Glitra off the coast of Norway, laden with coal for delivery in Norway. The submarine stopped the ship, searched it, and then.
  • SS Glitra — Product · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    First merchant ship sunk by a German submarine following cruiser rules, marking the beginning of submarine commerce raiding.
    British steam cargo ship SS Glitra off the coast of Norway, laden with coal for delivery in Norway. The submarine stopped the ship, searched it, and then ordered her crew to…
  • HMS Neptune — Product · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    British battleship targeted by U29, which was subsequently sunk by HMS Dreadnought.
    2018. On March 18th, U29 encountered a portion of the Grand Fleet on exercise in Pinland FTH in the Orcne Islands. U29 fired a torpedo at the battleship HMS Neptune, but…
  • HMS Timber — Product · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    British battleship involved in the chase and sinking of U29 by HMS Dreadnought.
    Ferry to ram a yubot, but not so much for the 20,000 ton Dreadnot. Farley writes, After a chase that lasted only a few minutes and almost involved a collision between Dreadnot…
  • HMS Cressy — Product · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    British armored cruiser sunk by U9, highlighting the vulnerability of large ships to submarine attacks.
    Ship with a self-propelled torpedo, sinking the scout cruiser HMS Pathfinder. And on September 22nd, the UN9 encountered and sank three older Royal Navy armored cruisers, HMS…
  • HMS Hogue — Product · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    British armored cruiser sunk by U9, demonstrating the early success of German submarine warfare.
    Ship with a self-propelled torpedo, sinking the scout cruiser HMS Pathfinder. And on September 22nd, the UN9 encountered and sank three older Royal Navy armored cruisers, HMS…

Full transcript with timestamps

The Allies received an unexpected bit of intelligence, if disturbing news, in May of 1917 when an interview with a crewman of a German submarine was published in a Dutch newspaper. The crewman noted that the newest German submarines could outrun the fastest merchant vessels on the surface and that the Kaiser had 325 submarines in his service. It was a desperate time for the Antant nations. In February, the Germans had resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, and by cutting the line of supply, they had brought Britain nearly to the brink of starvation. But the Antant tactics were changing, and a new ally had entered the war. The crewman that was interviewed in the newspaper was a crewman aboard the submarine SEM U58.

And coincidentally, it would be the U58 that would meet that new ally the following November. It is history that deserves to be remembered. In December 1916, German Admiral Henig Rudolph Adolf Carl von Holtzenorf proposed a daring plan to the Kaiser. The German yubot campaign had been effective in the beginning of the war, but had been limited since 1915, subject to so-called prize rules that required the submarine to stop a ship and place the crew in a place of safety before sinking it. The limit was to plate the United States.

Furious at the 1915 sinking of the luxury liner Lucatania. Von Holtzforf's memorandum recommended resuming unrestricted submarine warfare. Van Holtzorf argued that an all-out yubot campaign would starve Britain and force them to sue for peace within 6 months. While such an action would almost certainly draw the US into the war, the plan postulated that cutting off the British line of supply would end the war before the US could mobilize enough troops to make a difference. And even if Americans tried to send troops, Bon Holtzenorf promised that the Ubot would sink the transports, promising the Kaiser that not one American would land on the continent.

At first, the plan went as expected. In the first 6 months of 1917, a quarter of all Britainbound shipping was sunk, but also as expected. The campaign drew the US into the war with the declaration coming April 6th. When US Rear Admiral William Sims arrived in London later that month, he was told that if the German submarine campaign went unchecked, Germany would win the war. The Grand Fleet was stretched thin and the US Navy illprepared. The proposed solution was to use a convoy system that Britain had resisted as it delayed ship schedules. Vessels would travel in convoys protected by escorts, now supplemented with US destroyers. The US sent squadrons of destroyers to the Irish port of Queenstown, now called Cove. Sims would have preferred a base in France, but there weren't enough resupply facilities available. Some of the first Americans to enter the war were sailors based on US destroyers in

Queenstown, escorting ships in the Battle of the Atlantic. It was grueling work patrolling North Atlantic, seeking the elusive Yubot. 6 months after US destroyers started arriving in Ireland, the US crews were much more experienced, but had yet to confirm a single Ubot kill. If they did encounter a yubot, however, they had the service of a new and powerful anti-ubmarine weapon. Developed by Royal Navy engineer and inventor Herbert Taylor, the depth charge was essentially a mine fitted with a hydrostatic pistol set to detonate the mine at a preset depth based on water pressure. The first successful use to destroy a submarine had been in March of 1916.

The US had requested full working drawings in 1917, and US depth charges, called the Mark 2, were virtually identical to the British type D charge, except with an improved hydrostatic gun. The barrel-like charges carried 300 lb of TNT each, were loaded on two racks on the back of the destroyer. The dep charge was a simple weapon, but while they were the best anti-ubmarine weapon available, they were nonetheless difficult to use. There was no effective way to locate a submerged submarine, and the 300lb explosive was only dangerous to submarines within about 140 ft. The convoy system worked around the limits of the range and capabilities of submarines of the era. Most submarines could only operate within about 3 days of bays. This placed the greatest risks as ships neared Britain. For most of an Atlantic crossing, a convoy could only have a single escort, but additional escorts would be provided in the danger

zone. US destroyers and escorts from Queenstown would escort convoys out of Queenstown west through the danger zone. The ships would meet at a rendevous point where they would meet a convoy headed to British ports and escort them back through the danger zone. On a foggy November 17th, a destroyer division consisting of six US destroyers and two British corvettes was escorting Convoy OQ20 with eight merchant vessels out of Queenstown. The escort was under the command of 40-year-old United States Navy commander Frank Barryian. A 1900 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Barryian had served as the Academy football coach from 1908 to 1910, earning a record of 21 wins, five losses, three ties. Bryian commanded USS Nicholson, commissioned at the end of April 1915. The Nicholson was an O'Brien class destroyer, one of six United States Navy had ordered in 1913.

a development of the Kassen class at 305 ft 3 in. The O'Brien class was larger than the previous US destroyers in order to mount larger 21-in torpedo tubes. The ship also mounted four 4-in Mark9 guns and two racks of the new Mark 2 depth charges on the back. The harbor was protected with anti-ubmarine netting, so the ships would have to come through single file and some 10 mi out to sea be organized into the convoy formation. In this case, four columns of two ships each. This was a particularly vulnerable point for the convoy. The ships were intermingled and moving slowly. The escorts were not in position as they were carrying messages and giving instructions.

But convoy OQ20 was particularly vulnerable because there was already one of the dreaded yubot in its midst. Part of the German second submarine flotillaa, the SM U58 was one of 12 Type 57 oceangoing diesel-powered torpedo attack boats of the Imperial German Navy. The 219 ft 10-in long submarine had a range of some 7,000 nautical miles, could submerge up to 50 m or about 164 ft. In addition to a 4.1in deck gun, the submarine carried seven torpedoes with two tubes each in the bow and the stern. The boat was commanded by 30-year-old Captain Lieutenant Gustaf Amber, only 8 days into a new command, having previously commanded the SM U80.

Commissioned in August 1916, the U58 was on its eighth patrol and had sunk 21 vessels already in the first battle of the Atlantic, including the 202 British sailing ship SS Dolly Varden just 3 days earlier. Amber's first kill in command of U58. Amber had previous knowledge that a convoy was going to depart and had been avoiding patrols for two days, waiting for this moment to attack. The day had almost started with a disaster for U58. as they heard the screws of the convoy Ember had taken the boat to periscope death only to find himself on a collision course with the USS Nicholson.

Ember had to order the engines full back to avoid a collision. But the Nicholson had not seen them and he maneuvered for another try. As the last of the merchant ships, the SS Renee was moving into position. Ember was lining up to attack the British merchant steamer SS Welshman. Amber extended the periscope to prepare his attack. The U58 was in an excellent position to attack the Welshman. But as Amber looked at his periscope, to his surprise, he realized that one of the US destroyers was very close aboard and bearing down on the U58.

The approaching ship was the USS Fanning, moving quickly to assume its position, covering the rear of the convoy. The Fanning was under the command of 33-year-old Lieutenant Arthur Carpenter, a 1908 graduate of the US Naval Academy who had participated in the 1914 occupation of Ver Cruz. The Fanning was a polling class vessel, smaller and older than the Nicholson, mounting 18in rather than 21-in torpedoes and five 3-in guns. Like Nicholson, she had also had two racks of the Mark II depth charges added to her stern. Coincidentally, this was not USS Fanning's first encounter with U58. In October 1916, before the US had entered the war, Fanning had recovered survivors of ships sunk by the U58 off Nantucket.

The telescope was the type that the Allies called the finger telescope. It was very thin, only stuck up out of the water about 10 in. And as the U58 was barely moving, it wouldn't have left the V-shaped wake that tended to indicate a periscope. So when Amber saw the fanning so close by, he quickly lowered the periscope, hoping to avoid detection for the second time that day. and U58 might have avoided detection for the second time that day were it not for the coxin standing watch on the bridge of the USS Fanning. Daniel David Lumis had what one officer described as a most extraordinary set of eyes. In foggy conditions, Lumis spotted the tiny just inch and a half diameter periscope 400 yd off the Fanningsport bow. Telescope, he yelled. 25-year-old Lieutenant Walter Owen Henry was officer of the deck. He ordered general quarters, called for the rudder hard left and full speed. As Rear Admiral Walter Sims noted in his

description of the encounter, it's not the simplest thing, even when the submarine was so obviously located as this one apparently was, to reach the spot accurately. The story would have to make a wide turn. It's easy to miss the spot, but Henry directed the Fanny perfectly. And as she rolled over the spot where Lumis had seen the periscope, they rolled off one of the Mark 2 depth charges. And they weren't the only ones there. Soon as they heard the report, Barryian had rushed the Nicholson through the convoy. They made a hard left, kicked off another depth charge near the Fanning.

The US destroyers had acted quickly, but they knew after months of service with no confirmed Ubot sinkings that Yubot were hard to catch, and the dep charges had to be spot-on. And there was a problem. The first dep charge had exploded prematurely and so shaken the fanning that had temporarily disabled the main generator. If the Ubot came up in attack position, Fanning would have been unable to maneuver, a sitting duck. But the wake from the explosion subsided. Fanning restarted her generator and Nicholson made a sweep.

They were desperately searching for a sign that they had scored a hit, but none appeared. It seemed another frustrating event in what Admiral Sims described as months of fruitless battle with nothing but oil slicks, wakes, tide drips, streaks of suds, and suspicious disturbances on the water. 15 minutes ticked by. Had the submarine escaped? But below the surface, Amber had to make a desperate decision. Fanning's dep charge had struck close. The hole was unreached, but the shock had disabled the motors and shut off the oil leads, essentially cutting off fuel. Of more immediate concern, the blast had jammed the diving rudders, making the boat uncontrollable underwater. The U58 was slowly sinking, and Amber's crew couldn't stop it. If it sank too deep, it would be crushed. The officers discussed the situation and concluded that there were only two choices. Either sink and wait to be crushed or blow the

ballast tanks surface and surrender. The boat was at nearly 200 ft, already below its test depth when Ember ordered the crew to blow the ballast tanks. The submarine stern appeared first, tilted some 30°, showing the aft torpedo tubes, and then the conning tower came up. Nicholson rapidly closed and dropped another depch charge close aboard the explosion throwing the bow up rapidly. The destroyers opened fire with their guns. Fanning from her stern and Nicholson from her bow, and at least one struck. The door of the conning tower opened, and Captain Lieutenant Amber came out, his hands raised in surrender.

He was shouting, "Comrade! Comrade!" the word that German troops used when they surrendered to Allies. One after another, the crew came out with their hands raised. Under the cover of the Nicholson's guns, the Fanning came alongside, but the submarines started to settle. German officers had been ordered not to allow their submarines to be captured and so they had sent sailors below to open the sea The U58 sank before it could be taken under tow. As the boat sank, the surrounding men jumped into the water swimming for the fanning. Four men became entangled in the radio antenna and were dragged under, but all managed to free themselves. The men of the fanning were throwing lines over the side. Some of the U58 crew were climbing aboard, but it quickly became obvious that many of the men were near exhaustion. They had to tie a line around themselves and be pulled up like giant fish. One was so

exhausted he could not adjust the rope under himself. Two members of Fanning's crew, chief pharmacist mate Elixir Harwell and Coxin Francis Connor, jumped in to save him. They managed to get him aboard, but he couldn't be resuscitated. U8 crewman France Glender died on the deck of USS Fanning. The only casualty of what was called the action of 17 November 1917. According to Admiral Sims, Amberer, dripping wet, walked up to Carpenter clicked his heels in the most ceremonious German fashion and surrendered himself, his officers, and his crew. The action represented the first time the United States Navy was confirmed to have sunk an enemy submarine in combat. The entire combat lasted less than 15 minutes. Life was difficult aboard a World War I yubot when the crew of U58 were issued soap by the Americans, a commodity that was in short supply in Germany at the time. It was the first time they'd seen any in

month. Given dry clothes, issued cigarettes and rations, and perhaps just happy to be alive, the new prisoners of war broke into song. Captain Amber later wrote that the Americans were much nicer and more obliging than expected. The US Navy decided to inter the crew of U58 in the United States where they thought it would be easier to feed them and much harder for them to escape. For their alert action, Cox and Lumis and Lieutenant Henry were awarded the Navy Cross. Barryian and Carpenter were both awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

Both men went on to become admirals and crewmen Harwell and Connor were given written accommodations for the efforts to save the German Yubot crewman. Crewman Glender was buried at sea with full honors. And in what many crewmen considered to be the greatest honor, Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bailey, the Royal Navy's commander-in-chief of the coast of Ireland, granted the crew of the Fanning permission to paint a star on the front funnel representing the victory. Despite endless hours protecting convoys during the war, the Fanning was one of only two US destroyers to earn that star.

The convoy system worked. Merchant vessel losses went down. Yubot losses went up. And despite Von Holtzenorf's promise, not one US soldier lost their life due to Yubot as we transported the American Expeditionary Force to France, bringing hope to the belleaguered forces of the Anton nations. The advent of the first widespread use of military submarines during the Great War changed the face of naval warfare, forced the belligerents to develop new tactics and strategies to deal with this unseen foe. While the British actually had more submarines than the Germans, it was the Germans who were most famous for their use, mostly as commerce raiders.

And that battle in the Atlantic between the German Ubot and Allied merchant ships forced the Allies to develop new ways to protect their vital supply lines. One new tactic was to develop an entirely new class of vessel, which hid their heavy weapons behind the appearance of a defenseless merchant ship. It is history that deserves to be remembered. While the first world war would see the first large-scale use of these disguised ships, the concept did have its anticedants. In the 17th century, European powers face significant danger in the Mediterranean from the Barbar Coast pirates. Because, of course, don't all good stories involve pirates. The pirates generally sailed in fast but lightly armed ships full of armed men. They were not ships of the line, but meant to capture merchant ships or raid lightly defended coastal towns. When faced with European warships as small as a frigot, the pirates would generally retreat instead

of fight. To lure the pirates into a fight they couldn't win, the English-built HMS Kingfisher launched in 1675. Kingfisher was purpose-built to deal with the Barbar Pirates. Though she was a 46 gun forthright ship of the line, her guns were hidden behind specially designed bulkheads, making her look similar to a merchant ship. She fought a successful but costly battle with seven Barbar pirate ships in 1681. The 20th century demanded a different kind of deception. Submarines had proliferated after 1900, but hadn't seen large-scale use, and the doctrine of their use was as yet undefined. The British fleet was considerably larger than the German fleet. And in fact, the UK had three times as many submarines as the Germans at the outset of the war.

The superior service fleet of the Royal Navy would keep the German Navy largely hold up at port for much of the war. Germany, of course, hoped to shift the balance at sea, and they did that by the use of submarines. In 1914, the German Navy had only 20 submarines, but by 1917, they had a fleet of 140. In August of 1914, the very first Yubot patrol began when German Yubot sailed from Heland. These subs aimed to sink the Royal Navy's capital ships, but the Sally was a failure. Two subs were sunk and the only torpedo fired missed. But those attacks became more successful. In September 1914, HMS Pathfinder, a scout cruiser, became the first ship ever sunk by a self-propelled torpedo. More would soon follow. The strength of the submarine lies in its ability to submerge and the great power of its torpedoes, which were capable of sinking even a large ship in a single hit. World War I submarines were vulnerable on the

surface. However, they were quite slow, and before the advent of sonar, they were almost as blind underwater as they were hidden. They also carried only a few torpedoes, which were unreliable and difficult to aim. This encouraged submarine commanders to surface when they spotted vulnerable merchant ships and sink them with their deck gun so that they could save the torpedoes for other targets. Despite their later success, it was not until October 1914 that Yubot sank a merchant ship. Before 1915, there was no plan for submarines to engage in significant commerce raiding. There was consideration, for instance, that submarine warfare against shipping would threaten the opinions of neutral nations such as the United States. Accepted rules of combat for merchant raiders were governed by the colloquially named cruiser rules, referring to ships on cruiser missions, usually sailing independently. The rules

originated in the honorable warfare of early centuries, but no official agreement came until 1857. In 1909, major European nations, the US and Japan, signed the London declaration concerning the laws of naval war, but no nation actually ratified the treaty. Under cruiser rules, raiders were expected not to fire on an unarmed ship until it shot first or attempted to flee. After searching for war materials, neutral ships were supposed to be released, while belligerent nation ships could be seized. The crew had to be taken care of, usually sent to a neutral port and generally couldn't be left in lifeboats. Submarines fundamentally changed commerce rating. A submarine's best chance at sicking a foe relied on surprise, which the rules explicitly forbade. Subs also lacked the ability to carry the crews of another ship, meaning enemy crews had to be left in lifeboats.

Still, submarines did sometimes follow the rules in the war's earliest phases. On October 20th, 1914, U7 stopped the British steam cargo ship SS Glitra off the coast of Norway, laden with coal for delivery in Norway. The submarine stopped the ship, searched it, and then ordered her crew to lifeboats before the Germans scuttled the ship. The crew was then either towed by U7 to the Norwegian coast or possibly there towed by a Norwegian sub. Glitra was the first merchant ship sunk by German submarines. 1915 brought a reassessment of the war by all major powers. None of them still labored under the hope that the war would be quick or easy any longer and new strategies had to be developed. On February 4th, the commander of the German high seas fleet declared that the waters around Great Britain and Ireland, including the whole of the English Channel, are hereby declared to be a war zone. Every enemy merchant vessel

encountered in this zone will be destroyed. Yubot would soon be sinking 100,000 gross registered tons a month, averaging 1.9 ships every day. The idea of creating decoy ships came up early in the war with possibly the first being SS Victoria, commissioned on November 29th, 1914. The ships were kept a strict secret, dubbed secret service ships, but became known as mystery ships. Hiding weaponry behind false panels and fake funnels, the ships patrolled in areas known to be submarine haunts, hoping to trick an unlucky submarine into surfacing. The ships usually flew neutral colors, which was technically legal by international law, as long as they flew up a white incant at the commencement of hostilities. Some of the first Q ships worked in tandem with British subs. The British subc24 was the first to be successful, being towed submerged by the tweranaki.

When the twler was stopped in June 1915 by U40, the twler contacted the British sub connected by a telephone wire. C-24 then attempted to disconnect from the twler, but a release mechanism failed, leaving a heavy chain attached to the submarine. Still, C-24 was able to maneuver into a position unnoticed and sank U40 with a single torpedo. The following month, the small HMS Prince Charles fitted as a mystery ship off the coast of the outer heed. U36 had just stopped the SS Louise, a Danish vessel, when it spotted what it thought was a Collier approaching. Leaving the Louise, the U36 fired at Prince Charles and ordered her to stop. The Charles obeyed and waited for the ship to come closer.

At about 600 yards, the captain of the Q ship ordered his men to open fire with their small hidden guns. Almost immediately, the Germans abandoned their deck gun and a wellplayed shot pierced the sub's conning tower. The Yubot attempted to submerge while under fire, sustaining several more hits. The submarine resurfaced and the crew began swimming away from the vessel. 15 crew were saved. Another 18 went down with the boat. It was the first sinking of a yubot by a Q ship unassisted. The ship's captain received a distinguished service order for the action. Around 200 ships were eventually converted into Q ships and largely operated out of Queenstown, now Cove, Ireland. It was from Queenstown that they would get the name Q ship. Exactly how many were outfitted differs on the source. Hm. Fleming says that 58 merchant ships were converted in addition to 40 flower class sloops and 20 patrol craft boats. However, another

source quotes at least 157 merchant decoy ships along with the others. Unrestricted submarine warfare continued throughout 1915. On my 7th U20 famously sank RMS Lucatania, killing nearly,200 people, including 128 Americans. Unrestricted warfare continued until after the sinking of the Arabic several months later in which three Americans were killed. Perhaps the most famous Q ship was HMS Farmborough, commanded by Gordon Campbell. In 1916, Farmborough met U68 off Ireland's coast. Farmborough simulated a surrender by launching some of her civilian crew while the submarine closed. At about 800 yards, a Farmborough raised the white incident and opened fire with three 12-pounder guns. Sub was hit and began to sink. The British ship approached and launched a depth charge, which blew the Ubot's bow out of the water. This was the first successful use of depth charges against submarines. Farmborough saw no further

action until February of 1917, shortly before Germany renewed unrestricted submarine warfare and drew the United States into the war. Campbell decided that luring the now cautious subs into an attack would take more than just looking like a merchant ship. On February 17th, the Farmborough was hit by a torpedo off the coast of Ireland. Campbell had actually deliberately intercepted the torpedo in her hold, causing minor injuries to the crew. The panic party abandoned ship while the rest of the crew lay in wait at their stations. U83 pulled within 10 yards of the Farm Bureau as it began sinking.

Immediately the British opened fire, their first shot killing the Ubot commander. The boat was quickly reduced to ruin and only two crewmen were pulled from the wreckage. Farmboro, however, was sinking. He radioed an odd message ashore. Q5 slowly sinking. Respectfully wishes you goodbye. The ship was towed to shore by a destroyer and the crew was heavily awarded. Campbell was awarded the Victoria Cross while two others were given the Distinguished Service Order. Campbell proceeded to repeat his action with HMS Par, successfully seeking UC29 in June. While damaged, Parkers was successfully towed to port and repaired.

Another attempt made with HMS Dunraven failed with the crew bravely staying aboard through multiple hits but failing to hit UC71. One crewman aboard Dunraven was killed and the ship was lost. Despite failing to damage the submarine, two sailors were awarded Victoria Crosses for the action. Campbell wrote of the encounter, "It had been a fair and honest fight and I lost it." referring to my crew. Words cannot express what I am feeling. No one let me down. No one could have done better. The Q ship sunk five German submarines in 1915 and over the course of the war accounted for 14 submarine losses as well as dozens more damaged. But the Axis lost 217 submarines overall to all causes over the course of the war and significantly more. At least 40 were sunk by mines. The effectiveness of the Q ships is a matter of some dispute.

While the loss of a Q- ship was less damaging than the loss of a submarine, an estimated 61 Q ships were sunk by the Germans. Q ships generally became less effective as German crews became aware of the danger and adjusted their tactics. The secret ships also diverted resources and crew from traditional navy ships. Those measurements don't fully account for the Q ship's contribution to the war effort. However, their success helped improve British morale, provided some measure of uncertainty among yubot crews who couldn't act with the assumption that they were safe. But perhaps their most important success actually lay elsewhere. The use of submarines already threatened the existence of cruiser rules, but the introduction of Q ships essentially led Germany to cease pretending to follow those rules at all and accuse the British of ignoring them as well. The only alternative to unrestricted

submarine warfare was to follow rules that seriously hindered submarine warfare or to give it up altogether. It was the German abandonment of cruiser rules and resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare that brought the United States into the war leading to its eventual resolution. And from that perspective, the contribution of Q ships to world history is much larger than the number of hubots that they sank. The submarine changed the very nature of naval warfare. During the Great War, navies had developed few weapons or tactics to effectively deal with them.

And in the early months of the First World War, the Ubot of the Imperial German Navy proved that they could be a real threat to the ships of the Royal Navy. But on August 9th, 1914, the submarine U15 encountered the light cruiser HMS Birmingham. And Birmingham used what was at the time the single most effective method for a warship to sink a submarine. The tactic of ramming submarines during the Great War deserves to be remembered. In his 2003 book, The German Submarine War, author Richard Henry Gibson explains that on August 6th, just 2 days after Britain declared war on Germany, 10 undersea boats of the Imperial German Navy set out on the First War cruise. Gibson writes, "No cruise so adventurous, so far reaching ever been attempted before. The boats were at U5, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18. These represented nearly the whole of the serviceable submarine fleet of the Imperial Navy. Dr. Martin Gibson

of Glasgow University explained on his blog, War and Security in 2014. In 1914, Germany possessed only 24 operational boats. Another four were used for training, and 16 were under construction. Only 10 of the operational boats had diesel engines, the others using courting heavy fuel oil engines that produced a great deal of smoke and sparks. Their mission was to understand the intentions of the Royal Navy. RH Gibson writes, "The Yubot were to advance up the North Sea as far as the Norway Orcnes in an attempt to divine the British naval dispositions."

This was the first confrontation between the great ships of the Royal Navy and the new threats of the Uni boats. On August 8th near Shetland's Fair Isisle, U15 fired a torpedo at the battleship HMS Monarch, at the time engaging in gunnery practice. Roger Keys, commander of the Royal Navy's eighth submarine, Fotilla, would later comment that the fact that the Monarch was performing such a task within 500 miles of Helgoland was an example of the Navy's general ignorance of submarine powers and limitations. But the attack was unsuccessful. The torpedo narrowly missed Monarch and alerted the fleet that submarines were in the area. R. H. Gibson describes the response. The Leviathans sheared out of the line to ram, but did not crush their opponent with their bulk. In this first contact between the Royal Navy and the Kaiser submarines, both sides failed to score a hit. But the next day, the U15

would run out of luck. The boat appears to have suffered engine failure, was on the surface when through heavy fog, it was cited by the light cruiser HMS Birmingham. Newspaper reports were heavily censored. On August 14th, the Kensington News and West London Times talked of the Birmingham's fine gunnery and reported that the Birmingham scored two hits with their six-inch guns. One blowing off the submarine's periscope and the second tearing off its conning tower. However, the truth was somewhat different. RH Gibson writes, "It would seem that no watch was being kept in the submarine, and from the sounds of hammering which pierced the haze, the crew was apparently trying to remedy an engine breakdown, altering course and ensuring that the U-15 was within her turning circle. The Birmingham bore down, opening a rapid fire at close range. The submarine slowly began to move through the water, but it was too

late. The boughs of the light cruiser caught her fair and square, cutting her completely in two. The Royal Navy was not able to spare Birmingham for immediate repairs. Sir H. Gibson writes that for several months the Birmingham bore evidence of her success in the shape of two long scars, most exactly symmetrical in length and pattern, which defaced her boughs. If the newspaper reports were not forthright on the tactics, they did not miss the significance. The Birmingham was the first warship to sink a submarine in the Great War. Cruise turns out to have been a disaster for the Imperial German Navy.

In addition to the U15, the U13 failed to return, presumed to have been lost to a mine. RH Gibson notes dryly, not even the heartiest optimist could pretend that the submarine had vindicated its war value by this expedition. The attack by HMS Birmingham certainly required law to have the submarine caught unaware on the surface, but the tactic of ramming, at least with a vessel as large as the 5,500 ton Birmingham, certainly proved deadly for the Kaiser Zubot. HMS Birmingham would not be alone in her choice of tactic.

Journalist Patrick Bonaface noted in a 2018 edition of Military History magazine. During the First World War, 19 German submarines were dispatched with the use of ramming. At the time, the technology to detect, localize, and destroy submarines was rudimentary at best, and one of the quickest ways to deal with the threat of a periscope was to turn and run over the enemy at top speed. But the Ubot would certainly get their revenge for the loss of the U15. On September 5th, the submarine U21 became the first submarine to sink a ship with a self-propelled torpedo, sinking the scout cruiser HMS Pathfinder. And on September 22nd, the UN9 encountered and sank three older Royal Navy armored cruisers, HMS Abukir, Hogue, and Cressy, for a loss of nearly 1,500 lives. A month later, the UN9 sank the protected cruiser HMS Hawk. The Yubot were suddenly demonstrating their war value. The October newspaper

reported another Yubot sunk, this time by the destroyer HMS Badger. The Creditin Chronicle and North Devon Gazette reported that a German submarine has been rammed and sunk by the destroyer Badger off the Dutch coast. The Badger's balls were somewhat damaged and the Stafford Sentinel reported that her commander and crew had an enthusiastic reception. Cheer after cheer being given by the warship crews in the harbor. While this time the newspapers reported the ramming, again, the reality was different than what was in the newspaper. The Badger, which struck the U19 in what Gibson called pitch darkness, was at 990 tons, barely larger than the 837 ton submarine. By November, the Bristol Times and Mirror asked, "Did the HMS Badger destroy the German submarine she rammed?" That is still the subject of heated discussion among some argumentative people. The reason for the question, the paper reported, was that the Badger's bow was

crumpled, and the crew believed the submarine sank to rise no more. But the Germans say she has returned safely to port. But the paper was skeptical of the German claim, noting that Germans do not give her number and any details, and it is to be noted that the collision is almost always fatal to a submarine when it is she who was struck. The paper concludes that putting two and two together, it would seem that the Admiral T's very pleased telegram to the Badger was justified. But the Admiral T and the Bristol Times and Mirror were wrong. The submarine struck was the U19 and while severely damaged, the boat made it back to its base for repairs. Gibson notes that the U19 made many and amazing escapes during the Great War, surviving to be surrendered after the armistice.

The survival of 199 and damage to HMS Badger demonstrated the risk involved as well. Bonaface notes that it was by no means a one-way affair since submarines were built strongly to resist water pressure at great depth. That risk was demonstrated in May of 1918. The aged destroyer HMS Ferry was escorting a convoy off of Britain's east coast when the convoy came under attack by the submarine UC75. The 22-year-old destroyer actually displaced less than the mine lane submarine. But nonetheless, Sar Gibson writes, "The submarine failing to take precautions was rammed by the destroyer." The commander of HMS Ferry, Latutenant Jeffrey Barnes, reported that the convoy was steaming in darkness and 205 heard a heavy crash from the direction of the convoy like the detonation of a torpedo. The officer to the watch, Lieutenant Bennett, had sounded the alarm. We increased speed and headed for the source of the noise.

The men poured up on deck and a few seconds later, a surface submarine was cighted off the port bow at a distance of 300 yd. I ordered the into port to helm in order to hit her in a more vital spot, but we were too close for the helm to have any effect and quickly passed over the stern of our enemy. There was no obvious force of impact at this time, and I fear we probably damaged ourselves more than we did him. However, on passing over him, I determined to renew the attack by ram, and sending the gunner a to open fire with our after gun, proceeded to turn the ferry round. The submarine fired her gun, but we sheltered from point blank range with the after six pounder, and all 40 direct hits were made. The Germans on the submarine's bridge now jumped into the water as we came up again with our ram. The destroyer's boughs struck the yubot close beside the gun. It was a brave action, but too much

for the small destroyer. Barish reported. How far our stern buckled is uncertain, but within seconds our for deck was underwater and the submarine had disappeared, leaving two Germans calmly standing on our submerged folil with their hands held up. Signals were sent reporting our damage. Boats were put over the side and the prisoners were taken charge of and searched. The artificer engineer, Lieutenant Palmer, reported extensive damage to the hull, and it was decided to steam very slowly towards the beach. However, this was too much strain for the bulkhead forward, and efforts were then made to steam her stern first. This was very soon useless as both propellers were out of the water. Engines were then stopped. The crew embarked into the boats in order to lie off at a safe distance. A last message was sent to Captain D by wireless, informing him, "We are about to abandon the ferry." The attack

demonstrated the danger of ramming in sinking UC75. The ferry was sunk herself. Lieutenant Barnes received the distinguished service order for the action. But being just too darn small was not an issue in one of the most extraordinary examples of a Royal Navy ship ramming a submarine during the Great War. HMS Dreadnot was the pride of the fleet when she was commissioned in 1906. BBC noted in 2013, Dreadnot brought together for the first time a series of technologies which had been developing over several years. Most important was her firepower. She was the first all big gun battleship with 10 12-in guns. The BBC quoted John Roberts at the Museum of Naval Firepower. Dreadnot really transformed naval warfare rather like the tank did on land warfare. In fact, Dreadnot was described at the time as the most deadly fighting machine ever launched in the history of the world.

And yet, for the ship whose radical design transformed naval warfare and started the naval arms race that some argue was instrumental in starting the Great War, King George V's pride only sank a single vessel at sea. Robert Farley wrote in the National Interest in 2018. On March 18th, U29 encountered a portion of the Grand Fleet on exercise in Pinland FTH in the Orcne Islands. U29 fired a torpedo at the battleship HMS Neptune, but missed. And as was often the case with World War I submarines, the boat inadvertently broke the surface after firing the torpedo, which gave HMS Dreadnot and another battleship, HMS Timber a chance to sight her. It might have been dangerous for the 35ton HMS Ferry to ram a yubot, but not so much for the 20,000 ton Dreadnot. Farley writes, "After a chase that lasted only a few minutes and almost involved a collision between Dreadnot and Timber, the former rammed U29 and cut the

submarine in half." To illustrate the risk on both sides, U29 was lost with all hands, including its captain, Otto Vetigan. It had been Vetan who commanded the U9 in 1914 when it sank the Abakir, Hog, and Cressy. Dreadnot saw little other action during the war, but the vessel once designated the most deadly fighting machine ever launched in the history of the world did have the distinction of being the only battleship in history to sink a submarine. But Dreadnot was not the largest vessel to ram and sink a submarine during the Great War. When she was launched in October 1910, RMS Olympic, sister ship to the Titanic, was at more than 45,000 gross registered tons, the largest ship in the world.

requisitioned as a troop ship in 1915 having naval guns mounted. Bonaface explains, "In the early hours of 12th May 1918, U 103 targeted the sister ship of Titanic, the RMS Olympic. The great liner was carrying American troops to France. The crew of U 103 were unable, however, to flood the two stern torpedo tubes, and tragically, as it turned out for the submarine, they decided to surface to attack the liner. U 103 immediately came under fire from the Olympics gunners while the captain swung his ship round to try and run the submarine down. U 103 crash dive to a depth of 30 m. But almost immediately the liner's port propeller sliced through the submarine's pressure hole.

With the boat surely sinking, the crew of the submarine blew the ballast tanks and scuttled the boat. Nine crewmen lost their lives. In another irony, in 1911, Olympic had survived a collision with HMS Hawk, the same vessel that was sunk by the U9 in 1914. The submarine really came of age during the Great War, but so did weapons to counter them. Far more Ubot were sunk by mines than by ships, and by the end of the war, dep charges have become much more reliable and deadly. Still, ramming was used throughout the war. The sinking of U15 by H. Birmingham in 1914 represented the first Yubot sunk, but the sinking of the UB 1110 after being rammed by the destroyer HMS Gary in 1918 was among the last. And the strategy of ramming submarines continued to be a common strategy throughout the Second World War. I hope you enjoyed watching this episode of The History Guide. And if you did, please feel free to like and

subscribe and share the history guide with your friends. And if you also believe that history deserves to be remembered, then you can support the history guy as a member on YouTube, a supporter on our community at locals, or as a patron on Patreon. You can also check out our great merchandise shop, book a special message from the history guy on Cameo.

Heat. Heat.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Best of Submarines: Volume 3"?

In order: 0:00 Frank Barryian, William Sims, Henig Rudolph Adolf Carl von Holtzenorf, Herbert Taylor; 5:00 USS Fanning, USS Nicholson, Gustaf Amber, Walter Owen Henry; 10:00 Arthur Carpenter, USS Fanning; 15:00 SS Glitra; 20:00 HMS Farmborough, HMS Prince Charles; 25:00 HMS Birmingham; 30:00 HMS Badger, HMS Ferry, HMS Birmingham, U19; 35:00 RMS Olympic, U103, U29, HMS Ferry.

What is mentioned in this The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered episode?

30 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Arthur Carpenter, Gustaf Amber, SM U58, USS Fanning, USS Nicholson, Frank Barryian. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Best of Submarines: Volume 3"?

The episode runs 41 min; the transcript is about 7,251 words in 56 timestamped sections.

More from The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 22, 2026.