USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Torpedoes. The U-boats’ main weapon was the torpedo, though mines and deck guns (while surfaced) were also used. By the end of the war, almost 3, 000 Allied ships (175 warships; 2, 825 merchant ships) had been sunk by U-boat torpedoes.

Detailed explanation-2: -Germany retaliated by using its submarines to destroy neutral ships that were supplying the Allies. The formidable U-boats (unterseeboots) prowled the Atlantic armed with torpedoes.

Detailed explanation-3: -Submarine warfare has been around a while. Primitive subs were used with mixed results from the Revolutionary War up until World War I, when advances were made in propulsion and torpedoes. However, it was the Germans who most effectively used their submarines, called U-boats, against allied shipping during World War I.

Detailed explanation-4: -German submarines stalked the seas, but mainly the waters surrounding the British Isles, sinking every vessel it could catch-enemy or neutral-carrying supplies to Britain. The British surface navy roamed the oceans enforcing measures designed to halt all traffic to Germany.

Detailed explanation-5: -U-Boats Come of Age in World War I The U-boat fleet made its first strike on September 5, 1914, with an attack on a British light cruiser off the coast of Scotland that killed more than 250 sailors. Seventeen days later, U-9 sank three British battle cruisers with an hour, killing nearly 1, 500.