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-itself under pressure from a British sea blockade-began using its “unterseeboote, ” better known as U-boats or submarines, to sink these merchant ships in 1915.

Detailed explanation-3: -SS Gulflight was the first merchant vessel torpedoed by a German U-boat, U-30, on May 1, 1915, resulting in 3 killed. Six days later, 128 Americans lost their lives when the British passenger liner Lusitania was sunk by German U-Boats. 1, 198 people perished overall in the attack.

Detailed explanation-4: -From April 1917 until November 1918, four German U-boats visited the East Coast of the United States and sank 10 vessels off North Carolina’s coast and 200 U.S. vessels in total. One of these U-boats, U-140, was particularly notable for sinking the Diamond Shoals Lightship, LV-71, in August 1918.

Detailed explanation-5: -At first, many merchant ships were lost. The fall of France in June 1940 gave the U-boats bases on the Atlantic coast, and U-boat production increased during spring 1941, giving the Germans enough submarines to deploy groups or ‘wolf packs’.