The Kaiser's U-Boote

August 1914, once again Europe is on the verge of war, but this time one whose consequences cannot yet be imagined. For the first time in military history, fighting will take place on the ground, in the air, and both on and below the surface of the seas. Germany was the first power on the continent to understand the fundamental strategic role that would be played by the submarine in this new and merciless conflict.

On 6 August, ten U-Boote left the island of Heligoland in the hope of intercepting the capital ships of the world's greatest navy off the Orkney Islands, but this sortie was unsuccessful. Throughout the following months, the German submarine arm grew in strength and constituted a veritable threat to allied merchant shipping. It was not until 1917 with the inauguration of the British convoy system, and the entry into the war of the United States, that the allies managed to reduce the activity of the U-Boote in their various theatres of operation.

The final year of the war, despite a reversal in the balance of power, saw the German submarine arm still capable of achieving success with its raids carried out by large cruiser submarines off the American coast and further still into the Atlantic.