Submarines, Mines and Torpedoes in the War

In Short

This book serves as a technical compendium and contemporary report on the state of global submarine fleets, mines, and torpedo technology during the opening months of the First World War. By detailing the specifications of various national flotillas—from the British "E" class to German "U" boats—it illustrates the rapid transformation of naval warfare into a scientific contest. It remains a valuable historical document for those interested in the maritime transition from surface-based dominance to the hidden, high-stakes maneuvers that defined the twentieth-century sea.

The Story

The narrative begins by framing the Great War as a new "Submarine Phase" of history, where the traditional naval engagements of the past are superseded by the silent, unseen threats lurking beneath the waves. The author establishes that, while France was the first to adopt the submarine for war in 1888, the major powers—Great Britain, Russia, Japan, Germany, and Austria—had all rapidly developed their own distinct flotillas by the time hostilities commenced in 1914. The arc of the book tracks the evolution of these craft from the primitive, short-range vessels of the early 1900s to the ocean-going, heavily armed units that would soon haunt the North Sea.

Central to this progression is the technical reality of submarine operation. The reader is walked through the mechanics of submergence, where the transition from "light" surface travel to the "awash" condition becomes a matter of life and death. The narrative delves into the complexities of dual propulsion—using heavy-oil engines for surface cruising and electricity for submerged stealth—and the constant, terrifying risk that a single leak could doom a crew to a watery grave.

As the story moves toward the active theater of war, the focus shifts to the tactical reality of the "daylight torpedo-boat." The author chronicles the service of British submarines like the E.6 and E.8, which were the first to conduct reconnaissance in the Heligoland Bight, acting as precursors to the intense, nerve-wracking cat-and-mouse games played between submarine crews and destroyer flotillas.

The concluding phase of the narrative confronts the counter-measures developed in response to this new threat: the deployment of mine-sweepers, the use of seaplanes for spotting "submarine shadows," and the reliance on quick-firing guns to strike at exposed periscopes. The book ends by providing a comparative assessment of the naval powers, tallying the fleets of the major combatants and evaluating the effectiveness of their respective maritime strategies. It leaves the reader with the somber realization that these machines have fundamentally altered the nature of maritime security, ensuring that, even in the "grey mist of the North Sea," no surface vessel can ever truly feel safe from the unseen hunter below.

How It Unfolds

The transition of warfare The text opens by situating the submarine within the broader context of scientific naval development, emphasizing that victory now depends on technical understanding as much as courage. It traces the early adoption of the submarine across Europe and Asia, establishing the hierarchy of power that existed at the war’s outbreak.

The anatomy of the machine The narrative shifts to the mechanical inner workings of these vessels, detailing the dangerous dance between oil-burning motors and electric storage batteries. It explains the inherent limitations of range and speed that dictated how commanders could deploy their ships in the initial stages of the conflict.

The baptism of fire The focus narrows to the actual combat reports, specifically the pioneering reconnaissance missions conducted by the British Navy in the North Sea. This section highlights the shift from experimental exercises to real-world operations, where crews faced genuine risks from enemy destroyers and gunfire.

The hunt for the hunter The final movement examines the reactive strategies of anti-submarine warfare, including the use of trawlers to clear minefields and the employment of aircraft for visual detection. It concludes with a sobering analysis of the comparative fighting values of the German and Allied fleets, illustrating the logistical scale of this new, invisible arms race.

The People

The book focuses less on individual biographies and more on the collective identities of the naval crews and the strategists who guided them. Commodore Roger B. Keyes emerges as a prominent voice, his official dispatches serving as the primary record of the submarine’s early performance. Through his words, the reader sees the crews—men like Lieutenant-Commander Cecil P. Talbot and Lieutenant-Commander Francis H. H. Goodhart—as pioneers, individuals tasked with venturing "unaccompanied" into hostile waters. Their goal is reconnaissance and deterrence, facing the constant threat of being "hunted for hours at a time" by enemy torpedo craft.

In contrast, the "Ministry of Marine" in Germany and the Admiralty in Britain represent the institutional forces driving this evolution. These planners, driven by the necessity of national defense, grapple with the limitations of their own machinery, such as the danger of chlorine gas leaks or the inherent difficulty of hitting a small periscope from a distance. The people here are defined by their functions: the mine-sweepers, a group of 142 skippers and over a thousand men from the "Trawler Section," represent the civilian-military bridge necessitated by the war. They are the ones tasked with the perilous work of clearing the shipping lanes. Ultimately, everyone described—from the high-ranking naval officer to the humble mine-sweeper—is united by the same condition: they are all living in a new age where the traditional front line has dissolved into a pervasive, unseen threat beneath the water.

In Its Own Voice

It may sound ridiculous, in face of the many accidents which have occurred, to say that one of the greatest difficulties is to make a submarine sink sufficiently quickly, and one of the easiest of operations to make her rise, and yet such is undeniably the case.

The author explains the counter-intuitive physics of submarine operation in Chapter I.

The indiscriminate scattering of mines across the trade routes, as carried on by Germany immediately on the outbreak of war, and before hardly any of the ships at sea belonging to neutral countries could be warned to avoid the zone of operations, has never before been so ruthlessly resorted to by a big civilised power.

This observation, found in Chapter XI, reflects the intense moral and strategic criticisms leveled against the use of sea mines during the conflict.

It is, however, very dangerous but highly necessary work.

This brief, stark assessment in Chapter XIII captures the grim reality faced by the crews of mine-sweeping trawlers.

What It's Really About

At its core, this book explores the dehumanization of naval warfare through the lens of industrial and scientific progress. It argues that the introduction of the submarine and the sea mine did not just add new tools to the arsenal; they fundamentally destroyed the traditional notion of the "fair fight" at sea. The text posits that the submarine represents a permanent shift toward a "constant anxiety" for all surface vessels, as the vulnerability of ships to unseen, underwater destruction became a defining feature of modern conflict. Beneath the technical descriptions, the work asks a deeper question: when warfare moves into the invisible, how can a nation maintain a sense of security? The answer, as the author presents it, is a cycle of perpetual innovation and escalation, where every new weapon is met with a desperate, often insufficient, attempt at defense.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate maritime history and the technical evolution of military machinery will find this book deeply compelling. It acts as a time capsule, written with the urgency of a contemporary observer who senses that the world is changing forever. You will experience the cold, analytical precision of a writer documenting the rapid industrialization of death, capturing the precise moment when the sea became a theater of hidden peril.

The book is not without its challenges; the prose is dense with technical lists, and the author’s perspective is firmly rooted in the patriotic and colonial attitudes of the early twentieth century. Expect a heavy focus on naval statistics, which can sometimes feel like a catalog of ships, and a narrative tone that assumes a basic familiarity with the naval vocabulary of the era. However, for those willing to navigate these period-specific details, the payoff is a vivid, firsthand look at the birth of modern underwater warfare. It stays with you not because of its plot—there is no protagonist in the traditional sense—but because of the eerie, claustrophobic reality it creates. It serves as a reminder of how quickly human ingenuity can transform the environment around us into a place of profound and persistent danger.