Overview
A fully-illustrated account of the British Q ship, a heavily armed small craft disguised as a merchant vessel, and its tactics against the Kaiser’s formidable U-boat fleet during World War I.
Q ships came in all shapes and sizes – coastal steamer, trawler, barque, yacht or schooner – but all had to look harmless in order to lure their opponents to the surface and encourage them to attack. Armaments differed according to ship size; steamers commonly had 4in guns mounted amidships and in the bow, trawlers 3-pdrs and sailing ships 12-pdrs.
David Greentree covers how the Q ship used a ‘panic crew’, trained to act out an elaborate evacuation to convince the U-boat commander that the ship was being abandoned by its crew. The Q ship captain would remain behind with a handful of other crewmen manning the guns, which remained hidden until the most opportune time to unmask and engage the U-boat.
Packed with illustrations, this book explores the Q ship concept in detail, from its emergence early in the war, when no other method seemed likely to counter the U-boat threat, and as it flourished, until new technologies and tactics were developed, tested and implemented.
- | Author: David Greentree, Peter Dennis, Ian Palmer
- | Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- | Publication Date: Feb 20, 2014
- | Number of Pages:
- | Language: eng
- | Binding: Paperback / softback
- | ISBN-13: 9781782002840
- | ISBN-10: 1782002847