The War At Sea During WWI By: Taylor Pressdee, Anna Ward, Nathan - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Importance of The War At Sea During WWI

By: Taylor Pressdee, Anna Ward, Nathan Urquidi

What Was the Impact of ‘The War at Sea’?

• Opened a new kind of warfare: Submarine Warfare
• Involved civilians as well as sailors and soldiers
• One of the major reasons that the United States joined the Allies
• Influenced major events during the war: Battle of Jutland, the

naval blockade, submarine warfare and the sinking of the Lusitania

Who Was Affected By The War at Sea?

• “Total War”
• War At Sea affected civilians as well as soldiers
• Ship Liners, and Coastal cities were in danger of attack
• Starvation was prevalent in specifically Germany because supply

ships were being sunk

Timeline

May 31st 1916 Battle of Jutland May 7th 1916 Lusitania Sinks

September 1915 Germans stop using U-boats February 1st 1916 Germans begin using U-boats again

Battle of Jutland

Battle of Jutland

• Fought on May 31st 1916
• Only major battle fought at sea
• Fought by the Jutland Peninsula between England and Germany
• Two Admirals in charge of both fleets: Vice Admiral Reinhard

Scheer (Left) and Admiral Sir John Jellicoe (Right)

The Battle

• British forces intercepted a German message containing a plan

to attack them on May 28th

• However, Admiral Scheer postponed the attack due to bad

weather ○ Attempted to plan another attack down by the Jutland Peninsula, however Britain intercepted this plan as well

• Vice Admiral Jellicoe moved his fleet down to the Jutland

Peninsula, awaiting the attack

Aftermath of the Battle

• The British suffered losses, but not nearly as many as Germany
• Germany’s fleet was damaged beyond repair, crippling their

naval capabilities

• British Losses: 14 ships and roughly 6,000 men
• German Losses: 9 ships and roughly 2,500 men

British Naval Blockade

• f Germany

The Blockade of Germany

• Began in 1914 and ended 1919
• Allied naval blockade of Northwest Germany
• Cut supply lines going into, and coming out of Germany
• Intent was to demoralise and starve resources to win the war

Effects of the Blockade

• Germany and Austria-Hungary could replace most of the

supplies themselves, except for food

• German and Austria-Hungarian people starve
• Outbreak of riots
• Germany implements Unrestricted Submarine Warfare to calm

the people

Submarine Warfare

The Submarine

• Submarines were actually invented in 1620
• The First World War was the first time that submarines were

used effectively in naval combat

• Submarines could ‘sneak’ up on unsuspecting ships and sink

Allied ships undetected

Submarine Warfare

• In retaliation for the naval blockade, the Germans used U-boats

(a type of submarine) to attack British convoys

• The British called this warfare unjustified and unfair
• Germany declares that waters around Britain are a war zone

○ The Germans attacked any ship, regardless if they were Allied or Neutral

Retaliation for German Submarines

• After the sinking of the Lusitania, Woodrow Wilson persuaded

Germany to restrict Submarine Warfare ○ Germany signed the ‘Sussex Pledge’ which stopped them sinking non-militaristic boats

• Germany eventually abandoned using U-boats because the

restrictions were too tight

• Decided to continue U-boat warfare on February 1st 1917

Bibliography

Slide #3 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tees-30004430 Slide #5 https://www.britishbattles.com/first-world-war Slide #6 https://ww1live.wordpress.com/tag/reinhard-scheer/ Slide #6 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/John-Jellicoe Slide #8 http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zykwhv4 Slide #9 https://io9.gizmodo.com/was-britains-wwi-blockade-the-first-atrocity-of-the-20t Slide # https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/americas-shift-from-neutrality-to-war--2 Slide #11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unrestricted_submarine_warfare Slide #12 https://www.theworldwar.org/explore/centennial-commemoration/us-enters-war/unrestricted-u-boat-

warfare.