![]() ![]() ![]() Great Britain declared German waters a war zone and seized cargoes bound for the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria). After the war broke out in 1914, Great Britain used its powerful navy to blockade German ports to limit food, supplies, and war materials from reaching the German military and people. Submarine warfare played an integral role in the mounting international pressures of World War I. Furthermore, some U-boats were equipped to transport and deploy naval mines. Since torpedoes of this period could be unreliable, surface attacks were quite common this tactic also allowed U-boat crews to seize supplies and valuables from merchant ships before they sunk. They were armed with deck-mounted guns and up to 16 self-propelled torpedoes. These vessels could reach maximum depths of 50 meters or 165 feet, achieve speeds of 16 knots at the surface and eight knots underwater, and had a range of up to 25,000 miles. Since World War I, nautical technology has evolved at a rapid rate, but in 1914 U-boats were considered quite advanced. This illustration from 1916 depicts a German submarine attacking an American merchant ship. This summer, North Carolina will remember the 100th anniversary of these historic attacks. ![]() By the end of World War I, German submarines known as U-boats had managed to sink 10 vessels off North Carolina alone, and 200 American ships in total. Few Americans believed that German Unterseeboots would be able to traverse the Atlantic to reach our shores – but they were wrong. One hundred years ago, German U-boats lurked beneath the waves off the coast of North Carolina, bringing World War I home to the United States. ![]()
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