Sea Powerand

Maritime Affairs

Lesson 11: The U.S. Navyand the World at War, 1914-1918

Learning Objectives

• Know the events leading to the entry of the United States into World War I.

• Comprehend U.S. strategy and diplomacy in World War I.

• Comprehend the effect of the events of World War I on Mahanian theory.

Major Allied Powers• US (beginning in 1917)• Great Britain• Russia• France• Italy (for the most part)• Japan (Pacific)

Major Central Powers

• Germany

• Austria-Hungary

• Turkey

So what happened?

The Beginning of World War I

“Entangling Alliances”:• Triple Entente (Allied Powers):

Great Britain, Russian Empire, FrancePlus: Italy (1915-16)

U.S. (1917)Japan (Pacific)

• Triple Alliance (Central Powers): German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman (Turk) EmpiresPlus: Bulgaria

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated: June 1914.• Bosnia part of Austro-Hungarian Empire.• Serbia - Russia Defense Pact.

Naval ConfrontationBritish Royal Navy

•Home Fleet•Grand Fleet

German Imperial NavyHigh Seas Fleet

British Royal Navy:

• First Lord of the Admiralty• Similar to U.S. Secretary of the Navy.• Winston Churchill

• First Sea Lord• Similar to today’s U.S. Chief of Naval

Operations.• Admiral Sir John Fisher

• Grand Fleet• Admiral Sir John Jellicoe

Strategic Goals of Grand Fleet:

• Sea-lift of British Army to France.• “Distant” blockade of Germany.

• Avoid German mines and torpedo boats near the coast.

• Scapa Flow - Main Grand Fleet base in the Orkney Islands.

• Goal: Destroy High Seas Fleet in a large engagement.

Winston Churchill

First Lordof the

Admiralty

1914-1915

German Imperial Navy:• High Seas Fleet

• Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz• Numerically inferior to the British Grand Fleet.

• North Sea defenses:• Mines.• U-boats (unterseeboots) - submarines.

• Not used for commerce raiding early in war.• Goal:

• Defeat portions of the Grand Fleet in small engagements.

• “Fleet in Being”• Threatens Allied operations by its presence in

port.• Ineffective commerce raiding by German cruisers.

Admiral Alfred von TirpitzFather of the German High Seas Fleet

Major Naval and Maritime Events:

• February 1915- Germany announces unrestricted submarine warfare

• May 1915- Sinking of Lusitania• 1915- ANZAC landing at Gallipoli• March 1916 Sussex pledge• Battle of Jutland

Three important Actions

• Dardanelles/Gallipoli

• Dogger Bank

• Jutland

Gallipoli Campaign – 1915:• German-led Ottoman Turk Fleet

• Closes Dardanelles - Entrance to the Black Sea.• Allied line of communication with Russia is cut.

• Winston Churchill:• Advocate of amphibious assault on Gallipoli

Peninsula.• Objective: Constantinople.

• Admiral Sir John Fisher• First Sea Lord resigns in protest.

• Dardanelles• Mines in sea lanes.• Guns emplaced on shore covering the straits

manned by the Ottoman Turk Army.

GallipoliCampaign

1915

Winston Churchill proposes

opening supply route to Russia

through the Black Sea.

Gallipoli:

18 March 1915 Naval Action

Allied Landings25 April 1915

Landings at Gallipoli

Gallipoli

Allied Retreatfrom

Gallipoli

November-December 1915

Failure of Allied Assault:

• ANZAC Army Corps• Mustafa Kemal commands Turk counter-attack.

• Lessons learned in defeat:• Unity of command.• Control of local waters.• Element of surprise.• Rehearsal.• Beach reconnaissance.• Shore bombardment.• Specialized landing craft.• Ship-to-shore movement.• Aggressive exploitation of the beachhead.• Commitment of reserves.

• Winston Churchill resigns in failure.

Battle of Dogger Bank- 1915:

Battle of Jutland

Course of the War – 1916:

• Ground war in France = continued stalemate.• German U-boats continue commerce raiding.

• Very effective, especially in Mediterranean Sea.• February 1916 - Resume Unrestricted Submarine

Warfare.• Sussex sunk March 1916 - Wilson protests again.• Tirpitz relieved of duty.

• Kaiser Wilhelm imposes restrictions on U-boat attacks again.

• British raids on German coast.• New German High Seas Fleet commander:

• Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer• Commences raids on British coast.

Unterseeboots

U.S. Enters World War I:

• Germany announces Unrestricted Submarine Warfare. (February 1915)

• Lusitania (May 1915)• Sussex (March 1916)• Germany resumes Unrestricted Submarine

Warfare. (January 1917)• Calculated risk:

• U.S. unable to affect war for at least one year.• Need to cut off British food supplies.

• U.S. declares war. (April 1917)• U.S. Navy - First rate power, BUT:

• Unprepared for anti-submarine warfare.• Planned for fleet engagement in Caribbean Sea.

Backing Up:• US Naval strategy in World War I– period

of Neutrality (August 1914-1917)

• Woodrow Wilson: The United States will remain:

• “neutral in thought and deed.”

• Favorable balance of payments for U.S. with Europe.

• Desire to trade with Allied and Central Powers.

President Woodrow

Wilson

U.S. in World War I:• Naval matters enter American

consciousness.• Wilson converts to pro-Navy viewpoint.• Forty-eight capital ships planned for U.S. Navy

by 1920.• Naval Construction act of 1916• Impact of Jutland

• Assistant Secretary of the Navy• Franklin Delano Roosevelt• Experiences will influence World War II policies

• Causes for U.S. entrance on side of Allies.• Shift in European balance of power.• Unrestricted Submarine Warfare.• Cultural and economic ties to Allied nations.• Wilson sees chance for peace in outcome

…A word on Bureaucracy

• Naval leadership wants Naval General Staff• Rear Admiral Bradley Fiske, Captain

William S. Sims

• SECNAV Josephs Daniels• “Fiske-Hobson” measure, Act of

Congress 3 March 1915 creates CNO• Captain William S. Benson

Course of the War – 1917:

• U.S. Navy Plans• Atlantic (defeat the submarine)

• Troop Transport• Reduce Emphasis on battle ships• Submarine chasers• Merchant Ships• Mine laying

• Integrated into convoy system.• 20-25 merchants and 6-8 destroyers.• Change from “hunt-and-kill” patrols to a convoy

system.• Rear Admiral William Sowden Sims, USN - convoy

proponent.

• Admiral Sir John Jellicoe• Appointed First Sea Lord, Chief of Naval Staff.• Convoys proved to be more effective in

countering U-boats.

(Then) Commander William S. SimsAide to President Roosevelt

Reviewing return of the Great White Fleet - February 1909

Allied Convoys in the Atlantic

Effects of Allied Convoys in the Atlantic

End of the War:• Bolshevik Revolution in Russia - October 1917

• Peace with Germany causes Eastern Front to disappear.

• French Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch• Supreme Allied Commander (including U.S. forces).

• German offensive repulsed at Second Battle of the Marne.

• Major General John A. Lejeune, USMC assumes command of the Second U.S. Army Division - 1918.• First time a Marine officer commands an Army Division..

• German Army defeated - morale becomes very low.• German sailors become mutinous.

• 11 November 1918 - war ends on “Armistice Day”.• Now celebrated as Veterans’ Day in the U.S.

Battle of Belleau Wood June 1918

““Teufelhunde” -- Devil DogsTeufelhunde” -- Devil Dogs

“Retreat, hell. We just got here.”

Captain Lloyd Williams, USMC

USS Belleau Wood (LHA 3)

New Weapons of Naval Warfare:

• Submarines• Germany lost 187 U-boats, however:

• Sank 5,234 merchant ships. • Sank 10 battleships, 20 destroyers, and 9

submarines.• Allied & Neutral Ships Lost: 1914-18

1914 1915 1916 1917 1918

3 396 964 2,439 1,035

• Aviation• Anti-submarine warfare.• Early attempts at power projection:

• Strikes on German naval bases.• Did not practice anti-surface warfare.

Effect of World War I on Mahanian Theory:

• Support in two areas:

• Commercial antagonism and rivalry cause war.

• Faith in the battle fleet for command of the sea.

• Unrestricted Submarine Warfare's implications ignored.

• Commerce raiding can affect the course of the war.

• Importance of convoy system to protect against submarine attacks.

Learning Objectives:

• Know the events leading to the entry of the United States into World War I.

• Comprehend U.S. strategy and diplomacy in World War I.

• Comprehend the effect of the events of World War I on Mahanian theory.

Questions & Discussion

Next time: Naval Strategy and National Policy, 1919-1941