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'Q-ships' or 'Q-boats' were disguised merchant vessels that carried cannons, depth charges and antisubmarine equipment. They were used as a bait to attract and then sink German U-boats during World War I primarily by Britain and, later, during World War II predominantly by the United States. In the United Kingdom the vessels chosen for this service were code-named Q-ships by the Admiralty, but they were also known as 'Decoy Vessels', 'Special Service Ships' or 'Mystery Ships'. The Germans had similar ships called merchant raiders.

Contents

World War I

World War II

Other usages of the name

See also

References

External links

World War I

In the First Battle of the Atlantic, by 1915, Britain was in desperate need for a countermeasure against the U-boats that were strangling her sea-lanes. Convoys, which had proven effective in earlier times (and would again prove effective during World War II), were rejected by the resource-strapped Admiralty and the independent captains. The depth charges of the time were very primitive, and thus the only method of sinking a submarine was by gunfire or by ramming. The problem was luring the U-boat to the surface.
The solution to this problem was the creation of the Q-ship, one of the most closely-guarded secrets of the war. Their codename referred to the vessels' home port, Queenstown^[1]. These would be known to the Germans as a ''U-Boot-Falle'' ("U-boat trap"). The Q-ship would pose as an easy target for the U-boat but in fact carry hidden armament. A typical Q-ship would be an old-looking tramp steamer calmly sailing alone near an area where a U-boat was reported to be operating. By posing as a suitable target for the use of the U-boat's deck gun, the Q-ship would encourage the U-boat Captain to bring his vessel to the surface rather than use one of his expensive torpedoes, which were in short supply. The cargoes of the Q-ships would be wooden caskets and wood (e.g., balsa or cork) so even if torpedoed they would stay afloat, encouraging the U-boat to surface and use its gun. If necessary the crew could even stage an "abandon ship" routine. Once the U boat was in a suitable position the Q-ship would change rapidly, false panels would drop to reveal the hidden guns which would start firing. At the same time the White Ensign (Royal Navy flag) would be raised. With the element of surprise the U-boat could be quickly overwhelmed.
The first victory of a Q-ship occurred on June 23, 1915, when U-40 was sunk near Aberdeen by HMS C24, cooperating with the decoy vessel ''Taranaki'', commanded by Lieutenant Frederick Henry Taylor CBE DSC RN. In August of that year, an even smaller converted fishing trawler named ''His Majesty's Armed Smack Inverlyon'' successfully destroyed UB-4 near Great Yarmouth. The ''Inverlyon'' was an unpowered sailing craft fitted with a small 3 pounder (47 mm) gun. The British crew put 9 rounds from the 3 pounder and small arms fire into UB 4 at close range sinking her with the loss of all 15 crew, despite the attempt of the ''Inverlyon's skipper to rescue one German submariner.
On August 19, 1915, Lieutenant Godfrey Herbert RN of the HMS ''Baralong'' sank UB-27 which had been preparing to sink a nearby transport ship. About a dozen of the sailors escaped the sinking submarine, and Herbert fearing they would scuttle the civilian ship, ordered the sailors to be shot at as they swam towards the transport and then sent a boarding party aboard that ship to prevent any attempts at sinking it. The event came to be known as the "Baralong Incident".
Lieutenant-Commander William Edward Sanders VC, DSO, a New Zealander commanding HMS ''Prize'', won the Victoria Cross for an action on 30 April, 1917 involving ''U-93'', which was severely damaged. Sanders waited, while his ship sustained heavy shellfire, until the the submarine was within 80 yards, whereupon the [White Ensign] was hoisted and the ''Prize'' opened fire. The submarine appeared to sink. Unbeknownst to Sanders, the submarine did not sink and struggled back to port. With his ship identified by the survivors of ''U-93'', Sander's and his crew were killed when they were attacked by ''U-43'' on 14 August 1917.
Despite some spectacular actions and a great deal of romanticization, Q-ships were not particularly successful (see HMS ''Dunraven''). In the course of 150 engagements they were only able to destroy 14 U-boats and damage another 60, at a cost of 27 Q-ships lost out of 200. Q-ships were responsible for only about 10% of all U-boats sunk, ranking them far below the use of mine fields in overall effectiveness. Neither of the German Q-Boats, ''Möwe'' and ''Wolf'', had any success in destroying enemy submarines.

World War II

By January 12, 1942, the British Admiralty's intelligence community had noted a "heavy concentration" of U-boats off the "North American seaboard from New York to Cape Race" and passed along this fact to the United States Navy. That day, U-123 under ''Kapitänleutnant'' Reinhard Hardegen, torpedoed and sank the British steamship ''Cyclops'', inaugurating ''Paukenschlag'' (literally, "a roll on the kettledrum"), known to the Allies as Operation Drumbeat. U-boat commanders found peacetime conditions prevailing along the coast: towns and cities were not blacked-out and navigational buoys remained lighted; shipping followed normal routines and "carried the normal lights." ''Paukenschlag'' had caught the United States unaware.
Losses mounted rapidly. On January 20, 1942, Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet (Cominch), sent a coded dispatch to Commander, Eastern Sea Frontier (CESF), requesting immediate consideration of the manning and fitting-out of "Queen" ships to be operated as an antisubmarine measure. The result was "Project LQ."
Five vessels were acquired and converted secretly in Portsmouth, New Hampshire:

★ the Boston beam trawler MS ''Wave'', which briefly became the auxiliary minesweeper USS ''Eagle'' (AM-132) before becoming USS ''Captor'' (PYC-40),

★ SS ''Evelyn'' and ''Carolyn'', identical cargo vessels that became USS ''Asterion'' (AK-100) and USS ''Atik'' (AK-101) respectively,

★ the tanker SS ''Gulf Dawn'', which became USS ''Big Horn'', and

★ the schooner ''Irene Myrtle'', which became USS ''Irene Forsyte'' (IX-93).
The careers of all five ships were almost entirely unsuccessful and very short, with USS ''Atik'' sunk on its first patrol; all Q-ships patrols ended in 1943.
In 1939-1940, eight Q-Ships were commissioned by the Royal Navy for work in the North Atlantic, two of which were soon torpedoed and sunk without even sighting a U-Boat. The rest of the vessels were paid off in March 1941 without successfully accomplishing any mission.^[2]
American Q-ships also operated in the Pacific Ocean. One was USS ''Anacapa'' (AG-49) formerly the lumber transport ''Coos Bay'' which was converted to Q-ship duty as project "Love William." ''Anacapa'' was not successful in engaging any enemy submarines, although she is believed to have damaged two friendly subs with depth charges when they were improperly operating in her vicinity. ''Anacapa'' was also withdrawn from Q-ship duty in 1943 and served out the remainder of WWII as an armed transport in the South Pacific and Aleutian Islands.

Other usages of the name

The term (or "Q-car") has subsequently been used to describe cars that have much higher than average performance (often through extensive modification) but look like conventional, uninteresting family transport. As well as the ships, this term may also be reinforced by the United Kingdom's system of vehicle registration plate numbering - until recent years the first (previously the last) symbol on a British plate was a letter code for the year of manufacture, but for vehicles of uncertain or mixed age, a plate beginning with "Q" is used.

See also

★ Merchant raiders

★ Commerce raiding

★ Unrestricted submarine warfare

★ Tonnage war

★ Hague Conventions

★ East Indiaman

★ Armed merchantmen

★ CAM ship

★ Merchant aircraft carrier

References

1. Beyer, Kenneth M.: ''Q-Ships versus U-Boats. America's Secret Project''. Naval Institute Press. Annapolis, Maryland, USA. 1999. ISBN 15575000444
2. Marder, Arthur: "The Influence of History on Sea Power: The Royal Navy and the Lessons of 1914-1918", ''The Pacific Historical Review'', Vol. 41, No. 4. (Nov., 1972), pp. 413-443.[1]

External links

★ Royal Navy 'Q' Ships

★ British Special Service or Q-Ships

★ Q-23

★ Für Kaiser und Reich, His Imperial Majesty's U-Boats in World War I