Ramming U-Boats During the Great War.

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The modern submarine changed the equation of naval warfare during the Great War, and navies had developed few tactics and weapons to counter them. In the opening months of the war the U-boats of the imperial German navy demonstrated that they were a real threat to the Royal Navy. On August 9, the SM U-15 encountered the cruiser HMS Birmingham, which used the most reliable method at the time to destroy a submarine. The tactic of ramming U-boats during the great war deserves to be remembered.

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49 thoughts on “Ramming U-Boats During the Great War.”

  4. Just found this channel but I think he could be History Channel big. Just want to know when he's going to cover the Ancient Aliens and Nazi occult stonemason ceremonies.

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  5. Unless the submarine was caught off guard, destroyers or corvettes were the only ships small and fast enough to run them down and ram them, without sinking themselves in the process. Larger ships would take too long to get to them, and the sub would have submerged by then.

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  6. As it turns out, HMT Olympic was actually struck by a torpedo during the war. However, it failed to detonate, and nobody knew until her post-war refit when they found a dent and a rupture in her hull.

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  8. My Grandfather (b. 1899) lied about his age and served as a Boson's mate on 2 destroyers/"Cans" USS Astoria and the Zukor. He told me of a time they damaged a U-boat causing it to surface and gun it out. They sank the sub, but not before some very grizzly exchange of lead! How hard would it be to obtain the engagement records of those ships?

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  9. I suspect in WW2, the U-boats ending each transmission with Heil Hitler made it inevitable Enigma would be broken. If the Wolf packs had another year to operate, it is conceivable England would have not lasted until D-day. No matter how careful a commander was, Submarine service was so dangerous. Better in many cases to serve on a disguised Sea Raider.

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  11. I think it would be quite interesting to hear of submarine rammings during the second world war. 🤔. Those events surely were terrifying moments for those young sailors who were asked to engage in such a deadly business. 😞

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  12. This is a fascinating, niche topic, and you covered it very well! From a former submariner, history major, and naval history buff, thank you sir for all the great work that you do!

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  23. @TheHistoryGuyChannel
    WOWZERS!!! I certainly don't remember my Freshman History teacher, Mr. Hart – he served in the Army in WWII (And often boasting, "Mr. Hart was driving a senior officer in his Jeep, hit a mud puddle, and splashed mud on General Patton's pants and shoes – Hahaha"…) and THOROUGHLY detailed all of the battle strategies of all branches of our military at the time. Evidently he failed to recognize this attack's importance and sheer BRAVERY necessary to pull off this procedure! If things "went south", the ramming ship, as well as its sailors, were likely headed straight to the ocean floor!

    Thank you, Sir, for highlighting this strategy for us! Yet another reason why I am crazy about this channel!

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  28. Commander Charles Lightoller, the most senior officer to survive the sinking of the Titanic, rammed and sunk UB-110 while commanding HMS Garry. He also initially refused to accept the surrender of the surviving UB-110 crew and allowed them to be fired upon before eventually assisting in their rescue. In his memoirs he is quite salty when expressing his opinion of the surrendering submariners.

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  29. YouGov is a political tool/money making scheme by a former Conservative Party Minister in the UK. He was forced to resign in disgrace over undeclared interests and won't be a MP after next year. Oh, their deal didn't make that clear?

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  30. I have been recording WW2 Uboat Crew Interrogation Reports (See WW2 Playlist) on my channel.. if anyone is interested in listening to hours of useless Uboat data.. Several ramming are described firsthand.
    (Sorry if this shameless plug is inappropriate) ❤

    (trigger warning.. my channel also has much religious content.. )

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  31. I have no idea why YouGov is taken seriously. They're paying people for surveys in tacky ads and promotions; that's not going to attract a statistically balanced set of people….. none of their data should be taken seriously, and starting the video off with this garbage company made me immediately dislike the video and block this channel from future recommendations. ✌️

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  34. The Only reason the Brits managed to "RAM" most U-boats….is the Need to surface for "Repairs" OR the misplaced German humanity….of Warning their Targets(the Crews)….of their Purpose-intentions….was to SINK them!.

    Funny, I would have been far FAR less Humane….considering the British "Blockade" was harming German Citizens(Non-combatants).

    To the Briney Deep-Bottom you GO Brits(and allies)….lol!

    Best Regards,
    German Imperial Navy(and the K.u.K. navy too)…lol

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  35. An interesting side note to Olympic and U-Boats; In August 1919 Olympic returned to Belfast for restoration to civilian service. During the conversion work and drydocking, a dent with a crack at the centre was discovered below her waterline which was later concluded to have been caused by a torpedo that had failed to detonate. The historian Mark Chirnside concluded that the faulty torpedo had been fired by the U-boat SM U-53 on 4 September 1918, while Olympic was in the English Channel.

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  36. The first American Submariner to die in WW1, Lt. Earl Wayne Freed Childs, died when the Royal Navy submarine HMS H5 he was an observer on was mistaken for a U boat and rammed by British merchant ship S.S. Rutherglen on the 2nd of March 1918 and sunk with the loss of all hands.

    On the 7th March the Admiral in command of the western approaches received a message from Captain Martin Naismith V.C. of the Rutherglen “SS Rutherglen has rammed a submarine at 20.30hrs. on the 2nd March within position Lat. 53 4’ N, Long. 4 40’ W. The submarine was crossing bow at considerable speed. After collision cries were heard and men seen in the water, also there was a strong smell of petrol vapour. Forepeak of “Rutherglen” is flooded”.

    Due to the fact that U boats were operating in the Irish sea, the misidentification of HMS H5 was not initially realized by the Admiralty, it was only when HMS H5 failed to return from her mission as scheduled on the 6th March and the location of the supposed ramming were taken into account the truth emerged. Initially news of the misidentification was suppressed with the crew of the Rutherglen awarded a bounty for sinking a 'U boat' (ironically the crew of HMS H5 were also awarded a £175 bounty for the sinking of U51 in 1916, the award was given after her loss). This was due to the Royal Navy believing that it would adversely effect morale and would endanger ships if their Captain's dithered. The Rutherglen failed to stop for survivors as previously ships doing so had come under fire.

    At the time of his death, Lt. Childs was 24, and his wife of just over nine months gave birth to a son (Earl Boucher Childs – who apparently lost his right leg in action almost 25 years to the day after the death of his father) on the 30th March 1918, just days after the sinking. Lt. Childs is mistakenly listed as an 'Ensign' on the memorial plaque in Holyhead, North Wales. And in 1920 the USN named a destroyer in his honour.

    Side scan sonar imagery of HMS H5's wreck shows that she'd been struck a couple of metres afore her conning tower, the forward 1/3 of her bow buckled to port at the point of impact.

    HMS H5 is also the first RN submarine to be pictured flying the 'skull and crossbones' after a kill when she was photographed entering Yarmouth harbour after sinking U51 in 1916.

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  42. My grandfather was a waist gunner on a B-17 stationed in Panama during WW2 assigned to submarine patrol. I asked him how many subs they’d bombed he said he was sure they knocked out atleast one whale and a couple sharks.

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  45. I think he meant U-103 reached a depth of 30 feet, not metres. At 30 feet Olympic's screw could certainly have impacted the U-Boat, as the liner's draught was ~34 feet. 30 metres is almost 100 feet .

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  47. As a United Methodist pastor for forty-four years, I have been blessed and honored to know and serve many WWII fighters. I've also had the sad duty to lay many to rest. Having been raised in a Navy family, I always enjoyed hearing the sailors tell their stories. A common thread in all their accounts was the fear of submarines. They said it was like being at home in the dark, knowing that someone else is in your house with a weapon, but you don't know where they are. God bless all those brave young men. They saved our freedom at great personal expense.

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