World War One was the first time German U-Boats really began to rule the seas. The Germans had a fleet of 351 U-Boats or Unterseeboote in German. The huge fleet was to target and destroy as many Allied ships as possible, whether military, merchant or supply ships all were to be destroyed.
The British put up a huge naval blockade against the Germans and so at the beginning of 1915 the Germans declared all surrounding sea water of the British Isles a war zone.
The British military ships were fairly agile and could out-manoeuvre the German U-Boats, but it was merchant, supply and also civilian ships that became a real target for the deadly German torpedoes, the Mashable reports.
It was the destruction of several supply and civilian ships, including the RMS Lusitania, which ensured the US would join the Allied war effort.
One German U-Boat that didn’t get away was a twin-screw U-110 that in the summer of 1918 was lurking off the coast of Hartlepool in the North Sea. She attempted to sink a supply ship but the HMS Garry was nearby and hit back with depth charges. The U-Boat was forced to the surface and was then rammed and sunk by the Garry.
The same year she sunk the U-110 was salvaged and sent to Wallsend docks for restoration. However she didn’t last long and ended up being pulled apart and sold for scrap.
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