Transcript The War At Sea

 Britain began a naval blockade of Germany at the
start of the war
 Germany responded with ‘wolf packs’ of U-boats,
which hunted Br. Battle and supply ships
 1917: Germany began ‘unrestricted submarine
warfare’, meaning they would sink any allied or
neutral ship in their way (including passenger
ships) to Britain
 Some American ships, and the Br.
Lusitania (carrying many Americans)
were sunk; brought USA into the war
 Allies lost 5408 ships, Germans lost 178
U-boats
 Cdn and (later) Am ships kept Br supplied;
sailed in convoys
 Destroyers escorted merchant ships
travelling in groups
 Underwater mines were also used to protect
shipping routes
 1910: Cdn navy started with Halifax as home
port
The Halifax explosion
 Dec 6, 1917, 2 allied ships, the Imo and
the Mont Blanc collided in Halifax
harbour
 Mont Blanc was carrying 2400 tonnes
of high explosives
 created largest explosion in history
until Hiroshima
 Halifax was flattened; ships were
thrown out of the harbour
 1630 killed, 9000 injured, 6000
homeless