1918: Minesweeping and Anti-Submarine Operations during the Final Year

Fishermen, the Fishing Industry and the Great War at Sea ◽

10.3828/liverpool/9781786941756.003.0008 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 140-162

Author(s):

Robb Robinson

Keyword(s):

Great War ◽

British Isles ◽

Mine Production ◽

The Great War

This chapter discusses the German minelaying assault on the waters around the British Isles that had passed its peak due to the growing effectiveness of British countermeasures. It details the difficulty of Germans to maintain high levels of mine production given the pressing demands of other military priorities. It also focuses on specific objectives that are discerned from a study of minelaying activities during the last year of the Great War. The chapter illustrates the great barrage that the Germans tried to lay on one specific stretch of the Scottish coast during the spring and summer of 1918, which was undertaken on a considerable scale. It examines the German operation that was a key part of an even wider strategy aimed at ensnaring the dreadnoughts of the Grand Fleet amongst the mines of the great barrage.

Download Full-text

Epilogue: Contribution and Cost

Fishermen, the Fishing Industry and the Great War at Sea ◽

10.3828/liverpool/9781786941756.003.0010 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 177-183

Author(s):

Robb Robinson

Keyword(s):

Crucial Role ◽

Coastal Communities ◽

Great War ◽

British Isles ◽

Front Line ◽

Military Establishment ◽

The Great War

This chapter describes Sir Edwin Lutyens's memorial to 35,000 fishermen and merchant seamen killed in the Great War, which have no grave but the sea. It recounts the crucial role the fishermen played that was often acknowledged by key figures in the country's political and military establishment immediately after the war and in the first years which followed. It also discusses the publication of a small number of books that highlighted the fishermen's activities in the Great War that told much of the scale and scope of their contribution. The chapter refers to the new navy known as the Auxiliary Patrol that had been dispersed and disbanded very rapidly after the return of peace. It summarizes the scale and scope of the engagement of fishermen and coastal communities from around the British Isles on the maritime front line during the Great War.

Download Full-text

Fighting Overseas

Fishermen, the Fishing Industry and the Great War at Sea ◽

10.3828/liverpool/9781786941756.003.0006 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 97-115

Author(s):

Robb Robinson

Keyword(s):

Great War ◽

British Isles ◽

The Great War

This chapter delves into the international conflagration of the Great War that carried fishermen to conflicts on coasts far removed from the shores of the British Isles. It details the British and French plans for a naval assault on the Dardanelles, which were formulated following Turkey's entry into the conflict on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary in late October 1914. It also follows the trawlers and their fishermen crews that had embarked on the next stage of the voyage to the Dardanelles after reaching Malta. The chapter looks at the initial allied strategy that involved forcing a passage through the Dardanelles, the narrow straits that divide Europe from Asia. It describes trawler minesweepers that cleared a way for large warships to move in and bombard the enemy's forts on the Dardanelles Peninsula and the Asiatic side.

Download Full-text

Fishermen, the Fishing Industry and the Great War at Sea

10.3828/liverpool/9781786941756.001.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Robb Robinson

Keyword(s):

Crucial Role ◽

High Tech ◽

Great War ◽

British Isles ◽

Recent Discussion ◽

Military Equipment ◽

Fishing Vessels ◽

Academic Publications ◽

The Great War ◽

Fish Trade

Recent discussion, academic publications and many of the national exhibitions relating to the Great War at sea have focused on capital ships, Jutland and perhaps U-boats. Very little has been published about the crucial role played by fishermen, fishing vessels and coastal communities all round the British Isles. Yet fishermen and armed fishing craft were continually on the maritime front line throughout the conflict; they formed the backbone of the Auxiliary Patrol and were in constant action against U-boats or engaged on unrelenting minesweeping duties. Approximately 3000 fishing vessels were requisitioned and armed by the Admiralty and more than 39,000 fishermen joined the Trawler Section of the Royal Naval Reserve. The class and cultural gap between working fishermen and many RN officers was enormous. This book examines the multifaceted role that fishermen and the fish trade played throughout the conflict. It examines the reasons why, in an age of dreadnoughts and other high-tech military equipment, so many fishermen and fishing vessels were called upon to play such a crucial role in the littoral war against mines and U-boats, not only around the British Isles but also off the coasts of various other theatres of war. The book analyses the nature of the fishing industry's war-time involvement and also the contribution that non-belligerent fishing vessels continued to play in maintaining the beleaguered nation's food supplies.

Download Full-text