The War at Sea

T H E WA R AT S E A

THE WAR AT SEA

1914–1918

Part I –Above theWaves

p.2,6

War at SeaTimeline

p.3

Part II – Below theWaves

p.14

The Royal Navy in the Forth p.24

Fishing Community

p.32

The Merchant Navy

p.35

Cromarty

p.36

The K Sub Disaster

p.38

PART I – ABOVE THE WAVES

“Britons never never never shall be slaves.”

Britain’s maritime supremacy in 1914

ollowing Nelson’s decisive victory over the French at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805

the British really did rule the waves the world over for the next hundred years.

Ruling the waves both protected the island nation and allowed the British Empire to

expand, prosper and hold world dominance. However, by the end of the 19th and turn

of the 20th century other nations were bristling with imperial intentions of their own

– notably Germany.

So the grand policing force of the Royal Navy was, in the decade leading up

to the Great War, in the process of shifting its sights from the traditional foes of

France and Russia towards the gathering naval power of Germany across the

North Sea in Wilhelmshaven and Kiel. Accordingly it also shifted its bases from

the south of England to the northern locations of Rosyth, Cromarty and

Scapa Flow in Orkney. At the start of theWar the huge natural harbour of Scapa Flow

was designated as the operating base for Britain’s Grand Fleet.

The Royal Navy was a mighty force and in 1906 a new big-gun fighting ship – the

appropriately named Dreadnought – was launched to help maintain supremacy and

send a shiver down the spines of all would-be contenders for imperial parity. She and

her successors had the firepower to create devastation. Their turbine engines made

them a lot faster than previous ships as well. Before and during the Great War,

Britain built 50 dreadnoughts – 35 battleships and 15 battlecruisers (faster than the

battleships but with less armour protection). This power came at a cost though. Each

dreadnought cost the British treasury around two million

pounds.In

today’s terms the

dreadnought fleet cost around 12 billion pounds.

Many of the men on board came from Britain’s bustling naval towns of Portsmouth,

Plymouth and Chatham. Some were as young as 14 and most had signed up for

years.On

the outbreak of war they were supplemented by the Royal Naval Reserve,

which recruited those who followed other maritime careers, for example in the fishing

fleets of Scotland.

Front and back cover image

“Review of the Grand Fleet in the

Firth of Forth after theArmistice”

byWilliamWyllie courtesy of

the Scottish Maritime Museum.

T H E WA R AT S E A