Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them. The use of Q-ships contributed to the abandonment of cruiser rules restricting attacks on unarmed merchant ships and to the shift to unrestricted submarine warfare in the 20th century. They were used by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

and the German ''Kaiserliche Marine'' during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and by the Royal Navy, the '' Kriegsmarine'', and the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

(1939–45).

Etymology

Short for Queenstown in Ireland, as Haulbowline Dockyard in Cork Harbour was responsible for the conversion of many mercantile steamers to armed decoy ships in World War One, although the majority appear to have been converted in larger navy yards such as Devonport.

Early uses of the concept

In the 1670s, was specially designed to counter the attacks of Algerian corsairs or pirates in the Mediterranean by masquerading as a merchantman, hiding her armament behind false bulkheads. She was also provided with various means of changing her appearance. During the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

, a French brig disguised as a merchantman, with hidden guns and most of her crew below decks, was beaten back by the privateer

lugger A lugger is a sailing vessel defined by its rig, using the lug sail on all of its one or several masts. They were widely used as working craft, particularly off the coasts of France, England, Ireland and Scotland. Luggers varied extensively ...

''Vulture'' out of

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

First World War

In 1915, during the

First Battle of the Atlantic The Atlantic U-boat campaign of World War I (sometimes called the "First Battle of the Atlantic", in reference to the World War II campaign of that name) was the prolonged naval conflict between German submarines and the Allied navies in Atla ...

, Britain was in desperate need of a countermeasure against the

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

s that were strangling her sea-lanes. Convoys, which had proved effective in earlier times (and would again prove effective during the

), were rejected by the resource-strapped Admiralty and the independent captains. Depth charges of the time were relatively primitive, and almost the only chance of sinking a submarine was by gunfire or by ramming while on the surface. The problem was how to lure the U-boat to the surface. A solution to this was the creation of the Q-ship, one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war. Their codename referred to the vessels' home port, Queenstown, in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

.Beyer, Kenneth M.: ''Q-Ships versus U-Boats. America's Secret Project''. Naval Institute Press. Annapolis, Maryland, USA. 1999. These became known by the Germans as a ''U-Boot-Falle'' ("U-boat trap"). A Q-ship would appear to be an easy target, but in fact carried hidden armaments. A typical Q-ship might resemble a tramp steamer sailing alone in an area where a U-boat was reported to be operating. Torpedoes are expensive, and a submarine only carries a limited number of them, ideally employed when the vessel is submerged and invisible to her target. Ammunition for a deck gun, oppositely, is inexpensive and plentiful in comparison. As a result, submarine captains prefer to surface and use their deck gun on easy or already weakened targets. By seeming to be a suitable target for the U-boat's deck gun, a Q-ship was intended to lure a submarine into surfacing. Once the U-boat was vulnerable, perhaps even gulled further by pretence of some crew dressed as civilian mariners "abandoning ship" and taking to a boat, the Q-ship would drop its panels and immediately open fire with its deck guns. At the same time, the vessel would reveal her true colours by raising the

White Ensign The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross ...

(

flag). When successfully fooled a U-boat could quickly be overwhelmed by several guns to its one, or defer from firing and try to submerge before mortally wounded. The first Q-ship victory was on 23 June 1915, when the submarine , cooperating with the decoy vessel ''Taranaki'', sank off Eyemouth. The first victory by an unassisted Q-ship came on 24 July 1915 when sank . The civilian crew of ''Prince Charles'' received a cash award. The following month an even smaller converted fishing trawler renamed successfully destroyed near Great Yarmouth. ''Inverlyon'' was an unpowered sailing ship fitted with a small 3-pounder (47 mm) gun. The British crew fired nine rounds from their 3-pounder into ''UB-4'' at close range, sinking her with the loss of all hands despite the attempt of ''Inverlyon''s commander to rescue one surviving German submariner. On 19 August 1915, sank , which was preparing to attack the nearby merchant ship ''Nicosian''. About a dozen of the U-boat sailors survived and swam towards the merchant ship. The commanding officer, allegedly fearing that they might scuttle her, ordered the survivors to be shot in the water and sent a boarding party to kill all who had made it aboard. This became known as the " Baralong incident". 20040918-027-thames-ship

(Q.5) sank on 22 March 1916. Her commander,

Gordon Campbell Gordon Muir Campbell, (born January 12, 1948) is a retired Canadian diplomat and politician who was the 35th mayor of Vancouver from 1986 to 1993 and the 34th premier of British Columbia from 2001 to 2011. He was the leader of the British Co ...

, was awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

(VC). New Zealanders Lieutenant Andrew Dougall Blair and Sub-Lieutenant William Edward Sanders faced three U-boats simultaneously in ''Helgoland'' (Q.17) while becalmed and without engines or wireless. Forced to return fire early, they managed to sink one U-boat and avoid two torpedo attacks. Sanders was promoted to lieutenant commander, eventually commanding the topsail schooner in command of which he was awarded the Victoria Cross for an action on 30 April 1917 with , which was severely damaged. ''Helgoland'', while the ship sustained heavy shellfire, waited until the submarine was within , whereupon he hoisted the

and ''Prize'' opened fire. The submarine appeared to sink and he claimed a victory. However, the badly damaged submarine managed to struggle back to port. With his ship accurately described by the survivors of ''U-93'', Sanders and his crewmen were all killed in action when they attempted a surprise attack on on 14 August 1917. According to ''Warships of World War I'' by H. M. LeFleming, the Royal Navy converted 58 from merchant ships (18 were sunk by U-boats), in addition to 40 and 20 PC-boats. However ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921'' quotes no fewer than 157 named submarine decoy vessels converted from other types of ship, in addition to another ten whose name was unknown. It agrees with LeFleming about the number of sloops and PC-boats. These ones were completed as Q-ships, disguised as coastal freighters and differed from regular service PC-boats. None were lost in the war. The Flower-class sloops were designed on merchant ship lines thus making them easily adaptable for conversion to Q-ships, 39 being completed as such while the other was converted after being torpedoed. These all had single funnels, and as the merchant ship silhouette was left to the builders. The "Flower-Q's" were employed mainly on convoy and anti-submarine work. Nine were lost during the war. After the war, it was concluded that Q-ships were greatly overrated, diverting skilled seamen from other duties without sinking enough U-boats to justify the strategy. In a total of 150 engagements, British Q-ships destroyed 14 U-boats and damaged 60, at a cost of 27 Q-ships lost out of 200. Q-ships were responsible for about 10% of all U-boats sunk, ranking them well below the use of ordinary

minefields A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

in effectiveness. The Imperial German Navy commissioned six Q-boats during the Great War for the Baltic Sea into the ''Handelsschutzflottille''. None were successful in destroying enemy submarines. The German Q-ship ''Schiff K'' heavily damaged the Russian submarine ''Gepard'' of the on 27 May 1916. The famous ''Möwe'' and ''Wolf'' were merchant raiders, vessels designed to disrupt enemy trade and sink merchantmen, rather than attack enemy warships. A surviving example of the Q-ships is HMS ''Saxifrage'', a Flower-class sloop of the ''Anchusa'' group completed in 1918. She was renamed in 1922 and served as the London Division RNR drill ship until 1988, when she was sold privately and remains moored at King's Reach on the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

Second World War

Germany employed at least 13 Q-ships, including the ''Schürbeck'' which sank the British submarine . The German "Dutch" , which sank a number of ships with a total tonnage of 145,960 t including the Norwegian tanker ''Tirranna'' on 10 June 1940, was more of a

merchant raider Merchant raiders are armed commerce raiding ships that disguise themselves as non-combatant merchant vessels. History Germany used several merchant raiders early in World War I (1914–1918), and again early in World War II (1939–1945). The cap ...

. Nine Q-ships were commissioned by the

in September and October 1939 for work in the North Atlantic:Lenton, H.T. and Colledge, J.J.: ''British and Dominion Warships of World War II'', 1968, p. 279 * 610-ton HMS ''Chatsgrove'' (X85) ex-Royal Navy PC-74 built 1918 * 5,072-ton HMS ''Maunder'' (X28) ex-''King Gruffyd'' built 1919 * 4,443-ton HMS ''Prunella'' (X02) ex-''Cape Howe'' built 1930 * 5,119-ton HMS ''Lambridge'' (X15) ex-''Botlea'' built 1917 * 4,702-ton HMS ''Edgehill'' (X39) ex-''Willamette Valley'' built 1928 * 5,945-ton HMS ''Brutus'' (X96) ex-''City of Durban'' built 1921 * 4,398-ton HMS ''Cyprus'' (X44) ex-''Cape Sable'' built 1936 * 1,030-ton HMS ''Looe'' (X63) ex-''Beauty'' built 1924 * 1,090-ton HMS ''Antoine'' (X72) ex-''Orchy'' built 1930 ''Prunella'' and ''Edgehill'' were torpedoed and sunk on 21 and 29 June 1940 without even sighting a U-boat. The rest of the vessels were paid off in March 1941 without successfully accomplishing any mission. The last Royal Navy Q-ship, 2,456-ton , was converted in September, 1940, to carry a torpedo defense net, four guns, four torpedo tubes, two

OS2U Kingfisher The Vought OS2U Kingfisher is an American catapult-launched observation floatplane. It was a compact mid-wing monoplane, with a large central float and small stabilizing floats. Performance was modest because of its low-powered engine. The OS2U ...

floatplanes, and Motor Torpedo Boat 105. ''Fidelity'' sailed with a French crew, and was sunk by on 30 December 1942 during the battle for Convoy ON-154. By 12 January 1942, the British Admiralty's intelligence community had noted a "heavy concentration" of U-boats off the "North American seaboard from New York to Cape Race" and passed along this fact to the

. That day, under ''Kapitänleutnant'' Reinhard Hardegen, torpedoed and sank the British steamship ''Cyclops'', inaugurating '' Paukenschlag'' (literally, "a strike on the kettledrum" and sometimes referred to in English as "Operation Drumbeat").

commanders found peacetime conditions prevailing along the coast: towns and cities were not blacked-out and navigational buoys remained lit; shipping followed normal routines and "carried the normal lights." ''Paukenschlag'' had caught the United States unprepared. Losses mounted rapidly. On January 20, 1942, Commander-in-Chief,

United States Fleet The United States Fleet was an organization in the United States Navy from 1922 until after World War II. The acronym CINCUS, pronounced "sink us", was used for Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. This was replaced by COMINCH in December 1941 ...

(Cominch), sent a coded dispatch to Commander, Eastern Sea Frontier (CESF), requesting immediate consideration of the manning and fitting-out of "Queen" ships to be operated as an antisubmarine measure. The result was "Project LQ." USS Atik AK-101 0975160801

Five vessels were acquired and converted secretly at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine: * the Boston beam trawler MS ''Wave'', which briefly became the auxiliary

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

USS ''Eagle'' (AM-132) before becoming , * SS ''Evelyn'' and ''Carolyn'', identical cargo vessels that became and respectively, * the tanker SS ''Gulf Dawn'', which became , and * the schooner ''Irene Myrtle'', which became . The careers of all five ships were almost entirely unsuccessful and very short, with USS ''Atik'' sunk on its first patrol; all Q-ships patrols ended in 1943. American Q-ships also operated in the Pacific Ocean. One was formerly the lumber transport ''Coos Bay'' which was converted to Q-ship duty as project "Love William". ''Anacapa'' was not successful in engaging any enemy submarines, although she is believed to have damaged two friendly subs with depth charges when they were improperly operating in her vicinity. ''Anacapa'' was also withdrawn from Q-ship duty in 1943 and served out the remainder of World War II as an armed transport in the South Pacific and Aleutian Islands. The

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...

converted the 2,205-ton merchant ship, ''Delhi Maru'', into a Q-ship. On 15 January 1944, she departed from Nagaura (now Sodegaura on

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous ...

) on her first mission in company with the submarine chaser ''Ch-50'' and the netlayer ''Tatu Maru''. At 22:00 that evening, the vessels were detected by the submarine , which launched three torpedoes. ''Delhi Maru'' was hit by all three on her port bow; following a number of internal explosions, she broke in two, the forward section sinking immediately and the aft section sinking later in heavy seas. Although '' Swordfish'' was depth charged by ''Ch-50'', she escaped unscathed.

Proposed use against modern pirates

Attacks on merchant ships by pirates originating on the Somalia coast have brought suggestions from some security experts that Q-ships be used again to tempt pirates into attacking a well-defended ship.

Q-ships in fiction

The

Alfred Noyes Alfred Noyes CBE (16 September 188025 June 1958) was an English poet, short-story writer and playwright. Early years Noyes was born in Wolverhampton, England the son of Alfred and Amelia Adams Noyes. When he was four, the family moved to Ab ...

poem "Kilmeny" is about a Q-ship, a British trawler equipped with two deck guns, that destroys a German submarine during World War I. In

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

's novel '' Islands in the Stream'', the main character Thomas Hudson commands a Q-ship for the US Navy around Cuba as he hunts the survivors of a sunken German U-boat. In Edward L. Beech’s novel Run Silent, Run Deep, Japanese Q-ships make two appearances with one surprising the Walrus and the second being attacked by the Eel in the final battle of the story. Malcolm Lowry's novel ''

Under the Volcano ''Under the Volcano'' is a novel by English writer Malcolm Lowry (1909–1957) published in 1947. The novel tells the story of Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic British consul in the Mexican city of Quauhnahuac, on the Day of the Dead in Novemb ...

'' (1947) tells the story of Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic British

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

in the small Mexican town of Quauhnahuac, on the

Day of the Dead The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...

, 2 November 1938. Geoffrey Firmin reflects back to his time as a naval officer during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, when he was court-martialed and subsequently decorated for his actions aboard a Q-ship (the captured German officers disappeared and were allegedly burned alive in the boiler). In the

Clive Cussler Clive Eric Cussler (July 15, 1931 – February 24, 2020) was an American adventure novelist and underwater explorer. His thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have reached ''The New York Times'' fiction best-seller list m ...

book series ''

Oregon Files The ''Oregon Files'' is a series of novels written by author Clive Cussler and several co-authors. Craig Dirgo was a co-writer for the first two titles, Jack Du Brul was a co-writer for the next seven titles, Boyd Morrison took over as co-write ...

'', the main base of operations is a Q-ship, a converted lumber carrier. The crew are mercenaries and former US covert and military personnel who carry out missions around the world in support of US policy while earning their living performing mercenary operations. The 1951 movie Operation Pacific features a battle with a Q-Ship by the fictional submarine USS ''Thunderfish'', inspired by an encounter with an enemy ship by the USS ''Growler''. As with other naval concepts, the idea of a Q-ship has also been applied to space vessels in fictional works: Q-ships feature prominently in

David Weber David Mark Weber (born October 24, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He has written several science-fiction and fantasy books series, the best known of which is the Honor Harrington science-fiction series. His first nove ...

Honor Harrington The Honorverse is a military science fiction book series, its two subseries, two prequel series, and anthologies created by David Weber and published by Baen Books. They are centered on the space navy career of the principal protagonist H ...

series of books. Harrington destroys a Q-ship in the first novel, ''

On Basilisk Station ''On Basilisk Station'' is a science fiction novel by American writer David Weber, first published in 1993. It is the first book in his Honor Harrington series, and follows Commander Honor Harrington and Her Majesty’s light cruiser ''Fearless' ...

'', and commands a squadron of Q-ships in the sixth novel, '' Honor Among Enemies''. In the tenth book in the series, '' War of Honor'', Thomas Bachfisch commands a pair of privately owned Q-ships. In the JAN/FEB 2020 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Joel Richards has a short story entitled Q-SHIP MILITANT. In DC Comics Star Spangled War Stories #71 (reprinted in DC Comics Weird War #1) the story "The End of the Sea Wolf!" is a postwar "flashback" story of a U-boat commander engaging a Q-ship in WWII. A fictional WWII Royal Navy Q-ship named 'HMS Mendacious' features in the 'Unclassified Encounter' Youtube Channel Episode 'Mendacious'. During the course of the episode, the ship and its crew are drawn into battle with Atlantean warriors, whilst on patrol in the North Sea.

References

Bibliography

External links

Royal Navy 'Q' Ships

His Imperial German Majesty's U-Boats in the

"Q-Boats – An Answer to Submarines"
'' Popular Science'', January 1940 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Q-Ship Anti-submarine weapons Q-ships Ship types Military use of mimicry