ABSTRACT
The Germans concentrated hopefully on the task of using unrestricted submarine warfare to such an extent that in six months Britain would be forced to sue for peace. They launched the campaign on I February 1917 and expected it to have achieved its object by 18 August. By the end of 1916, many on both sides felt sufficiently frustrated to see that the deadlock must soon be broken either by a dramatic new offensive device or by a compromise peace. The second alternative was favoured by those who feared, correctly enough, that to continue the war would destroy the whole of European society as it had existed before 1914. By the end of 1917 the British were sinking submarines at a faster rate than the Germans could build them. Out of 88,000 vessels convoyed up to the end of the war only 436 were lost; the rate of sinking among vessels sailing singly was 25 per cent.
