ABSTRACT
German submarine activity at sea in the spring of 1917 surpassed all expectations. In February 540,000 tons were torpedoed, an increase of about 170,000 tons over January. In March, Allied losses reached the target level of 600,000 tons. And April marked the best month of either world war: the available 107 U-boats conducted 133 raids, destroying 458 ships of 841,118 tons. Only the United States’ declaration of war against Germany on 6 April 1917, a direct result of the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, marred the general euphoria of Germany’s leaders. The Reich tried at first to maintain the fiction that it was not at war with the United States, but by 22 May the Admiralty Staff authorized attacks on American ships in the area around the British Isles. But Wilhelm II rejected the expansion of undersea operations to the east coast of the United States because he did not want to arouse what he considered to be the less militant regions of the American republic, the Midwest and the West.
