Sea Killers In Disguise

by Greg Espinoza

This is the remarkable story of what were known by the British as 'Q' Ships and by the Germans as 'Decoy Raiders'. Disguised as harmless merchant ships, they could be transformed in moments into powerful killers and were used by both sides in the First World War. The book describes the extraordinary lengths that both sides went to ensure secrecy and deception. Voyages often lasted several years without returning to port. Owing to the nature of the game, evidence regarding their work is hard to come by but Tony Bridgland has produced a fascinating piece of detective history.

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

Reviews

[Florent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Première partie sur les Q-Ships (bateaux-pièges) utilisés par la Royal Navy pour couler les sous-marins allemands pratiquant la guerre contre le commerce durant la première guerre mondiale.
On rentre beaucoup dans le détail narratif de chaque rencontre, mais il manque une synthèse globale et la "conclusion" de cette partie aborde carrément un autre sujet (les Q-ships utilisés dans la Baltique comme corsaires pour intercepter l'acier suédois). Bref on reste dans l'anecdote, et c'est un peu dommage, même si l'ambiance est bien présente.

La deuxième partie sur les corsaires allemands se lit plus facilement. Le périple de ces quelques navires déguisés en marchand est exceptionnel. La carthographie est agréable, mais là aussi il manque une synthèse sur l'impact (moral principalement) de cet aspect du combat naval de la première guerre mondiale.

[Shake n' Vac]

After reading his Outrages at Sea, which I enjoyed (forgiving the subject matter), I picked up this one which concentrated further on certain aspects included in Outrages. The book is split in two, with the first part centring on the British Q-Ships that were used to decoy German submarines. The ship, and captain's, stories are followed with Bridgland's assessment on their effectiveness - taking into account changing tactics and technology. The second half focuses on the German ships and captains that led their decoy ships - the difference being the were aimed at sinking merchant shipping. He looks mainly at three ships. All-in-all, another informative and interesting book and well worth a read.