Smoke and Mirrors: Q-Ships Against the U-Boats in the First World War

by Deborah Lake

The Q-ship, an ordinary merchant vessel with concealed guns, came into its own during World War I, when the Royal Navy used it to trap and destroy German U-boats. Deborah Lake uses a wide range of primary and secondary source material drawn from archives in the UK, Germany and the USA to tell the compelling story of the Q-ships and their U-boat adversaries. The Q-ship operations themselves are covered by following the careers of the eight men who won the Victoria Cross on Special Service Operations; and by accounts from German U-boat crews on the receiving end. No book on Q-ships would be complete without reference to the two Baralong incidents of 1915, when a Q-ship's crew allegedly executed the survivors of the German submarine U-27. In a subsequent encounter with U-41, more British atrocities were alleged by the two German survivors. The author includes revealing extracts from the diary of a Royal Marine who served on board the Baralong, together with other first-hand accounts.

241 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2007

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book a number of years ago and found it an excellent up to date story of the Q-ships minus the pro-British bias and mistakes in many publications by British authors. Use caution is reading Q-Ships by E. Keble Chatterton due to mistakes especially in the Baralong incident and the total British Propaganda story of the HMS Stonecrop sinking the U-88 commanded by KtLt Walter Schwieger.

I regret that the incident of the Stonecrop was not included in this book because false information to this day continues to be published. Commander Blackwood of the Stoncecrop wrote a false battle report when he engaged a U-Boat on Sept. 17, 1917 which many books and articles claim to be the U-88 and sunk it. Problem is the U-88 was sunk by a mine off the Frisian islands 800 miles away on Sept. 5, 1917.
The U-Boat engaged was the U-151 which received only minor damage contrary to Commander Blackwood's report and continued on its mission, but sent out a signal of a Q-Ship in the area. The U-43 sunk the Stonecrop the next day.