Q-ship
Encyclopedia
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 submarine
s into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them. The basic ethos
of every Q-ship was to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.
They were used by the British
Royal Navy
(RN) during the First World War and by both the RN and the United States Navy
during the Second World War (1939–1945), as a countermeasure against German
U-boat
s and Japanese
submarines.
Following the First Battle of the Atlantic, by 1915 Britain was in desperate need of a countermeasure against the U-boat
s that were strangling her sea-lanes. Convoys, which had proved effective in earlier times (and would again prove effective during the Second World War), were rejected by the resource-strapped Admiralty
and the independent captains. Depth charge
s 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 luring 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
. 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. By seeming to be a suitable target for the U-boat's deck gun, a Q-ship might encourage the U-boat captain to make a surface attack rather than use one of his limited number of torpedoes. The Q-ships' cargoes were light wood (balsa or cork) or wooden caskets, and even if torpedoed they would remain afloat, encouraging the U-boat to surface and sink them with a deck gun. The crew might even pretend to "abandon ship". Once the U-boat was vulnerable, the Q-ship's panels would drop to reveal the deck guns, which would immediately open fire. At the same time, the White Ensign
(Royal Navy
flag) would be raised. With the element of surprise, a U-boat could be quickly overwhelmed.
The first Q-ship victory was on 23 June 1915, when U-40 was sunk off Eyemouth
by the submarine HMS C24
, cooperating with the decoy vessel Taranaki, commanded by Lieutenant Frederick Henry Taylor CBE
DSC
RN. The first victory by an unassisted Q-ship came on 24 July 1915 when the Prince Charles, commanded by Lt Mark-Wardlaw, DSO
, sank U-36
. The civilian crew of Prince Charles received a cash award. The following month, an even smaller converted fishing trawler renamed HM Armed Smack Inverlyon
successfully destroyed near Great Yarmouth
. Inverlyon was an unpowered sailing ship fitted with a small 3 pounder (47 mm) gun. The British crew fired 9 rounds from the 3 pounder into U-4 at close range, sinking her with the loss of all hands despite the attempt of Inverlyon's skipper to rescue one surviving German submariner.
On August 19, 1915 Lieutenant Godfrey Herbert RN of the HMS Baralong
sank U-27, which was preparing to attack a nearby merchant ship. About a dozen of the U-boat sailors survived and swam towards the merchant ship. Herbert, 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
".
HMS Farnborough
(Q-5) sank SM U-68 on 22 March 1916. Her commander, Gordon Campbell, was awarded the VC.
Lieutenant-Commander William Edward Sanders
VC
, DSO
, a New Zealander commanding HMS Prize
, was awarded the Victoria Cross
for an action on 30 April 1917 with , which was severely damaged. Sanders waited, while his ship sustained heavy shellfire, until the submarine was within 80 yards, whereupon he hoisted the White Ensign
and the 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.
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
in effectiveness.
The Imperial German Navy commissioned six Q-boats during the Great War for the Baltic Sea into the Handelsschutzflottille. Both were unsuccessful in destroying any enemy submarines. The famous Möwe and Wolf were merchant raiders.
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 as HMS President
and served as the London Division RNR drill ship until 1988, when she was sold privately and remains moored at King's Reach.
Nine Q-ships were commissioned by the Royal Navy
in September and October 1939 for work in the North Atlantic:
Prunella and Edgehill were torpedoed and sunk 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 HMS Fidelity (D57), was converted in September, 1940, to carry a torpedo defense net, four 4-inch (10-cm) guns, four torpedo tubes, two OS2U Kingfisher
float planes, and Motor Torpedo Boat
105. Fidelity sailed with a French crew, and was sunk by U-435 on 30 December 1942 during the battle for Convoy ON-154
.
By January 12, 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 United States Navy
. That day, U-123 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"). U-boat
commanders found peacetime conditions prevailing along the coast: towns and cities were not blacked-out and navigational buoys remained lighted; shipping followed normal routines and "carried the normal lights." Paukenschlag had caught the United States unaware.
Losses mounted rapidly. On January 20, 1942, Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet
(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."
Five vessels were acquired and converted secretly in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
:
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 USS Anacapa (AG-49)
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 WWII as an armed transport in the South Pacific and Aleutian Islands.
have brought suggestions from some security experts that Q-ships be used again to tempt pirates into attacking a well defended ship.
novel Islands in the Stream
the main character Thomas Hudson captains a Q-ship for the US Navy around Cuba as he hunts the survivors of a sunken German U-boat.
Also, in David Weber's
science fiction
novel Honor Among Enemies
, the main character Honor Harrington
commands a squadron of Q-ships in action against pirates and enemy commerce raiders in the Silesian Confederacy
.
" (or "sleeper") has subsequently been used to describe cars that have much higher than average performance (often through extensive modification) but look like a conventional, uninteresting family transport.
During the Rhodesian insurgency in the 1970s government forces used heavily armed vehicles disguised as civilian trucks to tempt guerrillas into ambushing them, also calling them "Q-cars".
A Q-train looks outwardly like an ordinary rail train, but is staffed by British Transport Police
to combat trespassing and vandalism on railway routes
.
Armed merchantmen
Armed merchantman is a term that has come to mean a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in long distance and high value...
with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them. The basic ethos
Ethos
Ethos is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the power of music to influence its hearer's emotions, behaviors, and even morals. Early Greek stories of...
of every Q-ship was to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.
They were used by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
(RN) during the First World War and by both the RN and the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during the Second World War (1939–1945), as a countermeasure against German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s and Japanese
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
submarines.
First World War
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s that were strangling her sea-lanes. Convoys, which had proved effective in earlier times (and would again prove effective during the Second World War), were rejected by the resource-strapped Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
and the independent captains. Depth charge
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
s of the time were relatively primitive, and almost the only chance of sinking a submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
was by gunfire or by ramming while on the surface. The problem was luring 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
Home port
A vessel's home port is the port at which it is based, which may not be the same as its port of registry shown on its registration documents and lettered on the stern of the ship's hull...
, Queenstown
Cobh
Cobh is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour. Facing the town are Spike Island and Haulbowline Island...
, in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. 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. By seeming to be a suitable target for the U-boat's deck gun, a Q-ship might encourage the U-boat captain to make a surface attack rather than use one of his limited number of torpedoes. The Q-ships' cargoes were light wood (balsa or cork) or wooden caskets, and even if torpedoed they would remain afloat, encouraging the U-boat to surface and sink them with a deck gun. The crew might even pretend to "abandon ship". Once the U-boat was vulnerable, the Q-ship's panels would drop to reveal the deck guns, which would immediately open fire. At the same time, the White Ensign
White Ensign
The White Ensign or St George's Ensign is an ensign flown on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on a white field with the Union Flag in the upper canton....
(Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
flag) would be raised. With the element of surprise, a U-boat could be quickly overwhelmed.
The first Q-ship victory was on 23 June 1915, when U-40 was sunk off Eyemouth
Eyemouth
Eyemouth , historically spelt Aymouth, is a small town and civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north-south A1 road and just north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. It has a population of circa 3,420 people .The town's name comes from its location at...
by the submarine HMS C24
HMS C24
HMS C24 was a British C class submarine built by Vickers, Barrow. She was laid down on 12 February 1908 and was commissioned on 5 May 1909.-Service history:...
, cooperating with the decoy vessel Taranaki, commanded by Lieutenant Frederick Henry Taylor CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
DSC
Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Service Cross is the third level military decoration awarded to officers, and other ranks, of the British Armed Forces, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and British Merchant Navy and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries.The DSC, which may be awarded posthumously, is...
RN. The first victory by an unassisted Q-ship came on 24 July 1915 when the Prince Charles, commanded by Lt Mark-Wardlaw, DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
, sank U-36
SM U-36
SM U-36 was a Type 31 U-boat in the service of the Kaiserliche Marine of the German Empire, employed in the commerce war in World War I.- History :...
. The civilian crew of Prince Charles received a cash award. The following month, an even smaller converted fishing trawler renamed HM Armed Smack Inverlyon
HM Armed Smack Inverlyon
His Majesty's or HM Armed Smack Inverlyon was a fishing smack that was converted to a Q-ship during the First World War. Q-ships served as decoys to lure German submarines near enough so that concealed weapons could be brought to bear and sink the submarines...
successfully destroyed near Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
. Inverlyon was an unpowered sailing ship fitted with a small 3 pounder (47 mm) gun. The British crew fired 9 rounds from the 3 pounder into U-4 at close range, sinking her with the loss of all hands despite the attempt of Inverlyon's skipper to rescue one surviving German submariner.
On August 19, 1915 Lieutenant Godfrey Herbert RN of the HMS Baralong
HMS Baralong
HMS Baralong, also known as HMS Wyandrawas a Royal Navy warship that was active during World War I. She was a "Special Service Vessel" whose function was to act as a decoy, inviting attack by a U-boat in order to engage and destroy it.Baralong was successful on two occasions in her career,...
sank U-27, which was preparing to attack a nearby merchant ship. About a dozen of the U-boat sailors survived and swam towards the merchant ship. Herbert, allegedly fearing that they might scuttle
Scuttling
Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull.This can be achieved in several ways—valves or hatches can be opened to the sea, or holes may be ripped into the hull with brute force or with explosives...
her, ordered the survivors to be shot in the water and sent a boarding
Boarding (attack)
Boarding, in its simplest sense, refers to the insertion on to a ship's deck of individuals. However, when it is classified as an attack, in most contexts, it refers to the forcible insertion of personnel that are not members of the crew by another party without the consent of the captain or crew...
party to kill all who had made it aboard. This became known as the "Baralong Incident
Baralong Incident
The Baralong Incidents were naval engagements of the First World War in August and September 1915, involving the Royal Navy Q-Ship HMS Baralong, later renamed HMS Wyandra, and two German U-boats....
".
HMS Farnborough
HMS Farnborough
HMS Farnborough, also known as , was a Q-ship of the British Royal Navy that saw service in the First World War. Farnborough was a heavily armed merchant ship with concealed weaponry that was designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. Farnborough sank two submarines in her service in...
(Q-5) sank SM U-68 on 22 March 1916. Her commander, Gordon Campbell, was awarded the VC.
William Edward Sanders
William Edward Sanders VC, DSO was a New Zealander recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
VC
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
, DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
, a New Zealander commanding HMS Prize
HMS Prize
At least one ship of the Royal Navy has been named HMS Prize including a Q-ship of World War I; see William Edward Sanders....
, was awarded the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
for an action on 30 April 1917 with , which was severely damaged. Sanders waited, while his ship sustained heavy shellfire, until the submarine was within 80 yards, whereupon he hoisted the White Ensign
White Ensign
The White Ensign or St George's Ensign is an ensign flown on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on a white field with the Union Flag in the upper canton....
and the 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.
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
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
in effectiveness.
The Imperial German Navy commissioned six Q-boats during the Great War for the Baltic Sea into the Handelsschutzflottille. Both were unsuccessful in destroying any enemy submarines. The famous Möwe and Wolf were merchant raiders.
A surviving example of the Q-ships is HMS Saxifrage, a Flower class sloop
Flower class sloop
The Flower class comprised five sub-classes of sloops built under the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy during World War I, all of which were named after various flowers...
of the Anchusa group completed in 1918. She was renamed in 1922 as HMS President
HMS President (1918)
HMS President, formerly HMS Saxifrage is an of the Royal Navy, completed in 1918. The vessel was built at the shipyard of Lobnitz & Company, Renfrew, Scotland as Yard Number 827....
and served as the London Division RNR drill ship until 1988, when she was sold privately and remains moored at King's Reach.
Second World War
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
in September and October 1939 for work in the North Atlantic:
- 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 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 HMS Fidelity (D57), was converted in September, 1940, to carry a torpedo defense net, four 4-inch (10-cm) guns, four torpedo tubes, two OS2U Kingfisher
OS2U Kingfisher
The Vought OS2U Kingfisher was 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 light engine...
float planes, and Motor Torpedo Boat
Motor Torpedo Boat
Motor Torpedo Boat was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, and the Royal Canadian Navy.The capitalised term is generally used for the Royal Navy boats and abbreviated to "MTB"...
105. Fidelity sailed with a French crew, and was sunk by U-435 on 30 December 1942 during the battle for Convoy ON-154
Convoy ON-154
Convoy ON-154 was the 154th of the numbered series of World War II merchant ship convoys Outbound from the British Isles to North America. The ships departed Liverpool on 18 December 1942; they were met by the Royal Canadian Navy Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group C-1, consisting of the River class...
.
By January 12, 1942, the British Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
'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 United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. That day, U-123 under Kapitänleutnant Reinhard Hardegen, torpedoed and sank the British steamship Cyclops, inaugurating Paukenschlag
Second happy time
The Second Happy Time , also known among German submarine commanders as the "American shooting season" was the informal name for a phase in the Second Battle of the Atlantic during which Axis submarines attacked merchant shipping along the east coast of North America...
(literally, "a strike on the kettledrum" and sometimes referred to in English as "Operation Drumbeat"). U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
commanders found peacetime conditions prevailing along the coast: towns and cities were not blacked-out and navigational buoys remained lighted; shipping followed normal routines and "carried the normal lights." Paukenschlag had caught the United States unaware.
Losses mounted rapidly. On January 20, 1942, Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet
United States Fleet
The United States Fleet was an organization in the United States Navy from 1922 until after World War II. The abbreviation CINCUS, pronounced "sink us", was used for Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet. This title was disposed of and officially replaced by COMINCH in December 1941 . This...
(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."
Five vessels were acquired and converted secretly in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...
:
- the Boston beam trawler MS Wave, which briefly became the auxiliary minesweeperMinesweeper (ship)A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
USS Eagle (AM-132) before becoming USS Captor (PYC-40), - SS Evelyn and Carolyn, identical cargo vessels that became USS Asterion (AK-100)USS Asterion (AK-100)USS Asterion was a Q-ship of the United States Navy named for Asterion, a star in the constellation Canes Venatici.-Civilian merchant ship:...
and USS Atik (AK-101)USS Atik (AK-101)USS Atik was a Q-ship of the United States Navy named for al-Atik, a double star in the constellation Perseus. Her twin sister ship was ....
respectively, - the tanker SS Gulf Dawn, which became USS Big HornUSS Big Horn (AO-45)USS Big Horn was a Q-ship of the United States Navy named for the Bighorn River of Wyoming and Montana.Gulf Dawn, a single-screw oil tanker, was built in 1936 at Chester, Pennsylvania, by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Corp. and operated by the Gulf Oil Corporation...
, and - the schooner Irene Myrtle, which became USS Irene Forsyte (IX-93).
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 USS Anacapa (AG-49)
USS Anacapa (AG-49)
USS Anacapa was a Q-ship in the United States Navy. She was named for Anacapa, an island near the coast of California.- Construction :...
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 WWII as an armed transport in the South Pacific and Aleutian Islands.
Use against modern pirates
Attacks on merchant ships by pirates originating on the Somalia coastPiracy in Somalia
Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a threat to international shipping since the second phase of the Somali Civil War in the early 21st century...
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
In Ernest Hemingway'sErnest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
novel Islands in the Stream
Islands in the Stream
"Islands in the Stream" is the title of a song written by the Bee Gees and sung by American country music artists Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. It was released in August 1983 as the first single from Rogers' album Eyes That See in the Dark and the second pop number-one for both Rogers and Parton...
the main character Thomas Hudson captains a Q-ship for the US Navy around Cuba as he hunts the survivors of a sunken German U-boat.
Also, in David Weber's
David Weber
David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Weber and his wife Sharon live in Greenville, South Carolina with their three children and "a passel of dogs"....
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel Honor Among Enemies
Honor Among Enemies
Honor Among Enemies is the sixth Honor Harrington novel by David Weber. In the book, Honor returns to active duty from her political exile on Grayson to command a Q-ship and fight space pirates.-Plot summary:...
, the main character Honor Harrington
Honor Harrington
Honor Stephanie Alexander-Harrington is a fictional character, the heroine of a series of military science fiction books set in the "Honorverse", written by David Weber and published by Baen Books....
commands a squadron of Q-ships in action against pirates and enemy commerce raiders in the Silesian Confederacy
Silesian Confederacy
The Silesian Confederacy is a fictional star-nation in the Honorverse, the background setting for a series of novels and short stories in the military science fiction genre, written by David Weber and others and published by Baen Books.- History :...
.
Related terms
The term "Q-carSleeper (car)
A sleeper or Q-car is a car that has high performance and an unassuming exterior. Sleeper cars are termed such because their exterior looks little or no different from a standard or economy-class car. In some cases the car appears worse due to seeming neglect on the owner's part, typically...
" (or "sleeper") has subsequently been used to describe cars that have much higher than average performance (often through extensive modification) but look like a conventional, uninteresting family transport.
During the Rhodesian insurgency in the 1970s government forces used heavily armed vehicles disguised as civilian trucks to tempt guerrillas into ambushing them, also calling them "Q-cars".
A Q-train looks outwardly like an ordinary rail train, but is staffed by British Transport Police
British Transport Police
The British Transport Police is a special police force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services...
to combat trespassing and vandalism on railway routes
Route Crime
Route crime was formerly known as trespass and vandalism. It is believed to be the cause of most deaths to members of the public on the railways in Britain...
.
See also
- Merchant raiders
- Commerce raidingCommerce raidingCommerce raiding or guerre de course is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt the logistics of an enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them.Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by...
- Unrestricted submarine warfareUnrestricted submarine warfareUnrestricted submarine warfare is a type of naval warfare in which submarines sink merchantmen without warning, as opposed to attacks per prize rules...
- Tonnage warTonnage warA tonnage war is a military strategy aimed at merchant shipping. The premise is that an enemy has only a finite number of ships, and a finite capacity to build replacements for them. The concept was made famous by U-boat commander Karl Dönitz, who wrote: The shipping of the enemy powers is one...
- Hague ConventionsHague Conventions (1899 and 1907)The Hague Conventions were two international treaties negotiated at international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands: The First Hague Conference in 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907...
- East Indiaman
- Armed merchantmenArmed merchantmenArmed merchantman is a term that has come to mean a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in long distance and high value...
- CAM shipCAM shipCAM ships were World War II-era British merchant ships used in convoys as an emergency stop-gap until sufficient escort carriers became available. CAM is an acronym for catapult aircraft merchantman. A CAM ship was equipped with a rocket-propelled catapult launching a single Hawker Sea Hurricane,...
- Merchant aircraft carrierMerchant aircraft carrierMerchant aircraft carriers were bulk cargo ships with minimal aircraft handling facilities, used during World War II by Britain and the Netherlands as an interim measure to supplement British and United States-built escort carriers in providing an anti-submarine function for convoys...
External links
- Royal Navy 'Q' Ships
- British Special Service or Q-Ships
- Q-23
- Für Kaiser und Reich, His Imperial Majesty's U-Boats in the First World War
- "Q-Boats - An Answer to Submarines", Popular SciencePopular SciencePopular Science is an American monthly magazine founded in 1872 carrying articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. Popular Science has won over 58 awards, including the ASME awards for its journalistic excellence in both 2003 and 2004...
, January 1940