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 submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them. The use of Q-ships contributed to the abandonment of cruiser rules restricting attacks on unarmed merchant ships and to the shift to unrestricted submarine warfare in the 20th century.
Vice admiral Gordon Campbell, was a British naval officer, writer, politician and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was also awarded the Croix de Guerre and appointed a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur for his actions during the First World War.
William Williams VC, DSM & Bar, was a Welsh recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to a member of the British and Commonwealth armed forces.
Chief Petty Officer Ernest Herbert Pitcher was a Royal Navy (RN) sailor and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
USS Conyngham was a Tucker-class destroyer built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel named for Gustavus Conyngham.
Ronald Niel Stuart, VC, DSO, RD, RNR was a British Merchant Navy commodore and Royal Navy captain who was highly commended following extensive and distinguished service at sea over a period of more than thirty-five years. During World War I he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Service Order, the French Croix de Guerre avec Palmes and the United States' Navy Cross for a series of daring operations he conducted while serving in the Royal Navy against the German U-boat campaign in the Atlantic.
SM U-68 was a Type U 66 submarine or U-boat for the German Imperial Navy during the First World War. She had been laid down in December 1913 as U-9 of the U-7 class for the Austro-Hungarian Navy but was sold to Germany, along with the others in her class, in November 1914. Under German control, the class became known as the U 66 type and the boats were renumbered; U-9 became U-68, and was redesigned and reconstructed to German specifications. She was launched in June 1915 and commissioned in August.
SM U-83 was a Type U 81 U-boat of the German Imperial Navy during the First World War. She had been commissioned and deployed to operate off the coast of the British Isles and attack coastal shipping as part of the German U-boat campaign.
SS Arvonian was a 2,794 GRT British freighter built in 1905, with a long and complex history under several names. She served in the British merchant marine, and was commissioned in the United States and British navies during World War I, before returning to merchant service, and eventually being sold to Latvia. In World War II she was taken over by the Soviet Union, then captured by Germany. Post-war she sailed under the Latvian and Costa Rican flags, until finally scrapped in West Germany in 1958.
HMS Farnborough, also known as (Q-5), 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 the First World War. The first submarine was SM U-68 which involved the first successful use of depth charges. The second submarine was SM U-83, which was sunk on 17 February 1917 in an action for which Captain Gordon Campbell of Farnborough received the Victoria Cross. HMS Farnborough was severely damaged in the action and was beached the same day.
Mary B Mitchell was a British schooner completed in 1892 that served as a Q-ship during the First World War. She was in service from April 1916 until the end of hostilities, operating in the Southwest Approaches from her base in Falmouth. She had several encounters with German U-boats in her career, and was credited with the destruction of two, though post-war analysis established that no U-boats were sunk. She had a reputation for being an efficient and successful vessel.
Armed trawler Nelson was a British auxiliary warship which served during World War I. She was built in 1905 as the fishing smack G&E, operating from Lowestoft and registered as LT 649. In 1915 she was armed for defence against U-boat attack, and fought several actions against them. She was sunk in action on 15 August 1917. This action was fought between a German U-boat and two trawlers, Nelson and Ethel & Millie, off the English coast.
The Armed trawler Ethel & Millie was a British auxiliary warship which served during World War I. She was built in 1908 as the fishing smack Ethel & Millie, operating from Lowestoft and registered as LT 200. In early 1917 she was armed for defence against U-boat attack, and fought two actions against them. She was sunk in action on 15 August 1917.
HMS Penshurst was 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. Penshurst fought a number of engagements against German U-boats during her service, and was successful on two occasions, destroying UB-19 in November 1916, and UB-37 in January 1917. Penshurst was sunk following an action with U-110 in December 1917.
Result is a three-masted cargo schooner built in Carrickfergus in 1893. She was a working ship until 1967, and served for a short time in the Royal Navy as a Q-ship during World War I. She currently rests on land at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, and in 1996 was added to the National Register of Historic Vessels.
HMS Paxton was a First World War Royal Navy Q-ship torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-46 on 20 May 1917 in the Atlantic Ocean 90 miles (140 km) west of Great Skellig, Eire. The ship was originally ordered as Lady Patricia for the British and Irish Steam Packet Company but taken over on completion by the British Government as HMAV Lady Patricia.
HMS Prize was a schooner converted to a Q ship during the First World War and commanded by Lieutenant William Sanders of the Royal Naval Reserve.
HMS Aubrietia was one of 12 Aubrietia-class sloops completed for the Royal Navy and was launched in 1916. During World War I, she functioned as a Q-Ship and served under the name Q.13, also taking the names Kai, Winton and Zebal. Aubrietia was part of the 1st Sloop flotilla, based in Queenstown and subsequently, the 3rd Sloop Flotilla in the North Sea.
HMS Zinnia was an Azalea-class minesweeping sloop of the Royal Navy, built in 1915 at the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson yard, at Wallsend in the United Kingdom.It was sold to Belgium on 19 April 1920 to join their new Corps of Destroyers and Sailors.
Captain Cedric Naylor was a Royal Navy officer of the First and Second World Wars. Naylor was a merchant seaman before joining the Royal Naval Reserve on the outbreak of the First World War. In November 1915 he was posted as first lieutenant to HMS Penshurst, a Q-ship, a warship disguised as a merchant vessel intended to fool German U-boats into surfacing so they could be sunk. Naylor received the Distinguished Service Cross for his part in the sinking of SM UB-19 on 30 November 1916 and a bar for further operations in February and March 1917. Naylor was granted temporary command of Penshurst after its captain was incapacitated in June and the next month damaged a submarine, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Further distinguished service in the following months saw him receive a bar to the medal and a transfer to the Royal Navy. Naylor was hunting for SM U-110 on Christmas Eve 1917 and Penshurst was struck by a torpedo fired by the submarine. Despite suffering heavy damage Naylor remained onboard with two gun crews, hoping the U-boat would surface to finish off the ship. When U-110 surfaced it was hit twice and damaged before Penshurst sank. Naylor survived and was awarded a second bar to his DSO. He commanded the sloop Polyanthus for the remainder of the war.
United Kingdom