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.
USS Jacob Jones 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 in honor of Jacob Jones.
Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being captured by an enemy force ; as a blockship to restrict navigation through a channel or within a harbor; to provide an artificial reef for divers and marine life; or to alter the flow of rivers.
SM U-14 or U-XIV was a U-boat or submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy during the First World War. She was launched in 1912 as the French Brumaire-class submarineCurie, but captured and rebuilt for service in the Austro-Hungarian Navy. At war's end, the submarine was returned to France and restored to her former name.
German submarine U-96 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) during World War II. Her keel was laid down on 16 September 1939, by Germaniawerft, of Kiel as yard number 601. She was commissioned on 14 September 1940, with Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock in command. Lehmann-Willenbrock was relieved in March 1942 by Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel, who was relieved in turn in March 1943 by Oblt.z.S. Wilhelm Peters. In February 1944, Oblt.z.S. Horst Willner took command, turning the boat over to Oblt.z.S. Robert Rix in June of that year. Rix commanded the boat until 15 February 1945.
HMS Aylmer was a Captain-class frigate of the Royal Navy that served during World War II. The ship was named after Matthew Aylmer, commander of HMS Royal Katherine at the Battle of Barfleur in 1692 during the War of the Grand Alliance.
The River class was a class of fourteen destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) that served before and during the Second World War. They were named after Canadian rivers.
SM UB-10 was a German Type UB I submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I.
SM UB-13 was a German Type UB I submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The submarine was probably sunk by a British mine net in April 1916.
SM UB-16 was a German Type UB I submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The submarine was sunk by a British submarine in May 1918.
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.
SM UB-107 was a German Type UB III submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 16 February 1918 as SM UB-107.
SM U-21 was a U-boat built for the Imperial German Navy shortly before World War I. The third of four Type U-19-class submarines, these were the first U-boats in German service to be equipped with diesel engines. U-21 was built between 1911 and October 1913 at the Kaiserliche Werft in Danzig. She was armed with four torpedo tubes and a single deck gun; a second gun was added during her career.
An armed boarding steamer was a merchantman that the British Royal Navy converted to a warship during the First World War. AB steamers or vessels had the role of enforcing wartime blockades by intercepting and boarding foreign vessels. The boarding party would inspect the foreign ship to determine whether to detain the ship and send it into port or permit it to go on its way.
TSS Duke of Clarence was a passenger vessel operated jointly by the London and North Western Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) from 1892 between Fleetwood and northern Irish ports. In 1906 the LYR bought her outright and transferred her to their summer service from Hull to Zeebrugge, returning to the Irish Sea in winter. During the First World War Duke of Clarence served as an armed boarding steamer. She resumed passenger service in 1920, passing through changes of ownership in the reorganisations of Britain's railway companies in the 1920s, until she was scrapped in 1930.
HMS Ekins (K552) was a British Captain-class frigate of the Royal Navy that served during World War II. Originally constructed as a United States Navy Buckley class destroyer escort, she served in the Royal Navy from 1943 to 1945.
HMS Gould (K476) was a British Captain-class frigate of the Royal Navy in commission during World War II. Originally constructed as the United States Navy Evarts-class destroyer escort USS Lovering (DE-272), she served in the Royal Navy from 1943 until her sinking in 1944.
SS or RMS The Ramsey was a passenger steamer operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company from 1912 to 1914. She had been built in 1895 as Duke of Lancaster for the joint service to Belfast of the London and North Western Railway and Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway companies. The steamer was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1914 as the armed boarding vessel HMS Ramsey and sunk the following year.
SS Donegal was a Midland Railway passenger ferry that served in the First World War as an ambulance ship. She was completed in 1904 and sunk by enemy action in April 1917.
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.
