Q-ship

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A hidden gun on a Q-ship in World War I.

The Q-ship or Q-boat was an attack vessel disguised as a civilian ship. It was used against German U-boats during World War I primarily by Britain and during World War II primarily by the United States. In the United Kingdom the vessels chosen for this service were code-named Q-ships by the Admiralty, but they were also known as Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships or Mystery Ships. The Germans had similar ships called merchant raiders.

1 World War I
2 World War II
3 Fictional usages
4 Other usages of the name
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] World War I

In the First Battle of the Atlantic, by 1915, Britain was in desperate need for a countermeasure against the U-boats that were strangling her sea-lanes. Convoys, which had proven effective in earlier times (and would again prove effective during World War II), were rejected by the resource-strapped Admiralty and the independent captains. Depth charges were very primitive, and the only method of sinking a submarine was by gunfire or by ramming. The problem was luring the U-boat to the surface.

The solution to this problem was the creation of the Q-ship, one of the most closely-guarded secrets of the war. These would be known to the Germans as a U-Boot-Falle ("U-boat trap"). The Q-ship would pose as an easy target for the U-boat but in fact carry hidden armament. A typical Q-ship would be an old-looking tramp steamer calmly sailing alone near an area where a U-boat was reported to be operating. By posing as a suitable target for the use of the U-boat's deck gun, the Q-ship would encourage the U-boat Captain to bring his vessel to the surface rather than use one of his expensive torpedoes, which were in short supply. The cargoes of the Q-ships would be wooden caskets and wood (eg balsa or cork) so even if torpedoed they would stay afloat, encouraging the U-boat to surface and use its gun. If necessary the crew could even stage an "abandon ship" routine. Once the U boat was in a suitable position the Q-ship would change rapidly, false panels would drop to reveal the hidden guns which would start firing. At the same time the White Ensign (Royal Navy flag) would be raised. With the element of surprise the U-boat could be quickly overwhelmed.

The first victory of a Q-ship occurred on July 24, 1915, when U-36 was sunk by HMS Prince Charles, commanded by Lieutenant Mark Wardlaw RN. In August of that year, an even smaller converted fishing trawler named His Majesty's Armed Smack Inverlyon successfully destroyed UB-4 near Great Yarmouth. The Inverlyon was an unpowered sailing craft fitted with a 47mm cannon.

On August 19, 1915, Lieutenant Godfrey Herbert RN of the HMS Baralong sank UB-27 which had been preparing to sink a nearby transport ship. About a dozen of the sailors escaped the sinking submarine, and Herbert fearing they would scuttle the civilian ship, ordered the sailors to be shot at as they swam towards the transport and then sent a boarding party aboard that ship prevent any attempts at sinking it. The event came to be known as the "Baralong Incident".

Despite some spectacular actions and a great deal of romanticization, Q-ships were not particularly successful (see HMS Dunraven). In the course of 150 engagements they were only able to kill 14 U-boats and damage another 60, at a cost of 27 Q-ships lost out of 200. Q-ships were responsible for only about 10% of all U-boats sunk, ranking them far below the use of mine fields in overall effectiveness. Neither of the German Q-Boats, Möwe and Wolf had any success in destroying enemy submarines.

[edit] World War II

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 roll on the kettledrum"), known to the Allies 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:

the Boston beam trawler MS Wave, which briefly became the auxiliary minesweeper USS Eagle (AM-132) before becoming USS Captor (PYC-40),
SS Evelyn and Carolyn, identical cargo vessels that became USS Asterion (AK-100) and USS Atik (AK-101) respectively,
the tanker SS Gulf Dawn, which became USS Big Horn (AO-45), 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; all Q-ships patrols ended in 1943.

[edit] Fictional usages

Space-going "Q-ships" have appeared in several science fictional milieus.

Q-ships have appeared in the Honor Harrington books by David Weber, including the stories On Basilisk Station and Honor Among Enemies. The series is Space Opera and set in what fans refer to as the Honorverse.

Q-Ships are also available for Imperial Fleets in the Warhammer 40,000 based game, Battlefleet Gothic. They look like Rogue Trader ships, and have sizable Lance Batteries, or Weapons Mounts, much larger than a ship of that apparent class should have. They are usually used as System Monitors, or Convoy Escorts.

In EVE Online, Industrial-class cargo hauling ships cannot carry much weaponry, but they can be fitted with large amounts of electronic warfare equipment. Ships set up in this way and used for combat are known among the players as "Q-Ships".

In Babylon 5 Wars, there are several Q-Ships that take the form of civilian hulls outfitted with military-grade weaponry.

Q-Ships appear in Joshua Mowll's Operation Red Jericho.

Q-Ships appear as ships of all major races in the Star Fleet Battles Universe. They can either be based on the light or heavy freighter hull.

In the Essential Guide for Droids for Star Wars, a ship popular with pirates is a large transport with a solid nose and large engines, with painted-on viewports and underpowered weapons, allowing it to get close to targets before kicking in the powerful engines and ramming it with enough power to rip both ships apart in a catastrophic explosion.

Harry Turtledove's alternate history series Timeline-191, in which the southern United States win independence during the Civil War with British and French support, US sailor Sam Carsten encounters a Q-Ship in an alternate World War II but his ship survives and takes prisoners.

[edit] Other usages of the name

The term (or "Q-car") has subsequently been used to describe cars that have much higher than average performance (often through extensive modification) but look like conventional, uninteresting family transport. As well as the ships, this term may also be reinforced by the United Kingdom's system of vehicle registration plate numbering - until recent years the first (previously the last) symbol on a British plate was a letter code for the year of manufacture, but for vehicles of uncertain or mixed age, a plate beginning with "Q" is used.