British submarines in World War One

Britain’s submarines formed a very small part of the Royal Navy during World War One, but they still played a significant part in Allied successes across many theatres of war.

Britain held the world’s largest submarine service during the war, and was one of the first country’s to put a submarine to work after war had been declared. Each submarine was carefully designed to be an efficient weapon of war - boasting power, endurance, an inexpensive build and the capability of being run by a small crew.

Submarines proved incredibly effective, capable of destroying everything from a small merchant vessel to a huge warship. However, this efficiency came with a price - if a submarine was targeted by an anti-submarine weapon, the whole crew was often lost.

In spite of this flaw, submarines still achieved great success in the war. Click on the links below to find out more about the role they played: