First World War (1914-1918)
The U-Boat Menace

The emergence of the submarine was a major development in naval warfare. German submarine - or U-Boat - attacks against Allied shipping in the Atlantic and in European waters posed a major threat to the Allied war effort.

Model, U-27

A German imprisoned in Amherst, Nova Scotia, made this submarine model.

The model represents U-27, sunk by the British ship Baralong, a "Q" ship disguised as a merchant vessel in order to trap German submarines. After approaching U-27 while pretending to be an American ship, Baralong suddenly raised British flags and sank the submarine with gunfire. Baralong's captain ordered his marines to fire on the surviving submariners, later claiming that he feared that they might scuttle a merchant vessel that U-27 had already stopped and was about to sink. Although the British Admiralty tried to keep the incident a secret, news spread and Germany was outraged.

Model Submarine, U-Boat
CWM 19900116-001