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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 basic ethos of every Q-ship was to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. They were used by the British Royal Navy (RN) during the First World War and by both the RN and the United States Navy during the Second World War (1939–1945), as a countermeasure against German and Japanese submarines. ==First World War== Following the First Battle of the Atlantic, by 1915 Britain was in desperate need of a countermeasure against the U-boats that were strangling her sea-lanes. Convoys, which had proved effective in earlier times (and would again prove effective during the Second World War), were rejected by the resource-strapped Admiralty and the independent captains. Depth charges of the time were relatively primitive, and almost the only chance of sinking a submarine was by gunfire or by ramming while on the surface. The problem was luring the U-boat to the surface. A solution to this was the creation of the Q-ship, one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war. Their codename referred to the vessels' home port, Queenstown, in Ireland.〔Beyer, Kenneth M.: ''Q-Ships versus U-Boats. America's Secret Project''. Naval Institute Press. Annapolis, Maryland, USA. 1999. ISBN 1-55750-044-4〕 These became known by the Germans as a ''U-Boot-Falle'' ("U-boat trap"). A Q-ship would appear to be an easy target, but in fact carried hidden armaments. A typical Q-ship might resemble a tramp steamer sailing alone in an area where a U-boat was reported to be operating. By seeming to be a suitable target for the U-boat's deck gun, a Q-ship might encourage the U-boat captain to make a surface attack rather than use one of his limited number of torpedoes. The Q-ships' cargoes were light wood (balsa or cork) or wooden caskets, and even if torpedoed they would remain afloat, encouraging the U-boat to surface and sink them with a deck gun. The crew might even pretend to "abandon ship". Once the U-boat was vulnerable, the Q-ship's panels would drop to reveal the deck guns, which would immediately open fire. At the same time, the White Ensign (Royal Navy flag) would be raised. With the element of surprise, a U-boat could be quickly overwhelmed. The first Q-ship victory was on 23 June 1915, when ''U-40'' was sunk off Eyemouth by the submarine HMS ''C24'', cooperating with the decoy vessel ''Taranaki'', commanded by Lieutenant Frederick Henry Taylor CBE DSC RN. The first victory by an unassisted Q-ship came on 24 July 1915 when the ''Prince Charles'', commanded by Lieutenant Mark-Wardlaw, DSO, sank ''U-36''. The civilian crew of ''Prince Charles'' received a cash award. The following month, an even smaller converted fishing trawler renamed HM Armed Smack ''Inverlyon'' successfully destroyed near Great Yarmouth. ''Inverlyon'' was an unpowered sailing ship fitted with a small 3 pounder (47 mm) gun. The British crew fired 9 rounds from the 3 pounder into ''UB-4'' at close range, sinking her with the loss of all hands despite the attempt of ''Inverlyon''s skipper to rescue one surviving German submariner. On 19 August 1915, Lieutenant Godfrey Herbert of HMS ''Baralong'' sank ''U-27'', which was preparing to attack a nearby merchant ship. About a dozen of the U-boat sailors survived and swam towards the merchant ship. Herbert, allegedly fearing that they might scuttle her, ordered the survivors to be shot in the water and sent a boarding party to kill all who had made it aboard. This became known as the "Baralong Incident". HMS ''Farnborough'' (Q-5) sank SM U-68 on 22 March 1916. Her commander, Gordon Campbell, was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC). New Zealanders Lieutenant Andrew Dougall Blair and Sub-Lieutenant William Edward Sanders VC, DSO faced three U-boats simultaneously in the ''Helgoland'' (Q.17) while becalmed and without engines or wireless.〔http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/remembering_war/images/show/6325-helgoland-q17〕 Forced to return fire early they managed to sink one U boat and avoid two torpedo attacks.〔url=http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/remembering_war/topics/show/1478#09〕 Sanders was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander, eventually commanding HMS ''Prize''. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for an action on 30 April 1917 with , which was severely damaged. Perhaps remembering the early action aboard Q.17, Sanders waited, while his ship sustained heavy shellfire, until the submarine was within 80 yards, whereupon he hoisted the White Ensign and the ''Prize'' opened fire. The submarine appeared to sink and he claimed a victory. However, the badly damaged submarine managed to struggle back to port. With his ship accurately described by the survivors of ''U-93'', Sanders and his crewmen were all killed in action when they attempted a surprise attack on on 14 August 1917. There may have been as many as 366 Q-ships, of which 61 were lost. After the war, it was concluded that Q-ships were greatly overrated, diverting skilled seamen from other duties without sinking enough U-boats to justify the strategy. In a total of 150 engagements, British Q-ships destroyed 14 U-boats and damaged 60, at a cost of 27 Q-ships lost out of 200. Q-ships were responsible for about 10% of all U-boats sunk, ranking them well below the use of ordinary minefields in effectiveness. The Imperial German Navy commissioned six Q-boats during the Great War for the Baltic Sea into the ''Handelsschutzflottille''. Both were unsuccessful in destroying any enemy submarines. The famous ''Möwe'' and ''Wolf'' were merchant raiders. A surviving example of the Q-ships is HMS ''Saxifrage'', a Flower-class sloop of the ''Anchusa'' group completed in 1918. She was renamed HMS ''President'' in 1922 and served as the London Division RNR drill ship until 1988, when she was sold privately and remains moored at King's Reach on the Thames. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Q-ship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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