Read The Codebreakers: The True Story of the Secret Intelligence Team That Changed the Course of the First World War for Free Online
Authors: James Wyllie, Michael McKinley
language of naval warfare, it had in a short time become a well-oiled machine with an intimate knowledge of the enemy.
However, this transformation was not reflected in the processing of its intelligence. Decodes were still handed over with minimum comment to the Operations Division; there they were scrutinised by Henry Oliver, Chief of Staff, who personally decided what to show the Admiralty top brass, who then agreed amongst themselves what to tell their boss, Admiral Jellicoe.
Frustrated by a system that often meant he received important decodes too late or not at all, Jellicoe asked for the material to be sent directly to him. His request was denied. The negative consequences of sticking to a procedure set up in the first few weeks of the war, when Room 40’s potential was an unknown quantity, would be fully felt in 1916 at the Battle of Jutland, one of the largest naval actions in history.
But for now, all attention was focused on the German U-boat campaign under way in the Atlantic, where the Kaiser’s submarines were sinking large quantities of British shipping and threatening to sever the vital trade link with America.
Chapter 3
DEATH ON THE ATLANTIC: THE LUSITANIA
The potential impact of Germany’s U-boats was severely compromised by the rules of maritime engagement. Under international agreements, submarines approaching a civilian vessel were required to announce their presence and confirm without a shadow of doubt what the ship was carrying before engaging it. This procedural limitation blunted the U-boats’ offensive capability.
In early 1915, after much heart-searching and head-scratching, the Germans took the fateful decision to ignore these conditions and embark on unrestricted submarine warfare against vessels sailing in waters around the British Isles (except for a route north of Scotland): no warnings, no special pleading; any boat was fair game if the U-boat commanders suspected its cargo included war material, whether it be food, raw materials or weapons. The discretion to sink a ship, neutral or otherwise, was theirs.
It was a gamble, and a dangerous one. The chances of avoiding collateral damage while prosecuting an unrestricted submarine campaign vigorously enough to attain Germany’s goal of forcing Britain out of the war by crippling its trade with America were slim. The risk that civilians would become casualties was high. The unknown quantity was how America would react if German U-boats attacked American interests. As far as the Germans were concerned, it was a risk they had to take, for ships leaving neutral American ports were bringing war supplies to Germany’s enemies, so the submarine warfare policy, Germany hoped, would act as a deterrent to the USA, and not a provocation.
The man charged with performing this balancing act was the German ambassador to the United States, 51-year-old Count Johann von Bernstorff, a tall, polished, cold-eyed charmer with a blonde moustache. One of his first actions after the war began was to hold court for journalists in his suite at the Ritz-Carlton, a three-year-old luxury hotel in midtown Manhattan, conveniently located near all the New York social clubs of which von Bernstorff was so fond, as well as a short taxi ride away from the German Club on Central Park South. As newspapermen peppered the count with questions about the war in Europe, he paced the room excitedly, explaining to them in his flawless, witty English that they and their journals were wrong about the ferocious and unprecedentedly fatal battles being fought in Europe: the French were thoroughly beaten, the German invasion of Paris was imminent, and in any case, the Russians had started all the trouble.
Count Johann von Bernstorff, the German ambassador to the USA, 1908–17
This was the first shot in a publicity war that von Bernstorff would wage as he tried to construct the ‘right kind of news’ for America by planting stories in pro-German newspapers like
The
However, this transformation was not reflected in the processing of its intelligence. Decodes were still handed over with minimum comment to the Operations Division; there they were scrutinised by Henry Oliver, Chief of Staff, who personally decided what to show the Admiralty top brass, who then agreed amongst themselves what to tell their boss, Admiral Jellicoe.
Frustrated by a system that often meant he received important decodes too late or not at all, Jellicoe asked for the material to be sent directly to him. His request was denied. The negative consequences of sticking to a procedure set up in the first few weeks of the war, when Room 40’s potential was an unknown quantity, would be fully felt in 1916 at the Battle of Jutland, one of the largest naval actions in history.
But for now, all attention was focused on the German U-boat campaign under way in the Atlantic, where the Kaiser’s submarines were sinking large quantities of British shipping and threatening to sever the vital trade link with America.
Chapter 3
DEATH ON THE ATLANTIC: THE LUSITANIA
The potential impact of Germany’s U-boats was severely compromised by the rules of maritime engagement. Under international agreements, submarines approaching a civilian vessel were required to announce their presence and confirm without a shadow of doubt what the ship was carrying before engaging it. This procedural limitation blunted the U-boats’ offensive capability.
In early 1915, after much heart-searching and head-scratching, the Germans took the fateful decision to ignore these conditions and embark on unrestricted submarine warfare against vessels sailing in waters around the British Isles (except for a route north of Scotland): no warnings, no special pleading; any boat was fair game if the U-boat commanders suspected its cargo included war material, whether it be food, raw materials or weapons. The discretion to sink a ship, neutral or otherwise, was theirs.
It was a gamble, and a dangerous one. The chances of avoiding collateral damage while prosecuting an unrestricted submarine campaign vigorously enough to attain Germany’s goal of forcing Britain out of the war by crippling its trade with America were slim. The risk that civilians would become casualties was high. The unknown quantity was how America would react if German U-boats attacked American interests. As far as the Germans were concerned, it was a risk they had to take, for ships leaving neutral American ports were bringing war supplies to Germany’s enemies, so the submarine warfare policy, Germany hoped, would act as a deterrent to the USA, and not a provocation.
The man charged with performing this balancing act was the German ambassador to the United States, 51-year-old Count Johann von Bernstorff, a tall, polished, cold-eyed charmer with a blonde moustache. One of his first actions after the war began was to hold court for journalists in his suite at the Ritz-Carlton, a three-year-old luxury hotel in midtown Manhattan, conveniently located near all the New York social clubs of which von Bernstorff was so fond, as well as a short taxi ride away from the German Club on Central Park South. As newspapermen peppered the count with questions about the war in Europe, he paced the room excitedly, explaining to them in his flawless, witty English that they and their journals were wrong about the ferocious and unprecedentedly fatal battles being fought in Europe: the French were thoroughly beaten, the German invasion of Paris was imminent, and in any case, the Russians had started all the trouble.
Count Johann von Bernstorff, the German ambassador to the USA, 1908–17
This was the first shot in a publicity war that von Bernstorff would wage as he tried to construct the ‘right kind of news’ for America by planting stories in pro-German newspapers like
The
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