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material from Q Ship, intergrate as needed.
A Q-ship is a decoy vessel disguised as a merchant or non-military ship, but actually bearing concealed weapons. Q-ships were used by the British in World War I and World War II to lure and occasionally destroy German U-boats.
A Q-ship would typically ply the merchant shipping lanes, clearly marked as a civilian vessel, and occasionally flying neutral colors. When a U-boat surfaced to fire upon the ship, the Q-ship crew would run up the white ensign and open fire on the enemy submarine. Unfortunately, this tactic met with only partial success. Often, submarines would torpedo the ships from a distance, or approach them so cautiously as to negate the Q-ships advantage.
One of the earliest Q-ships to successfully destroy an enemy submarine was a converted fishing vessel extravagantly titled "His Majesty's Armed Smack Inverlyon". Despite the grand title, the ship in question was simply an unpowered sailing craft fitted with a tiny 47mm cannon. In 1915, the Inverlyon encountered a small UB I type U-boat while masquerading as an active fishing vessel near Great Yarmouth. The submarine, christened "UB-4", was commanded by Leutenant zur See Karl Gross. When it approached the Inverlyon, presumably with the intention of boarding the smack and sinking it, the British crew opened fire. The submarine upended and sank, killing the entire German crew.
Sources:
http://www.ku.edu/~kansite/ww_one/naval/ub4.htm
I've corrected the U-boats link to U-boats, to link to the U-boat entry, in the above, as I assume that must be where it should link to. Silverfish 20:31, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)
I've capitalised and linked "Royal Navy" Epeeist smudge 11:24, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
Bond's Q
I've added reference to James Bond's Q -- Kschang77 04:13, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
- Unfortunately, that's not really relevant to the subject at hand. The Bond agents are referred to by letter, and it is highly dubious there is any connection. --Eyrian 07:15, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
- The 'Q' in the James Bond stories just refers to his job title; Quartermaster. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.40.251.27 (talk) 10:32, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
Q-ships and the Hague Conventions
I don't know where this can be added into the article, but Q-ships where a violation of the laws of war, namely Article 2 of Section 7 from the Hague Conventions of 1907, namely "Merchant ships converted into war-ships must bear the external marks which distinguish the war-ships of their nationality." I feel this should be added into the article, perhaps in the lead, but I was wondering about consensus on this matter before adding it, and where in the rest of the article it can be elaborated upon.
--Jadger 23:22, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
- I think this would be an excellent addition to the article, probably under a new heading "Q-ships and international law". --Eyrian 23:46, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
- the external marks which distinguish the war-ships of their nationality means the appropriate flags, which have to be raised before attacking, though not necessarily very long before. A warship with the profile of a merchant ship, raising war flags at the last moment, is a legitimate ruse de guerre. Mesoso 15:34, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
and do you have any evidence that the war flags were raised before attack EVERY single time? please cite a source that says they weren't a violation of the Hague convention.
--Jadger 17:47, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
No, YOU must cite a source which says they were a violation, since YOU are making the assertion.
IF ever war flags were not raised before attack, that makes not raising war flags, (i.e. not using the external marks which distinguish the war-ships of their nationality,) on that particular (hypothetical) occasion, a war crime, not the use of a boat with a civilian profile.
Trawlers as bait
I can't remember what the scheme was called, but the British used a ruse in which an unarmed trawler would act as bait, although unarmed it was linked to a submerged submarine by telegraph and it would be this submarine that would sink the attacking sub. Does anyone know if an article exists detailing this ruse as its worth at least a 'see also' link.KTo288 09:13, 15 August 2007 (UTC)
- The method is referred-to as the 'Trawler submarine trap' in my reference and on two occasions it resulted in the sinking of U-boats. British C class submarines were used, C24 sinking the U40, and later C27 torpedoed and sank U23, both sinkings occurring in 1915. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.40.251.27 (talk) 10:42, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
Armed merchantmen?
Hey, just a quick question...there is a separate article on armed merchantmen - is that the same thing as a q-ship? If not, what's the difference? Applejuicefool (talk) 16:00, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
- A Q-ship is a ruse - it's not obviously armed until it removes the panels hiding the gun and raises its flag. An armed merchantman isn't attempting to deceive, and makes no particular effort to conceal its weapons; indeed, having them obvious to discourage attack is desirable. It is still (probably) freighting cargo around, unlike a Q-ship, whose only role was to lure in the enemy. Riedquat (talk) 19:57, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
Not particularly successful?
"Despite some spectacular actions and a great deal of romanticization, Q-ships were not particularly successful "
Ummmm... let's see 1939 were the "Happy Times" for the submarines of Germany because there was no defense.
"destroyed 14 U-boats and damaged 60, at a cost of 27 Q-ships lost out of 200".
I'd say, given the amount of cargo and men lost at sea from those fierce hunters, that this strategy was EXTREMELY successful. Germany couldn't just throw another sub together, just like that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.198.139.38 (talk) 18:41, 22 September 2008 (UTC)
Fighting pirates in Gulf of Aden=
I removed a comment saying that 'it has been suggested that Q-ships be deployed in the Gulf of Aden to fight pirates' because I can't find any evidence that anyone has suggested it and the comment didn't specify WHO had suggested it - making it look a bit like the guy who wrote the comment just thought it might be a nice idea. DixDaxDox (talk) 12:38, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
Q name
The name comes from the original meaning of the word 'Queer, i.e., unusual. They were so named because, although they looked the same, they were different from ordinary ships - they were 'queer ships'. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.40.251.27 (talk) 10:52, 3 September 2009 (UTC)