The Royal Navy's submarine mission differed from Germany's increasingly submarine-centred maritime war. British cruisers carried listening equipment largely to avoid submarines and torpedoes, reflecting the institutional trauma of the losses of Aboukir, Cressy, and Hogue in 1914. T-class boats were intended to wait on likely approaches and launch a ten-torpedo forward salvo in a Far Eastern blockade scenario. In the Mediterranean, U-class boats operating from Malta attacked Axis convoy traffic and carefully targeted fuel tankers. These submarines were specialised ambush predators rather than copies of German commerce-raiding boats.
Chapter · 45:53-49:38
Royal Navy submarines as ambush weapons
British submarines were designed around ambush and blockade tasks, while the surface fleet's anti-submarine habits reflected the trauma of World War I losses.