Q&A · 1:03:34-1:04:13

The planned mass torpedo-bomber raid on Wilhelmshaven

A late-war Royal Navy plan for a mass aerial-torpedo attack on Wilhelmshaven raises the possibility that a harbor strike could have sent the High Seas Fleet to sea and triggered mutiny earlier.

Question

How might a Royal Navy mass torpedo-bomber raid on Wilhelmshaven have changed the end of World War I?

Short answer

An attack on the High Seas Fleet in harbour could have prompted an order to sail and brought the fleet's mutiny forward.

Notes

The first closing counterfactual concerns a Royal Navy plan to launch a mass torpedo-bomber attack against Wilhelmshaven near the end of World War I. It asks how a successful harbor strike might have changed the political and operational end of the war. Germany might then have ordered the High Seas Fleet to sea against the British. Because the fleet historically mutinied when faced with a final sortie, the raid could have brought that rupture forward. The question connects mature wartime torpedo planning with the High Seas Fleet mutiny.