• ganksy@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I feel completely ignorant that I was not aware U-boats were around during WW1

    • PugJesus@kbin.socialOPM
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      11 months ago

      Unrestricted submarine warfare was actually one of the causes that drew the US into WW1!

      Continent-wide war over the future of civilization? We sleep

      You sink our money-making ships? REAL SHIT

      • SSTF@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        The very first sinking of a ship by a submarine occurred during the U.S. Civil War, in fact!

        Both the Union and Confederacy operated submarines during the war.

        The very first U.S. “submarine” was used during the Revolutionary War, but it was more of a one off novelty than a move forward in industrialized war like in the Civil War.

        This also happened in conjunction with the rise of ironclads, with the first ironclad vs ironclad battle also occurring in the Civil War.

    • niktemadur@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      One of the key events that gave the United States the politically-charged push into the war was the sinking of the Lusitania, and it was done by a German u-boat.

      Here’s another weird one you didn’t expect: Germans used zeppelins to bomb London.