Why Attacking a 'Helpless' Merchant Ship Was a Death Trap

Off Ireland, February 1917. A rusty old coal steamer takes a torpedo in the stern, her crew panics and rows away, and a German submarine surfaces to finish her off with its deck gun. Easy prey. Except the panic was rehearsed, the captain had ordered the torpedo to hit, and five hidden guns were waiting behind fake crates. This is the story of HMS Farnborough, the Q-ship of Commander Gordon Campbell, and the last patrol of U-83: the disguises (even the underwear was banned), the order nobody refused, the half hour of silence under a periscope, and the one human weakness the whole trap was built on. Chapters 0:00 Off Ireland, February 1917 1:25 The man who built the trap 2:12 A problem you can't see 2:51 The first success, and a gun that went off by mistake 3:47 U-83 and the price of a torpedo 4:43 The trap, piece by piece 7:05 The morning of 17 February 8:28 The trap springs 9:17 "Respectfully wishes you goodbye" 10:24 Did Q-ships actually work? 10:47 Nine forty-five Sources Gordon Campbell, My Mystery Ships (1928) E. Keble Chatterton, Q-Ships and Their Story (1922) Dwight R. Messimer, Verschollen: World War I U-boat Losses (2002) Stephen Snelling, The Naval VCs (2002) The London Gazette, Supplement 29997 (23 March 1917) uboat.net, U 83 and Bruno Hoppe Illustrations are artistic reconstructions. #NavalHistory #WW1 #Qships