Born on this Day, 1922: Jack Kerouac

In August of 1915, a small converted fishing trawler named His Majesty’s Armed Smack Inverlyon successfully destroyed UB-4 near Great Yarmouth. The Inverlyon was an unpowered sailing craft fitted with a 47mm cannon. This was the second recorded instance of a submarine being sunk by a Q-Ship. (There’s something euphonious about that. “Behave or I’m going to deliver His Majesty’s Armed Smack!”)

In both World War I and World War II German submarine attacks had a devastating effect on marine transport isolating England from desperately needed supplies.

From Wikipedia:

The solution to this problem was the creation of the Q-ship, one of the most closely-guarded secrets of the war. These would be known to the Germans as a U-Boot-Falle (”U-boat trap”). The Q-ship would pose as an easy target for the U-boat but in fact carry hidden armament. A typical Q-ship would be an old-looking tramp steamer calmly sailing alone near an area where a U-boat was reported to be operating. By posing as a suitable target for the use of the U-boat’s deck gun, the Q-ship would encourage the U-boat Captain to bring his vessel to the surface rather than use one of his expensive torpedoes, which were in short supply. The cargoes of the Q-ships would be wooden caskets and wood (eg balsa or cork) so even if torpedoed they would stay afloat, encouraging the U-boat to surface and use its gun. If necessary the crew could even stage an “abandon ship” routine. Once the U boat was in a suitable position the Q-ship would change rapidly, false panels would drop to reveal the hidden guns which would start firing. At the same time the White Ensign (Royal Navy flag) would be raised. With the element of surprise the U-boat could be quickly overwhelmed.

Now, it was only moderately effective in WW I (10% of all U-Boat sinkings were by Q ships) but not so much during WW II (when, in fact, a Q-ship seems responsible for damaging an allied sub with depth charges by mistake.)

However, Science Fiction and Fantasy are great Q-ships.

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“Is that shelved under T for Twilight or N for Ninja?”