One battle between three ships of the United States Navy and a German U-boat took place on April 4, 1918. After picking up troops in France, Henry R. Mallory, Tenadores, and Mercury, three armed transport ships, were heading back to the U.S. in the Atlantic Ocean when a German submarine fired torpedoes at Mallory. Luckily, the torpedoes were spotted so that the ship could move out of their way. Once the U-boat was spotted, all three transports opened fire and hit the submarine as it went back under the water. Then, the ships all moved in and depth charged the U-boat. A depth charge is a weapon that is meant to damage a submarine by the shock of exploding near it. The three U.S. vessels sunk the submarine and suffered no losses but, casualties for the German's are unknown. The transports arrived in the United States on April 13, 1918 with another victory.
The Battle of Durazzo took place in the Adriatic Sea on October 2, 1918. The Kingdom of Italy, United Kingdom, United States, and Australia all ganged up on Austria. It started with the Allies openening fire on three Austro-Hungarian ships, Dinara, Scharfschultze, and No. 87. Each side chased each other all over the Adriatic Sea until the Austro-Hungarians realized they had suffered too many losses to continue. The Allies had five cruisers damaged and one destroyer damaged, while Austria-Hungary lost one steamer, had two destroyers damaged, one torpedo boat damaged, and two submarines and two steamers damaged. Plus, the Durazzo base was destroyed so, the Allies gained yet another victory.
I think naval battles really influenced World War I, especially with the German Navy taking advantage of their U-boats. Depth charges and improvements to U.S. ships really affected the way we fought on the water and gave us many victories which I think really helped the Allies in winning the war.
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