Kaiserreich supports merchant subs in 1914

[Dave Bender]

Britain had many more intelligence officers working in the USA then Germany. They also operated much more openly. That's the difference between strict neutrality and doing everything possible to assist Britain short of declaring war.

[BDV]

Britain had many more intelligence officers working in the USA then Germany. They also operated much more openly. That's the difference between strict neutrality and doing everything possible to assist Britain short of declaring war.

Like US assissted Britain by rejecting its claim that merchant submarines were not proper merchant ships?

P.S.

Two more points:

a) Britain did not discuss with anyone the dismemberment of US or even of the US colonial empire.

b) as discussed in the Jutland thread, Germany fell awfully short of doing its part in relieving British pressure on US.

[Terry Duncan]

Britain had many more intelligence officers working in the USA then Germany. They also operated much more openly. That's the difference between strict neutrality and doing everything possible to assist Britain short of declaring war.

They also did not seem to go around sabotaging things and making large explosions that risked peoples lives.

a) Britain did not discuss with anyone the dismemberment of US or even of the US colonial empire.

Fortunately we seem to have sectioned the majority of people that may have fallen into this category, and generally did not put them into high offices conducting foreign relations. Odd exceptions do exist, but this was one of the worst possible mistakes during WWI - even if we simply consider if it were possible, let alone the fallout if it came to light.

b) as discussed in the Jutland thread, Germany fell sorrily short of doing its part in relieving British pressure on US.

British pressure could be, and was, substituted by French pressure when needed, such as when the US got tired of British ships intercepting merchants it was arranged for the French to catch a few instead. I dont think the general bias of the US towards the Entente would have been easy to overcome, although on its own it was highly unlikely to bring the US into the war.

[BDV]

In addition to the cutting Great Britain down to size that trading German battleships for British battleships would enforced in 1915, a gadfly campaign of blockade-running, powered by merchant submarines cruising not only to US but also to Brazil and to Spain would have considerably stretched AngloFrench blockade forces.

The shipments themselves - reasonable cargo value is 5-10 US$ per kg. Peak rubber price was 5 US$ per kg in 1910. Airplane engines were also 5-10 US$ per kg during the war. So on and so forth. That's 2.5 to 5 million US$ per 500 ton cargo. A cash flow of 50-100 million US$ per quarter into yankee pockets is within reach.

[Terry Duncan]

That's 2.5 to 5 million US$ per 500 ton cargo. A cash flow of 50-100 million US$ per quarter into yankee pockets is within reach.

That is if the Germans would manage to buy the goods, the Entente had operated a program of buying resources to prevent the Germans doing so too. Getting the ships there and back will become a problem with the broken naval codes though, a single voyage in a lot less likely to generate signals as a once this attempts to become a trade route operation.

not only to US but also to Brazil and to Spain would have considerably stretched AngloFrench blockade forces.

Just curious, but how? Germany will not have moved, and wont have dug a new channel to the sea, so it still remains a task of blockading the North Sea and the Straits of Gibraltar.

[BDV]

That is if the Germans would manage to buy the goods, the Entente had operated a program of buying resources to prevent the Germans doing so too.

The buy program was the carrot to the blockade stick, but Germans only need to bid for the strategic amounts of materials - so they can easily overbid. Also, can Entente ready to buy ALL the electric and mechanical products that US factories can manufacture?

Your comment on signals did not come through.

Just curious, but how? Germany will not have moved, and wont have dug a new channel to the sea, so it still remains a task of blockading the North Sea and the Straits of Gibraltar.

Well, bring stuff from Brazil to Coruna, ship it by rail to Barcelona and cross it to Trieste. Also merchsubs can try to slip southeast from Oostende. Uboots did slip into the Med, so could 4-6 merchsubs, for the Barca-Triest route.

[stg 44]

Remember that Trieste is blockaded too, though not very well. Subs slipped in and out without much trouble, leading to some high scorers for the Austro-Hungarians.

Also, there is probably no desire for American manufactured goods like airplane engines until after 1917, which was something that the US agreed was contraband. Honestly, like the Entente, most of what is bought and shipped is likely to be raw materials that German industry turns into weapons of war. With the necessary metals and better management of the economy (especially the relationship with labor and coal mining), the Germans would manufacture all the aircraft engines that they and their ally need. Another factor in this is that with the necessary amounts of rare metals being brought in, resources and miners don't need to be used to expand the limited mining of these metals in Central Europe, rather, these materials, human and industrial, can then be used to produce more of the necessary available resources, like the desparately needed coal, always in short supply. Therefore, having these goods brought in can actually improve things across the board.

We haven't even broached the subject of Austro-Hungarian merchant subs yet either. If there was one nation desperately in need of these goods, it was the AHs. Nitrates were their achilles heel, which killed food production. Coal and steel were also in short supply, which made the transportation network fall apart. If they didn't need the copper boxes in locomotives for industry, their trains would have been in much much better shape, meaning better transportation for them, which in turn helps lessen the amount of coal necessary to move these trains, which can then bring more materials to industry, something that was very difficult for them, especially past 1916.