Lake, D: Smoke and Mirrors

The Q-ship, an ordinary merchant vessel with concealed guns, came into its own during World War I, when the Royal Navy used it to trap and destroy German U-boats. Deborah Lake uses a wide range of primary and secondary source material drawn from archives in the UK, Germany and the USA to tell the compelling story of the Q-ships and their U-boat adversaries. The Q-ship operations themselves are covered by following the careers of the eight men who won the Victoria Cross on Special Service Operations; and by accounts from German U-boat crews on the receiving end. No book on Q-ships would be complete without reference to the two Baralong incidents of 1915, when a Q-ship's crew allegedly executed the survivors of the German submarine U-27. In a subsequent encounter with U-41, more British atrocities were alleged by the two German survivors. The author includes revealing extracts from the diary of a Royal Marine who served on board the Baralong, together with other first-hand accounts.