Deck Gun

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by JazzJR

But in WW2 the most Q Ships were sunk by german U-Boats. They didn't sunk any U-Boat but three of five Q-Ships were sunk by the U-Boats.

"Three of five"? The British commissioned nine Q-ships in 1939. Three were sunk, two in 1940 and the third in 1942 while in French service, and after the Royal Navy had abandoned the program. The US Navy commissioned five Q-ships, of which one was sunk.

Q-ships only work when the submarine policy is to board and search ships and then sink them with scuttling charges. If the policy is to torpedo them while submerged, then no, they have no real value. If you're going to make a surfaced attack against a lone merchant, then the Q-ship can be troublesome. But then so can an armed merchant, which is why Q-ships were eventually dropped.