The naval war followed a vastly different rhythm from the war on land.
A short spurt of violence at the start of the conflict was followed by a
prolonged period in which the warring fleets merely skirmished. In stopand-
go fashion, Germany used submarines to attack merchant vessels
during the first two years of the conflict. The war of surface fleets rose to a
brief crescendo in 1916 with the Battle of Jutland. But the conflict's naval
climax came only in 1917, when the submarine, and the war against the
submarine, dominated the picture.
World History
