lson felt that his diplomatic protests were no longer enough and the United States ended their relations with Germany. (Halpern, p. 340)Germany could now make 154 craft of a much more effective specification than those of 1914. Now there were never more than 70 U-boats at sea at any one time because of the need for refitting, repairing, and resting of the crews. This almost ended the war in the favor of the Germans. (Hugh, p. 302)During the first three months of 1917 Britain had lost a total of 470 merchant ships. In April one ship in every four that left British ports never came back. Food stocks were falling and neutral ships did not want to carry British goods. (Pimlott, p. 41) Total losses by British shipping by U-boats alone went from 35 ships in January 1917 to 86 in February, to 103 in March and to 155 in April. (Hugh, p. 302) Monthly British shipping losses went form 43,000 tons in August to 182,000 tons in December, and the Allied shipping losses rose to a height of 849,000 tons in April 1917. (Terraine, p. 269)At first the French and British plans for stopping the U-boat attacks were ineffective. They used such ideas as hoisting false colors, to using Q-ships disguised as merchantmen. The German campaign gradually began to extend back into the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The Allies were beginning to feel the effects of the German attacks. (Pimlott, p. 40)The most effective method for stopping the U-boats was with the Q-ships. These were innocent looking merchantmen manned by volunteer naval crews with powerful but heavily hidden weapons. (Hugh, p. 303) Another method that proved effective was the convoy system. These were organizations of merchant ships traveling under naval escort. (Pimlott, p. 41) By now the United States navy was available to the allied forces. As a result of the convoy system losses of British tons fell from 526,447 in April to 345,293 in May; but in June they rose again to almost 400,...
