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{{Short description|Heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}}
[[File:HMS Tamarisk.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|British First World War Q-ship HMS ''Tamarisk'']]

'''Q-ships''', also known as '''Q-boats''', '''decoy vessels''', '''special service ships''', or '''mystery ships''', were heavily [[armed merchantman|armed merchant ships]] with concealed weaponry, designed to lure [[submarine]]s into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them.

They were used by the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Royal Navy]] and the German [[Imperial German Navy|''Kaiserliche Marine'']] during the [[World War I|First World War]] and by the Royal Navy, the ''[[Kriegsmarine]]'', the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]], and the [[United States Navy]] during the [[World War II|Second World War]]. The German term is "{{ill|Handelsstörer|de|Deutsche_Handelsstörer_während_der_Weltkriege}}. 

Though legally recognised as an acceptable tactic of military deception, there has been debate as to their usefulness in combat, enjoying only marginal success.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://navymuseum.co.nz/explore/by-themes/technology-and-weapons/anti-submarine-warfare/ |title=Anti-submarine warfare|website=navymuseum.co.nz |date=30 November 2012 |access-date=2024-03-25}}</ref>{{sfn|Whipple|2015}}

==Etymology==
The Q in ''Q-ship'' stands for [[Cobh|Queenstown]], in Ireland, because Haulbowline Dockyard, in Cork Harbour, was responsible for the conversion of many mercantile steamers to armed decoy ships during the First World War.  The majority appear to have been converted in larger navy yards such as [[HMNB Devonport|Devonport]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.corkshipwrecks.net/Qships.html | title=The Queenstown Q Ships of WW1 }}</ref>

==Early uses of the concept==
The general idea and legal framework for the Q-ship derives from the classic [[ruse de guerre]] of "sailing under false colours". As a long standing element of naval tactics, warships may legally disguise themselves in various ways in transit so long as the proper flags are hoisted before firing commences. Numerous examples exist of the tactic, which is used both defensively and offensively.{{sfn|Whipple|2015}}

Examples of the tactic used against commerce raiders are {{HMS|Kingfisher|1675|6}} in the 1670s and French disguised [[brigs]] during the [[French Revolutionary Wars]]. An example of the latter was beaten back by the privateer [[lugger]] ''Vulture'' out of [[Jersey]].{{sfn|Jamieson|1986|p=183}}

==First World War==
[[File:Mystery Ship trapping German Submarines.jpg|thumb|Q-ships hid naval guns behind moveable or pivoting panels]]

===Royal Navy===
In 1915, during the [[Atlantic U-boat Campaign (World War I)|First Battle of the Atlantic]], Britain was in need of a countermeasure against the [[U-boats]] that were harassing its sea lanes. Convoys, which had proved effective in earlier times (and would again prove effective during the [[Second World War]]), were rejected by the resource-strapped [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] and the independent captains. [[Depth charges]] would start to become available only in early 1916 and so almost the only chance of sinking a [[submarine]] was by gunfire or by ramming while on the surface.

Submarines could attack by [[torpedo]] or by [[deck gun]]. Torpedoes can be used while the vessel is submerged and invisible to her target, and deck guns are used on the surface. Torpedoes were expensive, unreliable, and a submarine only carried a limited number of them. Ammunition for a deck gun, however, was inexpensive and plentiful in comparison. As a result, submarine captains preferred to surface and use their deck gun on most targets. However, when encountering a warship, submarine commanders could recognise the threat they posed and use a torpedo, or simply not engage.

A solution to this was the creation of the Q-ship, one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war. Their codename referred to the vessels' [[home port]], [[Cobh|Queenstown]], in [[Ireland]].{{sfn|Beyer|1999}} They became known by the Germans as a ''U-Boot-Falle'' ("U-boat trap"). A Q-ship would appear to be an unarmed merchant ship and so an easy target but in fact was a warship that carried hidden armaments. A typical Q-ship might resemble a tramp steamer sailing alone in an area that a U-boat was reported to be operating.

By seeming to be a suitable target for the U-boat's deck gun, a Q-ship was intended to lure a submarine into surfacing to attack. Once the U-boat was vulnerable, perhaps even gulled further by pretence of some crew dressed as civilian mariners "abandoning ship" and taking to a boat, the Q-ship would drop its panels and immediately open fire with its deck guns. At the same time, the vessel would reveal her true colours by raising the [[White Ensign]] (the [[Royal Navy]] flag). When successfully fooled, a U-boat could quickly become overwhelmed by several guns to its one or defer from firing and try to submerge before it became mortally wounded.

The first Q-ship victory was on 23 June 1915, when the submarine {{HMS|C24}}, cooperating with the decoy vessel ''Taranaki'', sank {{SMU|U-40|Germany|2}} off [[Eyemouth]]. The first victory by an unassisted Q-ship came on 24 July 1915 when {{ship||Prince Charles|Q-ship|2}} sank {{SMU|U-36||2}}. The civilian crew of ''Prince Charles'' received a cash award. The following month an even smaller converted fishing trawler renamed {{ship|HM Armed Smack|Inverlyon}} successfully destroyed {{SMU|UB-4||2}} near [[Great Yarmouth]]. ''Inverlyon'' was an unpowered sailing ship fitted with a small [[3-pounder]] (47&nbsp;mm) gun. The British crew fired nine rounds from their 3-pounder into ''UB-4'' at close range, sinking her with the loss of all hands despite the attempt of ''Inverlyon''{{'}}s commander to rescue one surviving German submariner.

On 19 August 1915, {{HMS|Baralong}} sank {{SMU|U-27|Germany|2}}, which was preparing to attack the nearby merchant ship ''Nicosian''. About a dozen of the U-boat sailors survived and swam towards the merchant ship. The commanding officer, allegedly fearing that they might [[scuttling|scuttle]] her, ordered the survivors to be shot in the water and sent a [[Boarding (attack)|boarding]] party to kill all who had made it aboard. This became known as the "[[Baralong incidents|Baralong incident]]".

{{HMS|Farnborough}} (Q.5) sank {{SMU|U-68||2}} on 22 March 1916. Her commander, [[Gordon Campbell (Royal Navy officer)|Gordon Campbell]], was awarded the [[Victoria Cross]] (VC). New Zealanders Lieutenant Andrew Dougall Blair and Sub-Lieutenant [[William Edward Sanders]] faced three U-boats simultaneously in ''Helgoland'' (Q.17) while becalmed and without engines or wireless.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/remembering_war/images/show/6325-helgoland-q17 |title=Helgoland Q17 – Remembering War – Tauranga Memories |website=Tauranga.kete.net.nz |access-date=2017-06-30 |archive-date=2016-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207060956/http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/remembering_war/images/show/6325-helgoland-q17 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Forced to return fire early, they managed to sink one U-boat and avoid two torpedo attacks.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/remembering_war/topics/show/1478#09 |title=Captain Andrew Dougall Blair (1872-1955) – Remembering War – Tauranga Memories |website=Tauranga.kete.net.nz |access-date=2017-06-30 |archive-date=2016-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207061909/http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/remembering_war/topics/show/1478#09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Sanders was promoted to lieutenant commander, eventually commanding the topsail schooner {{HMS|Prize}} in command of which he was awarded the Victoria Cross for an action on 30 April 1917 with {{SMU|U-93||2}}, which was severely damaged. ''Helgoland'', while the ship sustained heavy shellfire, waited until the submarine was within {{convert|80|yd}}, whereupon he hoisted the [[White Ensign]] and ''Prize'' opened fire. The submarine appeared to sink and he claimed a victory. However, the badly damaged submarine managed to struggle back to port. With his ship accurately described by the survivors of ''U-93'', Sanders and his crewmen were all killed in action when they attempted a surprise attack on {{SMU|UB-48||2}} on 14 August 1917.

According to ''Warships of World War I'' by H. M. LeFleming, the Royal Navy converted 58 from merchant ships (18 were sunk by U-boats), in addition to 40 {{sclass2|Flower|sloop|1}}s and 20 [[P-class sloop|PC-boats]]. However ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921'' claims that no fewer than 157 named submarine decoy vessels converted from other types of ship, in addition to another ten whose name was unknown. It agrees with LeFleming about the number of sloops and PC-boats. These ones were completed as Q-ships, disguised as coastal freighters and differed from regular service PC-boats. None was lost in the war. The Flower-class sloops were designed on merchant ship lines thus making them easily adaptable for conversion to Q-ships, 39 being completed as such while the other was converted after being torpedoed. These all had single [[Funnel (ship)|funnels]] as the merchant ship silhouette was left to the builders. The "Flower-Q's" were employed mainly on convoy and anti-submarine work. Nine were lost during the war.{{sfn|McMullen|2001}}

After the war, it was concluded that the effectiveness of the Q-ship initiative had been greatly overrated by diverting skilled seamen from other duties without sinking enough U-boats to justify the strategy.{{sfn|Preston|1982|p=58}} Estimates differ because of the uncertainty of the attribution of lost submarines, but in a total of approximately 150 engagements, British Q-ships destroyed or assisted in the loss of around 12 to 15 U-boats and damaged 60, at a cost of 27 to 38 Q-ships lost out of about 200.{{sfn|Langenberg|2004}} Q-ships were thus responsible for under 10% of all U-boats sunk, ranking them well below the use of ordinary [[naval mine|minefields]] in effectiveness. Around half of Q-ship successes took place in June to September 1915, after which the ships were much less effective. With the second round of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917, Q-ships sunk only 3 submarines, dwarfed by the ~28 sunk by undisguised warships.<ref>{{cite web|title=U-boat Losses 1914-1918 | url=https://uboat.net/wwi/fates/losses.html |access-date = 11 April 2024}}</ref>

===Imperial German Navy===
The Imperial German Navy commissioned six Q-boats during the Great War for the Baltic Sea into the ''Handelsschutzflottille''. None<ref>Lutz Bengelsdorf: ''Der Seekrieg in der Ostsee 1914-1918'' Hauschild, Bremen 2008, p. 94-98, 106-108. {{ISBN|978-3-89757-404-5}}.</ref> was successful in destroying enemy submarines. The German Q-ship ''Schiff K'' heavily damaged the Russian submarine ''Gepard'' of the {{sclass|Bars|submarine|4||1915}} on 27 May 1916. The famous ''Möwe'' and ''Wolf'' were [[merchant raiders]], vessels designed to disrupt enemy trade and sink merchantmen, rather than attack enemy warships.

==Second World War==
===Germany===
Germany employed at least 13 Q-ships, including the ''Schürbeck'' which sank the British submarine {{HMS|Tarpon|N17|6}}. The  German {{ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Atlantis||2}}, which sank a number of ships with a total tonnage of 145,960 t including the Norwegian tanker ''Tirranna'' on 10 June 1940, was more of a [[merchant raider]].

===Japan===
The [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] converted the 2,205-ton merchant ship ''Delhi Maru'' into a Q-ship. On 15 January 1944, she departed from Nagaura (now [[Sodegaura]] on [[Tokyo Bay]]) on her first mission in company with the [[submarine chaser]] ''Ch-50'' and the [[netlayer]] ''Tatu Maru''. At 22:00, the vessels were detected by the submarine {{USS|Swordfish|SS-193|6}}, which launched three torpedoes. ''Delhi Maru'' was hit by all three on her port bow; following a number of internal explosions, she broke in two, the forward section sinking immediately and the aft section sinking later in heavy seas. Although '' Swordfish'' was depth charged by ''Ch-50'', she escaped unscathed.{{sfn|Howard}}

===United Kingdom===
Nine Q-ships were commissioned by the [[Royal Navy]] in September and October 1939 for work in the North Atlantic:{{sfn|Lenton|Colledge|1968|p=279}}

* 610-ton HMS ''Chatsgrove'' (X85) ex-Royal Navy {{sclass2|P|sloop|1}} PC-74 built 1918
* 5,072-ton HMS ''Maunder'' (X28) ex-''King Gruffyd'' built 1919
* 4,443-ton HMS ''Prunella'' (X02) ex-''Cape Howe'' built 1930
* 5,119-ton [[SS Lambridge|HMS ''Lambridge'']] (X15) ex-''Botlea'' built 1917
* 4,702-ton HMS ''Edgehill'' (X39) ex-''Willamette Valley'' built 1928
* 5,945-ton HMS ''Brutus'' (X96) ex-''City of Durban'' built 1921
* 4,398-ton HMS ''Cyprus'' (X44) ex-''Cape Sable'' built 1936
* 1,030-ton HMS ''Looe'' (X63) ex-''Beauty'' built 1924
* 1,090-ton HMS ''Antoine'' (X72) ex-''Orchy'' built 1930

''Prunella'' and ''Edgehill'' were torpedoed and sunk on 21 and 29 June 1940 without even sighting a U-boat. The rest of the vessels were paid off in March 1941 without successfully accomplishing any mission.{{sfn|Marder|1972|p=413–443}}
<!--Edit note: The mention of the Special Operations Executive ship HMS Fidelity has been deleted. Fidelity was classified as a Special Service Vessel but was never employed as a submarine decoy ship. The terms overlap but are not synonymous -->

===United States===
[[File:USS Atik AK-101 0975160801.jpg|right|thumb|USS ''Atik'' (AK-101)]]
[[File:USS Big Horn.jpg|right|thumb|USS ''Big Horn'' (AO-45)]]
[[File:USS Irene Forsyte (IX-93).jpg|right|thumb|USS ''Irene Forsyte'' (IX-93)]]
[[File:Anacapa flaps.jpg|upright|thumb|right|Hinged flaps aft of the anchor hid 3-inch guns aboard {{USS|Anacapa|AG-49}}]]
[[File:uss anacapa crew.jpg|right|thumb|Yeomen and supply clerks of USS ''Anacapa'' exhibiting non-regulation attire typical of U.S. sleeper ship duty to imitate merchant vessels]]
By 12 January 1942, the British Admiralty's intelligence community had noted a "heavy concentration" of U-boats off the "North American seaboard from New York to Cape Race" and passed along this fact to the [[United States Navy]]. That day, {{GS|U-123|1940|2}} under {{lang|de|Kapitänleutnant}} [[Reinhard Hardegen]], torpedoed and sank the British steamship ''Cyclops'', inaugurating {{lang|de|[[Second Happy Time|Paukenschlag]]}} (literally, "a strike on the kettledrum" and sometimes referred to in English as "Operation Drumbeat"). [[U-boat]] commanders found peacetime conditions prevailing along the coast: towns and cities were not blacked out and navigational buoys remained lit; shipping followed normal routines and "carried the normal lights". {{lang|de|Paukenschlag}} had caught the United States unprepared.

Losses mounted rapidly. On 20 January 1942, Commander-in-Chief, [[United States Fleet]] (Cominch), [[Ernest J. King]], sent a coded dispatch to Commander, Eastern Sea Frontier (CESF), requesting immediate consideration of the manning and fitting-out of "Queen" ships to be operated as an antisubmarine measure. The result was "Project LQ".

Five vessels were acquired and converted secretly at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine:<ref>''New Hampshire v. Maine'', 426 U.S. 363 (1977)</ref>

* the Boston beam trawler MS ''Wave'', which briefly became the auxiliary [[minesweeper]] USS ''Eagle'' (AM-132) before becoming {{USS|Captor|PYc-40}},
* SS ''Evelyn'' and ''Carolyn'', identical cargo vessels that became {{USS|Asterion|AK-100}} and {{USS|Atik|AK-101}} respectively (these hull numbers were actually duplicates of the USS ''Lynx'' and the USS ''Lyra'' respectively),
* the tanker SS ''Gulf Dawn'', which became {{USS|Big Horn|AO-45}}, and
* the schooner ''Irene Myrtle'', which became {{USS|Irene Forsyte|IX-93}}.

The careers of all five ships were almost entirely unsuccessful and very short, with USS ''Atik'' sunk on its first patrol with all hands on 26 March 1942.{{sfn|Beyer|1999}} [[COMINCH]] strongly criticized the program and all Q-ships patrols ended in 1943.{{sfn|Langenberg|2004}}

American Q-ships also operated in the Pacific Ocean. One was {{USS|Anacapa|AG-49}}, formerly the lumber transport ''Coos Bay'', which was converted to Q-ship duty as project "Love William". ''Anacapa'' was not successful in engaging any enemy submarines, although she is believed to have damaged two friendly subs with depth charges when they were improperly operating in her vicinity. ''Anacapa'' was also withdrawn from Q-ship duty in 1943 and served out the remainder of World War II as an armed transport in the South Pacific and Aleutian Islands.

The US Navy did not use a consistent [[hull classification symbol]] for its Q-ships (AG, AK, AO, IX and PYc were all used). That and the unprecedented use of duplicate hull numbers for ''Asterion'' and ''Atik'' reflected the great secrecy attached to those ships.{{cn|date=April 2026}}

==Proposed use against modern pirates==
Attacks on merchant ships by [[Piracy in Somalia|pirates originating on the Somalia coast]] have brought suggestions from some security experts that Q-ships be used again to tempt pirates into attacking a well-defended ship.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.safetyatsea.net/login.aspx?reason=denied_empty&script_name=/secure/display.aspx&path_info=/secure/display.aspx&articlename=dn0020090409000022 |title=Use Q ships against pirates? |date=9 April 2009 |work=Safety at Sea International |publisher=Lloyd's Register |access-date=2009-04-11 |archive-date=2009-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903194027/http://www.safetyatsea.net/login.aspx?reason=denied_empty&script_name=%2Fsecure%2Fdisplay.aspx&path_info=%2Fsecure%2Fdisplay.aspx&articlename=dn0020090409000022 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Survivors==
[[File:20040918-027-thames-ship.jpg|thumb|right|HMS ''President'' in the Thames]]
A surviving example of the Q-ships is HMS ''Saxifrage'', a Flower-class sloop of the [[Anchusa-class sloop|''Anchusa'' group]] completed in 1918. She was renamed {{HMS|President|1918|6}} in 1922 and served as the London Division RNR drill ship until 1988, when she was sold privately and remained moored at King's Reach on the [[River Thames|Thames]] until 2016, when her mooring was sold to Thames Water to facilitate the [[Thames Tideway Tunnel]] project. ''President'' was towed to Chatham Dockyard, on the River Medway, in Kent, where she is now abandoned.<ref>[https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/renewed-battle-to-save-warship-national-treasure-from-the-287994/ Kent Online 8 June 2023]</ref><ref>[https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/812864/hms-president-help-sail-again-first-world-war-donate Daily Express 4 June 2017]</ref>

==Q-ships in fiction==
The [[Alfred Noyes]] poem "Kilmeny" is about a Q-ship, a British trawler equipped with two deck guns that destroys a German submarine during World War I.

In [[Ernest Hemingway]]'s novel ''[[Islands in the Stream (novel)|Islands in the Stream]]'', the main character, Thomas Hudson, commands a Q-ship for the US Navy around Cuba as he hunts the survivors of a sunken German U-boat.

In [[Edward L. Beach Jr.]]'s novel ''[[Run Silent, Run Deep]]'', Japanese Q-ships make two appearances, with one surprising the Walrus and the second being attacked by the ''Eel'' in the final battle of the story.

[[Malcolm Lowry]]'s novel ''[[Under the Volcano]]'' (1947) tells the story of Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic British [[consulate general|consul]] in the small Mexican town of [[Cuernavaca|Quauhnahuac]], on the [[Day of the Dead]], 2 November 1938. Geoffrey Firmin reflects back to his time as a naval officer during [[World War I]], when he was court-martialed and subsequently decorated for his actions aboard a Q-ship (the captured German officers disappeared and were allegedly burned alive in the boiler).

In the [[Clive Cussler]] book series ''[[Oregon Files]]'', the main base of operations is a Q-ship, a converted lumber carrier. The crew are mercenaries and former US covert and military personnel who carry out missions around the world in support of US policy while earning their living performing mercenary operations.

The 1951 movie ''[[Operation Pacific]]'' features a battle with a Q-Ship by the fictional submarine USS ''Thunderfish'', inspired by an encounter with an enemy ship by the [[USS Growler (SS-215)|USS ''Growler'']].

===In science fiction===
As with other naval concepts, the idea of a Q-ship has also been applied to space vessels in fictional works:

Q-ships feature prominently in [[David Weber]]'s [[Honor Harrington]] series of books. Harrington destroys a Q-ship in the first novel, ''[[On Basilisk Station]]'', and commands a squadron of Q-ships in the sixth novel, ''[[Honor Among Enemies]]''. In the tenth book in the series, ''[[War of Honor]]'', Thomas Bachfisch commands a pair of privately owned Q-ships.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/09-AtAllCostsCD/AtAllCostsCD/War%20of%20Honor/0743435451___4.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709180924/http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/09-AtAllCostsCD/AtAllCostsCD/War%20of%20Honor/0743435451___4.htm|archive-date=2012-07-09|title=Chapter Four|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the January/February 2020 issue of ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact]]'', Joel Richards has a short story, "Q-ship Militant".

In 1983, Q-ships were introduced to [[Steven Cole]]'s tactical board wargame Starfleet Command in the magazine ''Nexus'' issue #4, which featured scenarios involving Q-ships in the game setting. It became a staple of the [[Star Fleet Battles]] universe. Q-ships in the gaming universe were warships built to mimic the appearance and electromagnetic signature of a civilian freighters but with hidden weapons, fake cargo, and robust shields. Their function was to lure pirates or enemy raiders into attacking them. Though chunky and slow, they possessed heavy shields and firepower. In the game, a Q-ship could not be detected until it powered up war devices that were not common to commercial vessels.<ref>{{cite web | title=Nexus Issue 4 (Magazine) |website=Trekipedia | url=https://trekipedia.com/file/Nexus_Issue_4_(Magazine) }}</ref>

==See also==
* {{anl|Armed merchantmen}}
* {{anl|CAM ship}}
* {{anl|Commerce raiding}}
* {{anl|East Indiaman}}
* {{anl|False flag}}
* [[Harold Auten]] of Q-ship HMS ''Stock Force'' awarded [[Victoria Cross|VC]]
* {{anl|Mary B Mitchell (Q-ship)}}
* {{anl|Merchant aircraft carrier}}
* {{anl|Merchant raiders}}
* {{anl|Tonnage war}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}
===Sources===
* {{cite book |last=Beyer |first=Kenneth M. |title=Q-Ships versus U-Boats. America's Secret Project |date=1999 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland, USA |isbn=1-55750-044-4 }}
* {{cite web |last=Howard |first=Ed |title=The Short Life of the First Japanese Q-Ship |website=www.subsowespac.org |url=http://www.subsowespac.org/news/the-short-life-of-the-first-japanese-q-ship.shtml |access-date=22 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923191839/http://www.subsowespac.org/news/the-short-life-of-the-first-japanese-q-ship.shtml |archive-date=23 September 2016 |url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book |last=Jamieson |first=A.G. |title=A people of the sea |date=1986 |publisher=Methuen |isbn=0-416-40540-1 }}
* {{cite web |last=Langenberg |first=William H. |title=Q-Ships in World War II |date=September 2004 |publisher=Warfare History Network |url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/q-ship-vs-u-boats-world-war-ii/ |access-date=11 April 2024}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lenton |first1=H.T. |last2=Colledge |first2=J.J. |title=British and Dominion Warships of World War II |date=1968 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Marder |first=Arthur |title=The Influence of History on Sea Power: The Royal Navy and the Lessons of 1914–1918 |date=November 1972 |journal=The Pacific Historical Review |volume=41 |issue=4 |doi=10.2307/3638394 |jstor=3638394 }}
* {{cite web |last=McMullen |first=Chris |title=Royal Navy 'Q' Ships |date=2001 |url=http://www.gwpda.org/naval/rnqships.htm |access-date=14 December 2011 }}
* {{cite book |last=Preston |first=Anthonu |title=Submarines |date=1982 |publisher=Bison Books        |location=London |isbn=0-86124-043-X }}
* {{cite journal |last=Whipple |first=Hank |title=Sailing Under False Colours: An historic Ruse De Guerre |date=2015 |journal=Coriolis |volume=5 }}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal|last1=Beyer|first1=Edward F.|last2=Beyer|first2=Kenneth M.|year=1991|title=U. S. Navy Mystery Ships|journal=Warship International|publisher= International Naval Research Organization|volume=XXVIII|issue=4|issn=0043-0374|pages=322–372|name-list-style=amp}}
* {{cite book |last=Grant |first=John N. |editor-last=Caplan |editor-first=Ronald |editor-link=Ronald Caplan |date=2019 |title=The Mystery Ships of Nova Scotia in the First World War |location=Sydney, N.S. |publisher=Breton Books |isbn=978-1-9269-0871-7}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Q-ships}}
* [http://www.gwpda.org/naval/rnqships.htm Royal Navy 'Q' Ships]
* [http://www.naval-history.net/WW1NavyBritishQships.htm British Special Service or Q-Ships]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130519125545/http://www.mightyseas.co.uk/marhist/furness/ashburners/q23.htm Q-23]
* [http://uboat.net/history/wwi/part3.htm Für Kaiser und Reich], His Imperial German Majesty's U-boats in the [[First World War]]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=1iYDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+science+January+1940&pg=PA114  "Q-Boats – An Answer to Submarines"], ''[[Popular Science]]'', January 1940
* {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/qshipstheirstory00chat#page/n7/mode/2up |title=Q-Ships and Their Story |year=1922 |first=E. Keble |last=Chatterton |publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson |location=London |oclc=558195598}}

{{Uboat}}
{{Military deception}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Q-Ship}}
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[[Category:Military use of mimicry]]