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8 - A World at War(Part 1)
The Enterprises of World War I
The relative peace that reigned during the second half of the 19th Century was shattered in August 1914 with the outbreak
of World War I. Naval developments and doctrine had come to favor the huge dreadnoughts, floating fortresses bristling
with powerful guns. Except for the dreaded German U-boat attacks, naval engagements were fought by fleets of
dreadnoughts and battlecruisers lobbing shells at each other from distances of up to 5 miles.
During the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916, fleets from the British and German navies engaged each other several times
in the North Sea off Jutland, Denmark. As has so often been the case in naval conflicts, the results were mixed. While
the German Navy scored a tactical victory by sinking more British ships than it lost, the British Royal Navy had achieved
a strategic victory by maintaining control of the North Sea.
The Royal Navy, the United States Navy, and the French Navy all had vessels named Enterprise in service during
World War I. However, none of these vessels were ocean-going warships. On October 2, 1899, the Royal Navy launched
a steam-powered screw tug as the Enterprise. She was built at the McLachlan Dock Yards in England and was
110 feet in length. She served as a dockyard tug at Portsmouth until 1919, when she was renamed Emprise. She continued in
service as the Emprise until she was sold in 1947. She therefore had the distinction of having served during
both world wars.
During World War I, the Royal Navy requisitioned a large number of small vessels for such auxiliary duties as tenders,
target tow boats, and minesweepers. Among these requisitioned vessels were two drifters which carried the name
Enterprise. (A drifter is a fishing boat which releases a buoyed net and drifts with the currents as the catch
is made.) The first drifter Enterprise was a 100-footer put into service as an anti-submarine patrol vessel in
September 1914. She was renamed Entertain in 1918. The second drifter Enterprise was an 84-footer based
as Larne in 1915. She was later assigned to service in Italian waters and was sunk by a mine off Brindisi, Italy on
March 8, 1916 with the loss of eight crew. A third drifter, named Enterprising, served from 1914 until 1919
and again from 1940 until 1947.
The United States Navy purchased a 66-foot yacht, which it put into service as motor patrol boat Enterprise (SP-760)
on December 6, 1916. She began service with the Second Naval District on September 25, 1917, performing harbor tug duties
at Newport, Rhode Island. On December 11, 1917, she sailed to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where she operated inside
the breakwaters. The Enterprise was transferred to the Bureau of Fisheries on August 2, 1919.
The French Navy also requisitioned small vessels during the World War I era as tenders, patrol boats, and minesweepers.
One such vessel was l'Entreprise, a tug boat which served from 1917 until 1920. In 1917, the French Navy also
requisitioned the yacht l'Entreprenant, which served as a patrol boat.
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| European Fleets
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| Copyright ©
1996-2008 Arnold E.
van Beverhoudt, Jr.
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