U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot（help.info), itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot (undersea boat )and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in Wordl War I and Word War II. Although in theory U-boats could have been useful fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, in practice they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role (commerce raiding), enforcing a naval blockade against enemy shipping. The primary targets of the U-boat campaigns in both wars were the merchant convoys bringing supplies from the British Empire and the United States to the islands of Great Britain.Aistrian submarines of World War I were also known as U-boats.
The distinction between U-boat and submarine is common in English-language usage (where U-boat refers exclusively to the German vessels of the World Wars) but is unknown in German, in which the term U-Boot refers to any submarine.
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