The Enemy in Home Waters

How World War I Came Home to North Carolina

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When World War I began in 1914, U.S. Navy and American merchant vessels were largely unaffected as the early battles took place far from American shores. All that changed in May 1918, when the German submarine U-151 arrived off the U.S. East Coast, the first foreign enemy naval vessel to invade U.S. waters since the War of 1812. By the end of the war in 1918, three German U-boats, U-151, U-140, and U-117, had sunk a total of 10 vessels off North Carolina.