Most British colonies were founded by free-booting English merchants or sailors, often armed with a dodgy royal warrant and six-pounders to point at the locals if they failed to appreciate the benefits of British rule.
The submarine's small six-pounder gun could do little actual damage, but, once again, the psychological impact of the attack was great.
Equipped with two twenty-one-inch torpedo tubes instead of a six-pounder cannon, the MTBs proved very effective at intercepting German convoys transiting off the Dutch and French coasts.