26th November 2017

Ernest Woodall and the role of decoy ships

By researching individual human stories it’s possible to learn much more about the historical background to war.

One of the men commemorated on the Scarcroft School WW1 Memorial, former pupil Ernest Woodall, served on a decoy ship in the First World War. These were a little known response to the threat posed by German U-Boats.

A decoy ship is primarily a ship in disguise and disguise has long played a part in naval warfare. In the great days of sail, paint and false flags were used to get nearer to prize ships and in an attempt to avoid more powerful enemies.

To find out more about what happened to Ernest, follow this link.