“Order prepared for intensifying the economic war because of the arming of enemy merchant ships.
“1) Arming of, and therefore resistance from, the majority of English and French merchant ships is to be expected.
“2) Submarines will stop merchant ships only if own vessel is not endangered. Attack without warning by submarines is allowed against plainly recognized enemy merchant ships.
“3) Battleships and auxiliary cruisers will watch for possibility of use of arms by merchant ships when stopped.”
I should like to ask you whether this order was prepared long ago or whether it was improvised at the last moment?
WAGNER: At the beginning of the war we were forced to improvise a great many orders we were issuing, because they were not prepared thoroughly.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Did this order become operative at all?
WAGNER: No.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Why not?
WAGNER: After consultation with the Foreign Office, we had decided that we would strictly adhere to the London Agreement until we had clear-cut evidence of the British merchant navy being used for military purposes. We remembered from the last war the power which the enemy propaganda had, and we did not under any circumstances want to give anyone cause once more to decry us as pirates.