The Germans learned the futility of this kind of an operation early in the war, and the man who taught them this lesson was Commander Weddingen, the same officer who had first demonstrated the value of the submarine in practical warfare. It was Otto Weddingen who, in September, 1914, sank the old British cruisers, the _Hogue_, the _Cressy_, and the _Aboukir_, an exploit which made him one of the great popular heroes of Germany. A few months afterward Commander Weddingen decided to try an experiment which was considerably more hazardous than that of sinking three unescorted cruisers; he aspired to nothing less ambitious than an attack upon the Grand Fleet itself. On March 18th a part of this fleet was cruising off Cromarty, Scotland; here Weddingen came with the _U-29_, dived under the destroyer screen and fired one torpedo, which passed astern of the _Neptune_. The alarm was immediately sounded, and presently the battleship _Dreadnought_, which had seen the periscope, started at full speed for the submarine, rammed the vessel and sent it promptly to the bottom. As it was sinking the bow rose out of the water, plainly disclosing the number _U-29_. There was not one survivor. Weddingen's attempt was an heroic one, but so disastrous to himself and to his vessel that very few German commanders ever tried to emulate his example. It clearly proved to the German Admiralty that it was useless to attempt to destroy the Grand Fleet with submarines, or even to weaken it piecemeal, and probably this experience had much to do with this new kind of warfare--that of submarines against unprotected merchant ships--which the Germans now proceeded to introduce.