Editing St Kilda, Scotland (section)

=== First World War ===
[[File:Gun Dùn St Kilda.jpg|thumb|The [[QF 4 inch naval gun Mk I – III|4-inch QF gun]] on [[Hirta]] looking towards [[Dùn, St Kilda|Dùn]]]]

Early in the [[World War I|First World War]], the [[Royal Navy]] erected a [[Transmitter station|signal station]] on Hirta, and daily communications with the mainland were established for the first time. On the morning of 15 May 1918, the German submarine [[SM U-90]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mnb.seekrieg14-18.de/MNB_004_IV-2010.htm|title=Das Marine-Nachrichtenblatt|website=mnb.seekrieg14-18.de|access-date=31 March 2013|archive-date=19 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319081434/http://www.mnb.seekrieg14-18.de/MNB_004_IV-2010.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> arrived in Village Bay and, after issuing a warning, started shelling the island. Seventy-two shells were fired and the wireless station was destroyed. The manse, church, and jetty storehouse were damaged, but there was no loss of life.<ref>Steel (1988) p. 167</ref> One eyewitness recalled: "It wasn't what you would call a bad submarine because it could have blowed every house down because they were all in a row there. He only wanted Admiralty property. One lamb was killed... all the cattle ran from one side of the island to the other when they heard the shots."<ref>Neil Gilles, quoted in Steel (1988) p. 167</ref>

As a result of this attack, a [[QF 4-inch naval gun Mk I – III|4-inch Mark III QF gun]] was erected on a promontory overlooking Village Bay, but it never saw action. Of greater significance to the islanders were the introduction of regular contact with the outside world and the development of a money-based economy. This made life easier for the St Kildans but also made them less self-reliant. Both were factors in the evacuation of the island little more than a decade later.<ref>Steel (1988), p. 168</ref>

"Ironically, things improved with the war, which brought a naval detachment and regular deliveries of mail and food from naval supply vessels but when these services were withdrawn at end of the war, the sense of isolation increased. Able bodied young islanders left for a better life, resulting in a breakdown of the island economy".<ref name=Smyth>{{cite web |url=https://www.scottishfield.co.uk/culture/remote-possibilities-when-people-lived-on-st-kilda/ |title=Remote Possibilities When People Lived on St Kilda |date=15 November 2019 |work=Scottish Field |access-date=10 February 2021 |last=Smyth |first=Kirsty |archive-date=3 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503171131/https://www.scottishfield.co.uk/culture/remote-possibilities-when-people-lived-on-st-kilda/ |url-status=live }}</ref>