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Battle of Jutland

The Battle of the Heligoland (Helgoland) Bight

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British submarine patrols in the Heligoland Bight had noticed that German torpedo boats patrolled this area supported only by light cruisers in two shifts of a day and night group. Commodore Roger Keyes, commander of British submarines, formulated a plan to raid these patrols using the Harwich Force of light cruisers and destroyers under Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt.

The plan was for the Harwich Force to drive the German patrol away from the German coast at dawn by the use of British submarines split into two groups. One submarine group would intercept any German reinforcements and the other to group should act as a decoy to keep the German torpedo boats offshore. Further offshore would be some heavier British units to support the Harwich Force against any German reinforcements and ideally the Grand Fleet would be in distant support.

Keyes approached the Admiralty for approval of the plan on 23 August 1914 but the War Staff were too busy to consider the plan. Keyes, rather than giving up, went direct to the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill.

Churchill was impressed by the idea and called a meeting the following day with Tyrwhitt, Price Louis of Battenburg (the 1st Sea Lord), Vice Admiral Sturdee (Chief of the Admiralty War Staff) and Vice Admiral Sir Fredrick Hamilton (2nd Sea Lord).

Sturdee decided that is was not necessary to send the Grand Fleet in support and so the plan was changed to reduce the support to Cruiser Force C of five old armoured cruisers and Cruiser Force K with the Battlecruisers "Invincible" and "New Zealand". He also changed the direction of the attack.

Eight British submarines were involved with an inner line (the attack group) of "E4", "E5" and "E9" north and south of Heligoland to attack any reinforcing or retreating German ships. An outer line (the decoy party) of "E6", "E7" and "E8" was formed 40 miles further out and were intended to try and lure the German destroyers further out to sea. Finally "D2" and "D8" were stationed off Ems to attack any reinforcements coming from that direction.

The sweep was to take place on the 28 August 1914 with Keyes and Tyrwhitt putting to sea on the 26 and 27 August respectively. Unfortunately it was not until the 26 August that the Admiralty informed Admiral John Jellicoe (C-in-C Grand Fleet) that a major operation was planned in the North Sea, and even when they did inform him the information they sent was limited and vague.

Jellicoe was concerned by the lack of support for an operation so close to German bases and so requested that he bring the Grand Fleet out in support. Sturdee told Jellicoe that this was not necessary but if he wanted he could send additional battlecruisers. Jellicoe took this opportunity and he informed the Admiralty that he would be sending Beatty with the First Battlecruiser Squadron and Commodore Goodenough with the First Light Cruiser Squadron to reinforce the covering force. Keyes and Tyrwhitt had already sailed and the Admiralty failed to inform them of the additional British units involved in the operation.

This lack of communication from the Admiralty nearly led to disaster when before dawn the Harwich Force encountered the First Light Cruiser Squadron. Fortunately it was established the cruisers were friendly. Tyrwhitt was then informed of the reinforcements but it was too late to inform the British submarines of the new units.

Facing the British raid the German Navy had two patrol lines. The outer line, 25 miles west of Heligoland, consisted of nine modern destroyers of the I Torpedobootflotille. Twelve miles nearer Heligoland were vessels of the III Minensuchdivision. Supporting these lines were the light cruisers "Hela", "Ariadne", "Frauenlob" and "Stettin". "Mainz" was waiting off the Ems to the south but the other seven light cruisers allocated to the patrols were all in either Brunsbuttel or Wilhelmshaven. Unfortunately for the German light forces any heavier ships that might be used to reinforce the patrols were limited in the times they could leave the Jade by tides.

The first contact between the opposing forces was between the German torpedo boat "G194" and the British submarine "E9" at 05.26. "E9" fired and missed with a torpedo as "G194" attempted to ram her. "G194" reported the presence of the submarine and the V Torpedobootflotille was sent from Heligoland to hunt for submarines.

British Destroyers from the First Destroyer Flotilla sighted "G194" shortly before 06.50. "Laurel" and the other three destroyers of her division (Third Destroyer Flotilla) and a running fight to the SE started. It took some time for signals of this incident to reach Real Admiral Franz Hipper (via Read Admiral Maass in "Cöln") in Wilhelmshaven who had overall responsibility for defence of the Bight. He thought that only British destroyers were involved so ordered only the light cruisers "Stettin" and "Frauenlob" to assist but no further reinforcements were sent.

Tyrwhitt on the light cruiser "Arethusa" had become concerned that "Laurel" and her division (Third Destroyer Flotilla) were becoming detached from his force so after a failed attempt to recall them he set off after them as the German V Torpedobootflotille was arriving for their expected submarine hunt. Unfortunately this meant that the German warships had only steam for enough steam to hunt submarines and not for a fast surface battle. On finding themselves facing enemy destroyers they retreated.

The British Third Destroyer Flotilla led by "Arethusa" were getting the better of the action with the German torpedoboats "S13 and "V1" worst damaged and although heading towards the batteries on Heligoland the mists prevented the German shore based artillery from assisting. The British First Destroyer Flotilla led by the light cruiser "Fearless" was keeping a parallel course to the north but was not in range to take part in the action.

By now the pursuit had reached the second line of German ships consisting of minesweepers and "D8" was soon under fire from British forces. Fortunately for the battered German warships at 07.57 the light cruisers "Frauenlob" and "Stettin" arrived and the British changed course to engage these new more dangerous opponents.

Fearless quickly hit "Stettin" knocking out one of her guns and forcing the German cruiser to turn away towards Heligoland having successfully taken the pressure off the German destroyers. Fearless did not follow, as her orders were to continue the sweep of Heligoland Bight.

Meanwhile "Arethusa" and "Frauenlob" were engaging each other with the German cruiser gaining the upper hand over the new British warship. "Arethusa" suffered two 4-inch guns out of action through jamming and another from damage as well as suffering wireless damage and engine room flooding that would affect her speed. "Frauenlob" was also hit about ten times but the British cruiser had been forced to turn away by 08.30 at which point "Frauenlob" gave up the chase.

Meanwhile to the north west Keyes on "Lurcher" sighted cruisers in the mist and as the message of late reinforcements of Goodenough and Beatty had not reached him he reported them as enemy cruisers and started to shadow them. Later the British cruisers sighted Keyes and in return pursued him to the west where Keyes hoped to lure them into the waiting British battlecruisers. It was not until 09.50 that the confusion was cleared up.

Even further to the north west Goodenough detached the light cruisers "Nottingham" and "Lowestoft" from his squadron to reinforce the Harwich Force. The pair of cruisers ran into the German "V187" that was being pursued by British destroyers led by "Goshawk". The British light cruisers opened fire at 4000 yards and soon the German torpedo boat was brought to a halt by the fire of the British warships. The "V187" sank at about 09.10 and the British started to rescue survivors.

As this was happening "Stettin" appeared again and unintentionally interrupted the rescue operation forcing the British destroyers to leave a couple of their boats in the water as they escaped the cruiser. Later the British sailors and the German crew they were rescuing in the boats were surprised when the British submarine "E4" surfaced. The British crew were taken on board the submarine and three German prisoners were taken but there was no more room on the submarine so the remaining Germans were provided was a compass, directions to Heligoland and supplies.

By 08.55 "Fearless" had joined up with the damaged "Arethusa" which was attempted to make temporary repairs.

Further German cruisers were on their way. The old German cruiser "Hela" had been heading for the action but intercepted a radio message from "Stettin" that said that the British were withdrawing and so "Hela" returned to her patrol position. The German cruiser "Ariadne" also missed the first phase of the action and returned to her patrol position. "Cöln" and "Strassburg" were on their way from Wilhelmshaven and "Mainz" was on the way from Ems.

At 09.30 the British submarine "E6" attacked unsuccessfully "Southampton", not being aware of the presence of the British cruiser. "Southampton" returned the favour and tried and failed to ram the submarine.

Tyrwhitt in the crippled "Arethusa" was busy trying to reform his scattered destroyers and so changed course to the east to help collect them. Soon afterwards the visibility improved and Keyes and Goodenough were at last able to identify each other as friendly and clear up some of the British confusion. Tyrwhitt then decided to withdraw and headed west.

At this point German "Strassburg" attacked from the southeast but was driven off by "Fearless" and destroyers. As the destroyers were returning to screen "Arethusa", German cruiser "Cöln" appeared and was again the massed destroyers of the Harwich Force drove the cruiser off. Again "Strassburg" returned to attack "Arethusa".

The under pressure Harwich Force now requested assistance from Beatty and his battlecruisers and at 11.35 he decided to assist despite the risk of mines and torpedoes for the big ships. Meanwhile the British destroyers launched torpedo attacks on "Strassburg" and managed to drive her off but the "Mainz" was now coming into contact with some of the British destroyers.

At 11.50 Goodenough with the First Light Cruiser squadron made contact with "Mainz" and the outnumbered German cruiser fled. Unfortunately for "Mainz" she was heading into the path of the Harwich Force and she her steering was damaged by "Fearless". Destroyers then pummelled the damaged German cruiser although she did manage to damage "Laurel", "Liberty" and "Laertes" to varying degrees. "Mainz" was hit many times before the British ceased fire at 12.25 in order to rescue survivors from the ship that sank about forty minutes later.

As this was happening "Cöln" and "Strassburg" reappeared to attack "Arethusa". Faced with two German cruisers and with many of her destroyers dispersed the situation looked bad for "Arethusa". Fortunately Beatty arrived just at this point and faced with the huge battlecruisers the German light cruisers attempted to escape.

"Cöln" was rapidly hit but she was given a respite by the appearance of "Ariadne" at 13.00. The range to "Lion" was only 6000 yards and the German cruiser was rapidly hit and within fifteen minutes the British battlecruisers had disappeared into the mist leaving the burning "Ariadne" to be abandoned by her crew some of whom were rescued by "Danzig" which had been left the Jade a couple of hours earlier.

"Strassburg" managed to escape despite being seen by several British units but because the German ship had not acted aggressively she had been assumed to be British in the mist.

At 13.25 "Lion" sighted "Cöln" again and this time there was no respite for the German warship. Despite putting up a fight "Cöln" stood no chance and was sunk.

This was the last of the action. "Arethusa" made it home being towed by "Hogue".

The Battle of Heligoland Bight was a clear victory for the British, the Germans had lost three light cruisers ("Mainz", "Ariadne" and "Cöln") and a torpedo boat ("V187") and over 1200 men whilst the British had suffered no ships sunk and only 35 killed. The attack showed the inadequacy of German planning for the defence of the Bight - it took many hours before any German heavy ships could reinforce the patrols and by the time they did the British had gone. During the action the German tactics were poor and their cruisers attacked individually rather than co-ordinating their attacks allowing the British to beat them off.

SMS "Mainz"

SMS "Ariadne"

SMS "Cöln"

"V187"

SMS "Hela"

Dogger Bank 1915

Battle of Jutland 1916

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British submarine patrols in the Heligoland Bight had noticed that German torpedo boats patrolled this area supported only by light cruisers in two shifts of a day and night group. Commodore Roger Keyes, commander of British submarines, formulated a plan to raid these patrols using the Harwich Force of light cruisers and destroyers under Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt. The plan was for the Harwich Force to drive the German patrol away from the German coast at dawn by the use of British submarines split into two groups. One submarine group would intercept any German reinforcements and the other to group should act as a decoy to keep the German torpedo boats offshore. Further offshore would be some heavier British units to support the Harwich Force against any German reinforcements and ideally the Grand Fleet would be in distant support. Keyes approached the Admiralty for approval of the plan on 23 August 1914 but the War Staff were too busy to consider the plan. Keyes, rather than giving up, went direct to the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. Churchill was impressed by the idea and called a meeting the following day with Tyrwhitt, Price Louis of Battenburg (the 1st Sea Lord), Vice Admiral Sturdee (Chief of the Admiralty War Staff) and Vice Admiral Sir Fredrick Hamilton (2nd Sea Lord). Sturdee decided that is was not necessary to send the Grand Fleet in support and so the plan was changed to reduce the support to Cruiser Force C of five old armoured cruisers and Cruiser Force K with the Battlecruisers "Invincible" and "New Zealand". He also changed the direction of the attack. Eight British submarines were involved with an inner line (the attack group) of "E4", "E5" and "E9" north and south of Heligoland to attack any reinforcing or retreating German ships. An outer line (the decoy party) of "E6", "E7" and "E8" was formed 40 miles further out and were intended to try and lure the German destroyers further out to sea. Finally "D2" and "D8" were stationed off Ems to attack any reinforcements coming from that direction. The sweep was to take place on the 28 August 1914 with Keyes and Tyrwhitt putting to sea on the 26 and 27 August respectively. Unfortunately it was not until the 26 August that the Admiralty informed Admiral John Jellicoe (C-in-C Grand Fleet) that a major operation was planned in the North Sea, and even when they did inform him the information they sent was limited and vague. Jellicoe was concerned by the lack of support for an operation so close to German bases and so requested that he bring the Grand Fleet out in support. Sturdee told Jellicoe that this was not necessary but if he wanted he could send additional battlecruisers. Jellicoe took this opportunity and he informed the Admiralty that he would be sending Beatty with the First Battlecruiser Squadron and Commodore Goodenough with the First Light Cruiser Squadron to reinforce the covering force. Keyes and Tyrwhitt had already sailed and the Admiralty failed to inform them of the additional British units involved in the operation. This lack of communication from the Admiralty nearly led to disaster when before dawn the Harwich Force encountered the First Light Cruiser Squadron. Fortunately it was established the cruisers were friendly. Tyrwhitt was then informed of the reinforcements but it was too late to inform the British submarines of the new units. Facing the British raid the German Navy had two patrol lines. The outer line, 25 miles west of Heligoland, consisted of nine modern destroyers of the I Torpedobootflotille. Twelve miles nearer Heligoland were vessels of the III Minensuchdivision. Supporting these lines were the light cruisers "Hela", "Ariadne", "Frauenlob" and "Stettin". "Mainz" was waiting off the Ems to the south but the other seven light cruisers allocated to the patrols were all in either Brunsbuttel or Wilhelmshaven. Unfortunately for the German light forces any heavier ships that might be used to reinforce the patrols were limited in the times they could leave the Jade by tides. The first contact between the opposing forces was between the German torpedo boat "G194" and the British submarine "E9" at 05.26. "E9" fired and missed with a torpedo as "G194" attempted to ram her. "G194" reported the presence of the submarine and the V Torpedobootflotille was sent from Heligoland to hunt for submarines. British Destroyers from the First Destroyer Flotilla sighted "G194" shortly before 06.50. "Laurel" and the other three destroyers of her division (Third Destroyer Flotilla) and a running fight to the SE started. It took some time for signals of this incident to reach Real Admiral Franz Hipper (via Read Admiral Maass in "Cöln") in Wilhelmshaven who had overall responsibility for defence of the Bight. He thought that only British destroyers were involved so ordered only the light cruisers "Stettin" and "Frauenlob" to assist but no further reinforcements were sent. Tyrwhitt on the light cruiser "Arethusa" had become concerned that "Laurel" and her division (Third Destroyer Flotilla) were becoming detached from his force so after a failed attempt to recall them he set off after them as the German V Torpedobootflotille was arriving for their expected submarine hunt. Unfortunately this meant that the German warships had only steam for enough steam to hunt submarines and not for a fast surface battle. On finding themselves facing enemy destroyers they retreated. The British Third Destroyer Flotilla led by "Arethusa" were getting the better of the action with the German torpedoboats "S13 and "V1" worst damaged and although heading towards the batteries on Heligoland the mists prevented the German shore based artillery from assisting. The British First Destroyer Flotilla led by the light cruiser "Fearless" was keeping a parallel course to the north but was not in range to take part in the action. By now the pursuit had reached the second line of German ships consisting of minesweepers and "D8" was soon under fire from British forces. Fortunately for the battered German warships at 07.57 the light cruisers "Frauenlob" and "Stettin" arrived and the British changed course to engage these new more dangerous opponents. Fearless quickly hit "Stettin" knocking out one of her guns and forcing the German cruiser to turn away towards Heligoland having successfully taken the pressure off the German destroyers. Fearless did not follow, as her orders were to continue the sweep of Heligoland Bight. Meanwhile "Arethusa" and "Frauenlob" were engaging each other with the German cruiser gaining the upper hand over the new British warship. "Arethusa" suffered two 4-inch guns out of action through jamming and another from damage as well as suffering wireless damage and engine room flooding that would affect her speed. "Frauenlob" was also hit about ten times but the British cruiser had been forced to turn away by 08.30 at which point "Frauenlob" gave up the chase. Meanwhile to the north west Keyes on "Lurcher" sighted cruisers in the mist and as the message of late reinforcements of Goodenough and Beatty had not reached him he reported them as enemy cruisers and started to shadow them. Later the British cruisers sighted Keyes and in return pursued him to the west where Keyes hoped to lure them into the waiting British battlecruisers. It was not until 09.50 that the confusion was cleared up. Even further to the north west Goodenough detached the light cruisers "Nottingham" and "Lowestoft" from his squadron to reinforce the Harwich Force. The pair of cruisers ran into the German "V187" that was being pursued by British destroyers led by "Goshawk". The British light cruisers opened fire at 4000 yards and soon the German torpedo boat was brought to a halt by the fire of the British warships. The "V187" sank at about 09.10 and the British started to rescue survivors. As this was happening "Stettin" appeared again and unintentionally interrupted the rescue operation forcing the British destroyers to leave a couple of their boats in the water as they escaped the cruiser. Later the British sailors and the German crew they were rescuing in the boats were surprised when the British submarine "E4" surfaced. The British crew were taken on board the submarine and three German prisoners were taken but there was no more room on the submarine so the remaining Germans were provided was a compass, directions to Heligoland and supplies. By 08.55 "Fearless" had joined up with the damaged "Arethusa" which was attempted to make temporary repairs. Further German cruisers were on their way. The old German cruiser "Hela" had been heading for the action but intercepted a radio message from "Stettin" that said that the British were withdrawing and so "Hela" returned to her patrol position. The German cruiser "Ariadne" also missed the first phase of the action and returned to her patrol position. "Cöln" and "Strassburg" were on their way from Wilhelmshaven and "Mainz" was on the way from Ems. At 09.30 the British submarine "E6" attacked unsuccessfully "Southampton", not being aware of the presence of the British cruiser. "Southampton" returned the favour and tried and failed to ram the submarine. Tyrwhitt in the crippled "Arethusa" was busy trying to reform his scattered destroyers and so changed course to the east to help collect them. Soon afterwards the visibility improved and Keyes and Goodenough were at last able to identify each other as friendly and clear up some of the British confusion. Tyrwhitt then decided to withdraw and headed west. At this point German "Strassburg" attacked from the southeast but was driven off by "Fearless" and destroyers. As the destroyers were returning to screen "Arethusa", German cruiser "Cöln" appeared and was again the massed destroyers of the Harwich Force drove the cruiser off. Again "Strassburg" returned to attack "Arethusa". The under pressure Harwich Force now requested assistance from Beatty and his battlecruisers and at 11.35 he decided to assist despite the risk of mines and torpedoes for the big ships. Meanwhile the British destroyers launched torpedo attacks on "Strassburg" and managed to drive her off but the "Mainz" was now coming into contact with some of the British destroyers. At 11.50 Goodenough with the First Light Cruiser squadron made contact with "Mainz" and the outnumbered German cruiser fled. Unfortunately for "Mainz" she was heading into the path of the Harwich Force and she her steering was damaged by "Fearless". Destroyers then pummelled the damaged German cruiser although she did manage to damage "Laurel", "Liberty" and "Laertes" to varying degrees. "Mainz" was hit many times before the British ceased fire at 12.25 in order to rescue survivors from the ship that sank about forty minutes later. As this was happening "Cöln" and "Strassburg" reappeared to attack "Arethusa". Faced with two German cruisers and with many of her destroyers dispersed the situation looked bad for "Arethusa". Fortunately Beatty arrived just at this point and faced with the huge battlecruisers the German light cruisers attempted to escape. "Cöln" was rapidly hit but she was given a respite by the appearance of "Ariadne" at 13.00. The range to "Lion" was only 6000 yards and the German cruiser was rapidly hit and within fifteen minutes the British battlecruisers had disappeared into the mist leaving the burning "Ariadne" to be abandoned by her crew some of whom were rescued by "Danzig" which had been left the Jade a couple of hours earlier. "Strassburg" managed to escape despite being seen by several British units but because the German ship had not acted aggressively she had been assumed to be British in the mist. At 13.25 "Lion" sighted "Cöln" again and this time there was no respite for the German warship. Despite putting up a fight "Cöln" stood no chance and was sunk. This was the last of the action. "Arethusa" made it home being towed by "Hogue". The Battle of Heligoland Bight was a clear victory for the British, the Germans had lost three light cruisers ("Mainz", "Ariadne" and "Cöln") and a torpedo boat ("V187") and over 1200 men whilst the British had suffered no ships sunk and only 35 killed. The attack showed the inadequacy of German planning for the defence of the Bight - it took many hours before any German heavy ships could reinforce the patrols and by the time they did the British had gone. During the action the German tactics were poor and their cruisers attacked individually rather than co-ordinating their attacks allowing the British to beat them off.	*SMS "Mainz"* *SMS "Ariadne"* *SMS "Cöln"* *"V187"* *SMS "Hela"* *Dogger Bank 1915* Battle of Jutland *1916*
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