Action of 23 July, 1916
A light forces action between occurred near Schouwen Bank light vessel early in the morning of 23 July, 1916.[1]
Contents
Background
Canterbury, Melpomene and Morris sighted six German destroyers at 1:48am and gamely closed the range upon seeing they'd not been detected.
After closing for 20 minutes, the British vessels opened fire at 5,000 yards. The Germans laid smoke and increase speed, fleeing despite their numerical superiority.
By 2:35am, the British felt they had been damaging and slowing the rearmost enemy destroyer, while the enemy fire seemed hampered by their own smoke. At 2:38, the British broke off the chase, and Melpomene suffered a hit while turning away.
No clear results were obtained, though Morris reported seeing at least three shells explode aboard the two rear enemy destroyers.
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Grand Fleet Gunnery and Torpedo Orders. No. 175.
Bibliography
