Battle of Heligoland Bight: Difference between revisions
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==British Torpedo Analysis== | ==British Torpedo Analysis== | ||
The Royal Navy quantised its use of torpedoes during the action thusly. | The Royal Navy quantised its use of torpedoes during the action thusly.{{ARTS1915|pp. 22-23}} | ||
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Revision as of 18:17, 22 February 2017
The Battle of Heligoland Bight was the first naval action of Great War, fought on 28 August 1914 near the island of Heligoland near the main German naval base at Wilhelmshaven.
Background
In the early weeks of the Great War it was known to the British that the German High Sea Fleet was based in its North Sea ports. On 16 August the British Grand Fleet, supported by Cruiser Force C and the Harwich flotillas, had performed a sweep to within 40 miles of Heligoland, but had not encountered any German shipping. Another sweep was proposed to the Admiralty by three different authorities: On 18 August the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet, Admiral Sir John R. Jellicoe, proposed: "a sweep in force at dawn on August 24th, to within 30 miles of Heligoland, the flotillas leading, covered by cruisers with the battle fleet supporting, and submarines keeping east of longitude 7° 40' E and south of 54° N." Rear-Admiral Arthur H. Christian, commanding a "combined force" based at Harwich, proposed at the same time a sweep to the eastward commencing on a line from Terschelling.
British Torpedo Analysis
The Royal Navy quantised its use of torpedoes during the action thusly.[1]
| Fired at Cöln, judged collectively to have 95.8% chance of a hit | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Firing Ship | Range (yds) | Enemy Speed (knots) | Inclination | Result |
| 11:30am | Lennox | 3,000 | 20 | 150 | — |
| 11:45am | Legion | 5,000 | 20 | 90L | — |
| 9:11am | Liberty | 6,000 | 20 | 90L | — |
| 1:00pm | New Zealand | 4,000 | 0 | — | Hit amidships |
| 1:15pm | New Zealand | 5,000 | very slow | — | Ran under |
The claimed "miss under" to New Zealand might be due to the torpedoes being set for 18 feet depth and Koln having a draught of 17.75 feet.
| Fired at "4 funnel light cruiser" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Firing Ship | Range (yds) | Enemy Speed (knots) | Inclination | Result |
| 11:00am | Lance | 4-5,000 | 15 | 70L | Missed ahead? |
| 11:00am | Lysander | 6,000 | 17 | 110L | — |
| Forenoon | Lark | 6,000 | — | 90R | — |
| 11:30am | Acheron x two | 4,500 | — | 93L | Target avoided by turning |
| Archer | 4,500 | 20 | 113L | ||
| Attack x two | 5,000 | — | 113L | ||
| — | Hind x two | 4,500 | 22 | 110R | |
| Noon | Lookout x two | 5,000 | 20 | 90R | — |
| Fired at Mainz | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Firing Ship | Range (yds) | Enemy Speed (knots) | Inclination | Notes/Result |
| — | Fearless | 5,000 | 21 | 90R | — |
| — | Fearless | 7,000 | 21 | 135R | — |
| — | Defender | 4,500 | 27 | 110R | Believed hit |
| 9:11am | Liberty | 5,000 | 20 | 90L | — |
| 9:11am | Liberty | 5,000 | 20 | 90L | — |
| 9:11am | Linnet | 3,500 | 0 | — | Hit abaft fore funnel |
| 10:30am | Ferret | 5,000 | 25 | source incomprehensible |
target turned |
| 10:30am | Laforey | 5,000 | 10 | 130R | — |
| — | Laforey | 5,000 | 10 | 130R | hit port quarter[2] |
| 10:43am | Laertes | 3,500 | 17 | 120L | H.S., Hit near fore funnel |
| 11:00am | Lydiard | 4,500 | 12 | 90R | H.S., hit tween funnels 2&3 |
| 11:20am | Lance | 3,500/ 4,000 |
18-20 | 45L | — |
| 11:45am | Lysander | 4,500 | 20 | 110L | — |
| 11:45am | Lysander | 4,500 | 20 | 110L | hit engine room |
| 11:45am | Southampton | 8,500 | 0 | — | — |
| 11:56am | Ariel | 6,000 | 18 | 140L | Target turned |
| Noon | Lark | 4,000 | Not stated | 90R | — |
| Noon | Lark | 3,000 | Not stated | 90R | hit Stb quarter |
| Noon | Landrail | 5,000 | 6 | 100L | Believed hit |
| Noon | Landrail | 5,000 | 6 | 100L | Believed hit |
| 12:15pm | Legion | 5,500 | 22 | 90L | Hit near fore funnel |
| 12:15pm | Falmouth | 4,000 | 20 | 110L | — |
| 12:20pm | Falmouth | 5,000 | 10 | 90L | Believed hit |
| 1:00pm | Laurel | 800 | 20 | 135R | Hit under main mast |
| Firings at other targets | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Firing Ship | Range (yds) | Enemy Speed (knots) | Inclination | Target/Result | |
| 7:45am | Lance | 3,500/ 4,000 |
18 | 100R | Ariadne, unclear | |
| 7:45am | Lydiard | 6,000 | 15 | 110L | Frauenlob, unlikely | |
| 8:00am | Ferret | 5,000 | 20 | 90R | 2-funnel L.C. turned | |
| 8:30am | Arethusa | 2,500 | 12 | 93L | Frauenlob hit, H.S. setting | |
| 8:30am | Arethusa | 2,500 | 12 | 93L | missed 50 yards astern, H.S. setting | |
| 9:11am | Linnet | 14,000 | too far away to say | |||
| Forenoon | Lark | 5,000 | — | 90R | Ariadne, unsure | |
| 11:19am | Phoenix | 4,000 | 20 | 90R | Light cruiser, unsure | |
Honours
By Admiralty Order, each ship that was engaged in the action was to have the words "Heligoland, August 28th, 1914" painted on her in gold letters "in some convenient place." Additionally, H.M.S. Arethusa was to have a two stanza verse engraved on a brass plate.[3]
See Also
Footnotes
Bibliography
- Corbett, Sir Julian S. (1921). Naval Operations. Volume II. London: Longmans, Green and Co..
- Goldrick, James (1984). The King's Ships Were At Sea: The War in the North Sea August 1914–February 1916. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-334-2.
- Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division (1921). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Fleet Issue. Volume III. Monograph 6.—Passage of the British Expeditionary Force, August, 1914. Monograph 7.—The Patrol Flotillas at the Commencement of the War. Monograph 11.—The Battle of Heligoland Bight, August 28th, 1914. Monograph 8.—Naval Operations Connected with the Raid on the North-East Coast, December 16th, 1914. Monograph 12:—The Action of Dogger Bank, January 24th, 1915. O.U. 6181 (late C.B. 1585.). Copy No. 127 at The National Archives. ADM 186/610.
