24th January 1915 – The Battle of Dogger Bank
The German raid on Scarborough on the 16th December 1914 had resulted in 86 dead and 424 wounded, the public outcry against this attack on civilians was huge and at the inquest the coroner remarked “Where were the Navy?” With young children among the casualties Real Admiral Franz Hipper had earned his new sobriquet “Baby Killer”. The Royal Navy waited for the German High Seas Fleet to reappear.
On the 24th January 1915, the Navy got its chance!
Naval intelligence reported that the German Battlecrusier Squadron had left its Jade Island base late the previous day. Hipper’s flagship Seydlitz was accompanied by Moltke, Derfflinger and Blucher. The 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron under the command of Admiral Sir David Beatty on his flagship The Lion, accompanied by Tiger, Princess Royal, New Zealand and HMS Indomitable sailed to intercept.
Serving on board HMS Indomitable was Stoker (2nd Class) Robert Harris, my Great Grand Father in Law.
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| Stoker 2nd Class - Robert Harris |
Contact was made with the enemy at 7.20am and a deadly pursuit began immediately. As the stern chase started the response of the engine room was magnificent, By 8.30am the British squadron were doing 26 knots, Admiral Beatty called for 27. Yet the Indomitable, commanded by Captain F.W. Kennedy, whose trail speed was just over 25 knots was keeping up. The flagship in admiration signalled “Well steamed, Indomitable” (The Great war at Sea).
At 8.52am The Lion fired at couple of ranging shots and whilst still at 20,000 yards Beatty ordered his other ships to “open fire and engage the enemy”
Like the older Blucher, Beatty’s rearmost ship, the Indomitable, was no longer able to hold the pace and was dropping astern. Moltke, Defflinger and Seydlitz all concentrated their fire on the Lion and between 10.30 and 10.50am the Lion received heavy damage and was hit 15 times. The Seydlitz and Blucher were also badly damaged, which caused the Blucher to slow to 17 knots.
At this point a submarine periscope was spotted and fearing they had been lured into a trap the British turned allowing the Germans to make a run for it, leaving the Blucher to her fate. Beatty wanted the pursuit to continue and Indomitable to finish off the Blucher by herself, but due to a signalling misunderstanding all four remaining ships concentrated their fire on the stricken Blucher.
Although the Blucher fought on valiantly to the end, her fate was sealed and she eventually sank with the loss of 792 men. 234 men were saved by the British ships but efforts to rescue more were ended when a German Seaplane attacked the scene, although no damage was done the British ships were sitting targets for further attacks and withdrew.
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| SMS Blucher Sinking |
By this time, Hipper had escaped and his ships were now too far away for the British to catch them again.
The Indomitable had fired 134 shells, hitting the Blucher 8 times and had received one direct hit, but there were no casualties on board Robert Harris' ship.
But the danger for those on-board the Indomitable was far from over. The badly damaged Lion had to be towed back to port by the Indomitable, at a maximum speed of just 10 knots, the danger of submarine attacks was great and a screen of over fifty ships was assigned to guard the two battlecruisers on their long and dangerous voyage home.
"The War Illustrated" reported on "The Naval Victory in the North Sea - Triumph of British Gunnery and Seamanship" (6th Feb 1915), the truth analysed over the last 100 years perhaps paints a different picture, the accuracy of the German fire was better and their ships were able to withstand greater damage than ours but at that time there was no doubt in the press that the "Baby Killer" had been given a bloody nose and that British Naval honour had been restored
References
The Great War at Sea, Richard Hough
The War Illustrated.
Wikipedia - The Battle of Dogger Bank
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