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Battle of Heligoland Bight
On August 28, 1914, World War I spreads from land to sea when the first major naval battle of the conflict breaks out between British and German ships in the North Sea, near the northern coast of Germany.
The battle occurred in a partially enclosed body of water known as Heligoland Bight, which was used to shelter several bases of the German High Seas Fleet and also offered a good starting-off point for attacks against the British Isles. The German fleet had rarely ventured far from port, however, when British commander Reginald Tyrwhitt was given the task of leading a small fleet of British ships, including two light cruisers,Fearless and Arethusa, and a number of destroyers, into the bight in order to lure German ships to chase them out to sea, where a larger British force, commanded by Vice Admiral Sir David Beatty, would be waiting to confront them.
Around seven o’clock on the morning of August 28, 1914, Tyrwhitt’s squadron began the operation by sinking two German torpedo boats. As the British attack had not caught the German fleet entirely by surprise, its defense was ready, and Tyrwhitt soon found his men outgunned by a German force, including six light cruisers, who used the thick fog hanging over the bight to partially conceal themselves and fire unexpectedly on the British ships. At 11: 25 am, Tyrwhitt called on Beatty for immediate assistance; Beatty’s First Battle Cruiser Squadron rushed to his aid from some 40 kilometers away, reaching the bight at 12:40 pm. The powerful British squadron subsequently sank three German cruisers and damaged three more, causing a total of 1,200 German casualties. Britain, on the other hand, lost only 35 sailors, and all of their ships remained afloat.
“Everybody quite mad with delight at the success of our first naval venture,” Beatty wrote to his wife of the conclusion of the Battle of Heligoland Bight. On the other side, the early defeat of the German High Seas Fleet by the mighty Royal Navy did much to intimidate Germany at sea at the outset of the war; Kaiser Wilhelm, for one, concluded that the navy should be kept off the open seas, as its best use was as a defensive weapon. As the war continued, Germany’s greatest weapon at sea would not be its light cruisers but its lethal U-boat submarine. Used to deadly effect against enemy (and neutral) shipping interests, the success of the German U-boats would provoke at least one previously neutral great power—the United States—into entering World War I against Germany.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-heligoland-bight
http://navymuseum.co.nz/worldwar1/battles-operations/battle-of-heligoland-bight/
http://www.britishbattles.com/firstww/battle-heligoland-bight.htm
@ col mikel COL Mikel J. Burroughs @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen C. @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen F. @ ltc frank LTC (Join to see) @ ltc john LTC John Mohor @ ltc bill LTC Bill Koski @ maj william Maj William W. "Bill" Price @ maj stephen LTC (Join to see) @ capt marty Maj Marty Hogan @ smsgt doc SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas @ tsgt joe TSgt Joe C. @ sra christopher SrA Christopher Wright @ msg andrew MSG Andrew White @ sfc mary SFC (Join to see) @ ssg pete SSG Pete Fleming @ sgt david SGT (Join to see) @ sgt david SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth @ sp5 mark SP5 Mark Kuzinski @ SCPO Morris Ramsey PO3 Michael James
On August 28, 1914, World War I spreads from land to sea when the first major naval battle of the conflict breaks out between British and German ships in the North Sea, near the northern coast of Germany.
The battle occurred in a partially enclosed body of water known as Heligoland Bight, which was used to shelter several bases of the German High Seas Fleet and also offered a good starting-off point for attacks against the British Isles. The German fleet had rarely ventured far from port, however, when British commander Reginald Tyrwhitt was given the task of leading a small fleet of British ships, including two light cruisers,Fearless and Arethusa, and a number of destroyers, into the bight in order to lure German ships to chase them out to sea, where a larger British force, commanded by Vice Admiral Sir David Beatty, would be waiting to confront them.
Around seven o’clock on the morning of August 28, 1914, Tyrwhitt’s squadron began the operation by sinking two German torpedo boats. As the British attack had not caught the German fleet entirely by surprise, its defense was ready, and Tyrwhitt soon found his men outgunned by a German force, including six light cruisers, who used the thick fog hanging over the bight to partially conceal themselves and fire unexpectedly on the British ships. At 11: 25 am, Tyrwhitt called on Beatty for immediate assistance; Beatty’s First Battle Cruiser Squadron rushed to his aid from some 40 kilometers away, reaching the bight at 12:40 pm. The powerful British squadron subsequently sank three German cruisers and damaged three more, causing a total of 1,200 German casualties. Britain, on the other hand, lost only 35 sailors, and all of their ships remained afloat.
“Everybody quite mad with delight at the success of our first naval venture,” Beatty wrote to his wife of the conclusion of the Battle of Heligoland Bight. On the other side, the early defeat of the German High Seas Fleet by the mighty Royal Navy did much to intimidate Germany at sea at the outset of the war; Kaiser Wilhelm, for one, concluded that the navy should be kept off the open seas, as its best use was as a defensive weapon. As the war continued, Germany’s greatest weapon at sea would not be its light cruisers but its lethal U-boat submarine. Used to deadly effect against enemy (and neutral) shipping interests, the success of the German U-boats would provoke at least one previously neutral great power—the United States—into entering World War I against Germany.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-heligoland-bight
http://navymuseum.co.nz/worldwar1/battles-operations/battle-of-heligoland-bight/
http://www.britishbattles.com/firstww/battle-heligoland-bight.htm
@ col mikel COL Mikel J. Burroughs @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen C. @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen F. @ ltc frank LTC (Join to see) @ ltc john LTC John Mohor @ ltc bill LTC Bill Koski @ maj william Maj William W. "Bill" Price @ maj stephen LTC (Join to see) @ capt marty Maj Marty Hogan @ smsgt doc SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas @ tsgt joe TSgt Joe C. @ sra christopher SrA Christopher Wright @ msg andrew MSG Andrew White @ sfc mary SFC (Join to see) @ ssg pete SSG Pete Fleming @ sgt david SGT (Join to see) @ sgt david SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth @ sp5 mark SP5 Mark Kuzinski @ SCPO Morris Ramsey PO3 Michael James
WWI
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England
Posted 7 y ago
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Thanks SGT John " Mac " McConnell for reminding us about the first major Atlantic Ocean naval battle of the 20th century which is the Battle of Heligoland Bight.
Of course my claim considers the other prior naval engagements of the 20th century :-)
This was the first war where photography was [possible to capture military engagements.
1904 February 9 Chemulpo - Russian cruiser Varyag (1899) scuttled
February 9 Port Arthur
August 10 Yellow Sea - Minor Japanese victory over Russia
August 14 Japanese Sea (Ulsan) - Minor Japanese victory over Russia
October 4–5 Dogger Bank incident - Russian fleet fires on British trawlers that have been mistaken for Japanese torpedo-boats
1905 May 27–28 Tsushima - Japanese defeat Russians in large fleet battle between Korea and Japan
1911 September 29–30 Preveza - Italians defeat Ottomans
1912 January 7 Kunfuda Bay - Italians defeat Ottomans
1912 February 24 Beirut - Italians defeat Ottomans
1912 November 21 Kaliakra - Bulgarians defeat Ottoman fleet
1912 December 3 Elli - Greeks defeat Ottoman fleet
1913 January 18 Lemnos - Greeks defeat Ottoman fleet
Images: 1914-08-28 sinking of the German light cruiser SMS Mainz during the Battle of Heligoland Bight; 1914-08-28 HMS New Zealand during the battle of Heligoland Bight; 1914-08-28 SMS Coln; 1914-08-28 Battle of Heligoland Bight main action diagram
"1st Battle of Heligoland Bight - August 1914
The First Battle of Heligoland Bight was the first naval battle of the First World War, fought on 28 August 1914, after the British planned to attack German patrols off the northwest German coast.
The Germans were using flotillas of destroyers to patrol the Bight, but British submarines had figured out the times and courses used when the patrols changed. After several embarrassing incidents at sea, including a destroyer attack on a friendly steamer and one engagement where a single German light cruiser has put a British light cruiser and 16 destroyers into full flight, the British decided it was time to take the offensive.
The British planned to use three surfaced submarines to pull the German patrol flotilla further out to sea, which would deplete their fuel and delay their return to base. Then the 31 destroyers based at Harwich, led by the light cruisers Arethusa and Fearless, and commanded by Commodore Tyrwhitt, would sneak into the Bight at dawn and chase back the out coming German patrol. They would then be in position to destroy the incoming patrol, which would be short of fuel with the British forces between themselves and their base. The German heavy units would not be able to assist the patrols, as the tide would not allow the German heavies to clear the sandbar until 1 PM. Six light cruisers of Commodore Goodenough's command would follow the destroyer flotillas into the Bight and assist.
Six of Commodore Keyes' submarines would be stationed to intercept any ships that did leave the Jade, and the battlecruisers Invincible and New Zealand would stand by in the Humber as support, should they be needed. Keyes suggested that further BC support should come from Jellicoe, but the Admiralty rejected that idea.
But a sudden need to transport 3000 Royal Marines cross-channel made the Admiralty change their minds, and they instructed Jellicoe to send assistance.
Jellicoe offered to send three battlecruisers (Lion, Princess Royal, and Queen Mary) and six light cruisers under Beatty as further support, to destroy German light cruisers that patrolled the Elbe and Ems river estuaries, should they come to the assistance of the trapped German patrol or threaten the cross-channel movement.
The plan sounded great on paper, but the telegrams informing Tyrwhitt and Keyes of Beatty's intentions did not arrive, and no one told Beatty where Keyes' submarines were. Due to radio silence, no messages could be sent, so Beatty and Tyrwhitt's forces had some tense moments when the two groups met in the early morning. Fatal mistakes were avoided on the surface, but there was a fair chance that Beatty's battlecruiser would be torpedoed by their own subs, as it was assumed that any large ships sighted would be German.
The German guessed that a British attack was coming about the time Tyrwhitt's forces sailed south to put the end of the German line 12 miles off their port beam, thanks to excessive wireless traffic from the British ships. Light cruisers and torpedo boats were dispatched to intercept.
The British group sighted two groups of German destroyers, one off each side of the bow. The outnumbered Germans turned for home, with the British giving chase. The British ran into the light cruiser Stettin, which mixed it up for 25 minutes with Arethusa, in a high-speed running battle to the South. Soon the light cruiser Frauenlob joined in, and at short range hammered the British ship. The Germans turned away at the edge of their patrol zone, leaving Arethusa with only one operational gun, three feet of water in the engine room, and her wireless out of action. Fearless came alongside, and Tyrwhitt transferred his flag while attempting to assemble his scattered destroyers.
The British resumed their Westerly course to roll up the German line. They first ran into the destroyer V 187, which avoided Arethusa and Fearless but ran into two of Goodenough's light cruisers. V 187 tried to avoid them, but turned into 4 British destroyers and was sunk with heavy loss of life. The British stopped to pick up survivors, but the German cruiser Stettin re-appeared and the fight resumed. Two boats belonging to HMS Defender were left behind, and their crews and the rescued Germans were later picked up by the submarine E4. Unable to take all of them on board, E4's captain took a few German prisoners and left the rest the boats, water, biscuits, a compass, and the course to steer back to their base.
The British forces tried to track down the German forces in the Bight, but Keyes sighted Goodenough's forces and reported them as the enemy. Goodenough realized the danger, and withdrew his ships to avoid a friendly fire incident.
The British forces stormed about, chasing the shadowy ghosts they sighted through the mists, but ended up just chasing each other while the Germans escaped. By 1010 hours, Arethusa was underway at a maximum speed of 10 knots, with no assurance that she would get home. In exchange, the British had sunk only one German destroyer, hardly the results they anticipated. The British destroyers turned for home per the plan, with the light cruisers covering their withdrawal.
The German battlecruiser were penned behind the sand bar, but light cruisers were coming out to meet the British. The light cruiser Strassburg engaged the British destroyers, and a wireless call from Fearless led to Goodenough's cruisers swooping in to drive her off. The light cruiser Mainz appeared next, but a trick of the light caused the British to mistake her for a much larger armored cruiser, the type used to scout for the High Sea Fleet. Thinking that he was about to be jumped by the German battlecruisers, Tyrwhitt wired to Beatty "Respectfully request that I may be supported. Am hard pressed."
Beatty charged in to save the light forces, ignoring the danger presented by his own submarines, because the glassy calm waters made spotting an attacking submarine fairly easy. The destroyers were ordered to return to the Bight, and some were soon in action against the Mainz. For 15 minutes neither side scored any hits, but at 1150 they closed to ultra-short range. The destroyers Laurel and Liberty were badly damaged.
Mainz then turned on Goodenough's light cruisers, probably mistaking them for more destroyers in the mist, but soon had her rudder disabled by a shell hit. As she circled, she was struck by a torpedo and lost speed rapidly. Surrounded by British destroyers and cruisers, Mainz continued to fight until only one gun remained, and her captain ordered her scuttled. But before the order was passed on, the British battlecruisers appeared, guns blazing at the cruiser. Mainz opened up with her one gun, and was torn apart by Lion, Princess Royal, Queen Mary, New Zealand, and Invincible.
Mainz was ordered abandoned, and as she sank the British destroyer Lurcher came alongside so German sailors could jump on her quarterdeck. Mainz slipped beneath the waves at 1310. One of the survivors was Lieutenant von Tirpitz, son of the German Minister of Marine. Word of his capture and safety was passed to the German Admiral in a personal message from Churchill, via the Red Cross.
Meanwhile, the British battlecruisers ran into other German light cruisers. Two salvos from Lion disabled Koln. Ariadne appeared out of the mist, and was blasted by salvos from the British battlecruisers. She caught fire and staggered back into the fog, to sink two hours later. The BCs then turned their attention back to Koln, and while steaming slowly in circles hammered the little cruiser to pieces. Of her crew of 380, only a handful abandoned ship, and only one of them survived to be rescued 76 hours later.
At around 1310 Beatty considered his position: he had sunk Koln and Mainz, and Ariedne was sinking. But British forces were scattered, Arethusa might sink, there were a number of German torpedo-carrying ships scattered in the fog, and the raising tide would have let the German battlecruisers out of the Jade an hour before. It was time to go. The recall order was sent out, and the British ships began to exit the Bight.
This was a wise chose, for the German battlecruisers Seydlitz, Moltke, and Von der Tann had left the Jade and would arrive around 1500 hours. They would join the light cruisers Stralsund, Strassburg, Stettin, Frauenlob, Kolberg, Danzig, and Hela in an attempt to round up any stray British cruisers or destroyers.
Arethusa's engines finally gave out about 1500, but she made port in tow of the armored cruiser Hogue.
The final cost was 35 British killed and 40 wounded, to German losses of over 1000 killed, wounded, or captured, having lost three light cruisers and a destroyer.
The British made much of their victory, their first real success in the war at sea. But there success was mostly just luck.
The Kaiser decided to take more steps to protect his precious High Seas Fleet, so the aggressive patrols were stopped and the Bight was mined. "
ORDER OF BATTLE :-
British
First Battlecruiser Squadron
Lion (Vice-Admiral Beatty)
Queen Mary
Princess Royal
Cruiser Force K
Invincible (Rear-Admiral Moore)
New Zealand
Destroyers detached from First Destroyer Flotilla
Badger
Beaver
Jackal
Sandfly
Cruiser Force C (Seventh Cruiser Squadron)
Euryalus (Rear-Admiral Christian)
Bacchante
Cressy
Hogue
Aboukir
Amethyst
First Light Cruiser Squadron
Southampton (Commodore Goodenough)
Birmingham
Falmouth
Nottingham
Lowestoft
Liverpool
Harwich Force
Third Destroyer Flotilla
Arethusa (Commodore Tyrwhitt) (Light Cruiser)
Laurel
Liberty
Lysander
Laertes
Laforey
Lawford
Louis
Lydiard
Lark
Lance
Linnet
Landrail
Lookout
Leonidas
Legion
Lennox
First Destroyer Flotilla
Fearless (Captain Blunt)(Light Cruiser)
Goshawk
Lizard
Phoenix
Lapwing
Ferret
Forester
Defender
Druid
Ariel
Lucifer
Llewellyn
Acheron
Attack
Hind
Archer
Submarine Flotilla
Lurcher (Commodore Keyes) (Destroyer)
Firedrake (Destroyer)
E4
E5
E6
E7
E8
E9
D2
D8
German
Outer Patrol Line
I Torpedo Boat Flotilla
V187 (Commander Wallis)
V188
V189
V190
V191
G197
G196
G193
G194
G192 and G195 were also part of this flotilla but not present at the time of the Battle of Heligoland Bight.
Inner Patrol Line
III Minesweeping Division
D8 (Lieutenant-Commander Wolfram)
T25
T29
T31
T33
T34
T35
T36
T37
T49
T71
S73
Supporting Light Cruisers
Ariadne
Stettin
Frauenlob
Hela
Reinforcement
V Torpedo Boat Flotilla
G12 (Commander von dem Knesebeck)
V1
V2
V3
V6
S13
G7
G9
G10
G11
G8 was also part of this flotilla but not thought to be present at the time of the Battle of Heligoland Bight.
Light Cruisers allocated to the Patrol
Cöln (Rear Admiral Maass)
Mainz
Strassburg
Stralsund
Kolberg
Danzig
München
http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12530
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown CW5 (Join to see) SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT MSG Andrew White SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright Cpl Joshua Caldwell PO1 John Miller PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO3 Steven Sherrill
Of course my claim considers the other prior naval engagements of the 20th century :-)
This was the first war where photography was [possible to capture military engagements.
1904 February 9 Chemulpo - Russian cruiser Varyag (1899) scuttled
February 9 Port Arthur
August 10 Yellow Sea - Minor Japanese victory over Russia
August 14 Japanese Sea (Ulsan) - Minor Japanese victory over Russia
October 4–5 Dogger Bank incident - Russian fleet fires on British trawlers that have been mistaken for Japanese torpedo-boats
1905 May 27–28 Tsushima - Japanese defeat Russians in large fleet battle between Korea and Japan
1911 September 29–30 Preveza - Italians defeat Ottomans
1912 January 7 Kunfuda Bay - Italians defeat Ottomans
1912 February 24 Beirut - Italians defeat Ottomans
1912 November 21 Kaliakra - Bulgarians defeat Ottoman fleet
1912 December 3 Elli - Greeks defeat Ottoman fleet
1913 January 18 Lemnos - Greeks defeat Ottoman fleet
Images: 1914-08-28 sinking of the German light cruiser SMS Mainz during the Battle of Heligoland Bight; 1914-08-28 HMS New Zealand during the battle of Heligoland Bight; 1914-08-28 SMS Coln; 1914-08-28 Battle of Heligoland Bight main action diagram
"1st Battle of Heligoland Bight - August 1914
The First Battle of Heligoland Bight was the first naval battle of the First World War, fought on 28 August 1914, after the British planned to attack German patrols off the northwest German coast.
The Germans were using flotillas of destroyers to patrol the Bight, but British submarines had figured out the times and courses used when the patrols changed. After several embarrassing incidents at sea, including a destroyer attack on a friendly steamer and one engagement where a single German light cruiser has put a British light cruiser and 16 destroyers into full flight, the British decided it was time to take the offensive.
The British planned to use three surfaced submarines to pull the German patrol flotilla further out to sea, which would deplete their fuel and delay their return to base. Then the 31 destroyers based at Harwich, led by the light cruisers Arethusa and Fearless, and commanded by Commodore Tyrwhitt, would sneak into the Bight at dawn and chase back the out coming German patrol. They would then be in position to destroy the incoming patrol, which would be short of fuel with the British forces between themselves and their base. The German heavy units would not be able to assist the patrols, as the tide would not allow the German heavies to clear the sandbar until 1 PM. Six light cruisers of Commodore Goodenough's command would follow the destroyer flotillas into the Bight and assist.
Six of Commodore Keyes' submarines would be stationed to intercept any ships that did leave the Jade, and the battlecruisers Invincible and New Zealand would stand by in the Humber as support, should they be needed. Keyes suggested that further BC support should come from Jellicoe, but the Admiralty rejected that idea.
But a sudden need to transport 3000 Royal Marines cross-channel made the Admiralty change their minds, and they instructed Jellicoe to send assistance.
Jellicoe offered to send three battlecruisers (Lion, Princess Royal, and Queen Mary) and six light cruisers under Beatty as further support, to destroy German light cruisers that patrolled the Elbe and Ems river estuaries, should they come to the assistance of the trapped German patrol or threaten the cross-channel movement.
The plan sounded great on paper, but the telegrams informing Tyrwhitt and Keyes of Beatty's intentions did not arrive, and no one told Beatty where Keyes' submarines were. Due to radio silence, no messages could be sent, so Beatty and Tyrwhitt's forces had some tense moments when the two groups met in the early morning. Fatal mistakes were avoided on the surface, but there was a fair chance that Beatty's battlecruiser would be torpedoed by their own subs, as it was assumed that any large ships sighted would be German.
The German guessed that a British attack was coming about the time Tyrwhitt's forces sailed south to put the end of the German line 12 miles off their port beam, thanks to excessive wireless traffic from the British ships. Light cruisers and torpedo boats were dispatched to intercept.
The British group sighted two groups of German destroyers, one off each side of the bow. The outnumbered Germans turned for home, with the British giving chase. The British ran into the light cruiser Stettin, which mixed it up for 25 minutes with Arethusa, in a high-speed running battle to the South. Soon the light cruiser Frauenlob joined in, and at short range hammered the British ship. The Germans turned away at the edge of their patrol zone, leaving Arethusa with only one operational gun, three feet of water in the engine room, and her wireless out of action. Fearless came alongside, and Tyrwhitt transferred his flag while attempting to assemble his scattered destroyers.
The British resumed their Westerly course to roll up the German line. They first ran into the destroyer V 187, which avoided Arethusa and Fearless but ran into two of Goodenough's light cruisers. V 187 tried to avoid them, but turned into 4 British destroyers and was sunk with heavy loss of life. The British stopped to pick up survivors, but the German cruiser Stettin re-appeared and the fight resumed. Two boats belonging to HMS Defender were left behind, and their crews and the rescued Germans were later picked up by the submarine E4. Unable to take all of them on board, E4's captain took a few German prisoners and left the rest the boats, water, biscuits, a compass, and the course to steer back to their base.
The British forces tried to track down the German forces in the Bight, but Keyes sighted Goodenough's forces and reported them as the enemy. Goodenough realized the danger, and withdrew his ships to avoid a friendly fire incident.
The British forces stormed about, chasing the shadowy ghosts they sighted through the mists, but ended up just chasing each other while the Germans escaped. By 1010 hours, Arethusa was underway at a maximum speed of 10 knots, with no assurance that she would get home. In exchange, the British had sunk only one German destroyer, hardly the results they anticipated. The British destroyers turned for home per the plan, with the light cruisers covering their withdrawal.
The German battlecruiser were penned behind the sand bar, but light cruisers were coming out to meet the British. The light cruiser Strassburg engaged the British destroyers, and a wireless call from Fearless led to Goodenough's cruisers swooping in to drive her off. The light cruiser Mainz appeared next, but a trick of the light caused the British to mistake her for a much larger armored cruiser, the type used to scout for the High Sea Fleet. Thinking that he was about to be jumped by the German battlecruisers, Tyrwhitt wired to Beatty "Respectfully request that I may be supported. Am hard pressed."
Beatty charged in to save the light forces, ignoring the danger presented by his own submarines, because the glassy calm waters made spotting an attacking submarine fairly easy. The destroyers were ordered to return to the Bight, and some were soon in action against the Mainz. For 15 minutes neither side scored any hits, but at 1150 they closed to ultra-short range. The destroyers Laurel and Liberty were badly damaged.
Mainz then turned on Goodenough's light cruisers, probably mistaking them for more destroyers in the mist, but soon had her rudder disabled by a shell hit. As she circled, she was struck by a torpedo and lost speed rapidly. Surrounded by British destroyers and cruisers, Mainz continued to fight until only one gun remained, and her captain ordered her scuttled. But before the order was passed on, the British battlecruisers appeared, guns blazing at the cruiser. Mainz opened up with her one gun, and was torn apart by Lion, Princess Royal, Queen Mary, New Zealand, and Invincible.
Mainz was ordered abandoned, and as she sank the British destroyer Lurcher came alongside so German sailors could jump on her quarterdeck. Mainz slipped beneath the waves at 1310. One of the survivors was Lieutenant von Tirpitz, son of the German Minister of Marine. Word of his capture and safety was passed to the German Admiral in a personal message from Churchill, via the Red Cross.
Meanwhile, the British battlecruisers ran into other German light cruisers. Two salvos from Lion disabled Koln. Ariadne appeared out of the mist, and was blasted by salvos from the British battlecruisers. She caught fire and staggered back into the fog, to sink two hours later. The BCs then turned their attention back to Koln, and while steaming slowly in circles hammered the little cruiser to pieces. Of her crew of 380, only a handful abandoned ship, and only one of them survived to be rescued 76 hours later.
At around 1310 Beatty considered his position: he had sunk Koln and Mainz, and Ariedne was sinking. But British forces were scattered, Arethusa might sink, there were a number of German torpedo-carrying ships scattered in the fog, and the raising tide would have let the German battlecruisers out of the Jade an hour before. It was time to go. The recall order was sent out, and the British ships began to exit the Bight.
This was a wise chose, for the German battlecruisers Seydlitz, Moltke, and Von der Tann had left the Jade and would arrive around 1500 hours. They would join the light cruisers Stralsund, Strassburg, Stettin, Frauenlob, Kolberg, Danzig, and Hela in an attempt to round up any stray British cruisers or destroyers.
Arethusa's engines finally gave out about 1500, but she made port in tow of the armored cruiser Hogue.
The final cost was 35 British killed and 40 wounded, to German losses of over 1000 killed, wounded, or captured, having lost three light cruisers and a destroyer.
The British made much of their victory, their first real success in the war at sea. But there success was mostly just luck.
The Kaiser decided to take more steps to protect his precious High Seas Fleet, so the aggressive patrols were stopped and the Bight was mined. "
ORDER OF BATTLE :-
British
First Battlecruiser Squadron
Lion (Vice-Admiral Beatty)
Queen Mary
Princess Royal
Cruiser Force K
Invincible (Rear-Admiral Moore)
New Zealand
Destroyers detached from First Destroyer Flotilla
Badger
Beaver
Jackal
Sandfly
Cruiser Force C (Seventh Cruiser Squadron)
Euryalus (Rear-Admiral Christian)
Bacchante
Cressy
Hogue
Aboukir
Amethyst
First Light Cruiser Squadron
Southampton (Commodore Goodenough)
Birmingham
Falmouth
Nottingham
Lowestoft
Liverpool
Harwich Force
Third Destroyer Flotilla
Arethusa (Commodore Tyrwhitt) (Light Cruiser)
Laurel
Liberty
Lysander
Laertes
Laforey
Lawford
Louis
Lydiard
Lark
Lance
Linnet
Landrail
Lookout
Leonidas
Legion
Lennox
First Destroyer Flotilla
Fearless (Captain Blunt)(Light Cruiser)
Goshawk
Lizard
Phoenix
Lapwing
Ferret
Forester
Defender
Druid
Ariel
Lucifer
Llewellyn
Acheron
Attack
Hind
Archer
Submarine Flotilla
Lurcher (Commodore Keyes) (Destroyer)
Firedrake (Destroyer)
E4
E5
E6
E7
E8
E9
D2
D8
German
Outer Patrol Line
I Torpedo Boat Flotilla
V187 (Commander Wallis)
V188
V189
V190
V191
G197
G196
G193
G194
G192 and G195 were also part of this flotilla but not present at the time of the Battle of Heligoland Bight.
Inner Patrol Line
III Minesweeping Division
D8 (Lieutenant-Commander Wolfram)
T25
T29
T31
T33
T34
T35
T36
T37
T49
T71
S73
Supporting Light Cruisers
Ariadne
Stettin
Frauenlob
Hela
Reinforcement
V Torpedo Boat Flotilla
G12 (Commander von dem Knesebeck)
V1
V2
V3
V6
S13
G7
G9
G10
G11
G8 was also part of this flotilla but not thought to be present at the time of the Battle of Heligoland Bight.
Light Cruisers allocated to the Patrol
Cöln (Rear Admiral Maass)
Mainz
Strassburg
Stralsund
Kolberg
Danzig
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http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12530
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown CW5 (Join to see) SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT MSG Andrew White SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright Cpl Joshua Caldwell PO1 John Miller PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO3 Steven Sherrill
1st Battle of Heligoland Bight - August 1914 - World Naval Ships Forums
1st Battle of Heligoland Bight - August 1914 Battles and Events
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Great article. Thank you. I knew of the U-boats and the Battle of Jutland but I never knew or heard of this battle before. Again thank you.
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Great response. Don't bother figuring out how to do better. Just let the King tighten the reins
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