HEGEMONY

by Brian Boyington

  At 11:00 am Admiral Beatty’ 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron rendezvoused with Admiral Sir John Warrender’s Dreadnought Battleship Squadron. Sir John flew his flag on HMS King George V. Her sister ships HMS Ajax, HMS Orion, HMS Conqueror, and HMS Monarch comprised the rest of the squadron. Additional warships included the First Light Cruiser Squadron consisting of HMS Southampton, HMS Birmingham, HMS Falmouth, and HMS Nottingham.

  Sir John, as senior officer assumed overall command. Together he and Beatty positioned their fleets to intercept Hipper’s squadron. The Royal Navy, not knowing where the raid would happen, planned to ambush the German fleet as it returned. However, neither Admiral Beatty nor Admiral Warrender had any knowledge of the presence of Admiral Scheer’s High Seas Fleet.

  At 5:15 am on 16 December, the destroyer HMS Lynx sighted the German torpedo boat SMS 155. The destroyer squadron went to investigate. A battle ensued with the torpedo boats and light cruisers of the advance screen of Admiral Scheer’s fleet. HMS Lynx sustained damage to a propeller. HMS Ambuscade sustained three hits, started to take on water, made smoke and dropped out of the engagement. SMS Hamburg engaged HMS Hardy which sustained heavy damage and caught fire. Just before she exploded, she fired her torpedoes, which missed.

  News of the engagement reached Admiral Scheer. The engagement broke off. However, at 06:03 the remaining Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Shark sighted five German torpedo boats, fired two torpedoes and withdrew. The torpedo boats radioed a reported the action. Admiral Scheer ordered them to pursue. Excitement grew on the bridge of SMS Frederich der Grosse. Could this be the engagement the High Seas Fleet so desired? The opportunity to destroy a portion of the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet, and equalize the size of their navies could be on hand.

  Radio traffic between the flagship and the battleships ordered the warships to battle stations. The extent of radio traffic also concerned Admiral Jellicoe, the commander of the Grand Fleet. He realized his forces were in jeopardy, and ordered sixteen more Dreadnoughts to put to sea. However, thick fog at Scarpa Flow delayed their departure for over two-hours. At 9:00 am, aboard HMS Iron Duke Jellicoe led the Grand Fleet out of Scapa Flow.

  The size and construction of the Royal Navy Dreadnoughts and those of the High Seas Fleet were significantly different.

  The Royal Navy warships had a worldwide mission to protect the empire. Therefore they were larger, provided living quarters for crew for long journeys, had bigger guns, and were more lightly armored. The focus was long-range gunnery and speed. Additionally, as the warships were continuously at sea, significant port time was required for repairs and re-supply.

  The design of the High Seas Fleet Dreadnoughts accounted for short missions within the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. They were smaller, more heavily armored, had more watertight compartments in the hull, and lower caliber eleven and twelve-inch guns. Crew quarters were more compact as mostly they would be sleeping in harbor barracks.

  At 11 am on December 16, Admiral Hipper’s advance screen entered Dogger Bank from the west, as Admiral Sheer and the High Seas Fleet entered from the southeast. Visibility suddenly improved and Hipper’s screening torpedo boats suddenly encountered Admiral Beatty’s destroyers. A wild melee ensued with gunfire and torpedoes fired wildly.

  On the bridge of HMS Lion, Admiral Beatty exulted with the springing of the trap of Admiral Hipper’s squadron. Signals flashed between the HMS Lion, HMS Inflexible, HMS Indomitable, HMS Invincible, and HMS Indefatigable to form a line of battle to intercept the Germans. Radio contact between Admirals Beatty and Sir John Warrender aboard HMS King George V confirmed that the faster battlecruisers would take the lead. Beatty invited Lt. Commander David Evans to the bridge to observe the battle.

  Admiral Hipper used his radio to send a coded message to Admiral Scheer advising that he was engaging a Royal Navy battle group at Dogger Bank. Scheer’s message came back that the trap was sprung. The Admiralty in London intercepted both German transmissions. At 11:40, the decoders rushed into the Admiralty indicating there might be a problem. The Germans were talking about a trap.

  The First Lord snorted: “Of course the Germans are talking about a trap, we have Admiral Hipper trapped, and his squadron is about to be destroyed.” The decoders tried to demur, but the First Lord turned his back and walked away.

  At 11:55 a frantic radio message came in from aerial reconnaissance positioned over Wilhelmshaven. The plane’s radioman, shouting in the middle of a dogfight reported that the anchorage was empty. With the sound of machine gun fire in the background, he shouted, I repeat the anchorage is……

  With a stricken look on his face, the First Lord shouted: “Get a wireless message to Admiral Beatty, tell him he is steaming into a trap.” Minutes later the wireless operator handed the First Lord the microphone. Beatty was on the line with cannon fire in the background saying “With all due respect My Lord, tell me something I don’t already know like where the hell is Admiral Jellicoe.”

  HMS Lion steamed in the third position of his line of battle. HMS Invincible led the line followed by HMS Indefatigable, with HMS Inflexible and HMS Indomitable following to the rear, with one mile between each battlecruiser. Six miles to the west, cutting the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron off from escaping towards England steamed Admiral Hipper’s battlecruisers SMS Seydlitz, SMS Moltke, SMS Von der Tann, followed by the armored cruisers SMS Blucher, and SMS Yorck.

  Normally, that would be an advantage to the Royal Navy. However, the High Seas Fleet maneuvered to form envelopment battle lines to the north and south. A Nassau Class Dreadnought and four pre-Dreadnought battleships served as blocking forces on the north and south. Radio transmissions from Admiral Sir John Warrender indicated that Admiral Scheer’s Kaiser Class, Helgoland Class, and Nassau class Dreadnoughts outnumbered him 2 – 1, and closed the bottle from the east.

  At 12:30 pm, Admiral Jellicoe’s fleet steamed at the flank speed of 23 knots towards Dogger Bank, but the distance to the engagement was at least 50 miles. Upon leaving Scarpa Flow, he ordered his three battlecruisers HMS Queen Mary, HMS New Zealand, and HMS Princess Royal to steam ahead. With their speed of 27.5 knots, they would arrive at Dogger Bank an hour before the battleships.

  HMS Invincible, previously struck seven times from fire from SMS Von der Tann, SMS Blucher, and SMS Yorck sustained two hits on Q turret. Flames shot up into the air, then suddenly HMS Invincible exploded and broke in half. HMS Indefatigable, the next in line came under concentrated fire. Two shells hit P Turret, penetrated the roof exploding inside, killing the gun crew and starting fires. Minutes later, she also exploded when the fires reached the magazine.

  HMS Lion took several hits below the waterline flooding the port engine room, causing that engine to shut down. Reduced to fifteen knots, HMS Lion fell out of the battle line, listing to port. Counter-flooding corrected the list, but the influx of water slowed her to ten knots. More hits registered as her speed slowed. Admiral Beatty transferred his flag to HMS Southampton, then to HMS Indomitable. He offered to take Lt. Commander Evans with him. Evans initially refused as he was assisting with damage control, but relented when Beatty insisted.

  Three German torpedo boats attacked HMS Lion. Sustaining heavy fire, two of the torpedo boats sank. The third, SMS V5 launched four torpedoes striking Lion’s port side with three. With only one engine functioning, the electric generators failed. The pumps were unable to contain the flooding. The order to abandon ship sounded and lifeboats and rafts went over the side. 350 officers and sailors made it to the boats, hundreds of others clung to debris. HMS Lion’s list increased, and she slowly rolled over, remaining bottom afloat for several minutes. However, following internal explosions, HMS Lion disappeared under the waves.

  Admiral Hipper’s battlecruisers and armored cruisers also suffered in the battle. Hippers flagship SMS Seydilitz sustained fourteen high caliber hits, one of which knocked the two superfiring rear turrets out of action. She narrowly escaped destruction when fire threatened a magazine. Alert damage control offi
cers flooded the magazine. However, 159 seamen, trapped in the turrets, corridors, and magazines perished. SMS Moltke, and SMS Von der Tann each sustained three hits. SMS Blucher and SMS Yorck each sustained two hits.

  Admiral Beatty decided to break out of the trap. SMS Seydilitz, severely damage was essentially out of the fight. SMS Moltke and SMS Von der Tann were two miles to starboard, and turning around, which would take time. He ordered HMS Inflexible and HMS Indomitable to charge in line abreast directly at the armored cruisers SMS Blucher, and SMS Yorck.

  HMS Indomitable

  Each battlecruiser featured the forward turret and two wing turrets. With twin twelve-inch gun turrets trained forward, the wing turrets could also face the rear. Beatty ordered full speed ahead. HMS Indomitable targeted SMS Blucher, while HMS Inflexible targeted SMS Yorck. The plan was for both HMS Inflexible and HMS Indomitable to aim the wing turrets to the front as they charged, then rotate those turrets to fire back as they passed. The battlecruisers could blast their way through and then punish the German cruisers once past without losing forward speed.

  SMS Blucher and SMS Yorck, armed with eight-inch guns were unable to prevent Beatty’s charging Dreadnought’s breakout; and in return, each sustained five high-caliber hits. SMS Moltke and SMS Von der Tann also fired at HMS Inflexible and HMS Indomitable. However, the Royal Navy warships were four miles away and increased their lead. They broke off the pursuit and went to the aid of SMS Blucher, SMS Yorck, and SMS Seydlitz. Admiral Scheer ordered Admiral Hipper to take his damaged warships home. He also ordered the southern blocking squadron to link up with the main fleet.

  Admiral Sir John Warrender’s Battleship Squadron consisting of the Dreadnought battleships HMS King George V, HMS Ajax, HMS Orion, HMS Conqueror, and HMS Monarch; faced overwhelming odds, outnumbered two to one by Admiral Scheer’s battleships.

  Constructed between 1910 and 1912 the King George V Class battleships were similar in size and armament to the German Kaiser Class Dreadnoughts.

  Kaiser Class Battleships

  Both battleship classes had five turrets with twelve-inch guns. The Kaiser Class featured centerline turrets fore and aft, with offset wing turrets starboard and port. The rear turrets were in superfiring configuration.

  King George V Class Battleships

  The King George V Class each had four centerline turrets arranged in the superfiring configuration, with the Q turret amidships.

  Admiral Scheer also had six other Dreadnought battleships, four Helgoland Class including SMS Helgoland, SMS Oldenburg, SMS Ostfriesland and SMS Thüringen. There were two Nassau Class including SMS Posen and SMS Westfalen. The last two were the oldest Dreadnoughts in the fleet, constructed in 1907. The Helgoland’s were a bigger and better-armed upgrade of the Nassau design.

  Turret configuration of Helgoland and Nassau Class

  Admiral Warrender had a reputation for competency with ships under his command, receiving high marks for accuracy. However, each of his battleships was in combat with two German battleships at the same time.

  By 1 pm, HMS Ajax, HMS Orion, HMS Conqueror were burning wrecks, with their crews abandoning ship. On the German side, Royal Navy gunnery sank SMS Posen and severely damaged SMS Westfalen. Light cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats zeroed in on the damaged Dreadnoughts launching torpedoes at the damaged warships while also firing on each other.

  Warrender’ flagship, HMS King George V dueled with two Kaiser Class Battleships, Admiral Scheer’s flagship SMS Frederich Der Grosse and SMS Konig Albert. HMS Monarch dueled with SMS Kaiserin and SMS Prinzregent. The Helgoland Class battleships including SNS Helgoland, SMS Oldenburg, SMS Ostfriesland and SMS Thüringen also added the weight of their twelve-inch guns at the two remaining Royal Navy battleships as the German Dreadnoughts closed to within one-mile.

  Four shells hit HMS King George V simultaneously penetrating both A and B turrets. Second later, magazine explosions blew her up in a ball of fire.

  HMS Monarch sustained a dozen hits, became a burning wreck, and began to settle by the bow. Two shells struck the bridge, killing the captain and the command staff. The executive officer, stationed in the secondary bridge gave the order to abandon ship. As lifeboats and rafts went over the side, the German Dreadnoughts ceased fire and lowered boats to recover survivors. Thirty minutes later, HMS Monarch’s bow slipped beneath the waves. Her stern raised in the air, and with an explosive venting of air and steam, she knifed beneath the waves.

  HMS Queen Mary, HMS New Zealand, and HMS Princess Royal encountered the escaping HMS Inflexible and HMS Indomitable. Admiral Beatty, the senior officer, took command and the five battlecruisers and set course for Dogger Bank. Thirty minutes later, lookouts reported eight Royal Navy light cruisers and destroyers steaming away from the battle. Signal flags indicated they were the few survivors of the battle. Admiral Beatty signaled Captains Repair on Board. At the meeting, the captain of the largest warship HMS Southampton’s reported the destruction of Admiral Warrender’s battleship squadron.

  As senior officer on the station, he ordered the remaining light cruisers and destroyers to scatter. Following several salvos at the retreating warships, the Germans did not pursue. He also reported that German ships retrieved Royal Navy survivors and headed back to German waters.

  Admiral Beatty ordered his fleet to Dogger Bank to look for any other survivors. Debris and oil slicks indicated areas of the most ferocious fighting. The cold water claimed its victims. There were no signs of survivors or German warships. Beatty ordered the fleet to steam to Scapa Flow. Within an hour Admiral Jellicoe's Grand Fleet arrived. Following a brief meeting, the combined fleet steamed to Scapa Flow.

  Chapter 26

  Dogger Bank Aftermath.

  Dogger Bank was the worst defeat in the history of the modern Royal Navy. The High Seas Fleet sank eight Dreadnoughts while losing only one. Casualties included 6,551 British dead, and 1,875 captured. The Germans lost 457 dead and 375 wounded. The Royal Navy’s advantage of 28 to 17 in Dreadnoughts decreased to 19 to 16. Another King George V Class battleship, HMS Audacious struck a mine and sank before the battle. The Royal Navy operations became limited and cautious until the commissioning of replacement Dreadnoughts in the summer of 1915.

  The court of inquiry exonerated Admiral Beatty from blame for the defeat at Dogger Bank. The court held Sir John Warrender, presumed lost with his flagship HMS King George V accountable for the defeat. Admiral Beatty received praise for saving HMS Inflexible and HMS Indomitable from certain destruction by the unexpected arrival of the High Seas Fleet.

  The German High Command exulted over the victory. The loss of SMS Posen, one of their smaller battleships became viewed as a small price to pay for a triumphant victory. High Command paid little concern to the fact that the Royal Navy Dreadnoughts were conveniently positioned to intercept Admiral Hippers squadron. After all, the total focus of the operations was to lure a portion of the Grand Fleet to destruction.

  The survival of SMS Seydlitz, and SMS Westfalen, both struck by fourteen high-caliber hits vindicated the view that ship to ship, the German Navy had better warships

  .

  SMS Seydlitz

  Damage control officers from SMS Seydlitz reported design flaws between the propellant chamber in the barbettes and exits leading to the turrets. One 13.5 inch shell from HMS Lion penetrated the deck and exploded at the rear barbette of the superfiring turrets. The explosion flashed through an open door into the propellant chamber, igniting the charges.

  The flames rose high up into the turret and down into the ammunition chamber, then through a connecting door, usually kept shut. However, seamen from the ammunition chamber opened the door in an attempt to escape into the aft turret. That allowed flames to flash through to the other ammunition chamber and up to the second turret. The entire guns' crews of both turrets perished very quickly. The flames rose thirty-feet above the turrets. The Executive officer saved the ship from destruction by ordering the flooding of the magazines.

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bsp; Corrective action included rerouting the direct passages from the propellant and ammunition chambers to the turrets. The redesign included the installation of additional auto-closing fireproof doors to protect the elevators raising propellant and shells into the turrets. The repairs and design changes took three months to complete. SMS Seydlitz rejoined the fleet on March 15, 1915. SMS Westfalen, SMS Blucher, and SMS Yorck rejoined the fleet a month earlier.

  The United States Navy officers returned home in time for the Christmas Holiday celebrations. Through diplomatic channels, Admiral Hipper gave Commander Robert Treat a letter of commendation for bravery under fire. Admiral Beatty provided a similar letter to Lt. Commander David Evans.

  All the officers received thirty-day leave, then resumed their posts at the Naval War College in mid-January, 1915. Their reports and evaluations of the performance of the Grand Fleet and the High Seas Fleet were valuable additions in the process of developing new tactics for naval combat.

  They all reported the careless handling of shells and propellant by the Royal Navy, which emphasized rate of fire over safety. That practice allowed for the storing of the explosives in normal closets, and the stacking of them in corridors leading to the gun turrets. They speculated that the careless handling of the explosives was the likely cause of the explosions which destroyed four of the Royal Navy Dreadnoughts.