A Naval History of World War I

by Paul G. Halpern

29.Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:239–46; Jellicoe, The Grand Fleet, 149–52; Goldrick, The King’s Ships, 139–42; Schmalenbach, German Raiders, 16, 18, 45–46.

  30.Jellicoe, The Grand Fleet, 19; Dittmar and Colledge, British Warships, 105–7; Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 2:72–74, 77–81. The remark about “lavatory attendants” is quoted in ibid., p. 73, n. 24. Statistics and a very full account of mine warfare are in Taffrail, Swept Channels.

  31.Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations, vol. 1, chaps. 15–16; Thomazi, Guerre navale dans le nord, 54–56; Goldrick, The King’s Ships, 147–49, 152.

  32.Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 2:88–89.

  33.Beatty to his wife, 2 November 1914, reproduced in Chalmers, Life and Letters of Beatty, 160; Keyes, Naval Memoirs 1:130.

  34.Mackay, Fisher of Kilverstone, 464–68, 475–76, 490–91, 493–95; Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 2:93–97.

  35.The fullest account is now Beesly, Room 40, 3–7; on the Magdeburg episode, see Mäkelä, Das Geheimnis der “Magdeburg.”

  36.On these points, see Beesly, Room 40. See also the older and more circumspect biography of Hall: James, Admiral Sir Reginald Hall.

  37.Jellicoe to Admiralty, 30 October 1914, in Patterson, The Jellicoe Papers 1:75–77.

  38.Jellicoe, The Grand Fleet, 153, 168–69, 170, 174, 186–87; Patterson, The Jellicoe Papers 1:77–79, 83–86, 88–89, 94, 96–98, 102–3.

  39.Tirpitz to Chief of the Naval Staff, 16 September 1914, reproduced in Tirpitz, My Memoirs 1:95–96. The full version of the letter is in Tirpitz, Deutsche Ohnemachtspolitik im Weltkrieg, 104–6.

  40.Tirpitz, My Memoirs 2:99–102; Philbin, Hipper, 87–91; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 2:249–53; the best account in English by far is Goldrick, The King’s Ships, 159–66.

  41.Goldrick, The King’s Ships, 174–76; for the exchange between Jellicoe and the Admiralty over the move, see Patterson, The Jellicoe Papers 1:93–95.

  42.Hipper’s plan of 12 November 1914 is reproduced in Philbin, Hipper, 92–95.

  43.The best modern account is Goldrick, The King’s Ships, chap. 8; see also Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 2:132–47; a recent account of Hipper’s role is in Philbin, Hipper, 98–101; Room 40’s role is analyzed in Beesly, Room 40, 49–56.

  44.Beatty to Jellicoe, 20 December 1914, in Patterson, The Jellicoe Papers 1:110–11.

  45.German operations may be followed in Robinson, The Zeppelin in Combat, 40–46; on the British side, see Goldrick, The King’s Ships, 221–26; the operation is studied in detail in Layman, The Cuxhaven Raid.

  46.Goldrick, The King’s Ships, 229–37; Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 2:98–100. The British also lost the predreadnought Bulwark on 26 November as a result of an internal explosion, probably caused by excessive temperatures in the ammunition passages igniting loose cordite.

  47.Good accounts of the battle are in Goldrick, The King’s Ships, chap. 11; Bennett, Naval Battles, chap. 8; fresh material on Hipper’s role is in Philbin, Hipper, 103–12.

  48.Beatty to Keyes, 10 February 1915, reproduced in Keyes, Naval Memoirs 1:163.

  49.Quotations from Müller taken from Görlitz, The Kaiser and His Court, 60–62. The circumstances surrounding Ingenohl’s replacement are well covered in Goldrick, The King’s Ships, 289–94.

  50.Memorandum by Tirpitz, 25 January 1915 reproduced in Görlitz, The Kaiser and His Court, 58–60.

  51.Text published in Gibson and Prendergast, German Submarine War, 27–28.

  52.King-Hall, North Sea Diary, 94–97.

  53.The extremely detailed official history is in Bell, Blockade of Germany.

  54.A highly readable account is Chatterton, The Big Blockade.

  55.This account and statistics drawn from Tupper, Reminiscences; De Chair, The Sea Is Strong; Hampshire, The Blockaders; and Brocklebank, Tenth Cruiser Squadron.

  56.Quoted in Tupper, Reminiscences, 217–18.

  57.De Chair, The Sea Is Strong, 191; Tupper, Reminiscences, 264.

  3. THE MEDITERRANEAN: 1914–1915

  1.On this point see Halpern, Mediterranean Naval Situation, 275–76.

  2.Lorey, Krieg in den türkischen Gewässern 1:2–3; Berghahn, Approach of War, 188–89; Souchon to his wife, 1, 2 August 1914, BA/MA, Nachlass Souchon, N156/10.

  3.Revel to Salandra, 1 August 1914, ACS, Carte Salandra 2/16; for detail see Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 5–6, 8–9.

  4.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 14–15; Bayer von Bayersburg, Unter der k.u.k. Kriegsflagge, 7 ff.; Sokol, Des Kaisers Seemacht, 239–41; Aichelburg, Die Unterseeboote Österreich-Ungarns 1:65; Kontreadmiral Erich Heyssler, “Erinnerungen,” (Graz, 1936, typescript in private possession), 388.

  5.See Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 17, 19–20; Conrad, Aus Meiner Dienstzeit 4:174–75, 178–79; Sokol, Österreich-Ungarns Seekrieg, 73–74.

  6.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 17–22; Sokol, Österreich-Ungarns Seekrieg, 70–74. For the account of the German naval attaché in Vienna, see “Aufzeichnungen des Marineattachés in Wien in der Zeit vom 5–16 August 1914,” and “Niederschrift über einen mündlichen Bericht des Korvettenkapitän Freiherr von Freyberg vom 14 Oktober 1914” in NARS, T-1022, Roll 537, PG 69132. An Austrian defense is in Admiral Khuepach, “Warum hat Admiral Haus der deutschen Mittelmeerdivision sein Hilfe versagt?” Kriegsarchiv, Vienna, Nachlass Khuepach, B/200, Fasc. 6, no. 11.

  7.On Lapeyrère, see Taillemite, Dictionnaire des marins français, 41–42; De Belot and Reussner, La puissance navale 3:26; and Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 22.

  8.Halpern, Mediterranean Naval Situation, 135 ff.

  9.French accounts are in Thomazi, L’Adriatique, 21–31; Salaun, La Marine française, 144–49; Laurens, Commandement naval, 31–45; and Dartige du Fournet, Souvenirs de guerre, 4.

  10.On prewar limitations, see Halpern, Mediterranean Naval Situation, 128–30.

  11.Lumby, Policy and Operations, 146, 157.

  12.Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:67–68; Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 2:31–41; Churchill, The World Crisis 1:269–75; Roskill, Strategy of Sea Power, 113; and Gilbert, Churchill 3:42.

  13.Lorey, Krieg in den türkischen Gewässern 1:6–7; Trumpener, “Escape of the Goeben,” 175–77.

  14.Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 2:33–36. The transcript of the Troubridge court-martial is in Lumby, Policy and Operations, pt. 3.

  15.Commission de la Marine de Guerre (Députés), Rapport sur l’affaire du ‘Goeben’ et du ‘Breslau’ presenté par M. Abel, Député, 14 May 1918, p. 35, SHM, Carton Ed-76; Cabinet du Ministre, “Les operations navales en Méditerranée de 3 au 8 Aôut 1914,” enquête fait par M. Chaumet (Sept. 1917), ibid., Audition de M. Augagneur, Commission de la Marine de Guerre, 18 July 1917, pp. 18–19, SHM, Carton Ed-76bis. The attack on Lapeyrère is in Bienaimé, La guerre navale. For a short summary of the controversy, see Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 24–26.

  16.Lorey, Krieg in den türkischen Gewässern 1:31; Trumpener, Germany and the Ottoman Empire, 30–32, 40–43.

  17.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 48.

  18.Trumpener, “Escape of the Goeben,” 171.

  19.Protocole de convention passés entre l’Amirauté Britannique et I’État-Major Général de la Marine Française, 6 August 1914, SHM, Carton Es-11.

  20.Naval Staff, The Mediterranean, 49–50; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:86–88.

  21.Thomazi, L’Adriatique, 36–40; Marine to Armée Navale, 13 August 1914, SHM, Carton A-31; Augagneur (possibly Pivet) to Lapeyrère, 13 August 1914, SHM, Carton Ed-80; Le Comte, “L’affaire de la Zenta,” 1254–59; Sokol, Österreich-Ungarns Seekrieg, 80–84.

  22.On prewar plans, see Halpern, Mediterranean Naval Situation, 131–35.

  23.Docteur, Carnet de bord, 15; Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 28–29; Thomazi, L’Adriatique, 41.

  24.Haus to Kailer, 6 September 1914, Kriegsarchiv, Vienna, Nachlass Kailer; Kailer to Haus
, 10 September 1914, Kriegsarchiv, Vienna, Nachlass Haus.

  25.Extraits du rapport du Monsieur le Contre-Amiral de Bon sur sa mission au Montenegro, 27 October 1914, pp. 89, 93–94, SHM, Carton Es-18; Lapeyrère to Augagneur, 8, 25 September, 18 October 1918, SHM, Carton Ed-83; Thomazi, L’Adriatique, 52–57; Laurens, Commandement naval, 52–56.

  26.Joffre, Mémoires 1:484–86; Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 31–32, 34–37.

  27.Lapeyrère to Augagneur, 25 October, 4 November 1914, SHM, Carton Ed-83; Sokol, Österreich-Ungarns Seekrieg, 91–96; Thomazi, L’Adriatique, 53–56.

  28.Summarized in Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 37–39, 69–76.

  29.Ibid., 102–5; Sokol, Österreich-Ungarns Seekrieg, 164–69; Sieche, “Die diplomatischen Aktivitäten rund um das Haus-Memorandum vom März 1915,” Marine—Gestern, Heute 9, no. 3 (Sept. 1982): 93–98, 102–5.

  30.Greger, Austro-Hungarian Warships, 68–72; Aichelburg, Unterseeboote Österreich-Ungarns 1:69, 2:63–64, 70–76; Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 39–41; Sokol, Österreich-Ungarns Seekrieg, 118–20, 135–42; Thomazi, L’Adriatique, 67–69.

  31.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 93–95; Thomazi, L’Adriatique, 70–72, 74–79; Sokol, Österreich-Ungarns Seekrieg, 100–5, 143–46, 147–51.

  32.Trumpener, “Escape of the Goeben,” 171.

  33.Halpern, Naval War in the Mediterranean, 48–50; Souchon to his wife, 12, 15 August, 27 September 1914, BA/MA, Nachlass Souchon N156/10, N156/11; Trumpener, Germany and the Ottoman Empire, 42–43; Souchon to Tirpitz (?), 27 August 1914, NARS, T-1022, Roll 1261, PG 60055; Lorey, Krieg in den türkischen Gewässern 1:36–38.

  34.Lorey, Krieg in den türkischen Gewässern 1:36, 2:4–10; Trumpener, Germany and the Ottoman Empire, 35–36; Souchon to his wife, 9, 20 September 1914, BA/MA, Nachlass Souchon, N156/11.

  35.Gilbert, Churchill 3:204, 207–9; Churchill to Grey, 17 August 1914, in Lumby, Policy and Operations, 454–55; Admiralty to Rear Admiral, Indefatigable, 27 August 1914, in Lumby, Policy and Operations, 448; Battenberg to Limpus, 19 November 1914, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Limpus MSS.

  36.Admiralty to Marine, Bordeaux, 20 September 1914, in Lumby, Policy and Operations, 454–55; Admiralty to SNO, Indefatigable, 25 September 1914, in Lumby, Policy and Operations, 455; Gilbert, Churchill 3:209, 212–13. On the importance of the Straits for Russian trade, see Alan Bodger, “Russia and the End of the Ottoman Empire,” in The Great Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire, ed. Marian Kent (London: Allen & Unwin, 1984), 83–84.

  37.Details of the Turkish decision for war are in Trumpener, Germany and the Ottoman Empire, 54–62; Frank G. Weber, Eagles on the Crescent: Germany, Austria and the Diplomacy of the Turkish Alliance, 1914–1918 (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1970), 72–86; Lorey, Krieg in den türkischen Gewässern 1:45; Souchon to Kaiser Wilhelm, 3 November 1914, BA/MA, Nachlass Souchon, N156/3. On Turkish motives, see Feroz Ahmad, “The Late Ottoman Empire,” in Kent, The Great Powers, 15–18.

  38.Lorey, Krieg in den türkischen Gewässern 1:47–50; Greger, Die Russische Flotte, 45; Pavlovich, The Fleet 1:284–90.

  39.Souchon to his wife, 29 October 1914, BA/MA, Nachlass Souchon, N156/3.

  40.Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:359–64; Gilbert, Churchill 3:216–17; Admiralty to Admiral Superintendent, Malta, 1 November 1914, Carden to Admiralty, 14, 22 November 1914, in Lumby, Policy and Operations, 456–59, 460–61.

  41.On this point, see Gilbert, Churchill 3:218; and Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 2:201.

  4. SWEEPING THE SEAS

  1.Figures from Fayle, Seaborne Trade 1:6, 14.

  2.Fayle, Seaborne Trade 1:21–22.

  3.Raeder and Mantey, Der Kreuzerkrieg 1:20–23. The activities of the Tsingtau Etappe are discussed in Burdick, Siege of Tsingtau, 40–41.

  4.Burdick, Siege of Tsingtau, 209, n. 24. Burdick was informed by the current Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv that the records of the service were burned for security reasons in 1919.

  5.Admiralty (O.U. 6337 [40]), Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 29–31. Copy in Naval Library, Ministry of Defence.

  6.Fayle, Seaborne Trade 1:35–43, 197–99, 284–85. See also Doughty, Merchant Shipping and War, 115–21.

  7.Discussions on the defense of trade are in Hurd, The Merchant Navy 1:212–13, 222–23, 240–41; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:15; Marder, Dreadnought to Scapa Flow 2:102–3.

  8.On arguments against convoys, see Hurd, The Merchant Navy 1:212–15, 241–43; and the excellent discussion in Winton, Convoy, chap. 1.

  9.Fayle, Seaborne Trade 1:143; Corbett, Naval Operations 1:15.

  10.Nish, “Admiral Jerram,” 413–14.

  11.Nish, “Admiral Jerram,” 411–13; Naval Staff, The Eastern Squadrons, (Naval Staff Monographs [Historical], Vol. 5, April 1922), 33–38, 40–42, 45.

  12.Naval Staff, The Eastern Squadrons, 43, 55.

  13.German movements summarized from Raeder and Mantey, Der Kreuzerkrieg 1:61—67; see also Burdick, Siege of Tsingtau, 26–27, 38–41; Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 55–57.

  14.Raeder and Mantey, Der Kreuzerkrieg 1:68–72; see also Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 56–57.

  15.Raeder and Mantey, Der Kreuzerkrieg 1:79–82; on supply ships from Tsingtau, see Assmann, Die Kämpfe der Kaiserlichen Marine, 37–39; Burdick, Siege of Tsingtau, 40–41.

  16.Excerpts from Jerram’s letter to his wife reproduced in Nish, “Admiral Jerram,” 417–18; quotations from his official report in Naval Staff, The Eastern Squadrons, 38–39.

  17.Jerram’s operations in Naval Staff, The Eastern Squadrons, 40–44; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:137–44; on the responsibility of the Admiralty, see Roskill, Churchill and the Admirals, 38–39; Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 50–52.

  18.The best account in English is Burdick, Siege of Tsingtau. For the role of the German navy see official history: Assmann, Die Kämpfe der Kaiserliche Marine.

  19.Information on the Royal Netherlands Navy in the East Indies provided by the Afdeling Maritieme Historie, Ministerie van Defensie, The Hague, letter of 8 April 1988.

  20.Summary of Emden’s career taken from Naval Staff, The Eastern Squadrons; Raeder and Mantey, Der Kreuzerkrieg, vol. 2; and relevant portions of Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations, vol. 1; Hurd, The Merchant Navy, vol. 1; and Fayle, Seaborne Trade, vol. 1. A convenient synopsis is Friedrich Forstmeier, “SMS Emden: Small Protected Cruiser, 1906–1914,” in Warships in Profile, ed. Anthony Preston (Windsor: William Murrow, 1974), 3:1–24.

  21.The career of the Emden is the basis of a minor publishing industry. Among the useful works: Van der Vat, Gentlemen of War; and the memoirs of two participants, Franz Joseph, Prince of Hohenzollern, Emden; and Mücke, The “Ayesha.” A detailed account of the engagement is in Jose, The Royal Australian Navy, chap. 7.

  22.The circumstances of Müller’s imprisonment changed for the worst in October 1916 when he was removed from Malta, where the Emden survivors had been confined, and without explanation taken to England. He was exchanged for internment in the Netherlands in January 1918 because of his poor health (malaria) and repatriated to Germany in October 1918. Van der Vat, Gentlemen of War, 181–84.

  23.For examples, see Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:288, 294–95, 298–99, 385; Fayle, Seaborne Trade 1:272–73, 332.

  24.Fayle, Seaborne Trade 1:272–73.

  25.Admiralty (O.U.6337 [40]), Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 26.

  26.Raeder and Mantey, Der Kreuzerkrieg 2:122–24.

  27.On the operations against Königsberg, see Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 2:236–39; 3:63–67.

  28.Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations, 296–97, 338–39, 374–75; Fayle, Seaborne Trade 1:276; Admiralty (O.U.6337 [40]), Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 8–9; the best case for Königsberg’s accomplishments is, not surprisingly, Raeder and Mantey, Der Kreuzerkrieg 2:206–10.

  29.The thorough German record is in Raeder and Mantey, Der Kr
euzerkrieg, vol. 2, pt. 3; Admiralty (O.U. 6337 [40]), Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 9–10; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:45–51, 320–30, 372–74; Fayle, Seaborne Trade 1:265–66.

  30.Raeder and Mantey, Der Kreuzerkrieg 1:409–10; Admiralty (O.U.6337 [40]), Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 1, 6; Fayle, Seaborne Trade 1:221–22, 225–26; Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 76–78; Chatterton, The Sea Raiders, 56–64.

  31.Fayle, Seaborne Trade 1:163–64; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:145–46; Admiralty (O.U.6337 [40]), Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 1, 6; Bennett, Coronel and the Falklands, 82–83.

  32.Admiralty (O.U.6337 [40]), Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 11–13; Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:304, 306–8, 339. Detailed German records are in Raeder and Mantey, Der Kreuzerkrieg, vol. 3. On the career of the Cormoran, see Burdick, Frustrated Raider; on Cap Trafalgar, Colin Simpson, The Ship that Hunted Itself.

  33.Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:133–35; Admiralty (O.U.6337 [40]), Review of German Cruiser Operations, 1, 11; Raeder and Mantey, Der Kreuzerkrieg 3:11–22; Chatterton, The Sea Raiders, 31–34; Schmalenbach, German Raiders, 136–37.

  34.Admiralty (O.U.6337 [40]), Review of German Cruiser Warfare, 1, 12–13; Schmalenbach, German Raiders, 136–37; Chatterton, The Sea Raiders, chaps. 9–10, 11.

  35.Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:129–30.

  36.Cited by French, British Strategy and War Aims, 27.

  37.Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:130–31; French, British Strategy and War Aims, 27–28; Louis, Great Britain and Germany’s Lost Colonies, 36–37; Guinn, British Strategy and Politics, 40–41.

  38.Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations 1:275, 316–17, 331–32, 407–8; 2:234–35; see also the section on the Cape Squadron in Naval Staff, The Eastern Squadrons.

  39.The naval aspects can be followed in relevant portions of Corbett and Newbolt, Naval Operations; on German activities in East Africa, see also Assmann, Die Kämpfe der Kaiserlichen Marine, pt. 2. An overall survey is in Dane, British Campaigns in Africa and the Pacific.