Harwich Force
The Harwich Force was a maritime association of the Royal Navy in the First World War . Consisting of light units and stationed in Harwich , Essex , their task was to shield the east coast of Great Britain up to the Strait of Dover against German naval attacks and to generally disrupt German naval movements in the North Sea . She worked with both the Dover Patrol and the Grand Fleet . The Harwich Force played an important role in the naval warfare in the North Sea.
prehistory
In 1912, the British Home Fleet had been reorganized into several numbered fleets. Of these, the First Fleet was the active home fleet in peacetime and comprised several squadrons of various types of warships from dreadnoughts to destroyers , including four destroyer flotillas . A commando called Destroyer Flotillas of First Fleet was created, the supreme command of which was given to Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt in December 1913 .
On July 28, 1914, during the final phase of the July Crisis , the British fleet was ordered to their war bases. On August 1, the government ordered the fleet to be mobilized and on the following day guaranteed the protection of the French coast in the North Sea and the English Channel . On the night of August 4th and 5th, war against Germany was declared. The 3rd Destroyer Flotilla located in Harwich , equipped with 15 destroyers of the new Laforey class and led by the reconnaissance cruiser HMS Amphion , formed the origin of the Harwich Force. She was soon supported by the 1st Destroyer Flotilla and a submarine flotilla under Roger Keyes .
Composition and tasks
The Harwich Force usually included between 30 and 40 destroyers, in addition between four and eight light cruisers and several flotilla commanders, and at times several aircraft mother ships that were organized into several flotillas . Furthermore, the Harwich Submarine Flotilla and the Harwich Auxiliary Patrol and Mine-Sweeping Force were stationed in Harwich .
In 1916, at the time of the Battle of the Skagerrak , the Harwich Force consisted of:
- 5th Light Cruiser Squadron with five light cruisers and an aircraft mother ship
- 9th Destroyer Flotilla with a light cruiser, a flotilla commander and 17 L-class destroyers
- 10th Destroyer Flotilla with a light cruiser, a flotilla commander and 15 destroyers of the M-class and three of the Talisman-class
In July 1917, after the introduction of the escort system, from:
- 5th Light Cruiser Squadron
- 10th Destroyer Flotilla consisting of 24 destroyers and four flotilla leaders detached from the Grand Fleet
The routine tasks of these forces were escorting their own mine layers, fighting enemy mine layers, escorting aircraft mother ships during attack operations, and patrols and escorts for merchant ships.
Major operations
On August 5, 1914, the first shots of the war were fired on the British side by the destroyers HMS Lance and HMS Landrail . The German mine ship Queen Luise laid mines in front of the mouth of the Thames and was sunk by four destroyers and the flotilla leader Amphion of the 3rd DF. On the march back from the German Bight , the Amphion was lost on the morning of August 6th after it had run into a mine previously laid out by Queen Luise .
On August 28, 1914, the sea battle near Heligoland was the first major battle in the North Sea, in which the Harwich Force was involved. In cooperation with the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron under David Beatty and the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron under William Edmund Goodenough , three German light cruisers and three other ships were sunk. Tyrwhitt's flagship, the Arethusa , was badly damaged.
On October 17, 1914, the light cruiser Undaunted and four destroyers managed to sink four German torpedo boats in a naval battle off Texel with only minor damage of their own. On December 16, 1914, the Harwich Force was involved in the defense of the German raids on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby . In September 1914, the aircraft mother ships Engadine , Riviera and Empress were subordinated to the Harwich Force. On December 25th, they carried out an air attack on Cuxhaven with cover from the destroyers of the Harwich Force (→ Christmas attack ).
On January 24, 1915, the Harwich Force was involved in the battle on the Dogger Bank, in which - again in cooperation with Beatty's battle cruisers and Goodenough's light cruisers - the German large cruiser Blücher was sunk . On May 1, 1915, four destroyers of the Harwich Force sank the two small German torpedo boats A 2 and A 6 under the command of Lieutenant Hermann Schoemann off the Dutch coast.
In February 1916, the Harwich Force lost its flagship HMS Arethusa after a mine hit in the approach to Harwich.
On April 24 and 25, 1916, the Harwich Force was deployed to repel the German attack on Yarmouth and Lowestoft . During the Battle of the Skagerrak on May 31 and June 1, she was supposed to stay in port, but ran out on Tyrwhitt's own initiative without having any contact with the enemy. On August 18, 1916, it was reported that the German deep sea fleet had left again and the Harwich Force was given the order to operate. A second major battle of the battle fleets on August 19 was narrowly avoided.
In the attacks on Zeebrugge and Ostend in April and May 1918, the Harwich Force was used to cover the attack forces led by Rear Admiral Keyes.
After the end of the war in 1918 it was decided that the German submarine fleet was to be handed over in Harwich. The Harwich Force escorted the overpass.
literature
contemporary:
- Taprell Dorling ("Taffrail"): Endless story. Destroyer operations in the Great War. Seaforth Publishing Barnsley, 2016 (Reissue of 1931 edition) ISBN 978-1-4738-8212-6 .
- The Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division: Naval Staff Monographs (Historical): Vol. I - Vol. XIX. London 1920-1939. (operational evaluation of the naval war by the British admiral staff)
- Julian Corbett , Henry Newbolt : Naval Operations . The Naval History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents. 5 vols. London 1920–1923.
- EF Knight: The Harwich Naval Forces - Their Part in the Great War. Hodder and Stoughton, 1919 ( online at gutenberg.org ).
modern:
- Norman Friedman: Fighting the Great War at Sea: Strategy, Tactic and Technology. Seaforth Publishing, 2014.
- Paul C. Halpern: A Naval History of World War I. Routledge London / New York, 1995 ISBN 1-85728-498-4 .
