Battle in Moonsund
The wreck of the Russian liner Slawa
| date | October 17, 1917 |
|---|---|
| place | Gulf of Riga , Baltic Sea |
| output | German victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 2 battleships, 2 small cruisers, 16 torpedo boats, 34 minesweepers, 1 auxiliary ship |
2 ships of the line, 2 armored cruisers, 1 cruiser, 3 gunboats, 21 destroyers, 2 British submarines |
| losses | |
|
|
1 ship of the line, |
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The battle in Moonsund was a naval battle that took place on October 17, 1917 between German and Russian naval forces in the sound between the island of Muhu (German: Moon rare poppy ) and the Baltic mainland as part of the Albion company .
prehistory
In the days before, German army troops had landed on Ösel with the support of the Navy and had made the first attempts to also take the nearby islands of Dagö and Moon. Strong German naval forces penetrated the Gulf of Riga in order to thwart any attempts by the Russians to bring help to the island garrisons or to evacuate them. Another goal was to drive out or destroy the Russian naval units that were in Moonsund and supported the defenders of Moons with their heavy artillery. The association was commanded by Vice Admiral Paul Behncke on board the battleship König and comprised two battleships ( König and Kronprinz ), two small cruisers ( Kolberg and Strasbourg ), 16 torpedo boats of the 8th torpedo boat flotilla and the 20th torpedo boat semi-flotilla and a total of 34 Minesweepers .
On the evening of October 16, the association anchored at the southern end of the sound and stayed there for the night. The torpedo boats kept an eye out for enemy submarines while the strategy for the next day was determined. The positions of the Russian minefields in the area were known from a map captured on the boarded destroyer Grom ; one was to the south of the entrance to Moonsund, the other further north directly in the mouth of the sound. The battleships were to run between the minefields to the west and shut down the enemy fleet in front of the Kuiwast site and the coastal batteries , while the cruisers were to enter the Lesser Sound between Moon and Ösel and fight the batteries at Woi in the southeast of Moon. Meanwhile, the minesweepers were supposed to pave an alley into the sound west of Moon. In the event that the Russians, protecting their minefields, offered resistance and shot at the mine clearance boats, Behncke wanted to attack the enemy heavy ships with his battleships. To this end, further mine clearance forces were supposed to clear gaps in the two minefields identified in the Gulf of Riga, so that the battleships could gain enough space to maneuver.
The Russian fleet had been relatively helpless in the face of the German landing in the days before. There had been a few smaller skirmishes that had also caused losses among the enemy, but the German superiority was enormous, because apart from the forces of Vice Admiral Behncke in the Gulf of Riga, there was a large German force with eight other modern forces in the waters around the islands Battleships, a battle cruiser, several small cruisers and numerous lighter units and auxiliary ships . The Russian commander, Vice-Admiral Bachirew , had only the two ships of the line, Graschdanin and Slawa, and the armored cruisers Bajan and Admiral Makarow , all of which were out of date. In addition to the outdated protected cruiser Diana he only commanded light units, in addition to several modern destroyers , three armored cannon boats and four British submarines, two of which were in the Gulf of Riga.
The Russian units suffered from severe disintegration as a result of the February Revolution and the unfavorable development of the war for Russia. Soldiers' councils had been formed on board the ships to represent the interests of the soldiers and held a power of command in their hands that was equal to that of the officers. This made effective command management difficult. With the soldiers' councils tending to reject orders that unduly jeopardized the well-being and lives of the crews, many crews became very much inefficient and disciplined.
The task of the remaining Russian ships was to prevent or at least to delay the fall of the last island of Moon, which was still held by their own troops, including protecting the minefields in the shallow waters of the sound and the numerous coastal batteries against such a strong one Superior power most likely offered an opportunity.
The battle
During the night there was unrest among the Behncke group because of the presence of the British submarines, but this turned out to be unfounded. At around 4:30 a.m., a message was received via radio about a previously unknown mine barrier that was supposed to run between the identified minefields in a north-south direction. The report later turned out to be false, but nevertheless messed up the German plan of attack.
At about 7 a.m. the German mine clearers began their work and cleared a wide canal south of the southern minefield. Soon after, two Russian torpedo boats were sighted just below the Estonian coast, which informed Vice Admiral Bachirev of the German advance. The Russian commander decided that between the shallows, minefields and batteries of the Moonsund, despite its massive inferiority, it would be easiest to keep the Germans from advancing further, and put his heavy ships into march. Slava and Grahdanin soon appeared in the roadstead of Kuiwast, accompanied by a steamer and a few destroyers, while Bachirev followed shortly afterwards on his flagship, the armored cruiser Bajan . In the meantime, all available ships anchored and some civilian tugs and steamers were released, while the Glagol and Pokoj were being prepared as block ships . German seaplanes attacked the roadstead at Kuiwast with bombs, which did little damage, but produced extremely impressive explosions that did not fail to affect the Russians. King opened fire on the destroyers, who quickly retreated, while the Russian ships and the heavy battery at Woi in turn opened fire on the German mine clearers and the barrier breakers . The barrier breakers were ordered back, the III. Mine clearing semi-flotilla got to work in Moonsund, while the 8th mine clearing semi-flotilla worked its way into the Lesser Sound. Although the boats went slowly and the Russian fire was well aimed, none of them received a serious hit; Artificial smoke walls sometimes hid the deminers from the enemy.
At 8 o'clock the King and Crown Prince steered an easterly course south of the large southern minefield in the Bay of Riga. The Slava , which had run a little further north to stay out of reach of the Germans, changed target and now fired at the battleships from a distance of more than 20,000 m. Although the Russian ship of the line was armed with only four 30.5 cm guns than the two German dreadnoughts , each with ten guns of similar caliber, it still had the advantage of greater range thanks to modernized mounts that allowed the tubes to be increased more. The volleys of the German battleships were therefore too short, and they were in a bad position in the shallow and narrow sound between the mines. Again, the Russian fire was good, but there were no hits, although some grenades hit only 50 meters from the König . The Slava got after some time problems with the front heavy gun turret as the rack of the modified elevating drive of the guns was bent due to the duration of the fire, and fought the deminers only instead with the two aft guns. Vice-Admiral Behncke withdrew his heavy ships for the time being and ran west.
Vice-Admiral Bachirew knew that the German attack planning would become obsolete if the minesweepers in Moonsund could not carry out their task. Accordingly, the warships and coastal batteries took the III at around 9:10 a.m. Demining semi-flotilla under heavy fire but did not score any significant hits and the deminers continued their work. Around 10 a.m. she received support from the III. Mine-clearing division while the battleships waited between the Larina and Awanasewa banks. Behncke intended the III. To let the mine-clearing semi-flotilla advance to the north of the northern minefield and then to push quickly in order to undermine the Russian fire and finally get the enemy heavy ships within range. Meanwhile, the Russian heavy ships withdrew to the north so that the crews could take food, but approached the combat area again around 10 a.m. to intervene again in the battle.
At 10 o'clock the mine clearers had cleared a lane through the minefield, Vice Admiral Behncke let his two battleships run north with the utmost power and was quickly within range to be able to take the target. At 10:13 a.m. the king opened fire on the Slava , four minutes later the Crown Prince began to fire on the Grahdanin . The king soon aimed at the target, three shells from the third volley hit the slava about 3 to 3.5 m below the waterline. Two of them penetrated the armor, while the third could not penetrate the side armor on the port side. One of the shells exploded near the forward generator room and tore a 3.6 m wide hole below the waterline in the inner hull. The Wallgang and the forward ammunition magazine were also full, and the power went out in the forecastle. The second hit exploded near the capstan , creating another violent ingress of water. About 1,130 tons of water penetrated the forecastle, and the ship of the line soon showed an 8 ° port side, which, however, could be reduced to 4 ° by counter-flooding. The draft increased to 10.5 m in the front and 9.9 m in the aft. For its part, the Grahdanin received two hits almost simultaneously, one of which struck near the stern and set off a fire that was quickly extinguished. The other detonated on belt armor near a 6 inch turret, and splinters damaged two generators and several steam pipes in the engine room. At 10:24 a.m., the slava received two more hits in the forecastle. A shell hit the port near the front chimney and devastated the chapel, which was used as a first aid station. Several sailors were killed or wounded and a fire broke out. The second round detonated on the battery deck. Gas and smoke penetrated the boiler room, and a nearby 15.2 cm magazine was flooded as a precaution. The fires could be extinguished after about a quarter of an hour, and at 10:30 a.m. Vice Admiral Bachirew ordered all ships to retreat to the northern Moonsund. The flagship Bajan offered itself as a distraction target to cover the retreat of the liners, and a series of rapid changes of course and voyage initially saved the ship from hits, although it was forked in by eight enemy volleys in quick succession.
At 10:39, the König scored two more hits on the Slava , again below the waterline. One of them wreaked havoc in the crew quarters and killed three men, the other broke through the armored belt and got stuck in the bulkhead of a coal bunker. The Slava was now out of range, the König now fired at the bayan and at 10:36 a.m. scored a dangerous hit with her last volley on the starboard side between the bridge and the front 20.3 cm turret, which penetrated the upper and battery deck and in the cable section detonated deep inside the ship where there was a lot of combustible material. A serious fire broke out, which could only be finally extinguished after 24 hours. The explosion continued to tear eight frames , damaged a bulkhead and tore several panels of the double floor and some armor plates of the belt armor from their anchorages. The ammunition stores near the source of the fire had to be flooded to be on the safe side, and leaks caused by splinters let in even more water. A total of 1,000 tons of water penetrated, so that the draft in the front was finally 7.9 m. Two men were killed immediately when the grenade hit, three others later died from their injuries and three were wounded. The Russian ships initially continued to fire on the deminers before shooting the battleships, which remained undamaged. At 10:40 a.m., the German battleships ceased firing, and a squadron of six seaplanes attacked the smaller departing Russian ships with about forty bombs, but scored no hits. However, the heavy shelling and the simultaneous air strike affected the morale of the crews, especially on the mine-layers with their dangerous charge what the Slava but did not stop to shoot down one of the attackers.
The commander of the Slava , Captain 1st rank Vladimir Antonov, soon realized that his ship could not join the retreat. Although it was not critically damaged, the large amount of water that had seeped in had increased the draft to such an extent that it could no longer pass through the dredged channel through the Moonsund. Antonov therefore proposed that after the departure of Bayan and Grahdanin , they should be sunk in the middle of the fairway as a block ship, and Bachirev accepted the proposal. The crew of the Slava , who had maintained discipline during the battle, began to panic when they had survived the heavy enemy fire. About a hundred of the younger sailors gradually left their posts and put on life jackets. The soldiers' council on board had the engine room evacuated prematurely so that nobody carried out the commandant's engine orders and the ship did not come to a stop in time. It ran aground southeast of the desired position and was abandoned on the spot. Panicked sailors at gunpoint had to be prevented from simply jumping overboard into the gap between the side of the Slava and that of a destroyer walking alongside that wanted to take over the crew. Captain Antonov was the last to leave the ship. At 11:55 a.m. the aft 30.5 cm magazine was blown up. The explosion could be seen and heard from afar, and the enormous mushroom cloud was still visible in Kassar Wiek 25 km further east. In addition, three destroyers shot six torpedoes on the wreck, only one of which actually exploded from the Turkmenets Stavropolski .
Result
As a result of the loss of the Slava and the sometimes significant damage on the other heavy ships, Vice Admiral Bachirew was no longer able to hold the position. The Germans fought down the coastal batteries and were soon able to clear the minefields almost undisturbed and land troops on Moon. The Russian fleet withdrew to northern Moonsund and blocked the passage between the island and mainland Estonia as best they could. Some transports were sunk as blockships and surrounded with minefields while the remaining Russian troops on Moon were evacuated. The same was planned for the rest of the garrison on Dagö, but the transport ships had to turn around after a battle with German torpedo boats, and the soldiers were taken prisoner. Ultimately, however, Bachirew and his remaining ships managed to withdraw in an orderly manner a few days later without further serious losses.
The Russian leadership had to surrender the Gulf of Riga to the Germans and its range of action was now severely restricted, namely to the northern Baltic Sea. This also regularly froze over completely in the winter months, so that all shipping traffic had to be stopped and the Baltic Sea fleet could not intervene to provide support.
literature
- Lutz Bengelsdorf: The naval war in the Baltic Sea. 1914-1918. Hauschild, Bremen 2008, ISBN 978-3-89757-404-5 .
- Paul G. Halpern: A Naval History of World War I. UCL Press, London 1994, ISBN 1-85728-295-7 .
- Gary Staff: Battle for the Baltic Islands 1917. Triumph of the Imperial German Navy. Pen & Sword Maritime, Barnsley 2008, ISBN 978-1-84415-787-7 .
Web links
- http://www.neva.ru/EXPO96/book/chap11-4.html (English)
- http://ship.bsu.by/main.asp?id=4042#4042 (Russian, with photos)
- http://www.gwpda.org/naval/albion3.htm (English)
Coordinates: 58 ° 36 '4.9 " N , 23 ° 26" 59.9 " E