Sea battle in the Shetland Islands

Sea battle in the Shetland Islands

Part of: First World War ( naval war )

date	October 17, 1917
place	North Sea
output	German victory

Parties to the conflict
Imperial Navy	Royal Navy
Commander
FKpt. Max Leonardi	Lt. Cdr. Charles Fox
Troop strength
2 mine cruisers	2 destroyers, 2 trawlers
losses
no	2 destroyers, nine merchant ships, up to 250 dead and 50 injured

The sea ​​battle at the Shetland Islands took place during the First World War on October 17, 1917 at the exit of the North Sea about 65 nautical miles east of Lerwick . Two German mine cruisers attacked a convoy escorted by British forces in the morning hours and sank two British destroyers and nine neutral merchant ships.

background

In the autumn of 1917, the successes of the German submarine offensive against the supply shipping of the Entente had already passed their zenith, and the German Admiralty intended to help the submarines with surprising surface attacks . Convoy trains that commuted from Great Britain to Norway and back again, bringing coal to Norway and iron and wood products to Great Britain, provided a good opportunity . Although these were adequately protected against submarines and had already fended off some submarine attacks, the few light escort vehicles were hardly a threat to larger surface vessels. Despite the proximity to the most important British naval base Scapa Flow and other naval bases, the escorts at the exit of the North Sea offered one of the few starting points for an attack over water that was not beyond the British blockade lines. Although groups of British cruisers patrolled this sea area, they always drove separately from the convoys and could not intervene immediately. For this purpose, the two mine cruisers Brummer and Bremse were selected, which, in addition to their high sustained speed, could show a great similarity to British light cruisers of the Arethusa class .
The British Admiralty knew from decrypted German radio messages that the two cruisers had left the port, but suspected, due to the special characteristics of the two ships, that they had set out to lay mines. Therefore, Admiral David Beatty, who was in command of the Grand Fleet at the time , did not receive any notification and approved the departure of a convoy for October 16 from Bergen , which comprised twelve merchant ships and to protect against submarines from the British destroyers Mary Rose and Strongbow as well as the armed trawlers Elise and P. Fannon was escorted.

The battle

When it got light at 6 a.m., the escort heading west was about 65 nautical miles east of Lerwick on the Shetland Islands. The visibility was only about 4,000 m due to fog. Mary Rose , the flagship of the convoy, led the way while Strongbow followed. Strongbow sighted two fast cruisers approaching from aft, which were initially mistaken for their own ships due to their silhouette and the dark gray paintwork and were addressed by a Morse code lamp with an identification signal. Although the signal was not answered correctly, no combat readiness was initially established. On the German side, the British destroyer was initially thought to be a cruiser. At 06:06 a.m. Brummer opened fire on Strongbow at a distance of 3,000 m , the British destroyers then turned towards the Germans, followed by Elise . With the second volley of Brummer got Strongbow several heavy artillery hits, which damaged the main steam line and destroyed the radio. The bridge was also devastated and the commander was seriously wounded. Shortly afterwards, the destroyer was unable to maneuver after further hits.

The cruisers now fired at the merchant ships before the Mary Rose came into view shortly afterwards . Fire was opened on them at 0640, the destroyer defended itself with well-aimed artillery fire, but only Brummer was hit on the forecastle and was slightly damaged. Mary Rose received 15 artillery hits by 07:03 and then did not return fire, Bremse approached within 500 m and sank the incapacitated destroyer. After that, the cruisers shot again at the incapacitated Strongbow and finally fought them down. Elise had meanwhile joined the fight and was trying to rescue the crew of the Strongbow . But she had to withdraw out of range before the superior fire of the cruisers. After that, the Germans quickly destroyed nine merchant ships, all of them neutral ships of Danish , Swedish and Norwegian origin.

The German ships had successfully disrupted the British radio communications during the entire attack, so that no emergency calls could be made. Because one was not sure whether a call for help had come off after all, and one also believed to have sighted an enemy submarine, the two cruisers began their march back after sinking the nine merchant ships and did not pursue any further. Two British and one Belgian merchant ships as well as the two trawlers escaped the destruction. The Germans left the rescue of the castaways to the ships and the escaped ships. The incapacitated Strongbow stayed afloat until 9:30 a.m. The trawlers soon returned after the Germans turned away to help the boats of the merchant ships rescue survivors. The Royal Navy only became aware of the incident when the escaped merchant ships entered the port of Lerwick at around 3:50 p.m. on the same day . Brummer and Bremse reached their base without further incident.

losses

In addition to the two destroyers, the following merchant ships with a total of 10,248 GRT were sunk . The number in brackets indicates the confirmed death toll.

• Margrethe (DK), 1,245 GRT
• Stella (DK), 836 GRT
• Habil (N), 636 GRT
• Dagbjørg (N), 98 GRT
• Silja (N), 1,236 GRT (3)
• Sørhaug (N), 1,007 GRT (1)
• Kristine (N), 568 GRT (11)
• Visbur (S), 962 GRT
• H. Wicander (S), 1,256 GRT (19)

Besides the two trawlers, the following escaped:

• Benclugh (GB)
• City of York (GB)
• Lonionier (B)

Of the approximately 80 crews of the British destroyers, 48 survived from Strongbow , including the commander and three officers. Of Mary Rose , only ten men survived, including two officers. According to British information, around 190 men were killed and at least 50 others were wounded by the crews of the sunk merchant ships. Other sources confirm at least 35 fatalities among civilian seafarers. From the British side, allegations were made that the Germans had shot at shipwrecked people and lifeboats, which, however, was denied by the German side and can no longer be clarified with absolute certainty. There were no losses on the German side.

Effects

The surprise attack by German surface ships and another blow against a convoy going to Scandinavia in the naval battle off Bergen on December 12 of the same year, when four German destroyers attacked a convoy going from Lerwick to Bergen and one destroyer, four trawlers and six merchant ships sunk, forced the British to provide better protection against surface attacks. From now on, heavier ship units accompanied the convoys, which went less often but were better secured. After another attempt to attack a Scandinavian escort in the spring of 1918, which failed due to the increased escorts, the Germans stopped their short-lived surface offensive and left the trade war to the submarines and auxiliary cruisers , after which there were hardly any further battles in the North Sea.

In addition to the allegations of having shot at helpless shipwrecked people, the Germans were charged with sunk neutral merchant ships without giving the crews the opportunity to get into the lifeboats. The Germans later officially justified this with the need to prevent the enemy from making emergency calls. They also argued that neutrals transporting British cargo, claiming the protection of British ships and firing at the Germans with guns on board, were not neutral, but sided with the enemy. The commanders and crews of the two British destroyers were highly praised by the press and the Admiralty for their attack against a strong superior force, although there were also considerations that the escorts should have withdrawn better to distract the enemy from the merchant ships and summon help.

Web links

• Report on the sunk H. Wicander with links to the other lost ships and details
• Strongbow page with further information
• Articles and comments on the battle at gwpda.org

literature

• Reinhard Scheer : Germany's ocean-going fleet in World War I , Berlin 1919, pp. 324-325

Footnotes

1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Scheer, p. 324
5. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?157759
8. ↑ http://www.gwpda.org/naval/maryrose.htm
9. ↑ Scheer, pp. 324-325

Coordinates: 60 ° 1 ′ 0 ″  N , 1 ° 6 ′ 0 ″  E