Advance into the Bay of Riga
The large torpedo boat V 99 sinks on August 17th after two mine hits
| date | August 8, 1915 to August 19, 1915 |
|---|---|
| place | Gulf of Riga , Baltic Sea |
| output | A tie as it has no effect on the overall situation |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 3 battle cruisers, 8 battleships, 8 ships of the line, 2 armored cruisers, 9 small cruisers, 1 auxiliary mine-layers, 56 torpedo boats, 3 submarines, 27 minesweepers, 1 airship |
1 ship of the line, 2 cruisers, 4 gunboats, 25 destroyers, 6 submarines, 1 minelayer, 1 aircraft mother ship |
| losses | |
|
2 torpedo boats, |
2 gunboats, |
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The advance into the Bay of Riga was an operation by the German Imperial Navy during the First World War in the Baltic Sea region with the aim of dominating the Gulf of Riga and occupying the city of Riga from land.
Starting position
After the great withdrawal of the Russian army on the Eastern Front , the German army was able to occupy the Courland coast with the two important port cities Libau and Windau - with the exception of Riga , the center of the Baltic States - by mid-1915 . Libau and Windau both had developed and large deep-water ports , which allowed them to supply large ocean-going ships and warships. The Russian armed forces remained on the defensive . Only the light naval forces of the Russian navy's Baltic fleet waged a mine and guerrilla war against the German ore supply from Sweden .
Planning
The original considerations of the Supreme Army Command on the German side envisaged a combined sea-land enterprise for the occupation of Riga by the 10th Army and the closure of the Riga Bay by army units and naval units, similar to the later Operation Albion of 1917. However, after the occupation of Riga by the army had to be canceled due to a lack of forces, the navy took over the sole planning to block the access to the Riga Bay, break through the Irben Strait and combat Russian naval units of the Russian Baltic fleet standing in the Gulf of Finland .
The break-in into the Riga Bay was scheduled for August 8, 1915 by the Baltic Sea forces, with parts of the deep-sea fleet taking over the security. The aim was to block Moon Sound with mines by the auxiliary mine-layer Germany and to block the port of Pernau , which served as the British submarine base, with block ships.
Participating German units
Baltic Strikers:
- IV. Squadron: Braunschweig , Alsace , Wittelsbach , Wettin , Mecklenburg , Swabia , Zähringen
- Reconnaissance forces of the Baltic Sea: Roon , Prince Heinrich , Augsburg , Bremen , Lübeck , Thetis , V 99 , V 100
- Security groups: VIII. And X. torpedo boat flotilla with 11 torpedo boats each , II. Minesweeping division with 14 minesweepers
- Submarines: U 9 , U 26 , UC 4
- Auxiliary miners: Germany
Deep sea fleet:
- I. Squadron: Nassau , Rhineland , Westphalia , Posen , East Friesland , Thuringia , Oldenburg , Heligoland
- I. Awareness group: Seydlitz , Moltke , Von der Tann
- II. Awareness group: Graudenz , Regensburg , Stralsund , Pillau
- Torpedo boat leader: Kolberg , 1. Torpedo boat half flotilla (4 boats), III. Torpedo boat flotilla (10 boats), V. Torpedo boat flotilla (8 boats), IX. Torpedo boat flotilla (10 boats), I. Minesweeping Division (13 boats)
- Airship: Parseval PL25
Russian units involved
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- Ship of the line: Slava
- Cruisers: Bajan , Gromoboi
- Destroyer: Nowik ; Ochotnik , General Kondratenko , Sibirski Strelok the Ochotnik class , Amurez , Ussurijez the Wsadnik class ; Emir Bucharski , Finn , Dobrowolez of the Emir Bucharski class ; Ukraina , Woiskowoi , Straschny , Donskoi Kasak of the Ukraina class
- Mine-layer: Amur
- Gunboats: Grosjaschtschi , soviet gunboat krasnoye znamya , Siwutsch , Koreetz
- Submarines: E1 , E9 (British); Cheetah , Mackerel , Minoga , Drakon
- Aircraft mother ship : Oitica
1st advance from 6 to 9 August 1915
The navy's plans stipulated that two routes through the extensive mine barriers in Irbenstrasse and west of Ösel should be cleared within 3 hours in order to give the heavy support units enough space to maneuver.
On August 8th at 3:50 a.m., the II. Minesweeping Division began to clear a path from Pissen in the direction of Irben-Straße with its 14 torpedo boats, which had been converted from outdated small minesweepers, under cover of the Braunschweig liner and the Bremen small cruiser . At 04.45 a.m., the Neufahrwasser auxiliary minesweeping division followed her from Lyser Ort towards Zerell, which was covered by the small cruiser Thetis with its nine auxiliary minesweepers, which were made up of former fish steamers. At the intersection while the small former torpedo boat ran T 52 at 05:10 in position 57 ° 42 ' N , 21 ° 51' O onto a mine and sank to 5:25 without casualties. Thetis , who was approaching to rescue the castaways, was hit by a mine at 05.38 and had to be released to Libau . Meanwhile, the two Russian gunboats Grozjaschtschi and Chrabry began to bombard the minesweepers from a great distance, whose fire was in turn returned by Bremen , Braunschweig and Alsace , the latter landing two heavy hits on the Grozjashchi . Meanwhile, the large torpedo boat S 144 , which was in operation for securing submarines , ran into a mine at 7:07 a.m., but could be caught by S 140 and S 147 and also brought into Libau. Mine clearing continued steadily the whole time. Around 10.30 a.m., the Russian side took energetic steps against the German ships for the first time and sent the Liner Slawa to Irbenstrasse to stop the mine search. This opened fire on Braunschweig and Alsace at 16,000 meters , which immediately shot back. The Slava turned away immediately and withdrew to the Riga Bay. At 11.15 a.m. the mine clearing was finished and a gap in the mine barriers was cleared. But decreased to 13:32, the minesweeper T 58 to a further, previously unrecognized lock on the position of 57 ° 42 ' N , 21 ° 55' O without human losses.
The breakthrough, which was planned to take 3 hours, actually took over 9 hours. This meant that the auxiliary mine-layer Germany could no longer throw his mine barrier in Moonsund in daylight. At night with no landmarks in uncharted waters, the company was considered too dangerous. However, this lock was a central point of German planning, as it was intended to prevent Russian reinforcements from the Hangö , Reval and Kronstadt naval bases in the northern Baltic Sea . Added to this were the coal reserves of some ships that had been exhausted due to the long journey times and had to be replenished. Was billed as the permanent submarine danger: Sun attacked the British submarine E1 unsuccessfully Stralsund and the Russian submarine Gepard the Lübeck on. All units, with the exception of a few boats left behind to guard the cleared paths, called at the ports of Windau and Libau to replenish coal - which was to last the whole of the following day. Meanwhile, the Russian destroyer Novik managed to mine parts of the Irbenstrasse again.
On the following day, August 10, the cruiser Kolberg shot at the lighthouse on the island of Utö in the Gulf of Finland in a diversionary maneuver together with the torpedo boat V 28 , which resulted in a brief encounter with Russian destroyers. At 6 a.m. the battle cruiser Von der Tann was detached together with S 131 and G 197 to support the Kolberg Group, which immediately came into action with the Russian cruiser Gromoboi . The latter turns in front of the superior battle cruiser, which then changed its target to a land battery on Utö and promptly received a medium hit in the front chimney. At the same time, the large cruisers Roon and Prinz Heinrich fired under cover of the small cruisers Bremen and Lübeck as well as the X. Torpedo Boat Flotilla Zerel and were attacked by Russian destroyers, whereby the Sibirski Strelok received two hits.
On August 11, the fighting ceased again, while Nowik , Finn , Dobrovolec , General Kondratenko , the mine ship Amur and five other boats managed to lay a total of 350 mines in the Irbenstrasse. The Amurez was hit by a mine and was brought into Kuiwast by the Ussurijez .
On the German side, the U 9 and U 26 submarines were sent to the area between Odensholm and Dagö for support and surveillance. The mine-laying submarine UC 4 was supposed to mine the access to Utö, was unsuccessfully attacked by the British submarine E9 with three torpedoes and finally completed the task on August 14. The submarine U 26 has been missing in the Baltic Sea since August 11 and probably sank with the entire crew after a mine hit.
The period of calm for the heavy units until August 15 was used by the Germans to plan a second advance from August 16 in order to still be able to achieve the goals set.
2nd advance from August 16-20, 1915
After the experiences of the first intrusion attempt, the relevant German authorities assessed the situation far more pessimistically: A quick breakthrough through the extensive Russian mine barriers was not expected and the goal was no longer to destroy the Russian naval forces in the Riga Bay, but only to keep them away or restricting their freedom of movement.
The two ships of the line Nassau and Posen with the small cruisers Graudenz , Pillau , Augsburg and Bremen were intended to penetrate . Then there were the two new and large torpedo boats V 99 and V 100 , 31 boats of the VIII., IX. and X. torpedo boat flotilla and reinforced minesweeping flotilla. This force was covered by the ships of the line Braunschweig and Alsace , the battle cruisers Seydlitz , Moltke and Von der Tann , the big cruiser Roon and the small cruisers Regensburg , Stralsund , Lübeck and Kolberg as well as 32 boats of the I., IV. And V. torpedo boat flotilla. The five ships of the line of the Wittelsbach class were left behind in Libau in increased readiness. The Prinz Heinrich had been ordered to stay at the shipyard in Kiel . This time, the Irbenstrasse was only to be accelerated through the southern entrance at Lyser Ort , so that the existing mine search forces could be used primarily from the start.
On the morning of August 16, the Graudenz , the Augsburg , V 99 and V 100 and a torpedo boat semi-flotilla were ordered to perform a diversion in front of the central entrance to Irbenstrasse. At 4 a.m. the attempted break-in by the II. Minesweeping Division began under cover of Pillau and Bremen . The first mines were cleared from 11.30 a.m. in an area that had already been cleared on August 8th. Here, the little old former torpedo boat ran at 13.30 T 46 in position 57 ° 41 ' N , 21 ° 50' O onto a mine and sank with the loss of 17 men. In the early afternoon the Russian gunboat Chrabry and the ship of the line Slawa came into view from a great distance , the latter firing at the minesweepers. The securing ships of the line Nassau and Posen immediately fired back, which forced the Slava to break off the battle. At around 5 p.m. the mine search was canceled and postponed due to the onset of dusk. The German staff came to the decision that it was promising to use the fast and heavily armed torpedo boats V 99 and V 100 for a torpedo night attack on the Slava .
The submarine U 9 sank north of the island of Dagö on August 16, the steamer Serbino sailing under the British flag .
The boats entered the Irbenstrasse at 6.30 p.m. just below the Courland coast, past the Russian mine barriers, and at 7.55 p.m. were in a brief battle with the older Russian destroyers General Kondratenko and Ochotnik , which the latter broke off and withdrew. Both boats now sought after Slava , which protected in Arensburger bay in Saaremaa was - but what was not known - and pushed it to the line island Runö - Peninsula Fettel on Saaremaa before. The return march took place across the Arensburg Bay without being able to make out any targets there due to the darkness.
On August 17 at 1:10 a.m., both boats south-east of Zerel met the older Russian boats Vojskovoi and Ukrajna , which were attacked with torpedoes. The torpedoes were both flat shots that the Russian boats underwent and forced them to break off the battle. At around 04.15 a.m., V 99 discovered a Russian destroyer and attacked it immediately, whereby it turned out to be the powerful Nowik and received support from three older boats of the Emir Bukharsky class. V 99 received several hits and fires broke out in the forecastle and amidships. Now the boat tried to escape through the famous Russian minefields and received two mine hits. At 5:00 a.m. V 100 intervened and fogged the struck boat, while S 31 , S 34 and V 108 rushed to the aid of the struck boat and the Posen drove the Russian boats away. However, all rescue measures were in vain because the boat, which was sinking ever deeper, could not be stopped. At 8 a.m. V 99 sank at position 57 ° 37 ′ N , 21 ° 52 ′ E before Piss, losing 21 men. The poses shelled Meanwhile, the approaching Slava , who immediately withdrew again. To 07:40 appeared Slava again on the battlefield and was this time up to 16,300 meters at the German ships left approach before Nassau and Posen fired back and scored three goals.
Mine clearing took place throughout August 18 without any incident. On August 19, the old small former torpedo boat T 77 ran into a mine in the cleared fairway, also had two deaths and was still able to be stopped and brought in.
On that day, orders were given for the two ships of the line Posen and Nassau to break in , together with the small cruisers Pillau , Bremen , Augsburg and Graudenz as well as the auxiliary mine- layers Germany and the VIII, IX and X torpedo boat flotilla. At noon the Bremen set course for Arensburg with V 30 and S 34 and shelled the port of Romassar . Then the cruiser patrolled with five torpedo boats on an outpost line in the Arensburg Bay in front of Ösel. The Graudenz occupied an outpost line between Cape Domesnäs and the island of Runö with a torpedo boat semi-flotilla, and the Augsburg was delegated with V 100 to monitor the port of Pernau .
At 5.30 p.m. the auxiliary mine-layer Germany, together with three torpedo boats, each loaded with twelve mines and under cover of the cruiser Pillau, headed for Moon Sound in order to block it. However, the operation was canceled at 6 p.m. due to the danger of mines and Russian destroyers. This group anchored in the dark under cover of the island of Kyno . The Augsburg also set out from Pernau to Kynö at 7.30 p.m. to anchor there, where she met two enemy ships south of the island that were trying to escape northwards towards Moon-Sund. From this direction, however, the two ships - the smaller Russian gunboats Siwutsch and Korejez , which had previously laid 100 mines off Dünamünde - came towards the German majority. At 8:17 p.m. Posen and Nassau intervened in the ongoing battle and sank the Siwutsch . The sister ship Korejez was able to escape in the dark, but later had severe grounding and for this reason was abandoned and blown up by its own crew on August 20. At about 11 p.m. the German main fleet anchored 15 nm north of Kynö. At the same time, the torpedo boat S 31 was hit by a mine about 4 nm west of the island of Runö . At about 1.30 a.m. the boat sank at the position 57 ° 47 ' N , 23 ° 5' E , losing 11 men.
On the same August 19, the British submarine E1 attacked the battle cruiser Seydlitz with a torpedo, which however passed and hit the staggered battle cruiser Moltke in the bow torpedo room, resulting in eight deaths.
On August 20, the cruisers Graudenz and Augsburg, together with the boats V 28 , S 32 , V 183 and V 108 and three block ships, blocked the port of Pernau. After some coastal batteries had been fought down, the port was successfully blocked at 11.00 a.m. with the old steamers Auk , Iris and City of Berlin , which were precisely placed and sunk in the fairway.
The deal was scheduled to close on August 21st with the Moon Sound mining. For this purpose, the main combat group lifted anchor at 5.30 a.m. and took off in the direction of the operational area. However, after the torpedo boat V 181 had discovered a submarine, the mine operation was immediately abandoned by the naval commander in chief, Vice Admiral Schmidt, because of the danger and at the same time the march back started. At 3:30 p.m. the rear guard of the German fleet left the Riga Bay and the operation was declared over.
Effects
Due to its own successes in mine clearing, the German side had to recognize that the mining of Moon Sound would not have been effective without constant surveillance; therefore they were ultimately renounced. The Russian Navy, in turn, recognized the largely useless defensive mine barriers and continued on the strategic defensive. Why the modern capital ships did not act more actively against the German naval units is controversial until now - they probably did not want to endanger the few heavy units. For the next two years, until Operation Albion , the Riga Bay remained the main naval theater of war in the Baltic Sea. Most of the battles fought there were carried out by small boats such as LM boats , minesweepers or coastal torpedo boats . At the same time, mine warfare was intensified and the aircraft began to play a not inconsiderable role in this spatially very limited area.
literature
- Rudolf Firle: The War at Sea 1914-1918. The war in the Baltic Sea. Volume II The war year 1915. Frankfurt / Main: Mittler 1929
- Heinrich von Gagern: The War at Sea 1914-1918. The war in the Baltic Sea. Vol. III From the beginning of 1916 until the end of the war. Hamburg: Middle 1964
- Hans H. Hildebrandt, Albert Röhr, Hans Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Vol. 1 Herford 1993
- Walther Hubatsch: The Imperial Navy. Tasks and achievements. Munich: Lehmann 1975
- Gerhard Koop / Klaus-Peter Schmolke: Small cruisers 1903-1918, Bremen to Cologne class , Volume 12, ship classes and ship types of the German Navy, Bernard & Graefe Verlag Munich, 2004, ISBN 3-7637-6252-3
- Lutz Bengelsdorf: The naval war in the Baltic Sea 1914-1918. Hauschild, Herford 2008, ISBN 978-3-89757-404-5 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?59651 The sinking of the “Serbino” sailing under the British flag took place on August 16