Re: 1916 Campaign
13 JAN
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12:01am E.41 ordered to Zeebrugge to lay mines.
Initially it was thought that the German battlecruisers had put to sea to intercept and destroy the slower moving 3rd BS and initial moves during the night by Beatty, Bradford and Tyrwhitt were made with this in mind - that once aware they were facing light cruisers normally attached to the BCF the Germans would turn for home. However as searches to the east revealed nothing, Beatty ordered a course to the NW at 12:30am on the 13th and at 1:06am Elbing was again sighted from Southampton at 2,500m bearing 350, course 256, 21kts. 2nd LCS was on a course of 301 15kts and was sweeping through approximately the same area of sea the Boston had been sighted in 90 minutes earlier. It was clear now that the Germans were pushing west and north towards the English east coast and appeared to still be unaware that the BCF was in contact. Goodenough turned onto course 270 and Elbing swung away to the northwards. Her firing this time was very good and she opened fire before the British cruisers did, hitting Southampton six times with 6" shells and illuminating her with star shell, something the RN lacked. 2nd LCS replied back however and Elbing was hit several times before she withdrew. Two enemy destroyers, the B.97 and B.98 were now sighted to the NE of Elbing steering E. Rear Admiral Napier in HMS Falmouth leading 3rd LCS turned his four ships from 301 to 010 to close and engage. Goodenough swung 2nd LCS starboard to 340 to try and stay in contact with Elbing which was now making 27kts on 358.
Our 12 light cruisers and 6 armoured cruisers were now all making full speed in a NNW to N direction, spread on a wide front while Beatty followed still on 301 but now at 20kts, 3rd BS following at 18kts.
Napier now saw the B.112 dead ahead of Falmouth at 3,500m, making high speed east. Realising he was probably running into a strong destroyer screen at point blank range he ordered 3rd LCS to turn away to 070 and then to 090 while bringing B.112 under fire. Soon B.109, B.110 and B.111 appeared out of the darkness in the gap between B.97 and B.98 and B.112 - six of the newest and most powerful destroyers in the High Seas Fleet.
To the west Goodenough's turn to heading 340 had brought the light cruiser Pillau into sight, 2,000m bearing 000 course 110 27kts and within a minute or two Lancaster and Donegal sighted Pillau and added their fire. Frankfurt then came into action to the north in support of Pillau. Elbing by now had slid away once more in the dark beyond Pillau.
Napier's efforts against the B.97 destroyer flotilla were rewarded with a tremendous explosion that tore the leading enemy destroyer - B.112 - apart after Falmouth's third salvo. Falmouth then switched her guns to the second in line, B.111 while Gloucester opened fire on B.110 and Yarmouth, completing her turn, on B.109. Suddenly a cruiser appeared ahead of the enemy destroyers, and closer to Falmouth, switched on her searchlights and opened fire. She was the Regensburg and at the same time the Stralsund appeared astern of the destroyers. The speed with which the German ships located ours and engaged, almost simultaneously with putting their lights on, indicated they had better night action training than our crews, or the visibility north-east to south-west was better than on the reverse bearing.
Falmouth and Birkenhead, the leading and trailing two British cruisers engaged these new targets. Napier had been so far extremely fortunate in that none of his ships had been hit, the German destroyers either not firing at all or shooting very poorly. It was then that Napier saw two large low shapes to starboard of and beyond Regensburg. Seydlitz and Derfflinger appeared suddenly, 4,300m distant bearing 013 from Falmouth on course 191 at 26kts - heading directly for Beatty's line. Napier ordered a turn together away to 270, both to save his own ships and to clear the range between Beatty and the German battle cruisers. Likewise, Achilles and Kent which had been steaming towards that area seeking out further units of the German screen swung starboard onto 030 to keep clear of BCF's fire. The time was 1:14am, only eight minutes had elapsed since Southampton had identified Elbing.
It now began to rain heavily and on completing his turn, Napier's luck ran out: Falmouth was struck amidships by a heavy calibre shell from Seydlitz, a starboard 4" gun was disabled and Falmouth's speed began to fall off. Gloucester had also been hit at about this time by shells from B.111's flotilla. The German battlecruiser formation had been disrupted by B.111's line passing through it and Seydlitz was somewhat separated from Derfflinger, Moltke and Von der Tann, these last two ships having now been reported by Napier to Beatty. The three other German capital ships were 2000m to the west and north of Seydlitz, having steered around astern of B.97. Within minutes Falmouth was struck by upwards of 6 11" shells and 8 to 10 6". Her starboard battery was a shambles and several plates were punctured and displaced on her starboard side. She began to flood but the pumps could keep up for now. Her speed dropped to 16kts and Rear Admiral Napier ordered her to leave the line and make her way to safety steering course 234. She ceased fire and all men were ordered to the damage control parties.
Goodenough meanwhile, to the north and west of Napier, had lost contact with the Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Pillau and Elbing group. He turned 2nd LCS to course 072 to relocate them. Rear Admiral Heath in Lancaster however, had no trouble locating them. The strange vagaries of the rainy night meant that patches of good and poor visibility moved about the sea and Lancaster and Donegal now steamed into a clear patch. It contained the four cruisers Goodenough was searching for, too far to the N and W, plus Stralsund and for the second time this night the Germans had a local superiority of firepower. Stralsund was especially aggressive, passing close under Lancaster's port quarter at under 200m. Heath turned away towards where he knew Goodenough was, on course 292 but not before his own ship and Donegal took a heavy punishment. At 1:21am Donegal shuddered and rolled from a torpedo hit, probably fired by either Wiesbaden or Frankfurt. She began to flood uncontrollably and her speed fell off rapidly.
Stralsund in return took heavy damage also. As she passed behind Lancaster she ran into 3rd LCS, less Falmouth and at point blank range the three British cruisers landed hit after hit. She limped away on course 103 on fire and slowing to 23kts.
East of the advancing German battlecruisers 1st LCS commanded by Alexander-Sinclair in HMS Galatea ran into the B.111 flotilla Napier had encountered earlier. Achilles and Kent having swung east away from the line of advance of the German battlecruisers were in company and the five German destroyers were hit badly, B.110 being struck by a torpedo fired from Inconstant as the two lines closed.
At 1:24am the German battlecruisers finally met 1st and 2nd BCS. The range was around 3,000m to 4,000m and the engagement was short and bloody. Lion, Queen Mary and Australia all took hits from large calibre guns, and Australia was hit by a torpedo, taking in water that slowed her speed to 20kts. Lion was hit on 'Q' and 'X' turrets disabling them both and Queen Mary lost 'X' turret. The German ships however took a murderous hammering. Appearing as they did at an oblique angle out of the dark each in turn was subjected to the concentrated fire of several ships. The German line bent and made away south-eastward and the British battlecruisers turned away also in individual cases to avoid torpedo tracks. The second ship in the German line, Derfflinger, seemed to take the worst of it and her speed was much reduced when again the Germans were lost to sight.
3rd LCS had shot Stralsund into a stationary wreck and as Beatty brought Lion round in a long slow turn from 300 to 068, coming back into the action after his ships turned away to avoid torpedoes, Elbing was sighted lying between the British battlecruisers and the direction in which the German battlecruisers had disappeared. Elbing was the only target and she was pounded by each British ship as she came into sight.
Alexander-Sinclair in Galatea, leading 1st LCS had left the remaining B.111 destroyers behind him in the dark and steering 285 at 23kts saw Frankfurt 4,500m on his starboard beam, course unknown. Kent and Achilles were now following the rear of his formation in close company with Devonshire and Antrim some miles astern (these two ships capable of only 22kts and being the furthest from where the action commenced had so far seen no enemy and had been steering generally NNE towards the sounds and flashes of combat). 1st LCS and the two armoured cruisers fired upon Frankfurt as they passed and though hits were observed their effects were unknown.
Beatty now at 1:39am, received a wireless report from Commodore Tyrwhitt that he was in contact with two German destroyers bearing 038 from Arethusa. His position was given and the ships plot showed 5th LCS was 31km from Lion bearing 081. Tyrwhitt also wirelessed that he had received a report from Commander Molteno in the flotilla leader Lightfoot, commanding 9th DF that he was observing three enemy cruisers to port, one with four funnels and two with three taller ones. These had appeared from the north. Beatty realised that such distant cruisers could not be part of the screen of the force he was fighting and considering that they could be the screen for the whole High Seas Fleet ordered his forces to break contact, Tyrwhitt reversing course to 170 and then 190 and the BCF and Channel Fleet steering to the north-west.
At 1:41am Lightfoot was hit by a large calibre shell from an unseen enemy. She was by now at the rear of 9th DF's column and working up steam from 24kts to 29kts. The shell struck the port side plating between the first and second funnels disabling the #2 4" gun and the 2pdr AA pom-pom. There was considerable port side flooding and a fire started in the rope lockers beneath the AA mount. She and the two ships ahead of her, Lucifer and Liberty, readied their torpedo tubes. A German battleship was somewhere within 3,000 or 4,000m of them. Seconds later Konig appeared out of the night 3,300m on her port side and steering straight for her. Molteno's ship was hit by a 6" shell and a second 12" almost immediately which destroyed #3 4" gun and disabled the forward pair of torpedo tubes. Lightfoot was already down to just 2 guns and 2 torpedo tubes. She was flooding heavily on the port side and on fire badly amidships. She was hit again aft by a third 12" shell from the next salvo which knocked out the remaining two torpedo tubes and cut the main steam lines. She still had not fired a shot. Ahead of her Liberty fired four torpedoes at the leading German and Lucifer was shooting with her 4" guns although this seemed little more than a gesture. Lightfoot was now shattered by numerous hits and began to sink. Fires were out of control and only her bow 4" remained in action. Liberty was also smothered with shells and set ablaze, within a minute the fires on board were out of control. Liberty's torpedoes had run well however, one struck the third German battleship and one the fourth. Several German battleships were now visible in the darkness as darker silhouettes though identification was difficult. It was thought all were of the Kaiser and Konig classes. It would seem that Harwich force, steaming north had blundered into the High Seas Fleet steaming north-west, 5th LCS had contacted some destroyers forming the German forward port screen while 9th DF passed behind the screen (the three cruisers Molteno reported to port as he steamed north) and directly across the bows of the leading battleship squadron.
The Harwich Force now entirely disengaged, making all speed away, except for the unfortunate Lightfoot which was pounded into a wreck and sank at around 1:50am. Lucifer also fell astern of 9th DF until she stopped entirely, well ablaze. At 1:55am there was a brief exchange between 3rd and 7th CS and Pillau and Regensburg and the German ships sheered away. At 2:08am Frankfurt again appeared to starboard and astern of the armoured cruisers and another inconclusive short exchange took place. Beatty ordered 3rd LCS to turn about and deal with Frankfurt. The Admiral wished to disengage but despite considerable damage the Germans insisted on continuing the pursuit.
At 2:20am a group of German destroyers appeared near the sinking Liberty and took the surviving crew prisoner. Only eighteen men were recovered from the sea from Lightfoot, the gallant Commodore Molteno not being among them.
During the night as Beatty retreated westwards the German light cruisers continued to harass the trailing ships. Donegal was especially vulnerable. She had shipped considerable water from the torpedo hit and at one point had reduced her speed to 10kts in an effort to generate more steam for the pumps. Now her earlier leaks had been plugged and her pumps were maintaining the water levels. Her speed was gradually worked back up to 19kts and she held a course of 270 along with the rest of BCF though Bradford with 3rd BS and 6th DF had turned away to 245 and some 20km now separated his and Beatty's forces. Determined that the only way to shake off the tenacious Germans would be to slow them down, Beatty ordered Inflexible and Indomitable which had remained undamaged in the battlecruiser action to reverse course and drive the enemy away. This they spectacularly did between 2:54am and 3:05am by heavily damaging Pillau and reducing her speed to 22kts and smashing Regensburg with salvos fired from under 1,500m. The two British ships then swung back to course 270 and the fleet continued to withdraw, watching for the Germans to attempt another move.
This they did at 3:56am and again Inflexible and Indomitable turned to fire at Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, hitting both several times with 12" and 4" gunfire.
It was agreed that the 'I' class made excellent night action rearguard ships.
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At 4:23am however the worst situation occurred. 3rd BS having been sent off far to the south west saw a long low shape looming astern. The lead ship, King Edward VII was now 44km from Lion bearing 145 and had been making 18kts steadily away from what he had assumed to be the German line of advance, but it now transpired that only light cruisers had been pursuing Beatty, the German battlecruisers with an uncanny sense of direction had turned after the slower pre-dreadnoughts. Sir Edward Bradford had his 24 River Class destroyers in attendance plus the damaged Falmouth though these were some 8km and 21km west of him respectively. He ordered his destroyers to reverse course to assist while turning his squadron onto a line of bearing, course 300 to defend themselves. There was now nothing for it but to fight. Zealandia at the rear of the line took the brunt of the enemy's fire - soon all four German battlecruisers were visible although steaming at only 19kts. For several minutes Dominion (Rear Admiral Fremantle), Hindustan and Zealandia fired upon the approaching Derfflinger but soon the other German ships added their fire until Zealandia was crippled and ablaze, every gun on her starboard side destroyed or disabled and her speed had fallen off until she lost way altogether with intense fires raging in her starboard quarter. Of the two ships ahead of Fremantle in the line, Commonwealth fired a few salvoes in this exchange and Britannia one but the Germans turned to port and passed astern of the British line in a big looping turn to swing back for a second approach. Hibernia took some damage and slowed to 17kts but the remainder of the squadron kept on. Bradford ordered 18 of his destroyers to come about and make a torpedo attack but as they formed up the Germans slipped away into the dark. Bradford knew they would be back but he also knew Derfflinger had again been hit heavily and was now slowed a little more so he stood a chance of keeping ahead of them and if his destroyers could intervene at the rear of his line they should disrupt the German formation enough to give the pre-dreadnoughts time to escape.
At 4:41am the fires of the now stationary Zealandia, several miles astern, were seen to go out. Many eyes scanned the eastern horizon but the German battle cruisers did not reappear. Although a dull rumble as though of an explosion was faintly heard many miles to the north east at about 5:00am.
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Our losses in the night action of 12th/13th January which is already being talked of as the Battle of Great Yarmouth were the pre-dreadnought battleship Zealandia, flotilla leader Lightfoot and the destroyer Liberty. Additionally eighteen other ships were damaged, Lion, Queen Mary, Australia, Invincible, Hibernia, Donegal and Falmouth moderately so, all four named battle cruisers having one or two main turrets destroyed or disabled. German losses are unclear though Stralsund and Elbing were certainly seen to founder and Regensburg probably so. Of the destroyers that Napier and Alexander-Sinclair engaged, B.112 exploded and B.110 sank from a torpedo hit, one or more of the others may also have sunk. German losses are certainly three light cruisers and two destroyers, plus Derfflinger damaged and two Konig or Kaiser class battleships each having been hit by a torpedo from the gallant Liberty. Given the seeming numerical weakness the Germans have in light cruisers, the battle can be considered a victory though the slow King Edward VII class ships should not venture so far east again.
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4:43am Dunkerque Force ordered to lay mines off Zeebrugge.
12:30pm Channel Fleet enters Humber estuary to recoal. It had to divert here due to the shortage of fuel of it's destroyers.
1:42pm Harwich Force reached base and was stood down from on-duty status to effect repairs.
The D Class submarines D.3, D.8 and D.7 of 8th Flotilla (Harwich) were returning from a patrol of the west Bight entrance and were ordered to sweep north to try and locate the German fleet but nothing was seen. The boats were recalled to base at 2:35pm. It was thought that the High Seas Fleet had returned to the Jade via the Horns Reef light.
5:47pm Part of the Dover Patrol flotilla put to sea to sweep up the Flanders and Dutch coasts for neutral merchants carrying German cargoes.
8:44pm Kangaroo, an old 30-knotter of the Scapa Defence Patrol was torpedoed and sunk 50km SE of her base.