Bullethead
Storm Eagle Studios
It took Commodore Bulletwhitt several minutes to pry his hands out of the ice on the rail of Arethusa's flag bridge, and several more carefully to chip away the longest icicles dangling from his moustache. This accomplished, he was then finally able to spit to leeward just before he gagged on an accumulation of tobacco juice. It was the evening of 20 January 1916 and Harwich Force had been patrolling east of the Terschellingerbank lightship since sundown, seeking battle with German patrol forces guarding the Ems Channel through the minefields. There was a fresh breeze from the west northwest bringing periodic sleet flurries and the occasional bank of freezing fog, but in between it was only partly cloudy, enabling good celestial fixes. All things considered, it wasn't bad weather for winter in the North Sea.
Two weeks before this very night, 2nd Cruiser Squadron had been patrolling these same waters and had engaged a large number of German light forces. Rear Admiral Heath's report had claimed several light cruisers and many destroyers sunk, but the action had been very confused and nobody knew the actual tally. Still, it had been a great success and Bulletwhitt hoped this hadn't convinced the Germans to stay in port tonight, because it was approaching midnight now and there had been no sign of the enemy. One thing beyond doubt, however, was that the armored cruiser Shannon had taken a torpedo hit. Fortunately, it had been running on the surface and had hit the belt, so she was able to make it back to Rosyth, where she was still in the floating dock.
Tonight, Harwich Force mustered just the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron and the 10th Destroyer Flotilla. The cruisers led with half the destroyers on each quarter, those to port led by Aurora and those to starboard by Nimrod. The 9th Flotilla was currently divided between escorting the Dover monitors and patrolling from Dunkerque. 3rd Cruiser Squadron from Chatham was supposed to have been providing Bulletwhitt with support to the west, but had failed to raise steam in time, so Harwich Force was on its own. 1st and 2nd Cruiser Squadrons, meanwhile, were sweeping from Horn Reef to Stavanger in search of a German raider reportedly operating in that area.
Finally, at 2238, Bulletwhitt's attention was suddenly drawn to the starboard quarter, where several searchlights had snapped on, quickly followed by numerous muzzle flashes. Nimrod's destroyers had enountered something, but what? There was no way to tell. As the harsh barking of 4" QF guns began to reach his ears, Bulletwhitt ordered the remainder of his force to turn 6 points to starboard in support. However, as suddenly as it had begun, the firing ceased and all that was visible was a single burning ship, which quickly disappeared beneath the waves. Harwich Force continued in the direction the enemy had come from, but nothing more was seen. After about 20 minutes, a signalman reported a radio message from Nimrod: one small enemy destroyer sighted, sunk same. That was all. Disappointed, Bulletwhitt turned his force back to resume his patrol pattern.
At 0417 on the 21st, there was a large flash far away below the horizon to the southeast, well outside Bulletwhitt's patrol area. Probably it was some ship hitting a mine; Bulletwhitt hoped it was a German. But apart from consuming most of his tea and tobacco stashes, and nearly freezing to death, Bulletwhitt had nothing else to show for his night's work. Eventually, the southeastern horizon began to pinken, signalling the end of Harwich Force's last beat to eastward. It was time to go home. Harwich Force reverse course and turned toward the Terschellingerbank lightship.
Then 0741, a ship loomed out of the gloom, briefly visible against the dim glow of the horizon. From her ram bow, she appeared to be an older German light cruiser. However, the target was visible for only a few moments and disappeared again before more than a few rounds could be fired. Bulletwhitt immediately ordered full speed and swung sharply southward, hoping to regain contact. His tactics were successful, and soon 5LCS opened a spirited fire on the lone German ship, now identified as a member of the Bremen class. The German was soon reduced to a flaming wreck by the overwhelming fire, but fought back bravely while she was able. One of her shells hit the shield of Arethusa's forward 6" gun, practically wiping out its crew and stunning Bulletwhitt with its blast. He was jolted back to the present by the sudden glare of several starshells bursting overhead.
His ears still ringing, Bulletwhitt looked around and noticed that the action had become general. To both flanks, his destroyer groups were maneuvering independently and hotly engaged with their opposite numbers. In addition, several more enemy cruisers were in the offing and threatening to overwhelm Nimrod's destroyers. Bulletwhitt therefore turned 5LCS to support Nimrod. The German cruisers turned away and meanwhile the superior numbers and armament of the British destroyers had proved decisive. Bulletwhitt could see at least 5 German destroyers in severe distress and as many more withdrawing to the protection of their cruisers. A quick count revealed all the Harwich Force destroyers still afloat and able to maintain the cruisers' speed of 28 knots, although a few of them appeared somewhat worse for wear.
Bulletwhitt wanted nothing more than to pursue the enemy to destruction. However, an uncharacteristic cautious thought stole across his mind. These Germans could well be the screen of the High Seas Fleet, which would, if present, be fairly nearby in the gloom to the south. As tempting as it was to head that way for a torpedo attack, the sun was now very close to rising, and Bulletwhitt did not relish his prospects if caught at dawn close to a wall of battleships. Reluctantly, therefore, he signalled his units to reform and head northwest, away from the enemy. As light increased, Bulletwhitt could see 6 German destroyers and the initial cruiser contact sinking behind him. However, the remaining enemy, now reinforced by yet more destroyers, began to pursue. This only increased Bulletwhitt's suspicions.
Sure enough, the rising sun soon revealed the High Seas Fleet in all its awful glory. Bulletwhitt had turned away not a moment too soon, because the trailing destroyers of Aurora's group were within range of the leading battleships. Soon the water was rent by enormous shell splashes and the wakes of destroyers frantically zig-zagging at high speed. Fortunately, despite continuing the barrage for about half an hour, the Germans failed to do more than put a few splinters through Morris' funnels. All the while, German destroyers were skirmishing with Nimrod's group, darting in to exchange a few shells and then pulling back again.
By now, Bulletwhitt had sent the report that Jellicoe and Beatty had been longing for since 1914: the High Seas Fleet was out! Even now, countless mighty boilers at Scapa Flow and Rosyth were raising steam. Soon, new orders came for Harwich Force: maintain contact until the Grand Fleet could arrive, which would be in about 24 hours. Fortunately, the day was shaping up to be clear, but who knew what the coming night would bring?
The chase continued to the northwest, but at 0845, shortly after Harwhich Force had pulled out of range of the German battleships, several more German destroyers were spotted to the northeast on a closing course. Behind them a dense cloud of smoke soon appeared, which proved to be coming from the German battlecruisers. They would intercept Harwich Force shortly if Bulletwhitt continued on his present course. Therefore, he turned due west and ran for his life.
The chase continued throughout the morning, with continual long-range destroyer skirmishing on both flanks. Bulletwhitt maneuvered 5LCS back and forth across the base track, lending support to first Aurora's and then Nimrod's destroyers and keeping the pursuers at a distance. In this way, he managed to keep any of his destroyers from being slowed and lost to the pursuit. At 0905, the German battleships gave up the pursuit and turned north to link up with their battlecruisers. By 0940, they were below the horizon, and the battlecruisers disappeared by 0951. However, it wasn't until nearly 1100 that the German destroyers turned back. Bulletwhitt immediately reversed course to maintain contact with the Germans, pleased that he had lured them so far from their base.
Shortly after noon, Bulletwhitt received a wireless from 1CS, then operating off Horn Reef. Rear Admiral Arbuthnot reported a successful engagement with the modern German light cruisers. Bulltewhitt knew that these ships usually scouted ahead of the German battlecruisers--could the Germans now be heading northeast? That would explain why he had failed so far to regain contact. He therefore decided to make for the Ems channel, to make sure the Germans weren't returning that way, then head northeast up the outer edge of the minefields toward Horn Reef.
Harwich Force arrived off the Ems channel shortly after sundown and almost immediately encountered a small, lone German destroyer. This quickly disappeared in the gathering dusk and nothing more was met for another half hour. Bulletwhitt therefore decided this was a routine patrol, not a major effort to secure the channel for the arrival of a fleet, and turned northeast as planned, confident that he would soon regain contact with the Germans.
At 2332, Harwich Force was west northwest of Helgoland, just outside the minefields. Suddenly, searchlights and muzzleflashes lit the night from dead ahead and a shell struck Arethusa's starboard forward 4" gun, knocking it out of action. The enemy were soon identified as the largest type of German destroyers, which turned away east under fire from 5LCS as Harwich Force swung northwest to pin them against the minefields. A violent and very confused action then ensued as all elements of Harwich Force encountered separate groups of Germans in different directions. Maintaining an accurate picture of events proved impossible as frequent snow squalls blew by, causing visibility to flucuate rapidly from a few thousand yards to nearly zero. No contact lasted more than a few minutes, but as soon as one skirmish ended, another began elsewhere.
In the midst of this melee, Nimrod's destroyers encountered the German battlecruisers. Unfortunately, the Germans appeared on the destroyers' starboard quarter at very close range, where torpedo launches were impossible but the German secondary batteries had full play. Morris was instantly obliterated by a tornado of fire. The 2 trailing destroyers of the unit turned to launch torpedoes as the rest attempted to maneuver for a better attack, but both were soon subjected to deadly fire. Only Matchless managed to launch before limping away badly damaged; Milne suffered the same fate as Morris. The torpedoes caused the battlecruisers to turn away, and the rest of Nimrod's destroyers were unable to find their targets when they returned for their attack. Harwich Force had better luck in the destroyer battle, however, as 3 large German destroyers were seen to sink. In return, however, Talisman had suffered heavily.
After about 45 minutes, during which the battle had worked southeast, Harwich Force lost contact with the Germans. Bulletwhitt regrouped his forces and took stock. His force still had most of its torpedoes but was running low on ammunition. Although Arethusa's bow gun was back in action, he had lost 2 destroyers sunk, Talisman and Matchless were heading home heavily damaged, and a number of others were damaged to a lesser extent. The German battlecruisers were somewhere to the northwest. There appeared to be nothing for it but to head back that way to regain contact, but where were the battleships? While Bulletwhitt chased the battlecruisers, the High Seas Fleet might slip around him in the dark.
Fortunately, at this point Bulletwhitt received some welcome news. Battlecruiser Fleet was now near at hand to the west. Harwich Force was therefore ordered to stand guard between the Terschellingerbank lightship and the entrance to the Ems channel to make sure the Germans did not escape that way without a fight. 3CS had by now finally arrived as well, and would support Bulletwhitt. Beatty, meanwhile, would sweep northeast some distance out from the minefields, hoping to catch the Germans at dawn while simultaneously linking up with Jellicoe and Heath in the vicinity of Horn Reef.
For the rest of the night, Harwich Force patrolled its assigned area without contact. To the north, however, the horizon was several times lit by distant gun flashes. The wireless informed Bulletwhitt that Beatty's screen was skirmishing with German light forces. Finally, shortly after dawn, Bulletwhitt heard what he'd been waiting for. Battlecruiser Fleet had spotted the High Seas Fleet and was preparing to engage, with the Grand Fleet due to arrive soon. Bulletwhitt had accomplished his mission.
Unfortunately for Bulletwhitt, his destroyers were now running too low on fuel to participate in what promised to be the battle of the century. Bulletwhitt, however, was too tired to curse his luck. As Harwich Force finally turned for home, Bulletwhitt collapsed from exhaustion and had to be carried below.
Box Score for Harwich Force's Actions:
1 CL sunk (Danzig)
12 DD sunk (G196, S54, S55, V6, S18, G38, G39, G40, S49, G104, G103, V100)
4 DD lost (Morris, Milne, Matchless, Talisman)
Light damage to Arethusa and 5 destroyers.
NOTE: Matchless and Talisman, while limping home independently, were stomped by the German BCs. V6 and S18 were maimed in the action of 0741, 21 Jan, and were reported as sunk during the big night action, although never seen at the time. Apparently they died of wounds. The mysterious large flash seen before dawn on 21 Jan was E.41 torpedoing Arcona.
Two weeks before this very night, 2nd Cruiser Squadron had been patrolling these same waters and had engaged a large number of German light forces. Rear Admiral Heath's report had claimed several light cruisers and many destroyers sunk, but the action had been very confused and nobody knew the actual tally. Still, it had been a great success and Bulletwhitt hoped this hadn't convinced the Germans to stay in port tonight, because it was approaching midnight now and there had been no sign of the enemy. One thing beyond doubt, however, was that the armored cruiser Shannon had taken a torpedo hit. Fortunately, it had been running on the surface and had hit the belt, so she was able to make it back to Rosyth, where she was still in the floating dock.
Tonight, Harwich Force mustered just the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron and the 10th Destroyer Flotilla. The cruisers led with half the destroyers on each quarter, those to port led by Aurora and those to starboard by Nimrod. The 9th Flotilla was currently divided between escorting the Dover monitors and patrolling from Dunkerque. 3rd Cruiser Squadron from Chatham was supposed to have been providing Bulletwhitt with support to the west, but had failed to raise steam in time, so Harwich Force was on its own. 1st and 2nd Cruiser Squadrons, meanwhile, were sweeping from Horn Reef to Stavanger in search of a German raider reportedly operating in that area.
Finally, at 2238, Bulletwhitt's attention was suddenly drawn to the starboard quarter, where several searchlights had snapped on, quickly followed by numerous muzzle flashes. Nimrod's destroyers had enountered something, but what? There was no way to tell. As the harsh barking of 4" QF guns began to reach his ears, Bulletwhitt ordered the remainder of his force to turn 6 points to starboard in support. However, as suddenly as it had begun, the firing ceased and all that was visible was a single burning ship, which quickly disappeared beneath the waves. Harwich Force continued in the direction the enemy had come from, but nothing more was seen. After about 20 minutes, a signalman reported a radio message from Nimrod: one small enemy destroyer sighted, sunk same. That was all. Disappointed, Bulletwhitt turned his force back to resume his patrol pattern.
At 0417 on the 21st, there was a large flash far away below the horizon to the southeast, well outside Bulletwhitt's patrol area. Probably it was some ship hitting a mine; Bulletwhitt hoped it was a German. But apart from consuming most of his tea and tobacco stashes, and nearly freezing to death, Bulletwhitt had nothing else to show for his night's work. Eventually, the southeastern horizon began to pinken, signalling the end of Harwich Force's last beat to eastward. It was time to go home. Harwich Force reverse course and turned toward the Terschellingerbank lightship.
Then 0741, a ship loomed out of the gloom, briefly visible against the dim glow of the horizon. From her ram bow, she appeared to be an older German light cruiser. However, the target was visible for only a few moments and disappeared again before more than a few rounds could be fired. Bulletwhitt immediately ordered full speed and swung sharply southward, hoping to regain contact. His tactics were successful, and soon 5LCS opened a spirited fire on the lone German ship, now identified as a member of the Bremen class. The German was soon reduced to a flaming wreck by the overwhelming fire, but fought back bravely while she was able. One of her shells hit the shield of Arethusa's forward 6" gun, practically wiping out its crew and stunning Bulletwhitt with its blast. He was jolted back to the present by the sudden glare of several starshells bursting overhead.
His ears still ringing, Bulletwhitt looked around and noticed that the action had become general. To both flanks, his destroyer groups were maneuvering independently and hotly engaged with their opposite numbers. In addition, several more enemy cruisers were in the offing and threatening to overwhelm Nimrod's destroyers. Bulletwhitt therefore turned 5LCS to support Nimrod. The German cruisers turned away and meanwhile the superior numbers and armament of the British destroyers had proved decisive. Bulletwhitt could see at least 5 German destroyers in severe distress and as many more withdrawing to the protection of their cruisers. A quick count revealed all the Harwich Force destroyers still afloat and able to maintain the cruisers' speed of 28 knots, although a few of them appeared somewhat worse for wear.
Bulletwhitt wanted nothing more than to pursue the enemy to destruction. However, an uncharacteristic cautious thought stole across his mind. These Germans could well be the screen of the High Seas Fleet, which would, if present, be fairly nearby in the gloom to the south. As tempting as it was to head that way for a torpedo attack, the sun was now very close to rising, and Bulletwhitt did not relish his prospects if caught at dawn close to a wall of battleships. Reluctantly, therefore, he signalled his units to reform and head northwest, away from the enemy. As light increased, Bulletwhitt could see 6 German destroyers and the initial cruiser contact sinking behind him. However, the remaining enemy, now reinforced by yet more destroyers, began to pursue. This only increased Bulletwhitt's suspicions.
Sure enough, the rising sun soon revealed the High Seas Fleet in all its awful glory. Bulletwhitt had turned away not a moment too soon, because the trailing destroyers of Aurora's group were within range of the leading battleships. Soon the water was rent by enormous shell splashes and the wakes of destroyers frantically zig-zagging at high speed. Fortunately, despite continuing the barrage for about half an hour, the Germans failed to do more than put a few splinters through Morris' funnels. All the while, German destroyers were skirmishing with Nimrod's group, darting in to exchange a few shells and then pulling back again.
By now, Bulletwhitt had sent the report that Jellicoe and Beatty had been longing for since 1914: the High Seas Fleet was out! Even now, countless mighty boilers at Scapa Flow and Rosyth were raising steam. Soon, new orders came for Harwich Force: maintain contact until the Grand Fleet could arrive, which would be in about 24 hours. Fortunately, the day was shaping up to be clear, but who knew what the coming night would bring?
The chase continued to the northwest, but at 0845, shortly after Harwhich Force had pulled out of range of the German battleships, several more German destroyers were spotted to the northeast on a closing course. Behind them a dense cloud of smoke soon appeared, which proved to be coming from the German battlecruisers. They would intercept Harwich Force shortly if Bulletwhitt continued on his present course. Therefore, he turned due west and ran for his life.
The chase continued throughout the morning, with continual long-range destroyer skirmishing on both flanks. Bulletwhitt maneuvered 5LCS back and forth across the base track, lending support to first Aurora's and then Nimrod's destroyers and keeping the pursuers at a distance. In this way, he managed to keep any of his destroyers from being slowed and lost to the pursuit. At 0905, the German battleships gave up the pursuit and turned north to link up with their battlecruisers. By 0940, they were below the horizon, and the battlecruisers disappeared by 0951. However, it wasn't until nearly 1100 that the German destroyers turned back. Bulletwhitt immediately reversed course to maintain contact with the Germans, pleased that he had lured them so far from their base.
Shortly after noon, Bulletwhitt received a wireless from 1CS, then operating off Horn Reef. Rear Admiral Arbuthnot reported a successful engagement with the modern German light cruisers. Bulltewhitt knew that these ships usually scouted ahead of the German battlecruisers--could the Germans now be heading northeast? That would explain why he had failed so far to regain contact. He therefore decided to make for the Ems channel, to make sure the Germans weren't returning that way, then head northeast up the outer edge of the minefields toward Horn Reef.
Harwich Force arrived off the Ems channel shortly after sundown and almost immediately encountered a small, lone German destroyer. This quickly disappeared in the gathering dusk and nothing more was met for another half hour. Bulletwhitt therefore decided this was a routine patrol, not a major effort to secure the channel for the arrival of a fleet, and turned northeast as planned, confident that he would soon regain contact with the Germans.
At 2332, Harwich Force was west northwest of Helgoland, just outside the minefields. Suddenly, searchlights and muzzleflashes lit the night from dead ahead and a shell struck Arethusa's starboard forward 4" gun, knocking it out of action. The enemy were soon identified as the largest type of German destroyers, which turned away east under fire from 5LCS as Harwich Force swung northwest to pin them against the minefields. A violent and very confused action then ensued as all elements of Harwich Force encountered separate groups of Germans in different directions. Maintaining an accurate picture of events proved impossible as frequent snow squalls blew by, causing visibility to flucuate rapidly from a few thousand yards to nearly zero. No contact lasted more than a few minutes, but as soon as one skirmish ended, another began elsewhere.
In the midst of this melee, Nimrod's destroyers encountered the German battlecruisers. Unfortunately, the Germans appeared on the destroyers' starboard quarter at very close range, where torpedo launches were impossible but the German secondary batteries had full play. Morris was instantly obliterated by a tornado of fire. The 2 trailing destroyers of the unit turned to launch torpedoes as the rest attempted to maneuver for a better attack, but both were soon subjected to deadly fire. Only Matchless managed to launch before limping away badly damaged; Milne suffered the same fate as Morris. The torpedoes caused the battlecruisers to turn away, and the rest of Nimrod's destroyers were unable to find their targets when they returned for their attack. Harwich Force had better luck in the destroyer battle, however, as 3 large German destroyers were seen to sink. In return, however, Talisman had suffered heavily.
After about 45 minutes, during which the battle had worked southeast, Harwich Force lost contact with the Germans. Bulletwhitt regrouped his forces and took stock. His force still had most of its torpedoes but was running low on ammunition. Although Arethusa's bow gun was back in action, he had lost 2 destroyers sunk, Talisman and Matchless were heading home heavily damaged, and a number of others were damaged to a lesser extent. The German battlecruisers were somewhere to the northwest. There appeared to be nothing for it but to head back that way to regain contact, but where were the battleships? While Bulletwhitt chased the battlecruisers, the High Seas Fleet might slip around him in the dark.
Fortunately, at this point Bulletwhitt received some welcome news. Battlecruiser Fleet was now near at hand to the west. Harwich Force was therefore ordered to stand guard between the Terschellingerbank lightship and the entrance to the Ems channel to make sure the Germans did not escape that way without a fight. 3CS had by now finally arrived as well, and would support Bulletwhitt. Beatty, meanwhile, would sweep northeast some distance out from the minefields, hoping to catch the Germans at dawn while simultaneously linking up with Jellicoe and Heath in the vicinity of Horn Reef.
For the rest of the night, Harwich Force patrolled its assigned area without contact. To the north, however, the horizon was several times lit by distant gun flashes. The wireless informed Bulletwhitt that Beatty's screen was skirmishing with German light forces. Finally, shortly after dawn, Bulletwhitt heard what he'd been waiting for. Battlecruiser Fleet had spotted the High Seas Fleet and was preparing to engage, with the Grand Fleet due to arrive soon. Bulletwhitt had accomplished his mission.
Unfortunately for Bulletwhitt, his destroyers were now running too low on fuel to participate in what promised to be the battle of the century. Bulletwhitt, however, was too tired to curse his luck. As Harwich Force finally turned for home, Bulletwhitt collapsed from exhaustion and had to be carried below.
Box Score for Harwich Force's Actions:
1 CL sunk (Danzig)
12 DD sunk (G196, S54, S55, V6, S18, G38, G39, G40, S49, G104, G103, V100)
4 DD lost (Morris, Milne, Matchless, Talisman)
Light damage to Arethusa and 5 destroyers.
NOTE: Matchless and Talisman, while limping home independently, were stomped by the German BCs. V6 and S18 were maimed in the action of 0741, 21 Jan, and were reported as sunk during the big night action, although never seen at the time. Apparently they died of wounds. The mysterious large flash seen before dawn on 21 Jan was E.41 torpedoing Arcona.
