Action of 10 May, 1917
In late 1916 and early 1917 the German carried out a number of raids on shipping in the Dover area and the anti-submarine net barrage across the Dover straits. The first that resulted in a German defeat was the Second Battle of Dover Strait on 20-21 April 1917 when the destroyers SMS Template:DE-G42 and Template:DE-G85 were sunk by the British flotilla leaders H.M.S. Broke and Swift.
The level of loss from this mission was unsustainable so the Germans changed their strategy. Future attacks would be aimed at the Netherlands to UK convoys rather than the Channel patrols and barrage. Raids on shipping at the mouth of the Thames on 26 and 30 April encountered no shipping, although Margate was bombarded on 26 April.[1]
Contents
Action
In the early hours of 10 May the eight torpedo boats of Fregattenkapitän Kahle's Third Torpedoboat Flotilla and the four of the Zeebrugge First Half Flotilla put to sea with orders to attack a large convoy that was due to leave the Netherlands for Great Britain that evening. Another 12 destroyers were on reconnaissance missions: four of the Zeebrugge Second Half Flotilla to the west and eight of the Flanders Torpedo-boat Flotilla to the south west.[2]
That night there were 12 merchant steamers heading from Great Britain to the Netherlands, with 10 travelling the other way. Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt, commanding the Harwich Force, was at sea in the cruiser H.M.S. Centaur accompanied by the similar but slightly older H.M.S. Carysfort and Conquest and four destroyers. Other British destroyers were escorting the convoys.[3]
Between 3:50 and 3:55 am the British spotted the Germans to the south west, 8 or 9 miles away. Tyrwhitt ordered his ships to head south at full speed in an attempt to cut them off from Zeebrugge. At 4:05 am the British opened fire at about 13,000 yards range. The Germans headed south, returning fire. The light was poor and visibility was made worse by a German smoke screen and the smoke from the British cruisers, but both sides managed to straddle enemy ships with their gunfire and the British believed that they scored hits.[4]
The British pursued, but their cruisers were slower than the destroyers. By 5:02 am the German destroyers were out of range of the cruisers. The British destroyers, who had taken some time to work up to full speed, continued the chase. At 5:15 am some of the Germans turned, apparently to engage H.M.S. Stork, the leading British destroyer, but withdrew on spotting that more British destroyers had arrived. Tyrwhitt called off the chase at 5:33 am, by when Stork had come under fire from German shore batteries.[5]
Conclusion
Neither side suffered serious damage in this operation, but it was a British victory since they prevented the Germans from carrying out their mission.
Footnotes
- ↑ Karau. The Naval Flank of the Western Front: The German MarineKorps Flandern, 1914-1918. p. 126
- ↑ Naval Staff. Naval Staff Monograph. Volume XIX. p. 5.
- ↑ Naval Staff. Naval Staff Monograph. Volume XIX p. 4.
- ↑ Naval Staff. Naval Staff Monograph. Volume XIX. p. 4.
- ↑ Naval Staff. Naval Staff Monograph. Volume XIX. p. 5.
Bibliography
- Karau, Mark D (2003). "The Naval Flank of the Western Front: The German MarineKorps Flandern, 1914-1918". Barnsley Seaforth.
- Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division (1939). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical): Fleet Issue. Volume XIX. Home Waters Part 9 May-July 1917. OU5528H. Copy at The National Archives. ADM 275/14[1]
