Chapter 12: Naval Warfare
Winston Spencer Churchill [United Kingdom]
01.
Now I must recount the most timely and glorious fragment in which we enjoy the greatest good fortune. My insistence on the hope of launching a small-scale attack on the Germans in the Gulf of Helgoland led to my meetings with Commodore Tillett, who commanded the light cruisers and destroyers known as the "Khalić Strike Force", and the commander of the submarine fleet also anchored in Harwich. On 23 August, Commodore Keith personally called the Admiralty to approach me, and he suggested: "Before dawn begin a well-organized offensive from the coast of the enemy. "On the 24th I presided over the meeting in my office, which was attended by Keith and Brigadier General Tillett, as well as the First Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Staff.
The plan drawn up by the two brigadier generals at this time was simple and bold. Since the earliest days of the war, our submarines have quietly sailed in the Gulf of Helgoland. They have now accumulated precise intelligence on the enemy's arrangement in three weeks. They knew that the enemy was accustomed to organizing a destroyer fleet escorted by two cruisers, which patrolled every night north of the Gulf of Helgoland, and was replaced shortly after dawn by a second small fleet, which had a much smaller range of cruises. They advised us to use two of the best small fleets of destroyers and two light cruisers, departing from Harwich at night and reaching a point on the northern coast of the Gulf of Helgoland not far from Sylt just before dawn. From this point they began to patrol the coast from the left hand, attacked the enemy's small fleet if they encountered it, and then lined up together in a long horizontal line, heading west towards the home route to meet the returning German small fleet, if possible to sink it. Also involved in the battle plan were six British submarines in two detachments to attack german heavy ships going out to sea, with the two battlecruisers Invincible and New Zealand moored on the Humber River as supporting forces for the operation.
The British fleet went out
In short, these were the plans proposed by the officers and approved by the First Admiral. Combat operations were determined on the 28th. When these intentions were told to Sir John Jericho, he immediately proposed sending 3 battlecruisers and 6 light cruisers to increase support. He also assigned Sir David Betty to personally go out on horseback. The success of the results far exceeded the Hopes of the Admiralty and had a profound impact on the entire naval battle that followed.
At dawn on the 28th, General Tillett's small fleet, led by the Dawn and the Fearless, reached their point of attack. As soon as General Hill gave the order to "rush into the Gulf of Helgoland," we suddenly launched an attack on the enemy, and the fog of the weather near the land became thicker and thicker. The Helgoland Bay Battery began to bombard, but without effect. German battleships and battlecruisers were unable to sail through the Transadian sandbar before 1 p.m. due to receding tides. Only German light cruisers cruising or near the Elbe or Ems could assist their small fleets. This was followed by a chaotic, scattered and lengthy series of battles between the small fleet and the light cruisers, which continued until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Throughout the engagement, British light ships rampaged through the enemy's most stealthy and heavily guarded waters.
But what happened was different from what was planned. The misfortune, largely due to the fault of the Admiralty Staff, informed Keith and Brigadier General Tillett that the intelligence on the joint engagement of General Betty plus battlecruisers and light cruisers had not arrived in time; General Betty was also unaware of the areas where British submarines operated. Since several embarrassing things are produced, it is easy to lead to catastrophic mistakes. In any case, good luck has always been on our side, and the initial attack combined with the resolute attack allowed us to get through the difficulties safely. German light cruisers hastened to support their small fleets, and driven by hopes of trying to cut off our fleet, rushed towards the British battlecruisers. General Betty, despite the dangers of mines and submarines, and the risk of encountering a strong enemy, led his fleet deep into the bay with great fearless spirit. Two enemy cruisers (HMS Ariadene and HMS Colon) were crushed by the huge shells of the British ships Lion and Royal Princess; the third cruiser (HMS Mainz) was sunk by British light cruisers and destroyers. The other three ships ("Ode to Women", "Strasbourg" and "Stedding") had a difficult escape back to the base, killing and injuring many people. 1 German destroyer was sunk. The rest of the destroyers fled in confusion and mist, although several had been damaged.
German naval fleet
The news reached the Admiralty, but for a while we were very worried about the Dawn. Her coal pipeline was shattered by a cannonball, and her sailing ability was reduced to 7 or 8 knots. But she returned safely to the River Thames.
None of the British ships were sunk or seriously wounded; no more than 35 of our men were killed and about 40 were wounded, although in the pen of German Navy Captain Torrance said, "The British ships did their best to salvage survivors at sea." [Note: See General Hill's writings, p. 52.] 224 German soldiers, many of them seriously wounded, were rescued by Brigadier General Keith aboard the destroyer Hound in extremely dangerous circumstances and brought back to England. More than 1,000 Germans, including the commander of the small fleet and the destroyer commodore, died in this battle. The son of Admiral von Tirpitz was one of the captives. But much more important than these visible gains is the effect on enemy morale. The Germans were unaware of our flawed staff work and the risks we took. What they saw was that the British, in the boldest offensive battles, did not hesitate to take the risk of using light ships and the largest ships, and were able to retreat unscathed. They felt like the kind of thought we would have felt when German destroyers rushed into the Solent Strait and their battlecruisers slammed forward into British naval air bases. The outcome of this battle is far-reaching. From then on, the prestige of the British Navy heavily overshadowed Germany's maritime ambitions. The impression that arises in the mind of the Kaiser is decisive. Thus Hill said: "The restrictions imposed on the battleship fleet have always existed". Von Tirpitz put it more explicitly: "... The day of August 28, both its after-effects and its accompanying consequences, was a disastrous day for the work of our Navy... The emperor did not want to have such a loss ... The Emperor issued an order... After receiving Bohr (on such occasions I am not usually summoned) limited the initiative of the Commander-in-Chief of the North Sea Fleet; to avoid the loss of warships, the departure of the fleet and any larger action must be approved in advance by His Majesty", and so on. This feeling gradually increased as von Tirpitz protested "this policy of restraint," ...", and from that day onwards, there was a sudden estrangement between the Emperor and me. ”
The German Navy was indeed pinned down. From August to October, with the exception of a few submarines and mine-laying boats, the Navy's activities were halted. At the same time, our forces are steadily and rapidly increasing, both in the offensive at sea and in the defense of ports.
News of the naval battle reached the French and British troops in the dark hours before the dawn of victory, and the news was announced to the retreating armies everywhere.
North Sea
02.
One afternoon in August, a strange sight arose in the British cabinet as respected Liberal politicians sat down to elaborate and deliberately plan plans to seize German colonies around the world! A month ago, most of those present did not consider such thoughts with fear and disgust! Our maritime traffic relied largely on the rapid elimination of the bases or shelters of these German cruisers; moreover, since much of Belgium had been ravaged by the German Army, everyone felt that we had to secure collateral for her eventual liberation. So we took out maps and pencils, searched the whole world, approved in principle the formation of 6 independent expeditions, and sent the plan to the General Staff for study and implementation. An ambitious and experienced commander had already invaded the German colony of Togoland at the outbreak of war. We now propose a joint attack on Cameroon with the French — a far more important task. General Bosser has announced his intention to invade German South-West Africa. The Governments of New Zealand and Australia wanted an immediate seizure of the Samoan Islands and other German possessions in the Pacific. Finally authorized the formation of an Anglo-Indian Expeditionary Force to attack German East Africa [Note: German Southwest Africa is today's Namibia.] German Samoa includes the present-day Independent State of Samoa (i.e. Western Samoa) and American Samoa (i.e. Eastern Samoa). German East Africa is the continental part of present-day Tanzania. German Guinea is the southern part of present-day Papua and New Guinea. ] 。 The military preparations for this last expedition were far from complete and failed. While there were still German cruisers searching everywhere on the seas, at the same time the transport mission of sending expeditionary forces everywhere fell on the Admiralty with another set of responsibilities.
After mid-September we began to devote our most intense work, covering a huge map of the world over an entire wall of the war room, which was now showing an anomaly. Up to 20 scattered and complex undertakings and tasks rely entirely on maritime power and are carried out simultaneously in different parts of the world. In addition to the expeditions mentioned above, the enormous task of escorting the troops needed by France from all over the Empire and, in some cases, from within the country to replace the regular army, weighed heavily on our shoulders. This task will soon be exacerbated.
British Expeditionary Force
It was easy to start organizing 3 naval brigades and other divisional armies for the Royal Naval Division; but at a very early stage I found that creating artillery units was beyond my ability. It is true that we can order 100 field guns in the United States, but training and equipping artillery must and should not be carried out separately from the main preparations of the army. My military staff officer, Major Olivante, had a very clever idea in this regard, and this idea immediately produced far-reaching results. He proposed to me that Lord Kitchener bring in 12 British artillery companies from India, establish a Royal Naval Division artillery unit, and give the home artillery company to India in exchange. I raised the matter with Lord Kitchener that afternoon. He seemed extremely surprised by the idea. He asked, what would the Cabinet say? If the Indian government refuses to agree, will the cabinet force them? Will the Cabinet be? Will I support him in this matter? And all that. That night I had to go out and visit the north to visit the fleet, which was moored in Bay, on the west coast of Scotland. When I returned 48 hours later, I went to visit Sir Kitchener and ask him how things were going. He was smiling happily. He said, "I'm not just going to get 12 artillery companies but 31 artillery companies; I'm not just going to get artillery companies, I'm going to get several battalions. I'm going to take 39 battalions, and I'm going to give them native divisions — 3 native divisions — as an alternative. You have to have your means of transport ready in no time. "Having expressed our heartfelt satisfaction with this prospect of helping us on the front lines of our struggle, I said that I could now count on 12 artillery companies for the Royal Naval Division. He said, "I'm going to take them all to myself," and he rubbed his hands in a very happy look. Thus leaving the naval division in a cold position again, it had to develop only like an infantry unit.
This new development has greatly increased our transport work, and the reader must now examine the situation in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Pacific and Indian Oceans
At the beginning of the war, the Germans had the following cruisers on foreign bases: "Scharnhorst", "Gernezenau", "Emden", "Nuremberg", "Leipzig" in China; "Mount König" in East Africa and the Indian Ocean; "Dresden" and "Karlsruhe" in the West Indies. All these warships are fast and modernly equipped, and each of them has caused us serious damage before it was destroyed. There were also several gunboats: the Condor, the Planet, the Comet, the Noosa, and the Boar, none of which could be ignored. In addition, we expected the Germans to try to send up to 40 fast armed merchant ships out to sea to attack the merchant ships, however, our arrangements, as mentioned earlier, succeeded in preventing all their ships from leaving the harbor, with the exception of 5. The largest of the five, HMS William the Great, was sunk on 26 August by the British High Flyer (Captain Buller); the Cape Trafalgar was sunk on 14 September by the British armed merchant cruiser HMS Carmania (Captain Noel Grant), after the two unarmed ships fought fiercely before sinking, and the other three were detained a few months later in neutral ports. Our arrangements to prevent enemy cruisers and armed merchant ships from attacking our maritime trade have been extremely successful from the outset, and for the months described in this volume each enemy ship has been left completely powerless, either sunk or detained in the harbor.
However, it is fair criticism that we must have faster cruisers in foreign waters, especially that we must have warships that are faster than any German cruiser, and that it is our goal. The Karlsruhe in the West Indies gave us the opportunity to hunt ships at the outbreak of war, while the Mount Königs in the Indian Ocean was spotted by us a few days earlier. But before the declaration of war our warships were not fast enough to engage the former or keep them in close contact. As we shall see, almost every German cruiser of this kind has hurt our maritime power before it is subdued by us, not only merchant ships but also warships. The Scharnhorst and Gnatzenau sank our Monmouth and Good Hope; mount Koenigs suddenly attacked and destroyed the Peggsus; emden sank the Russian cruisers Zemchug and the French destroyer Musket. Indeed they do a good job of the task.
The leading principle of the Admiralty's arrangement at the outbreak of war was to fight a decisive battle with the german navy as a whole, to strengthen the vigilance of the territorial waters as much as possible. In order to achieve this goal, the need for foreign bases is reduced to an absolute minimum, and only individual ships on various battlefields abroad can be dealt with. The fleet was weaker on fast light cruisers, and my main job was to build as many of these ships as possible. But none of the warships like the Aurora had yet been sent to the fleet. So we are reluctant to let every light cruiser leave the domestic waters, but feel that the fleet is tactically incomplete without this kind of sea cavalry. The principle of doing what matters first and concentrating on the main forces of the enemy in a decisive battle are both overriding, and the satisfaction of important and already recognized secondary requirements can only be postponed. Now it is necessary to look at the troublesome things in other parts of the world. The nature is serious.
German High Seas Fleet
Nowhere is this kind of trouble more than in the Indian Ocean. After the discovery of Mount König on 31 July and her rapid departure, she became the object of serious attention to all military movements and commercial activities. Another German fast cruiser, emden, which was based in China at the outbreak of war and also appeared in the Indian Ocean in mid-September, was ambitious and bold, and began to inflict many heavy losses on our merchant ships. These events have had a huge impact.
By the end of August we had assembled the main part of the 7th Division from all the Imperial garrisons and defensive positions. By September, two British and Indian divisions, along with nearly 50,000 men plus cavalry, had crossed the Indian Ocean. The main ones were the plans to exchange artillery companies and infantry battalions of the Native Army for all British infantry and artillery in India, as well as plans to form regular troops of the 27th, 28th and 29th Divisions. The New Zealand contingent must also be escorted to Australia. There, along with 25,000 Australian troops, awaited shipment to Europe. At the same time, some 25,000 of the vanguard of the Canadian Army had to be escorted across the Atlantic. Of course, all of these are major tasks for the defense of the North Sea and additional tasks for the constant transport of contingents, reinforcements and supplies across the Straits. At this point the enemy's fleet was intact, and we could imagine them waiting for the right moment to attack; while the enemy's cruisers continued to capture the victims at sea. In order to strengthen our cruise force, we have armed 24 liners and placed them in active service as auxiliary cruisers, and have equipped 54 merchant ships with defensive weapons, with another 40 suitable ships in preparation. In order to alleviate tension in the Indian Ocean and free light cruisers from the inherent work of chasing and destroying the enemy, I propose to use our old battleships ("Old Star" class) as escorts for shipping. In September I issued an order that the entire Indian Ocean escort system should be placed on a regular two-week basis, and that three old battleships should be used to free the Dartmouth, Chatham, and The Black Prince.
German torpedo boats
In addition to using these old battleships to escort, we also sent three other old battleships out to sea at the end of August as a meeting point for our cruisers in case the German heavy cruisers broke out of the blockade line, so we sent the Honor to Halifax, the Albion to Gibraltar and the Old Star to the Cape Verde base. There are many good examples in our naval history of the use of protective battleships that give cruisers more security and defensive advantages—in fact, battleships become floating fortresses, and faster ships can maneuver around it and retreat under its cover. These battleships also protect coal carriers and supply ships at various marine bases, without which all our cruiser systems would go wrong. As the war progresses, the reader will see the further application of this system.
(To be continued)