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Action of 19 August 1916
Part of the First World War
Map of the North Sea
Date 18–20 August 1916 Location North Sea 56°N 03°E Result Indecisive
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
John Jellicoe David Beatty	Reinhard Scheer Franz von Hipper
Strength
29 battleships 6 battlecruisers 5 armoured cruisers 26 light cruisers 70 destroyers 1 minelayer 1 seaplane carrier 1 submarine	18 battleships 2 battlecruisers 7 light cruisers 56 torpedo boats 2 Zeppelins 3 submarines
Casualties and losses
39 killed 2 light cruisers sunk	1 battleship damaged
Action of 19 August 1916 class=notpageimage| Location in the North Sea

The Action of 19 August 1916, during the First World War, was one of two attempts in 1916 by the German High Seas Fleet to engage elements of the British Grand Fleet, following the mixed results of the Battle of Jutland. The lesson of Jutland for Germany had been the vital need for reconnaissance, to avoid the unexpected arrival of the Grand Fleet during a raid. Four Zeppelins were sent to scout the North Sea between Scotland and Norway for signs of British ships and four more scouted immediately ahead of German ships. Twenty-four German submarines kept watch off the English coast, in the southern North Sea and off the Dogger Bank.

Background

Marder HSF

I. BLIND MAN'S BUFF, 19 AUGUST 1916 (Chart 16) herwig 192 THE GERMANS did their own stock-taking after Jutland. Although the High Seas Fleet could feel that it had performed very creditably indeed, there was even less desire than there was before 31 May for a stand-up fight with the Grand Fleet. Scheer was prepared to carry on with his defensive fleet strategy, incorporating into his plans the lessons of Jutland. He detached from the main fleet the old, slow 2nd Squadron {the pre-dreadnought 'Deutschlands'), which had been a hindrance at Jutland. There being only two battle cruisers available in the 1st Scouting Group, the Moltke and Von der Tann (the Derfflinger and Seydlitz were still under repair), he attached three of the dreadnoughts to it, including the newly commissioned Bayern. The most important lesson of Jutland to Scheer was the need for extensive and efficient reconnaissance, if he were to achieve his ideal of defeating the British Fleet in detail, meaning, above all, the Battle Cruiser Fleet.

If at some future date we should still encounter the enemy fast forces separated from their main fleet, we must make every endeavour to drive them into an unexpected clash with our own main .fleet. . . . The first essential for this tactic is to be as secure as possible against surprise from the unexpected approach of superior enemy forces. The reconnaissance necessary to ensure this can no longer be undertaken by our surface forces, once our battle cruisers are in contact with the fast advanced forces of the British. This must therefore be the task of the airships. For this reason, provision in principle is to be made for reconnaissance by airships for more distant operations. And this all the more so in the future, since we must expect that the British will now operate their main fleet in closer contact with the fast force, and will therefore intervene much sooner than on 31st May.1 In other words, the High Seas Fleet must not again suddenly find itself up against the full might of the Grand Fleet!

Scheer's plan for an operation on 19 August was, essentially, the original Jutland plan. It called for the 1st Scouting Group to bombard Sunderland, with the battle fleet operating in close support. Scheer's operations order stated his intentions: 'The enemy is to be brought to action under conditions favourable to ourselves. To this end the entire High Seas Fleet (without II Squadron) is to advance behind extensive airship reconnaissance in the direction of Sunderland, and in the event the enemy is not encountered earlier, or does not depart from his main bases early enough to cut off our retreat with superior forces, Sunderland is to be heavily bombarded, in order to force him to come out and in order to parade before the eyes of England and the world the unbroken might of the German Fleet.'

That is, the sortie was partly intended to restore the morale of the Fleet after its recent shattering experience. To protect himself from a surprise appearance of the British battle fleet, Scheer would have his front and flanks guarded by airships and submarines. The High Seas Fleet U-boats were disposed in two lines, of five submarines each, close to the English coast--one line off Blyth, the other off Flamborough Head. In addition, nine boats of the Flanders Flotilla were disposed in two lines in the Hoofden (the southern part of the North Sea), west-north-west of Terschelling. Finally, there was to be a line off the Dagger Bank to cover Scheer's withdrawal, although it was not ordered to be in place until the morning of the 20th. In all, 24 submarines were to participate in the operation.

Whether the battle fleet pushed on, or had to retire if the Grand Fleet threatened to cut it off, Scheer hoped that the submarines on either side of his line of advance would have opportunities not only for reconnaissance, but for attack on the British forces which would certainly be drawn towards the German fleet when they heard of the bombardment. There was also the ever-present hope that he might catch a part of the British main fleet. Scheer and the German Naval Staff were still obsessed with the notion that a U-boat concentration off British naval bases would provide a good chance of reducing the British preponderance in capital ships. For long-distance reconnaissance Scheer would depend on Zeppelins, four of which were to operate on a line between Scotland and Norway, with four others to be spread between the latitude of the Firth of Forth and the North Hinder lightship. That is, one airship detachment was to operate to the north and the other was to be spread ahead of him to cover his line of advance while he was moving across the North Sea.

The High Seas Fleet (18 dreadnoughts, 2 battle cruisers, and light forces) sailed at 9 p.m. on 18 August, steaming boldly towards the East Coast, the battle fleet preceded by the 1st and 2nd Scouting Groups, which were 20 miles ahead. 3 The last thing Scheer had reckoned on was a swift response to his movements. But, sighs the German Official History, the Grand Fleet was at sea 'unpleasantly soon as usual'. Through a German signal intercepted at 9.19 a.m. on the 18th, Room 40 had quickly divined that the High Seas Fleet, less the 2nd Squadron, would leave harbour at 9 p.m. that night. No objective was indicated. The British machine reacted promptly. At 10.56 a.m. the Admiralty ordered the C.-in-C. (Burney, pro tem.) to put to sea and concentrate in the Long Forties, east of Aberdeen. The main fleet was away from Scapa by 4 p.m. and on its way south-a few hours before the High Seas Fleet was at sea! The Battle Cruiser Fleet left the Forth at 6.20 p.m. 4 The combined Grand Fleet included

twenty-nine dreadnoughts (1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th B.S.) and six battle cruisers (1st, wd B.C.S.). The seaplane carrier Engadine was with the battle cruisers, but, as at Jutland, the Campania did not go out, her machinery being under repair. All that the former accomplished in the way of air work was an unsuccessful attempt in the high sea to get a seaplane up (2 p.m., 19th) to attack a Zeppelin. Campania's kite balloon, which had been transferred to the battleship Hercules, was too far back to be useful for reconnaissance. Beatty afterwards recommended that 'the balloon should be flown from a ship in the advanced cruiser screen in order to increase the range of vision ahead of the Fleet. Had the kite balloon been well forward during operations, I am of opinion that the enemy might possibly have been sighted.' 6 Jellicoe had been in the south of Scotland since 7 August, taking a sorely needed rest. He was 'quite played out', owing to 'the incessant strain', as he informed the First Sea Lord (31 July). At about 9 p.m. on the 18th he was able to board the Iron Duke (it had proceeded independently from Scapa) at sea from the light cruiser Royalist, which had been lying off Dundee for just such an emergency. 6 Burney, who was in command until then, had ordered the fleet to rendezvous at 5 a.m. on the 19th about 100 miles east of the River Tay. The entire force would then turn southward and enter 'L' swept channel, which ran south-eastward from the approaches to the Forth towards the southern shore of Heligoland Bight, passing the Tyne about 60 miles to seaward. (This, and another 20-mile-wide swept channel, 'M', lay between the German Dagger Bank and Humber minefields.) At 11.37 a.m. on the 18th the Admiralty ordered the Harwich

Force (5 light cruisers, 19 destroyers, and a flotilla leader) to assemble by early dawn on the I 9th off Brown Ridge, in the Hoofden, about 50 miles east of Yarmouth. It sailed at 10.30 p.m. In addition, twenty-five submarines were involved in the dispositions: three were patrolling off Terschelling, watching the southern exits of the Bight, and two more were ordered to the Heligoland area at midday on the I 8th; five were in the Hoof den; eight were off Yarmouth and six off the Tyne for coast defence; and one was OB patrol off Schouwen Bank, near the Dutch coast ..&23, northernmost of the three boats off Terschelling, was the only one that got within range of the High Seas Fleet. The British submarines were for the first time equipped with long-range wireless. (This was a by-product of the Admiralty conference of 25 June, at which the C.-in-C. had stressed the great disadvantage under which the British Fleet laboured owing to the inefficiency of the wireless arrangements in the submarines. He had pointed out that, whereas the German submarines were able to communicate at a distance of 400 miles, the range of the wireless of the British boats scarcely exceeded 60 miles.) At 5 a.m., I 9 August, the battle fleet passed through its rendezvous.

With the lessons of Jutland fresh in mind, the battle cruisers were in station only 30 miles ahead, in touch with the battle fleet through linking cruisers, so that Jellicoe and Beatty could exchange messages by visual signals. The 5th Battle Squadron was under the C.-in-C.'s direct control. Eight miles ahead of the battle cruisers were the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Light Cruiser Squadrons. The whole fleet was, by 5.40, moving south at 18 knots. At 5.57 a.m. the Nottingham (wd L.C.S.), while zigzagging at 20 knots off Holy Island, was shaken by two violent explosions, the result of two simultaneous torpedo hits. They had been fired by U-52, one of the boats of the northern submarine line. A half-hour later the U-boat registered a third hit on the Nottingham. She sank at 7. 1 o. There being no trace of the periscope or tracks of a U-boat, the first signal from the Senior Officer, 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron (Goodenough), to Beatty, which the latter passed on to the C.-in-C., suggested that she had been 'struck by mine or has been hit by a torpedo'. The C.-in-C. did not receive this information until about 6.50. Ten minutes later he took in an important Admiralty signal of 6. 15 which placed the German fleet at 5.25 a.m. about 200 miles to the south-eastward

of him, or some 170 miles eastward of the Humber. No course was given. On the basis of these two pieces of information, the first in particular, Jellicoe decided to turn 16 points (i.e., to northward) 'till situation re Nottingham is clear', that is, whether she had been mined or torpedoed. The battle fleet altered course at 7.03, and Beatty followed at 7.30. What Jellicoe feared was steering the Grand Fleet into a minefield trap, 'and, until it was clear that a mine-field did not exist, it was prudent for the Fleet to avoid this locality .. .' His defenders say that it would have been 'foolhardy' (Altham) or 'lunacy' (Dreyer) to have led the fleet into a minefield. Churchill has contended that, even on the assumption that a mine had sunk the Nottingham, 'a comparatively slight alteration of course would have carried the Grand Fleet many miles clear of the area of the suspected minefields, and the possibility of getting between the German Fleet and home presented itself.'8 Perhaps the C.-in-C. felt, on the basis of the Admiralty message, that he had plenty of time in hand and should await more information before committing the fleet to a course of action. Anyhow, it is a fact that four hours were lost, since it was not until after 9 a.m. (Beatty, at 9.30) that the C.-in-C. resumed his advance to the southward.

We should not exaggerate the consequences of Jellicoe's movement to the northward, for, as Newbolt says, Had it never been made, that is, had Admiral Jellicoe pressed on to the southward, his advanced forces might have come in contact with Hipper's squadron between twelve and one; but only on the supposition that the British advance was not held up by the submarines of U-boat line No. 1 [the Blyth line], and that Admiral Scheer held on for Sunderland, in ignorance of the tremendous force which was steadily approaching his communications with [i.e., his line of retreat to] Germany. But it is in the last degree improbable that the German Commander-in-Chief would have known nothing of our Grand Fleet until it was close upon him .... It is certain that never, if he could possibly have avoided it, would he have joined battle with the Grand Fleet to the eastward of him, and with the prospect of an eight-hours' daylight battle before night could bring him a chance of breaking away.9 As matters developed, when Jellicoe again turned towards the

enemy, he still had time to bring them to action, despite the lost hours. At 9.08 a.m., having definitely learned that the Nottingham had been sunk by torpedoes, 10 the C.-in-C. turned south again, shaping course S.S.E., steering for a position about 25 miles to the eastward of where the Nottingham had been torpedoed. His original intention had been to proceed down 'L' Channel, but in view of the possible presence of U-boats there (submarines had been found in the upper part of the channel, and he suspected that they would also be found in the lower part), he elected to cross the centre of this channel and then move to the eastward down the safer 'M' Channel. Clearly, this was a course which gave the Grand Fleet less chance of interposing itself between the High Seas Fleet and its base. Had he adhered to his original plan, he would have been about 20 miles farther to the eastward and might have made contact with the enemy late in the afternoon, perhaps too late for anything more than an indecisive action. The explanation for the change in plan lies in Jellicoe's suspicion of a trap that Scheer was using his battle fleet as a bait to draw the Grand Fleet south into his submarines and/or newly-laid mines.

At 10.21 the Iron Duke received E-23's report of 9.16 on the torpedoing of the Westfalen (see below). Although the message was mutilated in transmission and did not fit in with the information of the enemy's position in two signals received from the Admiralty at 7 and 8 a.m., it did confirm the C.-in-C. in his belief that the High Seas Fleet was making for the English coast. With the information available after the war, which could not of course have been known to Jellicoe on 19 August, it is possible that a course down 'L' Channel would have carried the fleet away from the sphere of the U-boats.11 At 12.34 Jellicoe altered course for 'M' Channel, steering south towards the centre of the channel. An important Admiralty signal of 1. 1 5 p.m., received in the Iron Duke at 1.27 but not seen by Jellicoe until about 2 o'clock, placed the German flagship (from directionals) at 12.33 p.m. in Lat. 54° 32' N., Long. 1° 42' E. This was at the time when, as we shall see in a moment, Scheer was about to turn. This was not known

to the Admiralty or the C.-in-C. The message indicated that there were about 60 miles between Beatty and the High Seas Fleet at the time of observation, or no more than 40 miles at 2 p.m., if the Germans had stood on. The two fleets were apparently converging at right angles on each other, with early contact inevitable. At once Jellicoe increased speed from 1 7 to 19 knots and turned the fleet directly towards the (presumably) oncoming enemy. At 2 p.m. the Iron Duke made the flag signal: 'Raise steam for full speed .... Assume immediate readiness for action in every respect.' And towards 2.15: 'Prepare for immediate action. High Sea Fleet may be sighted at any moment.' At 2.15 there followed the Nelson-like signal: 'High Sea Fleet may be sighted at any moment. I look with entire confidence on the result.' The weather was clear. There was ample daylight. The odds greatly favoured the Grand Fleet and this time Beatty was within visual touch of the battle fleet. Everything was ready. But unknown to Jellicoe, fate had yet again intervened to dash the great expectations of the Grand Fleet.

Scheer

We must turn to Scheer's movements. He had steamed across the North Sea without incident until 5.05 a.m., when E-23 (Lieutenant-Commander R. R. Turner), patrolling in the Bight 60 miles north ofTerschelling, torpedoed the battleship Wesifalen, last ship in the German line, at 1,200 yards. At 6.30 Scheer sent the struggling, though not seriously damaged, ship back to harbour under destroyer escort. (It was the Wesifalen's wireless signal reporting the hit and the damage, in violation of Scheer's orders, that had given Jellicoe important information, via the Admiralty message received at 8 a.m., on the position of the High Seas Fleet.) As the morning wore on, Scheer found himself mystified by the reports he was receiving from his reconnaissance forces. The Zeppelin L-13, in the Hoofden, at 6.30 reported two enemy destroyer flotillas, and behind them two cruiser squadrons (really one), about 120 miles to the southward steering south-west. It was the Harwich Force. (Tyrwhitt had reached the rendezvous off Brown Ridge by 4.02 a.m. and continued to cruise in the vicinity. At 10 a.m., on the basis of E-23's signal, which had been made at 9.16 to all ships, he turned north to get in touch with the enemy.) At 7 o'clock and at 8.10, U-53, on the eastern end of the northern submarine line, made reports, the first of battle cruisers, the second of battleships, all steering north. At 9.50 the Zeppelin L-31

(see Chart 16) sent in the inaccurate report that at 9.50 (a mistake for 8.50) the main British fleet was steering north-east. Scheer later reported that this intelligence failed to give him 'a unified picture of the enemy's counter-measures', as all the enemy forces appeared to be moving away from him, instead of converging on his line of advance! Unruffied, and probably concluding that the Harwich Force was merely patrolling, while a concentration of the main British forces was taking place well to the northward, he stood on for Sunderland. At noon he was 82 miles east of Whitby. Then came the crucial moment. At 12.03 Scheer received a report from L-13 (whose pilot, incidentally, was a reserve officer not well trained in reconnaissance work), which had been shadowing the Harwich Force, that 'a strong enemy force of about 30 units', including five heavy ships, 60 miles east of Cromer, was coming up from the southward at 11 .30 a.m. (This was about 60 miles south of Scheer's position at 11.30.) A second report from L-13, received at 12.22, reported this enemy force as consisting of 'about 16 destroyers, small and large cruisers, and battleships'. (A third report, received at 12.50, located this force at 12.30, 75 miles E.N.E. of Cromer on a N.E. course. This report assured Scheer that he had made the correct decision.)

A thunderstorm caused L-13 to lose contact with the British force at 1.30. But for these airship reports, especially the second, Scheer might well have pressed on towards Sunderland-another hour and Jellicoe would have been between him and his base. Instead, believing he had part of the British battle fleet within reach, he abandoned his original plan of bombarding Sunderland. At 12.15 he ordered the fleet to turn round. The battle fleet had to mark time while the 1st Scouting Group got into position ahead on the new course and then, at one o'clock, the whole fleet shaped course to the south-eastward to engage the reported force-away from the Grand Fleet, coming down from the north. Scheer's dream since becoming C.-in-C., of destroying a detached, weaker force, seemed on thepoint of realization! Alas for his hopes, L-13's reports were mistaken ones, and Scheer was chasing a phantom battleship squadron-actually, the Harwich Force, which, of course, had no battleships with it. Moreover, not having sighted the German fleet, it had turned south at 12.45 to return to its station in the Hoofden, and was, unknowingly, steaming away from the High Seas Fleet.

At 2.35 Scheer abandoned the chase and turned to E.S.E. He gives these as the reasons. 'The bulk of the fleet continued to advance until stopped by the minefields in the south. [He was within 25 miles of the Humber field.] ... There was no further prospect of coming up with the enemy in the south, and it had grown too late to bombard Sunderland.'12 The dominating factor in his decision must have been U-53's report at 1.15 (received by him at 2.13) that the British main fleet was approaching, steering south, in a position some 65 miles to the north of the High Seas Fleet. This, the first precise report of the British battle fleet, must have shocked the German C.-in-C.

German plan

The Battle of Jutland (31 May to 1 June 1916) had been claimed as a success by the Kaiserliche Marine but the commander of the High Seas Fleet (Hochseeftotte), Admiral Reinhard Scheer, felt it important that another raid should be mounted as quickly as possible, to maintain morale after the fleet had received so much damage. The High Seas Fleet was not ready for operations and by mid-August was still short of two battlecruisers. Scheer planned a raid following the pattern of previous ones, with the battlecruisers carrying out a dawn bombardment of an English town, this time to be Sunderland. In the I Scouting Group, only the battlecruisers SMS Moltke and Von der Tann remained serviceable after Jutland and it was reinforced by the battleships, SMS Bayern, Markgraf and Grosser Kurfürst. The remainder of the High Seas Fleet, comprising 16 dreadnought battleships, was to carry out close support 20 nmi (23 mi; 37 km) behind.

High Seas Fleet

Main article: High Seas Fleet

One must therefore pay tribute to Scheer for at once planning a further operation with the same limited object - to whittle down the strength of the Grand Fleet by drawing it out with a bombardment of Sunderland, designed to lure it over carefully disposed U-boat patrol lines. To guard against the very unpleasant surprise which he had received on encountering the whole of the Grand Fleet at Jutland, Scheer relied on extensive reconnaissance patrols by his Zeppelins and on his U-boats. But once again he was betrayed by his own excessive use of wireless in the preliminary stages.

Room 40

Main article: Room 40

Jade Bay

Room 40, the British code-breaking organisation for the Navy was alerted to the possibility of another sortie by the High Seas Fleet by 15 August, noting that "two and a half flotillas of destroyers were detailed as outposts at Schillig Roads, the seaward approaches to Jade Bay and the port of Wilhelmshaven but none for Heligoland. This procedure, being unusual, presaged something". The code-breakers discovered that the 1st and 3rd Battle Squadrons, at full strength and the 2nd and 4th Scouting Groups, two of the battle cruisers and the usual destroyer cover, had been ccollected in the Jade. Other characteristics of a German sortie were uncovered, minesweeping, instructions to light vessels and on the morning of 18 August, intelligence that the 3rd Battle Squadron would pass the outer Jade at 10:30 p.m. that evening. Airships had been ordered to take up positions in the North Sea.

The U-boats had sailed and formed three groups off the north coast of England and some off Aberdeen but their patrol areas had not been uncovered and more U-boats were in the southern North Sea. It was not certain that the High Seas Fleet had sailed until Westfalen was torpedoed by a British submarine at 5:05 a.m. on 19 August about 60 nmi (69 mi; 110 km) north of Terschelling. The submarine report was pinpointed by British shore-based direction finders. The Grand Fleet had sailed within two hours of the Room 40s decrypt on the morning of 18 August but Jellicoe, who was at sea with the Grand Fleet, was not informed until 7:00 a.m.

The British had sailed before the Germans but the cruiser HMS Nottingham was torpedoed and sunk around 6:00 a.m. on 19 August. The British thought that first thought that Nottingham had struck a min and turned to the north to avoid running onto a possible minefield, which cost the Grand Fleet four hours until it was certain that the cruiser had been torpedoed. Scheer had broken wireless silence and been located by D/F stations, even thought the signal had not been decrypted, due to a German key change at midnight on 18/19 August. The High Seas Fleet had received a reconnaissance report from a Zeppelin watching for a surprise attack from the south. Zeppelin L.13 spotted the Harwich Force and mistakenly identified it as a battleship squadron. Scheer turned south-east, hoping to catch an isolated pat of the Grand Fleet, inadvertently turning away from the real position of the Britishe. Scheer was also misled by a report from U-53, which had spotted the Grand Fleet during it run north to avoid a possible minefield. Had Scheer not turned south towards Harwich Force, a fleet engagement would have been likely.

Harwich Force, having failed to find the High Seas Fleet turned south-east and missed the Germans to the north. At 2:13 p.m. Scheer received another signal from U-53 which had observed the Grand Fleet steaming south about 65 nmi (75 mi; 120 km) from the High Seas Fleet. At 2:33 p.m. Scheer turned east-south-east for home and at 3:46 p.m. Jellicoe was informed by the Admiralty that there was no prospect of catching up the High Seas Fleet and reversed course, losing a second cruiser to a U-boat before he reached Scapa Flow. Harwich Force saw the High Seas Fleet at 6:00 p.m. but failed to overhaul them before a full moon rose, removing the concealment necessary for a torpedo attack on such a superior force.

Prelude

The fleet sailed at 9:00 p.m. on 18 August from the Jade river. Information about the raid was obtained by British Naval Intelligence (Room 40) through intercepted and decoded radio messages. Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, commander of the Grand Fleet, was on leave so had to be recalled urgently and boarded the light cruiser Royalist at Dundee to meet his fleet in the early hours of 19 August off the river Tay. In his absence, Admiral Cecil Burney took the fleet to sea on the afternoon of 18 August. Vice-Admiral David Beatty left the Firth of Forth with his squadron of six battlecruisers to meet the main fleet in the Long Forties.

The Harwich Force of twenty destroyers and five light cruisers (Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt) was ordered out, as were 25 British submarines which were stationed in likely areas to intercept German ships. The battlecruisers together with the 5th Battle Squadron of five fast battleships were stationed 30 nmi (35 mi; 56 km) ahead of the main fleet to scout for the High Seas Fleet. The British moved south seeking the German fleet but suffered the loss of one of the light cruisers screening the battlecruiser group, HMS Nottingham, which was hit by three torpedoes from submarine U-52 at 6:00 a.m. and sunk.

Fleet operations

Grand Fleet

At 6:15 a.m. Jellicoe received information from the Admiralty that one hour earlier the enemy had been 200 nmi (230 mi; 370 km) to his south east. The loss of Nottingham caused him to first head north for fear of endangering his other ships. No torpedo tracks or submarines had been seen, making it unclear whether the cause had been a submarine or a mine. He did not resume a south-easterly course until 9:00 a.m. when William Goodenough, commanding the light cruisers, advised that the cause had been a submarine attack. Further information from the Admiralty indicated that the battlecruisers would be within 40 nmi (46 mi; 74 km) of the main German fleet by 2:00 p.m. and Jellicoe increased to maximum speed. Weather conditions were good and there was still plenty of time for a fleet engagement before dark.

High Seas Fleet

Town-class cruiser HMS Falmouth, sunk after torpedo attacks from two submarines

The German force had received reassurances about Jellicoe's position, when a Zeppelin spotted the Grand Fleet heading north away from Scheer, at the time it had been avoiding the possible minefield. Zeppelin L 13 sighted the Harwich force approximately 75 nmi (86 mi; 139 km) east-north-east of Cromer, mistakenly identifying the cruisers as battleships. This was the sort of target Scheer was seeking, so he changed course at 12:15 p.m. also to the south-east and away from the approaching British fleet. No further reports were received from Zeppelins about the British fleet but it was spotted by a U-boat 65 nmi (75 mi; 120 km) north of Scheer. The High Seas Fleet turned for home at 2:35 p.m. abandoning this potential target. By 4:00 p.m. Jellicoe had been advised that Scheer had abandoned the operation and so turned north himself.

Other engagements

A second cruiser attached to the battlecruiser squadron, HMS Falmouth, was hit by two torpedoes from U-66 at 4:52 p.m. Falmouth managed to raise steam and made slowly for Humber, escorted by four destroyers; in the early hours a tug arrived and took the ship in tow. Taking the shortest route to the Humber put the ship on a bearing which took it along the Flamborough Head U-boat line. At noon, with the destroyer escort augmented by another four, Falmouth was hit by two torpedoes fired by U-63 (Korvettenkapitän Otto Schultze). After eight hours, Falmouth sank 5 nmi (5.8 mi; 9.3 km) south of Flamborough Head. By 5:45 p.m. Harwich Force had sighted German ships but was too far behind to attack before nightfall and abandoned the chase. The British submarine HMS E23 (Lieutenant-Commander R. R. Turner) managed to hit the German battleship SMS Westfalen north of Terschelling at 5:05 a.m. on 19 August but the ship was able to reach port.

Aftermath

Analysis

Royal Navy

On 13 September, the British held a conference on Iron Duke to discuss recent events and to obtain a directive from the Government about rules of engagement. It was decided that it was unsafe to conduct fleet operations south of latitude 55.5° North (approximately level with Horns reef and where the battle of Jutland had taken place). Jellicoe took the view that a destroyer shortage precluded operations further south but that it was feasible to operate west of Longitude 4° East, if there was an opportunity to engage the German fleet in daylight. The fleet should not sail further south than the Dogger Bank until a complete destroyer screen was available, except in exceptional circumstances, such as the chance to engage the High Seas Fleet with a tactical advantage or to intercept a German invasion fleet. On 23 December, the Admiralty endorsed the conclusions of the meeting due to the effect of submarines and mines on surface ship operations.

Kaiserliche Marine

Nassau-class battleship SMS Westfalen damaged by a torpedo from HMS E23

Scheer regretted that the anticipated fleet engagement had not occurred but was pleased with the sinking of two light cruisers and the damaging of a battleship, under the mistaken impression that a U-boat had torpedoed HMS Inflexible at 7:50 p.m. on 19 August, in exchange for the damage to Westfalen. Scheer thought that the sortie meant that the British could not relax their vigilance and he was pleased with the performance of the U-boats. Twenty-four U-boats had participated in the operation and five boats on the patrol lines Blyth and Flamborough Head had spotted the Grand Fleet, sent eleven reports, fired sixteen torpedoes, achieving seven hits on two light cruisers, which had been sunk. The Zeppelin reconnaissance was less satisfactory

Photograph of HMS E20, similar to HMS E23

in which three airships had spotted anything and of their seven reports four had been wrong. This was the last occasion on which the German fleet travelled so far west into the North Sea. On 6 October, the German government resumed attacks against merchant vessels by submarine, which meant the U-boat fleet was no longer available for combined attacks against surface vessels. From 18 to 19 October, Scheer led a brief sortie into the North Sea which British intelligence gave advance warning; the Grand Fleet declined to prepare an ambush, staying in port with steam raised, ready to sail. The German sortie was abandoned after a few hours when SMS München was hit by a torpedo fired by E38 (Lieutenant-Commander J. de B. Jessop) and it was feared other submarines might be in the area. Scheer suffered further difficulties when in November he sailed with Moltke and a division of dreadnoughts to rescue U-20 and U-30, which had been stranded on the Danish coast. British submarine J1 (Commander Noel Laurence) managed to hit the battleships Grosser Kurfürst and Kronprinz. The failure of these operations reinforced the belief, created at Jutland, the danger from submarines and mines made the risks were too great for such tactics.

References

Bibliography

• Beesly, P. (1983). Room 40: British Naval Intelligence 1914–18 (2nd ed.). London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 978-0-15-178634-3.
• Bennett, Geoffrey (2005). Naval Battles of the First World War. London: Pen & Sword Military Classics. ISBN 978-1-84415-300-8.
• Jones, H. A. (2002) [1928]. The War in the Air, Being the Story of the part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. II (facs. repr. Imperial War Museum Department of Printed Books and Naval & Military Press ed.). London: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-1-84342-413-0. Retrieved 24 July 2021 – via Archive Foundation.
• Marder, Arthur J. (1978) [1965]. "Part III End of the First Phase August 1916 – December 1916; Chapter VIII The Grand Fleet after Jutland August–November 1916, I. Blind Man's Buff, 19 August 1916". From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, The Royal Navy in the Fisher Era, 1904–1919: Jutland and After, May 1916 – December 1916. Vol. III (2nd, rev. enl. ed.). London: Oxford University Press. pp. 285–298. ISBN 978-0-19-215841-3.
• Massie, Robert K. (2003). Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany and the Winning of the Great War at Sea. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-345-40878-5.
• Newbolt, H. (2003) [1928]. Naval Operations. History of the Great War based on Official Documents. Vol. IV (facs. repr. Naval & Military Press and Imperial War Museum ed.). London: Longmans, Green. ISBN 978-1-84342-492-5.
• Roskill, Captain Stephen Wentworth (1980). Admiral of the Fleet Earl Beatty – The Last Naval Hero: An Intimate Biography. London: Collins. ISBN 978-0-689-11119-8.

Further reading

• Corbett, J. S. (2009) [1940]. Naval Operations. History of the Great War based on Official Documents. Vol. III (2nd pbk. repr. The Naval & Military Press and Imperial War Museum Department of Printed Books, Uckfield and London ed.). London: Longmans, Green. ISBN 978-1-84342-492-5. Retrieved 16 December 2017 – via Archive Foundation.
• Halpern, P. G. (1995) [1994]. A Naval History of World War I (pbk. repr. UCL Press, London ed.). Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-85728-498-4.
• Herwig, H. H. (2014) [1980]. Luxury Fleet: The Imperial German Navy 1888–1918. Routledge Library Editions: The First World War: Volume VII (repr. Routledge, Abingdon ed.). London: George Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-315-78082-5.