Heligoland Bight

While Jutland is by far the most prominent naval battle of WWI, it is far from the only battle fought in the North Sea. The first months of the war saw several clashes as both sides tested the other's strength, including several cases where the Germans came close to their desire of defeating elements of the Grand Fleet in detail.

Roger Keyes

The first battle came a month after Austria declared war on Serbia. Roger Keyes, the aggressive commander of the submarine flotilla based at Harwich, had received reports on German patrols in Heligoland Bight, just off the German coast, and proposed a sweep by the destroyers and cruisers of the Harwich Force under Reginald Tyrwhitt to attack them as they changed over at dawn, with his submarines positioned to attack any heavy ships that came out in support. In case things went wrong, the Grand Fleet would be in support.

Reginald Tyrwhitt

The Admiralty staff was not wild about the plan, and Keyes managed to push it through by appealing directly to First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, always a sucker for a bold plan. The plan was approved, although the start time would be delayed to allow the night patrol to return to harbor, and the support was cut from the entire Grand Fleet to only battlecruisers Invincible and New Zealand and a few obsolescent armored cruisers. The plan would be executed five days hence, but two of those days elapsed before John Jellicoe, commander of the Grand Fleet was informed. He decided to send more forces in support, dispatching battlecruisers Lion, Queen Mary and Princess Royal under David Beatty and six light cruisers under William Goodenough. Unfortunately, the Admiralty Staff was still being bad at communication, and word of this support failed to reach Tyrwhitt and Keyes. As a result, the British submarines were informed that the only British ships bigger than a destroyer that would be in Heligoland Bight were Tyrwhitt's cruisers Arethusa and Fearless, with the obvious potential that brought for friendly fire.

HMS Arethusa

The operation began on the morning of August 28th as Tyrwhitt saw shapes emerge out of the mist. They resolved into Goodenough's cruisers, who signaled that they knew the plan and were there to support Tyrwhitt. They would face nine modern torpedo boats, nine minesweepers, and four light cruisers, although one was obsolescent and two others were fairly weak. The backup forces were in the Wilhelmshaven, along with the ships of the High Seas Fleet, but the heavy ships were trapped inside the harbor by the tide, which was too low to let them pass the bar at the mouth of the Jade river until noon.

The battle began around 0700, when some of the British destroyers sighted German torpedo boat G194, and set off in pursuit. The Germans called for help, while Tyrwhitt followed his lead destroyers, afraid that his force would be scattered in the fog. The German ships made for the safety of Heligoland's guns, although several were badly battered by the British. Around 0800, two German cruisers finally appeared, and the British turned away. Fearless managed to drive Stettin off, but Arethusa, which had only arrived from the builders two days prior, was roughly handled by Frauenlob, taking at least 15 hits and engine damage that slowed her to as little as 5 kts.

Stettin during a visit to the United States

Word of this reached Goodenough, and he detached two of his cruisers to aid Tyrwhitt. As they raced to the scene of the action, some units of the Harwhich Force spotted torpedo boat V187 and tried to run her down. She looked set to escape before Goodenough's cruisers stumbled across the pursuit, trapping the German ship and sending her to the bottom. As the British destroyers lowered boats to retrieve the survivors, Stettin, which had retreated to light all of her boilers, reappeared out of the mist. Neither side took much damage in the clash, but HMS Defender was forced to leave behind her boat, whose crew, along with a few prisoners, was later recovered by submarine E4.

To add to the confusion, Keyes, at sea aboard destroyer Lurcher,¹ had spotted Goodenough's cruisers, but misidentified them as Germans, and broadcast their location. This forced Tyrwhitt to turn back east to avoid this new force, while Goodenough searched for his own vessels. His flagship, Southampton, was nearly attacked by HMSm E6, whose captain spotted the White Ensign moments before he would have launched his torpedoes. The crew of the cruiser spotted the periscope and made to ram, but the submarine dove quickly enough to avoid the attack. Finally, after over an hour, visibility improved enough for Keyes to correct his identification and call off the hunt.

Southampton, painted by the legendary Oscar Parkes

At last, all of the British ships were heading west, and Arethusa had managed to get up to 20 kts, leaving good prospects for a clean getaway. But these were dashed by the appearance of several German light cruisers, responding from deeper into the Bight. Fortunately for Harwich Force, the German cruisers were scattered, and the first one to appear, Strassburg, was driven off by Fearless and an attempted torpedo attack from the destroyers. Coln turned up soon after, although the British misidentified her as an armored cruiser, prompting Beatty to dispatch Goodenough to help, then follow himself after a few minutes of indecision, fearful of losing one of his ships to mines or the appearance of heavy German ships.² Coln soon broke off and Strassburg reappeared out of the mist, trading fire with the British before another torpedo attack turned her back.

New Zealand at speed during the battle

The leading destroyers next encountered Mainz, and found themselves outmatched in the resulting gunnery duel. They turned to run, only to have the chase reversed when Goodenough's cruisers appeared. Southampton soon began to land hits, but Mainz disappeared into a fogbank before taking lethal damage. Her hopes of a clean escape were foiled when she ran into Tyrwhitt's main body, and Fearless made a hit on her rudder, leaving her circling slowly. The destroyers closed to torpedo the stricken cruiser, but the Germans had some fight left in them, badly damaging Laurel and Laertes. Their sacrifice wasn't in vain, and a torpedo hit the German cruiser, leaving her a sitting duck for every cruiser and destroyer in the British force. Eventually, her guns fell silent, and destroyer HMS Lurcher closed in to recover survivors, among them the son of Alfred von Tirpitz.

Mainz sinks as a British destroyer, probably Lurcher, stands by

But as Mainz sank, Strassburg and Coln appeared again, posing a serious threat to the Harwich Force's escape, particularly as Arethusa had been slowed again by her injuries and the destroyers scattered. Several turned to face the new threat, but they were saved by Beatty's perfectly-timed arrival. Strassburg quickly ducked back into the mist, but Coln began to take hits from the battlecruisers, and was reprieved only by the arrival of another German cruiser, Ariadne.

Ariadne under fire

She appeared out of the fog only three miles from Lion, and the British battlecruiser swiftly opened fire, 13.5" shells hitting home from the third salvo. The German cruisers was swiftly enveloped in flames, and Beatty turned west again. As he headed home, Coln blundered into his path, emerging even closer to the battlecruisers than Ariadne had. Despite the number of shell hits the cruiser took, her gunners got off 200 rounds at Lion, landing 5 hits that did only minor damage. She had slipped beneath the waves within 10 minutes, and although Beatty dispatched destroyers to search for survivors, they were sent to the wrong place, and ultimately only one man survived to be picked up two days later.

Coln

The clash with Coln was the last of the battle, as the other German light cruisers were either trying to avoid Beatty or to aid Ariadne, although she soon succumbed to the damage the battlecruisers had inflicted. The Germans had finally gotten their battlecruisers to sea, but they were under orders not to leave Heligoland Bight, and turned back when it became clear that the British had withdrawn. Tyrwhitt nursed his cripples home, arriving to a hero's welcome at a time when British forces were being pushed back on land.

While the Harwhich Force and the Grand Fleet would spend the next four years in combat with the Germans, they would never again venture so deep into German waters. The Germans soon laid extensive minefields, making a direct attack on the Heligoland Bight far too dangerous. The bigger effect was on German thinking. The Kaiser was terrified that his precious battlefleet would share the fate of the cruisers, and ordered that it was not to try and fight a fleet action without his permission. It would be almost two years before he consented to such an attempt.

A German trackchart of the battle

The battle also provided valuable lessons for both sides. The Germans were reminded of the importance of concentration, and of keeping defensive forces on standby. For the rest of the war, at least four capital ships would be anchored outside the Jade bar in case of another British raid, and the rest of the fleet would be able to raise steam with two hours notice. The British emphasized the importance of good planning and communication pre-battle, given the near-disastrous encounter between Southampton and E6, as well as taking the first steps to figure out how to effectively use radio in battle. They would have the chance to refine this system over the next few months, as the action at Heligoland Bight was followed by others across the North Sea.