World War One: The Global Revolution by Lawrence Sondhaus

Author:Lawrence Sondhaus [Sondhaus, Lawrence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2011-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

Dogger Bank, 1915

Despite the prewar focus on capital ships as the measure of strength for the world’s navies, the first five months of the war featured no naval battles in which each of the opposing forces included dreadnoughts or battle cruisers. In the only action in European waters – the first battle of Helgoland Bight (August 28, 1914) – a British force led by five battle cruisers under Vice Admiral David Beatty destroyed half of Rear Admiral Leberecht Maass’ squadron of light cruisers, inflicting serious casualties (712 dead, including Maass) and demonstrating, as would Sturdee at the Falklands four months later, just how decisive the firepower of capital ships would be in any surface action involving older or smaller warships. With an eye toward reducing Britain’s 3:2 ratio of superiority in capital ships, the initial German strategy for the North Sea called for Rear Admiral Franz Hipper’s battle cruiser squadron to lure part of the British Grand Fleet out of its main base at Scapa Flow and into battle with the main body of dreadnoughts of the High Sea Fleet, in the hope of achieving a decisive victory that would even the odds.

German provocations such as the shelling of Yarmouth in November or Hartlepool and Scarborough in December failed to bring about the desired engagement, but early in the New Year, at the battle of Dogger Bank (January 24, 1915), capital ships of the two fleets finally met. Shortly after daybreak, Hipper’s three battle cruisers and the armored cruiser Blücher, approaching from Wilhelmshaven, made contact with five battle cruisers under Beatty, approaching from the British battle cruiser base at Rosyth. Hipper promptly turned for home, and a furious pursuit ensued. By 9.05 am the British had closed enough to begin firing. The 15,800-ton Blücher, the smallest ship in the battle, brought up the rear of Hipper’s column and bore the brunt of enemy fire that it could not return, as its 8.3-inch (21-cm) guns were outranged by the 12-inch (30.5-cm) guns of the British battle cruisers. Ultimately, a shell from the Princess Royal, fired at over 19,000 yards (17,400 m), penetrated the deck of the Blücher and ignited ammunition below. The armored cruiser capsized and sank at 1.13 pm, with almost all hands (792 dead). Two of the three German battle cruisers sustained damage, as did two of the five British battle cruisers. Beatty’s flagship Lion took seventeen hits and had to be towed back to Rosyth.

The battle of Dogger Bank, a relatively modest engagement involving only a fraction of the capital ships in the British and German battle fleets, had consequences far out of proportion to its actual significance. The loss of the Blücher – ironically, neither a dreadnought nor a battle cruiser – demonstrated to William II what could happen to one of his dreadnoughts or battle cruisers in an ill-conceived or unlucky future battle. After the defeat he sacked Hipper’s superior, Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, for failing to keep the main body of the High Sea Fleet close enough to come to Hipper’s aid and trap Beatty’s battle cruisers.

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