Above (right click, left click on image for full size rendition), a line diagram of SMS Blücher (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Bl%C3%BCcher) sunk 110 years ago today.
Yesterday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePmIUF7vYAk) there were the reports about the Russian spy ship the Yantar with Defence Secretary John Healey revealing that she was being used by Russia for gathering intelligence and mapping the UK’s critical underwater infrastructure.
Today (24 January 2025) is the 110th anniversary of the Battle of Dogger Bank.
With the U Boat campaign heavily in progress and the Imperial High Seas Fleet effectively bottled up in in the Jade River by Admiral Beatty’s success at Heligoland Bight, Admiral Franz von Hipper decided to launch a raid upon three North Sea coastal towns by the German Battlecruiser Squadron, comprising five battle cruisers supported by light cruisers and destroyers. The raid took place on 16 December 1914 at 9am, and resulted in the death of 18 civilians at Scarborough, causing further damage at Whitby and Hartlepool.
Public and political reaction in Britain expressed outrage that the German Fleet could sail so close to the British coast and proceed to shell coastal towns.
Buoyed by the success of the raid, Admiral Hipper resolved to repeat the endeavour the following month. He was however intercepted by the Royal Navy on 24 January 1915 at Dogger Bank.
The point which is relevant to the Yantar is that Beatty was able to intercept Hipper due to the invaluable assistance by our then ally, Russia! This because we were able to intercept and decode German radio traffic – by the use of a German code book captured by the Russians! Thus we learned of Hipper’s sortie on 23 January. Consequently Beatty was able to set sail with five battle cruisers to meet Hipper’s three, aided by a further six light cruisers. Joined by additional cruisers and destroyers from Harwich, Beatty encountered Hipper’s screen of outlying vessels at 7.20am on the morning of 24 January.
Realising he was overpowered, Hipper attempted an escape, believing the our battle cruisers to be relatively slow. Beatty’s cruisers, however, were notably faster than their German counterparts, and succeeded in reaching their extreme firing range by 9am. Battle was given half an hour later.
Beatty managed to first halt and then sink SMS Blücher (the latter as a result of a signalling error, killing 782 and captured on moving film) and damage Hipper’s flagship, SMS Seydlitz (killing 192), although the Germans in turn succeeding in effectively hammering Beatty’s own flagship, HMS Lion, to a standstill. The Lion took no further part in the battle after 11am.
Nevertheless, a major British success appeared likely until Beatty, overcome by fears of mines and a believed submarine sighting (there were none), decided to abandon the attack, allowing Hipper’s squadron to escape.
Although the battle was not itself greatly consequential of itself, it boosted British morale and concerned Kaiser Wilhelm II, enough to issue an order stating that all further risks to surface vessels were to be avoided.