Jutland Redux

Jutland Redux
Prelude


The Battle Cruiser Fleet
1st Squadron
HMS Lion (flag Vice Admiral Beatty)
HMS Tiger
HMS Princess Royal

2nd Squadron
HMS New Zealand (Flag Rear Admiral Moore)
HMS Indomitable

1st LCS
HMS Southampton (Flag Commodore Goodenough)
HMS Birmingham
HMS Nottingham
HMS Lowestofte

1st Destroyer Flotilla
HMS Fearless (flag)
10 destroyers



The Harwich Force
HMS Arethusa (Flagship Commodore Tyrrwhitt)
HMS Aurora
HMS Penelope

3rd Destroyer Flotilla
11 destroyers

9th/10th Destroyer Flotilla
17 destroyers


Word had been received from room 40 that the High Seas Fleet’s battle cruisers were putting to sea to raid the Dogger Patrols and the British fishing fleet in the area of Dogger Bank on the 24th of January. It was revealed in the decoded message that other than the support of the support of the four light cruisers of the 2nd scout Group and two flotillas of torpedo boats, the German force under Admiral Hipper would be operating on its own.

The opportunity to mark down the unsupported German battle cruisers was too good to miss as at this point the High Seas Fleet was nearing parity with the Grand Fleet. The Royal Navy only had one more battleship and one more battle cruiser in the North Sea at this time, so it was felt that this opportunity must be acted upon.

The British battle cruisers were to rendezvous with Tyrwhitt’s Harwich force on the morning of the 24th in a position to interpose the British force between the German battle cruisers and their base.

As well Bradford’s 3rd Battle squadron along with Packenham with his 3rd Cruiser squadron were 40 miles to the NW in case the Germans attempted to move north to avoid the battle.

As well Admiral Jellicoe was bringing the rest of the Grand Fleet down from Scapa Flow but would still be at least one to two hours out of range if Beatty’s force managed to intercept Hipper at the designated location.

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The High Seas Fleets Scouting Force
1st Scout Group
SMS Seydlitz (flagship Admiral Hipper)
SMS Moltke
SMS Derfflinger
SMS Blucher (attached)

2nd Scout Group
SMS Coln
SMS Kolburg
SMS Pillau
SMS Elbing

2nd TBF
10 torpedo boats

6th TBF
11 torpedo boats

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0700 hours January 24th, 1915
NE of Dogger Bank

Beatty’s Force met Tyrwhitt’s command at the appointed place and time, and even as Arethusa and her attendant destroyers took their place with Beatty’s ships a report came in from Aurora - which was 11 miles to the south - stating the German light cruiser Kolberg had been sighted.

Kolberg in the meantime was in contact with Hipper apprising the Admiral of the contact even as the two light cruisers began to exchange fire. Hipper moved to support the Kolberg but shortly after more reports were received of smoke to the NW. Hipper, believing this to be British battleships ordered his force about to a course SE and home.

In response to the sighting an short duel between Aurora and Kolburg Beatty had replied by an order to chase. Soon the three ‘Splendid Cats’ had worked up to 27 knots and began to pull away from Moore’s slower battle cruisers.

Goodenough in the meantime had pushed on ahead so that by 0730 he was 5 miles to the front of Beatty and had Hipper’s force in sight. By 0800 Beatty himself had the German formation in sight. While the visibility was excellent the weather gauge was not in Hipper’s favour and it was not until 0845 that Hipper was able to identify his pursuers and realize they were battle cruisers and not battle ships.

Up to this point Hipper had been headed home at 20 knots, not even up to the maximum of 23 knots for the armoured cruiser Blucher, feeling that was sufficient to stay ahead of what the supposed battleships he had sighted. But at this point with the range down to 25,000 yards he would not be able to avoid a fight.

At 0900 HMS Lion fired her first salvo at SMS Blucher, the last ship in the German line. Lion was soon joined by Tiger and Princess Royal while the Germans concentrated on the Lion in return. As The three British battle cruisers began to overhaul the German line, Beatty signalled Tiger and Princess Royal to engage their opposite number in the German line and leave the Blucher for the following two battle cruisers under Moore who were even now closing on the tail of the German line.

But even with these orders Captain Pelly of the Tiger took it upon himself to join in firing on the lead ship of the German line as with five ships fighting four he felt that it would be best to concentrate on the head of the German line. The end result was two fold , the first being that The Tiger’s shooting was for the most part ineffective as she took Lion’s shell splashes for her own. Probably as important it also meant that SMS Moltke was not fired on for nearly a quarter hour. Another rather impolitic signal to the Tiger from a disgusted Beatty rectified that problem.

At 0930 when the first shells from the Tiger were landing near Moltke, a salvo from the lion found the Seydlitz. The 13.5” shell tore through the barbette armour of the rear most main turret and detonated in the working chamber, lighting up charges that had just arrived there. The resulting fire flashed both upward into the turret and down toward the magazines , setting off more charges in both locations.

In their panic to reach safety, the magazine crew opened the door to the adjoining working chamber with the result being the ignition of more charges there which promptly flashed through the turret and magazine as well.

While the Bridge crew on the Lion watched in amazement Thick brown smoke belched from the rearmost turrets of the Seydlitz just as flashes were seen from her forward turrets once again. Comments were exchanged as well as congratulations before Beatty admonished all present that there was still work to do as the next salvo from the Lion fired off at the battered Seydlitz.

On the Seydlitz the order was promptly given to flood the magazines, but even as the command was sent the great ship shuddered ….

“Good God…” exclaimed Captain Chatfield of the Lion as the Stern of the Seydlitz disappeared in a massive explosion.
“Well …” Beatty was cut off as the Lion was struck by the last salvo from the Seydlitz.

Two shells landed close inboard to port and fragments sliced through the bridge of the Lion, striking down many there. But the third shell struck B turret between the barrels, detonating just after penetrating and tearing the turret open and dismounting the 13.5” guns onto A turret. Charges present ignited, but with the turret ripped apart the bulk of the flash went up and out, although the officer in charge of the magazines ordered them flooded to be safe.

The fourth and last shell struck the base of the bridge structure on the port side, punching down and detonating in the forward engineering spaces, causing havoc and destruction.

As the Lion’s speed fell off and the vessel lurched out to port Captain Pelly in the Tiger swung his ship to starboard and led the Princess Royal around the stricken flagship. The fire slackened momentarily on both sides as both commands were removed from the fight. But even as the bows of the Seydlitz were pointing to the sky the Moltke and Derfflinger were firing again, closely followed by the Tiger and Princess Royal as they cleared the battered Lion.

On the Bridge of the Lion Captain Chatfield pulled himself to his feet and looked around at the blood gore and destruction as he ordered survivors to their posts while the medics and damage control swarmed in.

Surprisingly he had only a rather deep cut on his left fore arm and a hellish sore lump on his head where he had made contact with something when he had been knocked down by the blast.
An then it struck him … Admiral Beatty!
He looked around, then spotted him … hunched up at the back of the bridge clumsily trying to stuff his intestines back into his belly with shaking hands.
Chatfield made toward him but Beatty wave him off.
“ Fight your ship, Captain,” grunted Beatty, The surgeon will be along …”
Chatfield looked at his blood soaked commander for a second, “ God speed Admiral.” He said as he turned back to his duties as the medics arrived.

While she was in no danger of sinking, Lion was out of the fight. By the time she was back under control she was headed to the NW an barely making 12 knots. As the New Zealand and Indomitable passed by signals were sent to Moore to tell him he was now in command.

While the destruction of the Seydlitz and the devastating damage to the Lion had occurred , the battle had continued with hits being taken by both sides. In the exchange between Moltke and Tiger as the pursuit carried on both sides landed hits, but Moltke had better success. Tiger struck Moltke three times, once in the starboard secondary battery, another at the base of the fore funnel and the third which penetrated the roof of the starboard wing turret, but failed to detonate.

Moltke had in the mean time hit Tiger seven times, knocking out C turret, causing fires amidships an destroying the Tigers fire control. The last hit was the most damaging to the fight as she hit the Tiger’s port feed tank and the British battle cruiser soon lost speed and was no longer able to stay in the fight.

Derfflinger and Princess Royal had exchanged telling blows as well, with Derfflinger losing her ‘Dora’ turret while Princess Royal was returning fire with just her B an Q turrets by the time Tiger fell out of line.

Blucher in the mean time had taken a severe pounding, first by the splendid cats and then by Moore’s squadron. As Moore dashed ahead after the Lion was struck, the Blucher, silenced and burning was set upon by British destroyers. After taking at least four torpedoes she fell over on her starboard side an sank at 1130 hours.

As the last two German battle cruisers pulled away to the SE Moore was forced to turn away as the German torpedo boats and cruisers advanced toward the advancing Surviving forces in hopes of covering the battered battle cruisers withdrawal. As the German light craft came on they were met by the British light cruisers and destroyers under Goodenough and Tyrwhitt. The Germans held on for long enough for the Moltke and Derfflinger to break off, but in the process lost five torpedo boats and the light cruiser Kolburg while sinking four British destroyers and badly damaging the light cruiser Penelope before breaking off themselves.

By 1415 the last shots were fired and while the Germans headed on to the south east and home, The British gathered in the damaged Lion, Tiger and Princess Royal and headed back to Cromarty, leaving the Harwich force to do a rudimentary police for survivors before they too headed west then home.

The British had achieved a victory, but at what cost. Three of their four best battle cruisers had been ravaged and their commander, Vice Admiral Beatty had died on the bridge of his battered flagship. The Lion , along with Tiger and Princess Royal would be in dockyard hands for many months, and the light cruiser Penelope would not make it back to English shores, succumbing to her damages later that evening.

The Germans in turn had taken heavy losses, with the armoured cruiser Blucher being overwhelmed and the catastrophic loss of the Seydlitz, apparently to magazine explosions, taking most of her crew with her along with Admiral Hipper. The loss of the Kolburg along with the torpedo boats in the gallant covering of the escape of the surviving German heavy ships was the final act that saved the Germans from a rout.

TBC

Interesting spin on it, killing Beatty is probably one of the best things you could do for the RN at the time though!

sharlin said:

Interesting spin on it, killing Beatty is probably one of the best things you could do for the RN at the time though!

Click to expand...

Hopefully "Flags" went with him

Urf..Chatfield...man needed to be dragged behind the Lion from a rope whilst she was at flank speed for the sheer mind numbing number of mistakes he made :s

Interlude

Jutland Redux

Interlude

By the 25th of January the opposing forces were back in their respective ports, and even before the vessels great and small had returned, in-depth analysis of the Battle of Dogger Bank had begun.

The British view

While the British had their victory, there were some who wondered why it wasn’t more complete. The RN had comfortably out numbered the Germans in nearly every type of vessel save for armoured cruisers, yet two of the three German battle cruisers and most of the German lighter ships did manage to escape to safety.

The loss of Vice Admiral Beatty cast a shadow on the victory as well, for while he was not highly regarded amongst his peers, he was held in high regard by the public at large. With his loss the Admiralty had an important position to fill in a short time, and the decision was taken to assign Vice Admiral Horace Hood to the position. Rear Admiral Moore would remain as the commander of the 2nd Battle Cruiser Squadron.

The Admiralty was beginning to make plans to concentrate her battle cruisers in the North Sea as well and by the end of March all available would be present in home waters. This would include HMAS Australia and would give the Royal Navy a strength of 7 battle cruisers to oppose the surviving three German Battle cruisers. Even if one or two of the British battle cruisers had to be dispatched for over seas service it was felt the fleet would still maintain sufficient margin of superiority over the High Seas Fleet in the interim.

The three damaged ‘Splendid Cats’ were soon in dockyard hands although the earliest they would rejoin the fleet was May in the case of the Tiger, mid June for the Lion and the savaged Princess Royal re-commissioning in late July.

The Battle Cruiser Fleet would remain at Cromarty for the time being until arrangements were complete at Rosythe. As well an extra flotilla of destroyers would join them to bolster their screen.

The actual results of the battle had brought numerous other points for study to the fore as well, with the most profound being the catastrophic loss of the SMS Seydlitz. While it was accepted that the event was caused by a magazine explosion neither side knew exactly how it had transpired.

The British had picked up seven survivors, of which three were to die from their injuries and exposure to the cold waters of the North Sea. The other four were ratings from the fore part of the German ship and knew nothing of the event that might enlighten the RN.

In examining their own ships, The British found no clues, for no German shells had pierce a barbette an any of the gun houses which had been destroyed. As well the turrets had been sufficiently torn apart so that any resulting flash fire from the propellant had a vent which precluded it pressurizing and flashing downward into the magazine spaces.

The Admiralty response was to tighten up all safety and handling protacals, and to reinforce proper storage of propellant an charges. While there was some attempt by those who believed that the advantage of having extra improperly stored ammunition and propellant handy as it increased the rate of fire, the Royal Navy had no desire to see any of their ships emulate the Seydlitz, so the new orders were strictly enforced, and was for the most part grudgingly accepted by the gun and magazine crews.

The next point for the British to consider was the armour scheme of their battle cruisers, or rather the lack there of. Both Lion and Tiger had taken a battering from the 11” shells of the Seydlitz and Moltke, with penetrations of their 9” belts on both ships. And while there had been duds strike both ships, the bulk of the German shells worked as advertised an detonated after penetrating. The heavier 12” shells of the Derfflinger had played merry hell with the Princess Royal and as one wag was to say, the lightly armoured ship might have done better ir the armour hadn’t been there to slow down the German shells which would have allowed them to pass right through the ship.

But the most important observation was of the vulnerability of the light deck armour in the battle cruisers. In particular the hit on the Lion gave all indication that upon striking the first deck the German shell ‘pitched down’ with the result being that the shell detonated deeper in the ship than would be thought. As a result the decision was made to mount 2”aplaque armour over magazine spaces where allowable on the damaged ‘Splendid Cats’ with the rest of the battle cruisers to be so fitted in future refits.

As to better vertical protection there was nothing that really could be done due to the design of the vessels and the effect of the added weight on the design. About the only good result from all this was that it finally put paid to the theory by Admiral Fisher and others who supported his views that ‘Speed was Armour’. The original concept of the battle cruiser was truly dead in the Royal Navy, and while future ships called battle cruisers would be laid down, they would in fact be fast battleships.

One of the more shocking discoveries of the battle was the state of the ammunition fit in the British ships upon return to base. A large percentage of the heavy calibre shells in the British battle cruisers had been expended during the action. This was the first action for the participants for a determine long range engagement, and it showed in the empty shell rooms of the Royal Navy ships.

Beyond the issue of range, it was accepted that gunnery control was lacking an as a result research into range fining and other aspects of fire control were steppe up. Of more import was the actual gunnery abilities of the ships themselves. Under Beatty gunnery was never a high of priority as it should have been. But with the blessing of the Admiralty The commander of the Battle Cruiser Fleet would see a concerted effort to improve the gunnery of the ships under his command in the months ahead.

Admiral Hood would prove to be a busy man as he set himself to the tasks at hand. Along with the repairs to his fleet and setting up new training cycles and working up new procedural changes he had other issues to be dealt with as well.

The first dealt with HMS Tiger which was at that time the Defaulter’s ship for the Royal Navy. He found time to officially raise the question as to why the newest an best battle cruiser the RN had was in fact crewed by navy men who were serving out time as a result of various charges, both criminal and misdemeanor. By fall this had been dealt with and the role had been taken over by a pair of pre-dreadnaughts while HMS Tiger was finally crewed as it should be.
Admiral Hood’s next point of distraction was from Captain Chatfield of HMS Lion. As a result of the damage sustained to Lion at Dogger Bank Admiral Hood broke his flag on HMS Queen Mary which became the flagship of the Battle Cruiser Fleet.

In a moment of utter childish stupidity Chatfield made a point of broaching the subject with Hood, reminding him of the fact that Lion had been the flagship of the battle cruisers for some years and he hinted at the fact that it would be an insult to the memory of Admiral Beatty if the commanders flag did not fly there again.

Before dismissing Chatfield from his presence Hood tore a strip off Chatfield, telling him that while the choice of his flagship was not the captain’s concern , he would have him know that he would prefer to have his flag on the newest British ‘Splendid Cat’ rather than the oldest. But as the Tiger was at that point a defaulter’s ship, The Queen Mary would have to do. He went on to admonish Chatfield that his concern was with his ship and crew rather than what bridge Admiral Hood led the fleet from. With that Chatfield was dismissed.

Most men would have left things at that, but then again most Captains would have never raised the subject in the first place, and as Admiral Beatty’s ‘favoured son’ Chatfield pushed the issue, feeling that he had been somehow slighted. Admiral Hood caught wind of it and was in touch with the Admiralty demanding that the insubordinate lout be removed.

Chatfield had enough connections that while he wasn’t kicked out of the navy, he was instead ‘promoted’ from the Battle Cruiser Fleet. He became Second in Command of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron and the command of the armoured cruiser HMS Hampshire, with the understanding that he would be next in line for command of the squadron at some future date.

TBC

And we can still assume that HMS Hampsire still has her date with destiny with a mine.

Very reasonable and logical updates to the RN's OOB and ships, we might see some changes in the german one too though as a thought.

The Konig class of Dreadnought, probably the best of the war save the R's and QEs were fast ships, one of them hit 24 knots chasing the 5th battle squardon at Jutland, might we see some of them attached to the german battlecruisers? It would slow them down but would give them a formidable punch and some of the best armoured ships of the war.

I like the choice of Hood as commander of the BCF, he seems to have been a very well rounded officer, not the tit in a hat that Beatty was who really was our Macarther at sea..

Interesting. I suspect there will be a follow up engagement futher down the line. How does this affect the Courageous Class?

Ooh good point, and the Renown and Repulse. Hopefully the three freaks won't get built.

.... Goodness sake's, Shar! Don't call him 'Our MacArthur of the Seas'! That role was attempted by Beatty here ... an looked what happened to him!

Just bad sentence editing, It was meant to convey that Beatty was our Macarther of the seas, not Hood

As to the Glorious/Courageous/Furious oddities I can't really see them appearing even if Fisher returns. The same goes for the Renown's. Having said that I can see a further expansion of the Tiger design in place of the Renown's.

There will be a need for something to counter the Mackensen's and their off spring.

Ideally it would be an 8 x 15" layout, 13" belt and a 27-2 knot designed speed ... a true fast battleship. The follow on would be an expansion in size in comparison to the Hood in the quest for a fast battleship with a speed in the 31 to 33 knot range.

Replacements for the Glorious type Aircraft carrier conversions would come from these.

How about adopting tripple turrets and going for a 9 gun broadside, you save weight which could be used on armour and speed as well as saving on the length of the ship due to not needing another barbette. I know the RN didn't practice firing guns for 9 gun salvos but it could be done and we did have the experience with building tripple turrets, we designed the turrets for the Russian dreadnoughts as far as i'm aware.

.... and yes, there is more to come.

My next post will be the German perspective an their reactions. from there it will move toward Jutland as per the historical date. Whether the opportunity for anything in the middle will depend on how I can use the close encounters in between. There were a few, but I'm not sure if I will be able to work them in or not.

If nothing happens in between now an Jutland I would imagine I'll be able to set up the intermediate posts fairly quickly an start into the Jutland post hopefully shortly there after.

Thanks so much for the queries , I hope I can keep things interesting enough to keep you coming back.

.... hmmmm .... thinking a bit more on the Glorious class, Bloke .... and an idea has sprung forth ....

... and Shar, as to the possibility of using the Konig's to bolster the German battle cruisers, that may well be an option, but if the Admiralty get s win of it I would think you would find the QE's being close at hand to support the British battle cruisers.

The biggest problem I see with using the Konig's with the Battle Cruisers in a fleet action is that it takes a quarter of the German's dreadnaughts out of the fleet's main body ... but it still may be a valid option.

I am more incline to think that the German's would push the Baden, Bayern and Hindenburg as well as the Mackensen.

Given the situation it would not be unreasonable to see the two Baden's available for Jutland as well as possibly the Hindenburg if they were willing to pull all the stops to get them in the fleet.

As to the triple turrets I would think they might be considered for the Admiral's if the modified Renown's were built using twin turrets.

Maybe for the next gen BCs use the Tiger as a starting point and mount 6 x 15 inchers on her and try to keep away from the high speed of the renowns or possibly use small tube boilers, lighter and more powerful than the usual admiralty types.

... I had come across plans at one point for various options the British had for battle cruisers between the Tiger and the Admirals . There were various options for 14" an 15" in 6 and 8 gun arrangements , as well as fast and lightly armoured or slower but with heavier armour.

I need to find a source for the various designs and studies produced by the various navies of the world .... I don't ask for much ...

I'd help if I could use springsharp but I'm rubbish at it :s

... gadzooks ... if I could ever get Springsharp to work proper I'd have to go on welfare!

Interesting...

This is interesting. Seydlitz'sd magazine going up--WOW! In OTL, they had every chance to blow up the ship, and didn't, but I suspect they could have.

Loosing Seydlitz might keep the High Seas Fleet in port; Germany was very sensitive to losses. Someone will have to convince the Kaiser that it was an utterly freakish event, unlikely to be repeated, or his toy boats stay safely in the bathtub...

The Sydlitz was very lucky not to go BOOM in the OTL engagement, very VERY lucky.