Stavanger 5 - The Dash to the South
Stavanger 5 - The Dash to the South
Having been left behind during the opening phases of the battle, Rear-Admiral Evan-Thomas' Fifth Battle Squadron had been able to catch up with Beatty's faster ships by avoiding his detour to the North. As the battlecruisers turned and charged South, he put his battleships on an interception course to bring them behind the ships of 1BCS.
As the new squadron swung into line and fired their first ranging shots, Admiral Hipper’s estimation of the situation was changing fast. He had previously held a steady course at just 22 knots, allowing for accurate gunnery and for ranges to steadily reduce. Now, however, he was completely outgunned, and he clearly needed to either withdraw or bring the enemy swiftly into contact with the High Seas Fleet. His mission was to do the later, and while his ships were still fighting, he was determined to proceed with it.
Hipper ordered 1SG to increase to 25 knots, the best possible speed that would maintain the line. He also turned a point to port, to allow the range to open between him and this dangerous new enemy. He didn’t want to allow them to think he was fleeing East, and therefore break off their southerly pursuit which was bringing them ever closer to the battlefleet. His attempt to signal Scheer as to the enemy’s strength and position was frustrated by temporary damage to Lutzow’s wireless, and it had to be flashed to Derfflinger astern for transmission.
Meanwhile, the battlecruiser squadrons continued to engage each other. One of Princess Royal’s shells punched a neat hole through Moltke's bow which did no real damage, before on the next salvo, A-turret was hit squarely in the middle of its face. The shell failed to penetrate but exploded as it entered, shattering the plate, blowing both guns out of their cradles and starting a fire that blazed through the turret and down into the working chamber, killing everyone inside. A further hit right aft sent links of anchor chain hurtling out into the sea, and started a small fire, but again little real damage was done to the fighting efficiency of the ship.
Repulse's gunners had finally realised that both they and Indefatigable were engaging the last ship in the German line, and so they shifted their target to the Goeben, bringing the German ship under fire for the first time in the battle. In the next few minutes, they scored two hits on the German ship, both amidships and just underwater on the belt. The immense 15" shells failed to penetrate, but shock from the two impacts, which were within 11' of each other, stove in plates and broke rivets in dozens of seams, leading to water steadily flowing into coal bunkers.
Indefatigable's shooting at Von der Tann finally registered a couple of hits, although the only significant damage was to the rearmost port 5.9" gun, which was put out of action by splinters. Quick work by the German battlecruiser’s crew had controlled her stokehold fires, and men were taken from her secondary guns to help redistribute coal to the other boiler rooms, allowing their crews to keep her remaining furnaces burning fiercely. Even with two boilers out of action, the ship just managed to keep up with the line, helped by the fact that the ships ahead were themselves no longer capable of reaching their maximum speeds.
In the rear of the British line, the Fifth Battle Squadron were slightly closer to the German ships, as the battlecruisers had pulled slightly ahead as Admiral Beatty attempted to cut off the German line of retreat. Rear-Admiral Evan-Thomas ordered that his squadron engage the rear of the German line, meaning his flagship HMS Barham fired at SMS Derfflinger, bringing her under fire for the first time since the destruction of the Queen Mary. At just over 15,000 yards, the long-baseline rangefinders and accurate guns of the fast battleships soon found their targets, and after a few ranging shots, Barham scored two hits in her first half-dozen full salvos. The first exploded on the armour deck above the battery, sending splinters inside. With the German secondary guns firing fast, exposed charges were ignited and the entire starboard forward battery was soon ablaze. The second 15” shell exploded near Derfflinger’s C barbette, inside the ship where the armour was just 3.9" thick. Splinters entered the workings of the turret, wrecking machinery, although mercifully there was no fire. Nevertheless, with the turret out of action and the secondary battery ablaze just a few feet away, no chances were taken, and the order was given to flood C-turret’s magazine.
Malaya's fire on Seydlitz was equally accurate, although the results were not so effective. One shell exploded harmlessly against the armour belt amidships, while another burst on D-turret's barbette. The shock shattered the armour plate and disrupted operations inside, but the effects didn’t enter the ship and the turret was back in action a few minutes later. The rest of 5BS had less time to find the range, and their total effect was a shell that burst on Goeben's foc'sle deck amidships, resulting in scars and small fires, but little real damage.
Ranges between the battlecruisers now began to open more rapidly as Beatty pulled ahead. Nevertheless, the duel between the flagships continued. Lion drew blood from Hipper's flagship as a 13.5" shell penetrated one of her 5.9" casemates and exploded inside the battery. As had happened on her sister a few minutes earlier, the shrapnel ignited charges but this time the effects were worse as the complete port battery was burnt out, claiming the lives of 75 of her crew, while smoke from the blaze began to make sighting difficult for gunlayers in her aft turrets. Another hit aft, penetrating the weak belt and opening up a hole near her shafts, while a shell shattered on C barbette, but the splinters wrecked a nearby anti-aircraft gun.
Up to this point, Lutzow's shooting had been excellent. A hit aft of Lion's belt caused leaks near her shafts and rudders, although armour kept the steering gear itself safe. Another went straight through at the joint of her aft 4" and 5" belts, then through the slope of the armour deck, before coming to rest halfway through the 1.5" torpedo bulkhead that protected the magazines. Mercifully, it didn't explode; if it had, Lion would have been blown to pieces. A third shell was kept out by the 9" belt, although leaks started around unsupported plate edges, while another hit entered the water and exploded as it hit the 5" belt forward of X turret, breaking seams and allowing water into a hydraulic pump room and the port engine room.
The German flagship’s shooting then began to deteriorate due to the smoke of her fires obscuring rangefinders in her aft turrets, and the only hit she scored in the subsequent few minutes was deflected by Lion's 9" armour. However, on the British ship, the effects of earlier fire were starting to be felt, as X-turret lost electrical and hydraulic power as flooding continued to increase aft.
Over the next few minutes, there was further flooding in Panther’s wing compartments and Moltke’s bow as shells struck home. Repulse lost her Q-turret and the magazine was flooded, but in return her fire killed almost everyone on Goeben’s bridge as a 15” shell hit the compass platform.
With the range now down to as little as 14,500 yards, 5BS were now all engaged with the German line. Barham's fire opened a hole on the waterline just forward of Derfflinger's A-turret, while Seydlitz's unlucky D-turret was hit square on. It had only just resumed firing but was now wrecked as the 15" shell smashed the faceplate, igniting everything in the trunk and turret and sending a jet of white flame up higher than her masts. Below, frantic crewmen tried to escape the flames, allowing them to spread into E turret's trunk. Although the fire there was less spectacular, it rapidly moved up into the turret, disabling that out too. Seydlitz was now down to just her four wing guns.
Although neither of the two shells exploded, Valiant's hits on Moltke added to the ships problems as the shock of the heavy projectiles shook her up, while even a dud shell nonetheless added to the leaks and holes forward of A-turret. Warspite continued to straddle, but the Goeben proved an elusive target, while the Royal Oak landed four heavy blows on the little Von der Tann. The first penetrated her aft belt, wrecking her remote steering and causing leaks in a dozen small compartments. The next went over the main belt and exploded near D turret barbette, sending splinters into the trunk below. Smouldering propellant soon developed into a full-blown fire, but by that time the magazine had been flooded and even the turret's crew had time to escape the flames. A third hit on the bow destroyed two of the worthless 88mm guns, while the fourth didn’t explode but did punch a series of holes in the extreme stern of the ship, adding slightly to the flooding there.
By now, the German reply was becoming noticeably weaker and less accurate than it had been in the devastating opening minutes of the battle. Princess Royal's luck held as two shells that struck her failed to penetrate or explode, with one defeated by X barbette's armour and the other by the belt. The only serious damage was to Repulse, as an 11" shell went over her belt and exploded inside the ship, sending fragments into her No.4 boiler room. Despite steam leaks, stokers were able to shut off oil valves and steam lines as a damage control team fought the fires. The boiler room was out of action, but with four others still working, the powerful ship could easily keep her place in the line.
If the Battle Cruiser Fleet had been given another fifteen or twenty minutes, they could perhaps have finished off Hipper’s squadron, but at 5.08, HMS Cordelia was seen signalling the flagship. Through the haze and smoke, it was not until 5.12 that her message was received and rushed to Admiral Beatty. He suspected what it would say, and the timing was almost more important than the message. His scouts had been well-placed to starboard and ahead of the line, and had signalled,
‘Enemy battlefleet sighted, bearing Southwest’.
Having been left behind during the opening phases of the battle, Rear-Admiral Evan-Thomas' Fifth Battle Squadron had been able to catch up with Beatty's faster ships by avoiding his detour to the North. As the battlecruisers turned and charged South, he put his battleships on an interception course to bring them behind the ships of 1BCS.
As the new squadron swung into line and fired their first ranging shots, Admiral Hipper’s estimation of the situation was changing fast. He had previously held a steady course at just 22 knots, allowing for accurate gunnery and for ranges to steadily reduce. Now, however, he was completely outgunned, and he clearly needed to either withdraw or bring the enemy swiftly into contact with the High Seas Fleet. His mission was to do the later, and while his ships were still fighting, he was determined to proceed with it.
Hipper ordered 1SG to increase to 25 knots, the best possible speed that would maintain the line. He also turned a point to port, to allow the range to open between him and this dangerous new enemy. He didn’t want to allow them to think he was fleeing East, and therefore break off their southerly pursuit which was bringing them ever closer to the battlefleet. His attempt to signal Scheer as to the enemy’s strength and position was frustrated by temporary damage to Lutzow’s wireless, and it had to be flashed to Derfflinger astern for transmission.
Meanwhile, the battlecruiser squadrons continued to engage each other. One of Princess Royal’s shells punched a neat hole through Moltke's bow which did no real damage, before on the next salvo, A-turret was hit squarely in the middle of its face. The shell failed to penetrate but exploded as it entered, shattering the plate, blowing both guns out of their cradles and starting a fire that blazed through the turret and down into the working chamber, killing everyone inside. A further hit right aft sent links of anchor chain hurtling out into the sea, and started a small fire, but again little real damage was done to the fighting efficiency of the ship.
Repulse's gunners had finally realised that both they and Indefatigable were engaging the last ship in the German line, and so they shifted their target to the Goeben, bringing the German ship under fire for the first time in the battle. In the next few minutes, they scored two hits on the German ship, both amidships and just underwater on the belt. The immense 15" shells failed to penetrate, but shock from the two impacts, which were within 11' of each other, stove in plates and broke rivets in dozens of seams, leading to water steadily flowing into coal bunkers.
Indefatigable's shooting at Von der Tann finally registered a couple of hits, although the only significant damage was to the rearmost port 5.9" gun, which was put out of action by splinters. Quick work by the German battlecruiser’s crew had controlled her stokehold fires, and men were taken from her secondary guns to help redistribute coal to the other boiler rooms, allowing their crews to keep her remaining furnaces burning fiercely. Even with two boilers out of action, the ship just managed to keep up with the line, helped by the fact that the ships ahead were themselves no longer capable of reaching their maximum speeds.
In the rear of the British line, the Fifth Battle Squadron were slightly closer to the German ships, as the battlecruisers had pulled slightly ahead as Admiral Beatty attempted to cut off the German line of retreat. Rear-Admiral Evan-Thomas ordered that his squadron engage the rear of the German line, meaning his flagship HMS Barham fired at SMS Derfflinger, bringing her under fire for the first time since the destruction of the Queen Mary. At just over 15,000 yards, the long-baseline rangefinders and accurate guns of the fast battleships soon found their targets, and after a few ranging shots, Barham scored two hits in her first half-dozen full salvos. The first exploded on the armour deck above the battery, sending splinters inside. With the German secondary guns firing fast, exposed charges were ignited and the entire starboard forward battery was soon ablaze. The second 15” shell exploded near Derfflinger’s C barbette, inside the ship where the armour was just 3.9" thick. Splinters entered the workings of the turret, wrecking machinery, although mercifully there was no fire. Nevertheless, with the turret out of action and the secondary battery ablaze just a few feet away, no chances were taken, and the order was given to flood C-turret’s magazine.
Malaya's fire on Seydlitz was equally accurate, although the results were not so effective. One shell exploded harmlessly against the armour belt amidships, while another burst on D-turret's barbette. The shock shattered the armour plate and disrupted operations inside, but the effects didn’t enter the ship and the turret was back in action a few minutes later. The rest of 5BS had less time to find the range, and their total effect was a shell that burst on Goeben's foc'sle deck amidships, resulting in scars and small fires, but little real damage.
Ranges between the battlecruisers now began to open more rapidly as Beatty pulled ahead. Nevertheless, the duel between the flagships continued. Lion drew blood from Hipper's flagship as a 13.5" shell penetrated one of her 5.9" casemates and exploded inside the battery. As had happened on her sister a few minutes earlier, the shrapnel ignited charges but this time the effects were worse as the complete port battery was burnt out, claiming the lives of 75 of her crew, while smoke from the blaze began to make sighting difficult for gunlayers in her aft turrets. Another hit aft, penetrating the weak belt and opening up a hole near her shafts, while a shell shattered on C barbette, but the splinters wrecked a nearby anti-aircraft gun.
Up to this point, Lutzow's shooting had been excellent. A hit aft of Lion's belt caused leaks near her shafts and rudders, although armour kept the steering gear itself safe. Another went straight through at the joint of her aft 4" and 5" belts, then through the slope of the armour deck, before coming to rest halfway through the 1.5" torpedo bulkhead that protected the magazines. Mercifully, it didn't explode; if it had, Lion would have been blown to pieces. A third shell was kept out by the 9" belt, although leaks started around unsupported plate edges, while another hit entered the water and exploded as it hit the 5" belt forward of X turret, breaking seams and allowing water into a hydraulic pump room and the port engine room.
The German flagship’s shooting then began to deteriorate due to the smoke of her fires obscuring rangefinders in her aft turrets, and the only hit she scored in the subsequent few minutes was deflected by Lion's 9" armour. However, on the British ship, the effects of earlier fire were starting to be felt, as X-turret lost electrical and hydraulic power as flooding continued to increase aft.
Over the next few minutes, there was further flooding in Panther’s wing compartments and Moltke’s bow as shells struck home. Repulse lost her Q-turret and the magazine was flooded, but in return her fire killed almost everyone on Goeben’s bridge as a 15” shell hit the compass platform.
With the range now down to as little as 14,500 yards, 5BS were now all engaged with the German line. Barham's fire opened a hole on the waterline just forward of Derfflinger's A-turret, while Seydlitz's unlucky D-turret was hit square on. It had only just resumed firing but was now wrecked as the 15" shell smashed the faceplate, igniting everything in the trunk and turret and sending a jet of white flame up higher than her masts. Below, frantic crewmen tried to escape the flames, allowing them to spread into E turret's trunk. Although the fire there was less spectacular, it rapidly moved up into the turret, disabling that out too. Seydlitz was now down to just her four wing guns.
Although neither of the two shells exploded, Valiant's hits on Moltke added to the ships problems as the shock of the heavy projectiles shook her up, while even a dud shell nonetheless added to the leaks and holes forward of A-turret. Warspite continued to straddle, but the Goeben proved an elusive target, while the Royal Oak landed four heavy blows on the little Von der Tann. The first penetrated her aft belt, wrecking her remote steering and causing leaks in a dozen small compartments. The next went over the main belt and exploded near D turret barbette, sending splinters into the trunk below. Smouldering propellant soon developed into a full-blown fire, but by that time the magazine had been flooded and even the turret's crew had time to escape the flames. A third hit on the bow destroyed two of the worthless 88mm guns, while the fourth didn’t explode but did punch a series of holes in the extreme stern of the ship, adding slightly to the flooding there.
By now, the German reply was becoming noticeably weaker and less accurate than it had been in the devastating opening minutes of the battle. Princess Royal's luck held as two shells that struck her failed to penetrate or explode, with one defeated by X barbette's armour and the other by the belt. The only serious damage was to Repulse, as an 11" shell went over her belt and exploded inside the ship, sending fragments into her No.4 boiler room. Despite steam leaks, stokers were able to shut off oil valves and steam lines as a damage control team fought the fires. The boiler room was out of action, but with four others still working, the powerful ship could easily keep her place in the line.
If the Battle Cruiser Fleet had been given another fifteen or twenty minutes, they could perhaps have finished off Hipper’s squadron, but at 5.08, HMS Cordelia was seen signalling the flagship. Through the haze and smoke, it was not until 5.12 that her message was received and rushed to Admiral Beatty. He suspected what it would say, and the timing was almost more important than the message. His scouts had been well-placed to starboard and ahead of the line, and had signalled,
‘Enemy battlefleet sighted, bearing Southwest’.
Last edited:
