The Royal Navy Plans
25th September 1914, London.
Admirals Fisher, Scott and the First Sea Lord Prince Louis of Battenberg were discussing ways for the Royal Navy to take the fight up to the Germans more effectively. Prince Louis had just pointed out that with the Germans pushed back from the Belgian coast it might be possible to mine the German coast line sufficiently thickly to lock the Germans in place, preventing the movement of any shipping. To which Admiral Fisher replied hotly “if we lay enough mines, such that you could walk from Borkum to Sylt without wetting your feet, Germany is blockaded and starved no doubt, but what then?” “The Army would go on gathering all of the laurels of victory, whilst our ships wearing themselves out in thankless patrols, that do nothing to hasten victory in the eyes of the parliament and the press”
Both Admirals concurred with the broad sweep of Fishers sentiments. They had seen how quickly the battle of Thornton Bank, with its heavy losses but clear victory, had been forgotten with the surrender of an entire German Army.
The only role the Royal Navy had played, had come from the Royals and some ancient armoured cruisers, one of which had then been destroyed by an airship. The Royal Naval Air Service was doing sterling work but again this was an adjunct to the main, no what was needed was a way of bringing Germany to its knees, a victory to rival Trafalgar or Quiberon Bay. The High Seas fleet might come out to contend with the Grand Fleet, the destruction of the High Seas fleet would be a victory for the history books. The other road to continued relevance would be to to land an army on the German Coast and push directly for Berlin, but for now the means to do such a thing was lacking.
All three admirals were in agreement, plans would be made to bring draw out the High Seas Fleet, an attack was planned on the German patrol vessels operating on the North Sea coast, this raid would be supported by the Grand Fleet who would be in the offing in the event that the High Seas fleet could be encouraged to sortie. Commodore Keyes who had proposed a raid on the German North Sea patrols was still reporting that they were being conducted to a regular timetable. This regularity would facilitate an attack on the patrol vessels. Whilst this attack was taking place some of the armoured cruisers would bombard the German fortifications on Heligoland. It was hoped that the presence of the armoured cruisers with their low top speed would be a suitable bait, with the possibility occurring to the German Admirals that the cruisers could be cut off, sinking them before other fleet units could arrive to support them. The plan was cold blooded in that it did risk the wholesale destruction of the Armoured cruisers, but with their heavy guns and armour they were better placed to exchange fire with shore defences. They had also been somewhat upgraded with at least limited gunnery direction equipment being fitted to all ships, the forceful efforts of Admiral Scott having already borne some fruit.
The attack would take be planned for a quarter moon in November, to give a long enough night with sufficient light to reduce the risk of collision but minimise the risk of being spotted in turn by patrolling vessels. Whilst the planning for this raid was going on, planning for a larger scheme to attack the German coast directly would be undertaken.
Admirals Fisher, Scott and the First Sea Lord Prince Louis of Battenberg were discussing ways for the Royal Navy to take the fight up to the Germans more effectively. Prince Louis had just pointed out that with the Germans pushed back from the Belgian coast it might be possible to mine the German coast line sufficiently thickly to lock the Germans in place, preventing the movement of any shipping. To which Admiral Fisher replied hotly “if we lay enough mines, such that you could walk from Borkum to Sylt without wetting your feet, Germany is blockaded and starved no doubt, but what then?” “The Army would go on gathering all of the laurels of victory, whilst our ships wearing themselves out in thankless patrols, that do nothing to hasten victory in the eyes of the parliament and the press”
Both Admirals concurred with the broad sweep of Fishers sentiments. They had seen how quickly the battle of Thornton Bank, with its heavy losses but clear victory, had been forgotten with the surrender of an entire German Army.
The only role the Royal Navy had played, had come from the Royals and some ancient armoured cruisers, one of which had then been destroyed by an airship. The Royal Naval Air Service was doing sterling work but again this was an adjunct to the main, no what was needed was a way of bringing Germany to its knees, a victory to rival Trafalgar or Quiberon Bay. The High Seas fleet might come out to contend with the Grand Fleet, the destruction of the High Seas fleet would be a victory for the history books. The other road to continued relevance would be to to land an army on the German Coast and push directly for Berlin, but for now the means to do such a thing was lacking.
All three admirals were in agreement, plans would be made to bring draw out the High Seas Fleet, an attack was planned on the German patrol vessels operating on the North Sea coast, this raid would be supported by the Grand Fleet who would be in the offing in the event that the High Seas fleet could be encouraged to sortie. Commodore Keyes who had proposed a raid on the German North Sea patrols was still reporting that they were being conducted to a regular timetable. This regularity would facilitate an attack on the patrol vessels. Whilst this attack was taking place some of the armoured cruisers would bombard the German fortifications on Heligoland. It was hoped that the presence of the armoured cruisers with their low top speed would be a suitable bait, with the possibility occurring to the German Admirals that the cruisers could be cut off, sinking them before other fleet units could arrive to support them. The plan was cold blooded in that it did risk the wholesale destruction of the Armoured cruisers, but with their heavy guns and armour they were better placed to exchange fire with shore defences. They had also been somewhat upgraded with at least limited gunnery direction equipment being fitted to all ships, the forceful efforts of Admiral Scott having already borne some fruit.
The attack would take be planned for a quarter moon in November, to give a long enough night with sufficient light to reduce the risk of collision but minimise the risk of being spotted in turn by patrolling vessels. Whilst the planning for this raid was going on, planning for a larger scheme to attack the German coast directly would be undertaken.
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