Dogger Bank Incident

IIRC Beresford's battleships trailed the Russians as far as La Coruna, so there was ample time for the Russians to do something else stupid, and meanwhile not apoligise, and for Beresford to blow them out of the water. This seems the best bet for having Britain enter the war.

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 

Coulsdon Eagle

Monthly Donor
The Dreadnought style ships were on the drawing boards in several navies. Some details were influenced by the Pacific battles, but the concept was already gestating.

It was the earlier battles around Port Arthur that influenced the "all big gun" battleship design as observers found that 10" shell splashes looked much the same as 12" sploshes, so correcting aim was difficult if a ship carried several different calibre batteries.
 

Coulsdon Eagle

Monthly Donor
It has been quite a while since I read on this subject, but my memory is the Russians had contracted British companies to provide coal for their fleet. The Russian navy had no provision for refueling their fleet outside the Baltic and the Brits had the coailers and expertise to refuel the Russians along the way. This would have not been exceptional. When the US sent its new fleet on its global tour British companies were contracted for the coal resupply along the route due to their efficiency and affordable prices.

Had the British government been slightly more miffed then causing the coal shippers to cancel their contract would have left the Russian fleet unable to even reach the mid Atlantic & no choice but to turn back to the Baltic.

I always thought it was German coal - certainly the 3 colliers at Great Fish Bay were German (Rising Sun & Tumbling Bear by Richard Connaught) although most coaling stops appear to have been off French colonies.

There was also a near "Dogger Bank" incident off Durban; Rozhdestvenski sent a message in clear that the fleet would "ruthlessly destroy all Durbanese fishing craft who attempt to break through my squadron or come within torpedo range."
 
Top