Stavanger 7 - Jaws
When he received the news that Admiral Hipper had sighted British forces to the north of him, Admiral Scheer had turned the High Seas Fleet north, having previously sailed north-east to gain sea room in the hope of being able to trap part of the British fleet between himself and Hipper. At 3.28, he had ordered his squadrons up to 18 knots, the fastest that they could reasonably achieve while staying together. Even then, the pre-dreadnought ships of II Geschwader would struggle; 18 knots was their absolute top speed, even in the best conditions. By 4.15, he had completed his turn to the north, he knew that Hipper was engaged with the British Battlecruiser Fleet and that he had succeeded in turning them to the south. The trap was set, and the sooner his ships joined battle, the better. However, even now, he decided to keep the modern ships together, and he signalled the dreadnought battleships of I Geschwader to make their best speed of about 20 knots. His flagship, and the other ships of III Geschwader could go faster than that, but an extra knot or two was not worth the price of leaving over a third of his firepower behind.
Just before five o'clock, Scheer’s scouting destroyers sighted ships ahead to starboard, and at 5.05, they reported being engaged by an enemy light cruiser. A few minutes later, they reported being in action with a cruiser squadron and were withdrawing in the face of heavy fire. Not all of them were quick enough, as G22 was left sinking by at least three 6" shells. By 5.20, the British scouts were pushing their reconnaissance as far as they dared; even though they had seen the German line, HMS
Cordelia and HMS
Inconstant kept closing to reconnoitre in depth and establish the enemy’s strength. In doing so, they came within range of the guns of the leading German ships. The four ships of the ‘Konig’ class opened fire on them, and remarkably managed a hit, despite the range never being less than 17,000 yards. The shell exploded forward of
Inconstant’s foredeck mount, killing the gun’s crew, blowing open a hole on the foc’sle and wrecking the winch room below. The nimble cruiser promptly turned away, and despite being regularly drenched by splashes and with leaks near the bow, she managed to escape out of range. However, new and better targets beckoned, in the shape of Beatty's battlecruisers.
As his battleships opened fire on the British scouts, Scheer received reports of Beatty's ships turning away from Hipper and reversing course, so the sooner he closed and engaged, the better. At 5.22, he ordered all ships to make best possible speed, allowing the newest ‘Konig’ and ‘Kaiser’ classes and his brand-new
Bayern to increase to over 22 knots. As the British battlecruisers completed their turns, the two fleets were left on slowly converging courses, with the faster British drawing ahead; but only very slowly. Speed lost in the turn and the damage to various ships left Beatty's squadron at little more than 24 knots, while Scheer's leading ships were by this time pushing their engines hard to reach close to 23 knots. The British battlecruisers remained elusively out of range, but the length of the British line meant that their rear was not so lucky.
At 5.36, the leading German battleships opened fire on the five ships of the Fifth Battle Squadron. They were shooting at extreme range and for the first few minutes the shells fell short, but at 5.45, one of
Kurfurst's shells finally connected with HMS
Barham.
Evan-Thomas’ slower turn and his slower ships meant that the range to the rearmost ships was down to just under 19,000 yards, and both sides found their targets. The ships of 5BS clearly saw the threat to the southwest, and the German battlecruisers were becoming elusive targets as they swung around to the North to follow the British. Drifting smoke from the run south obscured sights for both sides, so soon after they completed the turn, they were ordered to turn their guns around and direct their fire at the High Seas Fleet.
The first to connect was a stray shell, probably from
Kronprinz, which punched through
Valiant's stern above the waterline without exploding. The gunnery of the newest and most powerful German ship, the
Bayern, soon proved to be excellent. She had the largest rangefinders of any ship present, and her powerful 15" guns were aimed at HMS
Royal Oak. Her first hit failed to explode, but the shell entered under the conning tower and punched through the armoured communications tube inside the superstructure, severing most of the lines and wires leading to the ship's main director. From now on,
Royal Oak would be firing using her aft control position, and it took her relatively inexperienced crew several valuable minutes to sort out the change of director control, meaning that for some time, her gunnery was largely ineffective.
The fire of the other British ships was good, and the crews of 5BS soon settled into a routine of steady salvos. The lead German ship,
Grosser Kurfurst, was hit by a 15" on her belt abreast A-turret, but this was easily defeated by the thick armour.
Markgraf was not so lucky; a shell was defeated by the main belt, but another went over her thin aft belt and burst inside, starting a fire in crew quarters, with smoke being drawn down into the starboard aft engine room, where the crew were forced to don gas masks to continue with their duties. Perhaps the worst hit was on
Kronprinz, where the director and rangefinder atop the conning tower were smashed by a direct hit on the thickly armoured structure. Splinters went back, killing almost half the bridge crew, but control was soon re-established from aft.
Konig was hit once, although the shell broke up on the belt between D and E-turrets.
With control re-established from aft,
Royal Oak’s gunnery rapidly improved and she hit
Bayern twice, on C and D barbettes. The thick Krupp armour kept the shells out, but a chunk of shattered shell knocked the port gun of C-turret out of its cradle, while D-turret was out of action for several minutes as the crew dealt with the effects of shock on both men and machines.
At the head of the British line, Beatty's flagship
Lion was suffering the unfolding effects of
Lutzow's earlier gunnery. Her port engine room was flooding slowly, and broken seams and leaky bulkheads in a half-dozen other compartments were adding to a pronounced list to port. Orders had been given to flood several starboard wing compartments, but it was the engine room that was the problem. The loss of the aft dynamo room had plunged the entire aft end of the ship into darkness, including the engine rooms. Emergency lights and lanterns were available, but their dim light made plugging leaks in oily water all the more difficult. With the list and increased draught, the ship's speed had fallen, and in the port engine room, some of the men were up to their waists in water as they struggled to plug leaks or to keep the engines turning.
At 5.41 the guns had been silent for several minutes, following a sharp turn. The electric pumps had failed, and the steam-powered ash expulsion pumps were clogged. If the battle had temporarily subsided, slowing down for a few minutes would allow crews to connect lines and unclog vents instead of desperately trying to keep the semi-submerged engines running. On the voice-pipe to the bridge, the Chief Engineer asked if
Lion could reduce speed, or preferably stop the port engine for a few minutes.
Captain Chatfield's reply remains iconic even today;
'Reducing speed would not be convenient at present, Chief; the whole German Fleet’s behind us'.
Amid the flickering of oil lamps and the glint of torches on the wet, oil-covered gangways of the port engine room,
Lion's crew kept the shafts turning. Nevertheless her speed continued to fall, and at 5.47 Beatty signalled the next astern, HMS
Panther, 'Take the lead. Pass me to port'. However,
Panther could do no better herself. Her own engine rooms had suffered damage, and flooding forward was limiting her speed too. Her crew also failed to pass on the instruction to the next astern, and so all the battlecruisers slowed down to the new top speed of
Panther and
Lion; just over 24 knots.
Much as the Admiral wished to press on as fast as he could and work his way ahead of the German fleet, this damage kept the battlecruisers in range of the Germans. However, it also gave them more targets to shoot at, and increased the amount of fire they had to bear in return.
It would provide a valuable distraction at a crucial point in the battle.
