ok. Update. Two posts for two portions. Sorry it took so long - I only just found a listing of RN flag officers 1914-1918 so I could add in names!
Comments and observations welcomed as always. Before anybody goes off about the British ass-wipe I would point out that with superiour numbers on the German side, it would turn out no other way. I have tried to make losses realistic on both sides. The Germans lost less ships as if you have more to begin with, you can hit your enemy harder and therefore suffer less damage.
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March 21st 1918
[SIZE=-1]10:00 till 13:00[/SIZE]
The HMS Dreadnought, seeing smoke ahead of her, assumed that the German destroyers and torpedo boats had broken through the Dover-Calais Mine Barrier, and were now conducting a sweep for merchant ships. Merchant ships were easy targets for destroyers, but then destroyers were easy targets for battleships! His spotting top informed him that there were indeed approaching destroyers, and that they had turned and were fleeing from him. How wise thought Vice Admiral Dudley de Chair, Commander 3rd Battle Squadron aboard HMS Dreadnought. Little do they know however that there are Light Cruisers behind them. We'll get them for sure.
Just after 10:00, as he was contemplating the destruction of the light German forces, his train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the spotting top telling him that there were 5 large warships heading towards him at high speed! It took him a few seconds but he then realized that he was being confronted by a portion of the High Seas Fleet, and it meant business. He demanded clarification of the type of ships he was now facing, and a few minutes later the spotting top identified the lead ship as a Derfflinger Class Battle-Cruiser, approaching in excess of 25 knots.
As the other large ships were keeping pace with the lead ship, Vice Admiral Dudley de Chair knew that he was faced with the German Battle-Cruiser Squadron of the High Seas Fleet and immediately ordered that a priority signal be sent to the Admiralty and all other ships in range, and be made in the clear so that merchant ships would be aware of the presence of the raiding force. The signal sent at 10:10 hours read:
To British Admiralty from Commander Channel Fleet.
Am engaged by High Seas Fleet Battle-Cruiser Squadron. 5 Large ships and numerous destroyers inside Dover-Calais Mine Barrier. Request all available assistance. My position..... Am turning to engage.
The signal sent serious shockwaves through the Admiralty. The German High Seas Fleet had sortied if force and the Grand Fleet was still in harbor, completely unaware! Orders were issued thick and fast. The Grand Fleet was to put to sea at once and steam South at maximum speed to intercept. All destroyers and cruisers available in the Southern ports were to put to sea to intercept and slow down the German Squadron. Aircraft were requested to scout over the English Channel to engage the German ships and report on their positions and types. All merchant ships were to retire at maximum speed to the West to both get them out of harms way, and to attempt to draw the Germans too far into the English Channel so that they were trapped by the Grand Fleet when it arrived.
Admiral Beatty, Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet, was furious when he received the signal sent by HMS Dreadnought about the Germans in the English Channel. He had been aware that there were light German forces, but not heavy ones! This was his chance to destroy a portion of the German High Seas Fleet if only he was at sea already. He stormed onto the bridge of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, Flagship of the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow and ordered all ships available to put to sea and to head South at maximum speed to engage the German Forces. The 1st Battle-Cruiser Squadron was to head South independently and engage the HSF and draw it North into the arms of the GF, as at Jutland.
While all of these signals flew back and forth over England, HMS Dreadnought and HMS Dominion accelerated to maximum speed and turned to engage the German Battle-Cruisers, knowing that outnumbered 5 to 2 and that they would probably loose, but that they may be able to slow down the German ships to allow the GF to intercept and destroy them.
While the British destroyers attempted to get into position to launch their torpedoes at the German Battle-Cruisers, and the German Destroters and torpedo boats attempted to block and sink them, the large ships closed their range and at 10:25 the SMS Hindenburg opened fire on the HMS Dreadnought at extreme range. She was closely followed by the SMS Derfflinger and then, a few minutes later the HMS Dreadnought opened fire on the lead German ship, the SMS Hindenburg. No ships scored hits initially, and all ships were trading vollies by 10:32, when a salvo from the SMS Derfflinger found her mark and hit the HMS Dreadnought but did no damage. A few minutes later, a salvo from the HMS Dreadnought found its mark on the SMS Hindenburg, but that hit also did no damage other than smash some cranes amidships.
By this time, the German ships had split and were engaging their respective targets, and the British ships were doing their best to engage the multiple German ships. It was a one-sided fight however, and soon the overwhelming firepower of the German ships began to tell. The first serious hit was to the HMS Dreadnought and disabled her starboard wing turret, and several hits in that area followed. The result was a major fire in the starboard magazine which was flooded to avoid explosion. A hit was also scored on the bridge of the Dreadnought which killed all the personnel stationed there except for her captain who miracusally survived unscathed. At this time, Dreadnoughts other four turrets were still firing and were scoring hits on the SMS Hindenburg and SMS Seydlitz. The Seydlitz was not seriously damaged by these hits as they hit forward and aft - the crew quarters which were empty at the time. The damage was more cosmetic than anything else. The hits scored to the Hindenburg were more serious however. At 11:08 a lucky hit was scored on the forward super firing turret just as a shell was being loaded. The result was an explosion that disabled the turret and temporally blinded and deafened the bridge crew, including Admiral Hipper. Fortunally cordite handling procedures meant that the flash did not travel to the forward magazines, and after a few minutes - when the gun crew had regained their senses - the lower forward turret started firing again, although initally slower and less accurate than it had been firing.
With three ships against her, HMS Dreadnought was hit again and again as the range closed, and soon her engines were hit and her speed was reduced to 17 knots, and gradually reduced further as more damage took its toll until she was making only 8 knots. This reduction in speed did not stop her guns firing though, and more hits were scored on the SMS Hindenburg and SMS Seydlitz, although none of them serious enough to make either ship withdraw from combat. Gradually her turrets were silenced until only her port wing turret was still firing. One of the final salvos that turret fired before it was destroyed hit the only German ship on that side of her - the SMS Derfflinger - up until this point unscathed. This hit was serious though. Fired at close range, as a target of opportunity passed the turret the two 12" shells slammed into the SMS Derfflinger amidships and almost immediately afterwards a huge column of steam and smoke erupted from the shell holes and the funnels, and she slowed to a halt. With her drifting in front of the single remaining turret of HMS Dreadnought, the Germans must have thought that they were in for a rough time until they got under way again, but with a broadside ready she fired. At equal range to the Dreadnoughts hit, eight 12" shells slammed into the port side of the HMS Dreadnought. Nobody knew how many shells hit the area of the port wing turret, but a massive explosion suddenly occured as one or more shell penetrated the turret magazine and detonated it. The time was 11:41 a little over an hour and a quarter since the battle started.
With all of her turrets now silenced, and with a mortal wound, Admiral Hipper - by now having regained his senses - instructed his Battle-Cruisers and torpedo boats to stop firing on the sinking HMS Dreadnought and to engage the approching British Light Cruisers while destroyers covered the disabled SMS Derfflinger as the HMS Dominion had stopped firing some time earlier and was now slowly sinking.
With a slower speed, less armor and less firepower than the HMS Dreadnought, HMS Dominion was soon in serious trouble against the two German Battle-Cruisers SMS Moltke and Von der Tann. Although her main turrets were still operational and firing, by the time HMS Dreadnought suffered her bridge hit at 10:51 all of the HMS Dominions secondary armament of four single 9.2" guns were disabled and, over time, the German ships scored hit after hit upon her, until eventually her engines succumbed to shock damage and broken steam pipes and she slowed to as stop and started to drift at the mercy of the German guns. At 11:33, with her drifting slowly and listing heavily to starboard, decks almost awash, it was clear to everybody that the HMS Dominion was going to sink soon, and so her Captain reluctantly gave the order to abandon ship. Although she did not strike her flag, the Germans could see that she was sinking and that the crew was abandoning ship so they ceased firing on her and by the order of Admiral Hipper turned to engage the Light Cruisers that had appeared behind them and were now well within range of their main guns.
While the big ships were trading shells, the British destroyers valiantly tried to sink or disable the German destroyers and torpedo boats. Like the earlier battle however, there were many more German vessels than British - 23 German destroyers and torpedo boats to 8 British destroyers - and slowly the British destroyers succumbed to overwhelming fire. The German ships had been ordered not to engage HMS Dreadnought and Dominion with torpedoes, as Admiral Hipper was aware of the approaching British Light Cruisers (Warned by the Admiralstab earlier). Once the British destroyers had been sunk, the German destroyers and torpedo boats had turned to locate the approaching British Light Cruisers. In the meantime, Admiral Hipper knew that he may not be able to bombard the Allied ports with his Battle-Cruisers, and had ordered the Mine-Laying Squadron to bombard the harbors that they were assigned to mine so that his capitol ships could be freed up to repulse the British naval forces.
While the sea battle had raged in the English Channel, aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps had flown overhead. They had initally been unable to attack the German ships as the first aircraft to arrive had not carried any bombs with them, but had been sent to scout the German positions. They dutifully had reported the destruction of the Channel Fleet, and the presence of a number of German Light Cruisers heading for the Channel ports, but shielded by the German Battle-Cruisers. The British, knowing that to get to the German Cruisers they had to go through the German Battle-Cruisers formed up, and pressed their attack against the German Channel Squadron at maximum speed.
Already in range of the German 11", 11.2" and 12" guns at 11:41 when the Dreadnoughts turret exploded and she fell silent, the British Light Cruisers and destroyers valiantly pressed home their attack, knowing that if they could disable the German ships, then the Grand Fleet could destroy them. The Germans, aware of the oncoming assault however, were not caught off guard as the British had hoped, and by the time the light guns of the British cruisers were able to score hits on the German Battle-Cruisers, 3 of the British cruisers were severely mauled and out of formation. The other 5 started to fire on their targets, but at the range they were forced to open fire, their shells were like pinpricks to the armored giants that they were fighting. Their only hope was to get in close enough to launch torpedoes. There was one problem however - the German destroyers and torpedo boats were closing fast with the same idea in mind.
At 12:03 with both sides closing fast, the German destroyers and torpedo boats turned and launched their torpedoes at the oncoming British ships. The British, knowing that they had to close the range if they were to do any damage to the German Battle-Cruisers attempted to comb the tracks of the German torpedoes rather than turn aside. Two of the British cruisers and four destroyers were hit. The cruisers slowed but still came on, firing as fast as they could, but the destroyers that were hit - being much lighter craft - slowed to a crawl or stopped completly and were easy targets for the German guns.
All in all, the British cruiser charge was a disaster. Well before they came within torpedo range all of the British cruisers were sunk, although they never struck their flags or stopped firing until the rising water forced the crews to abandon their posts. The destroyers faired little better. A handful got within range to launch their torpedoes after a running battle with the German destroyers and torpedo boats, but all of the torpedoes launched either missed or failed to cause any damage to the German Battle-Cruisers that would slow them down.
By 12:30 it was all over, and all of the British forces were sunk. In exchange for HMS Dreadnought, HMS Dominion, 8 Light Cruisers and 38 destroyers (Including the 5 sunk at the Dover-Calais Mine Barrier) the Germans had lost 3 destroyers and 8 torpedo boats (Including the 3 sunk at the Dover-Calais Mine Barrier). More serious for the Germans however, was the damaged SMS Derfflinger. Although frantic action had got her underway again, she was seriously damaged and her captain reported that she could only make 14 knots without dockyard repairs, and that steaming at that speed was risking further damage to the ship. Admiral Hipper, knowing this was a serious problem, radioed Admiral Scheer to apprise him of the situation and to tell him that he was abandoning the Battle-Cruiser bombardment, transferring non-essential personnel from the SMS Derfflinger to the other Battle-Cruisers, and turning for the rendezvous point, and he requested orders regarding the SMS Derfflinger. Should he scuttle her or try and save her? In a second signal while he was waiting for a reply, he ordered the Mine-Laying Cruisers to complete their bombardment and lay their minefields, and then to rejoin the Battle-Cruisers as planned.
While the naval battle had been raging in the English Channel, several formations of bombers from the Royal Flying Corps had arrived on the scene and been witness the naval massacre. They had attempted to bomb the German ships during the battle, and afterwards but had had little luck as their light bombs had not penetrated German armor belts when they had hit. They had concentrated on the SMS Derfflinger while she was drifting and scored several hits. Once she got underway they had turned their attention to any ship that presented itself as an easy target, but had scored no further hits against the maneuvering ships.
Several aircraft were equipped with radio, and were in communication with their commanders reporting on the Germans. After the naval battle had finished, somebody had the idea of using the aircraft to report the fall of shot for Coastal Artillery guns and the 12" and 13.5" guns started to fire on the retiring German ships, guided by the aircraft overhead. Due to signals having to be passed on through squadron commanders, the falls of shot reports too long to get to the coastal guns to be effective and so no hits were scored on the German ships before the had steamed out of range of the guns.
