Ofph I really wouldn't want to be the person who decided not to properly outfit the 9.2" battery since here goes their career and depending on how bad the damage is they might get non figuratively lynched by a angry public
The Rainbow. A World War One on Canada's West Coast Timeline
- Thread starter YYJ
- Start date
Sam Hughes, the Minister of Militia, would be a good one to blame, since he was responsible for everything else wrong with the Canadian Military at the time. But the Signal Hill Battery was built in 1905 by the Royal Engineers, and not properly set up until 1915, after the horse had left the barn. That was on the watch of 2 Liberal Governments and one Conservative Government.
Driftless
Donor
I'm a cynic. Normally, I would think there be a ton of political "tap-dancing" and blame shifting, but the level of destruction involved in this story wouldn't get swept under the rug. Some politicos are going to be assigned to count rocks on Baffin Island before long.
If this gets Sam Hughes out of government in 1914 it may almost be worth the destruction.
I don't like him and I would agree with you here but that early in the war, Sam still has a purpose to serve.
Sam Hughes has a lot of defaults and in retrospect was probably an incompetent fool. But he's also the man who crossed the Atlantic from Ottawa to London, sat down with Lord Kitchener and (believe it ot not) managed to convince the retired Field Marshall to not disband the Canadian Expeditionnary Force and merge its unit into the British Army. He's probably the only man in Canada crazy enough to do it and for that, I hope his political career survive just long enough for him to accomplish maybe the only good thing we owe the man.
Last edited:
Warship masts
Aug 21, 1430 hours, SMS Nürnberg, off Victoria.
“Cease Fire!” ordered Captain Von Schönberg. One of the wooden masts holding up the antenna of the Canadian wireless station had been toppled by Nürnberg’s fifth salvo, putting the station off the air. The dust from the bombardment drifted east, over a residential municipality the chart labelled as Oak Bay.
“Wireless has stopped transmitting,” reported Nürnberg’s wireless cabin.
Nürnberg, with Liepzig following 1000 meters astern, rounded the Trial Islands, a group of low rocky islands with a lighthouse on the southern point. Clouds of gulls wheeled, having been disturbed by the gunfire. The outbound tide running past the point produced deep furrows and eddies in the water. The sun was bright, the sky was clear. The mountains of the Olympic peninsula marched toward the ocean to port, until they disappeared in the distance. A fresh breeze blew the ships’ smoke straight out astern. Before him in the early afternoon sun were spread out the neighborhoods of Victoria, capital city of one of the colonies of the British Empire, and to the west, Esquimalt, a Royal Navy Dockyard.
A chart showing the approaches to Victoria and Esquimalt harbours was laid on the chart table, and overlapping circles had been drawn in pencil showing the presumed ranges of the guns of the coastal defence forts. Command officers were clustered around the table at the back of the wheelhouse.
“This line marks a 10,000 meter distance from the shore batteries,” said Von Schönberg, his finger on the chart. “N says the published range for the 6 inch guns of these forts is 8000 meters, so if we steam no closer than this line we should keep a good margin of safety.”
“What is N?” asked Mueller.
“Nachrichten-Abteilung, answered Von Schönberg, frowning. “The Naval Intelligence Bureau.”
“Ah,” said Mueller. “Well, between the lighthouses at Trial Island and Race Rocks there are no hidden reefs this far off shore, so feel free to maneuver as you wish.” He stepped back from the huddle of naval officers.
“At 10,000 meters it is challenging to hit a ship with accuracy,” said Von Schönberg gravely, “but we will be shooting at area targets. Now, on every previous occasion when we have bombarded an enemy port, they have been ‘Undefended’, and thus have fallen strictly under the provisions of Hague Treaty 9 of 1907. As we are about to see, we can hardly describe the dual ports of Victoria and Esquimalt as undefended, but while Esquimalt is a military establishment, the city of Victoria is primarily a civilian port, with some military facilities.”
“I do not recall Vancouver as being undefended,” interjected Mueller.
“Once we had silenced the shore battery, it was,” answered Von Schönberg curtly, then produced a printed page from the table and held it up to read from.
“Hague Treaty 9 of 1907, Article 1,” Von Schönberg read, “just to remind you officers, says ‘The bombardment by naval forces of undefended ports, towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings is forbidden.”
“Article 2 continues, ‘military works, military or naval establishments, depots of arms or war matériel, workshops or plant which could be utilized for the needs of the hostile fleet or army, and the ships of war in the harbour, are not, however, included in this prohibition. The commander of a naval force may destroy them with artillery, after a summons followed by a reasonable time of waiting, if all other means are impossible, and when the local authorities have not themselves destroyed them within the time fixed.”
“He incurs no responsibility for any unavoidable damage which may be caused by a bombardment under such circumstances. If for military reasons immediate action is necessary, and no delay can be allowed the enemy, it is understood that the prohibition to bombard the undefended town holds good, as in the case given in paragraph l, and that the commander shall take all due measures in order that the town may suffer as little harm as possible.”
“Well, immediate action is clearly necessary,” said Von Schönberg. “We believe that the Canadian training cruiser is still chasing our false messages somewhere around Dixon Entrance, but those submarines we met are only half an hour behind us.”
“Still, we wish to cause as little harm as possible to the fair city of Victoria and her citizens, as we degrade the war making capacity of the British Empire. We, that is Nürnberg, will shell the port and industrial facilities of Victoria. Leipzig will shell the naval dockyard at Esquimalt. Leipzig retains her 5 gun broadside, so she can place more shells on target than we can in out limited time here. By engaging each harbour individually we will have a clearer view of our fall of shot. I wish to keep us in front of the harbours for no longer than 10 minutes. I trust the guns of the East Asiatic Squadron can make an impression in that amount of time.” The sound of incoming shells came from ahead, and a trio of waterspouts rose from the sea, well short of the two cruisers. “Gentlemen.”
“For the Kaiser!” called the officers in unison, then departed to their stations.
Von Schönberg swept the scene with his binoculars. To the south a pair of four stack American armoured cruisers, and three destroyers were fiercely patrolling the international boundary, their smoke streaming eastward. Beyond them, a couple of transpacific freighters were steaming south in American waters, their wakes and smoke trails showing they had obviously left Victoria recently. Von Schönberg noticed both ships flew the Japanese merchant ensign.
To the north, the peninsula on which Victoria sat was heavily treed with what looked like oaks. Wide swaths had been cleared, as Canadians seemed wont to do. The land was dotted with homesteads, some ramshackle, some tidy as an English countryside. His binoculars came to rest on a projecting point, and he saw an arrangement of grave markers that looked familiar from the villages around Tsingtao. A Chinese cemetery, here. Another mystery that would have to wait. Further to the west, the shoreline rose into a continuous series of cliffs. A grassy hill facing the sea looked to have been dug up and was host to an entrenched infantry unit. The men in khaki were still scrambling into their slit trenches. He located the mouth of Victoria harbour. A mole, more than a kilometer long, was under construction, with barges mounded up with great stone blocks and a derrick moored alongside.
Two minutes had passed since the first salvo of the fort guns. Now Von Schönberg saw muzzle flashes from the point on the far side of Victoria harbour. Then another pair of flashes came from the deck of a ship behind the mole. He looked more closely. It was a sailing ship. Had the Canadians dragged out muzzle loading cannons? She was running a White Ensign up her mainmast. No, this was a Royal Navy sloop, he realized, Condor or Cadmus class. His memory reeled off the characteristics. Armed with half a dozen 4 inch guns, of shorter range than Nürnberg’s. Three waterspouts were raised by the shells of the fort, and another two from those of the sloop. All well short. The gun barrels of Nürnberg’s starboard broadside, minus the wrecked number 4 sponson gun, were elevated to 30 degrees, and slowly tracking to stern.
“Range on that warship behind the mole,” ordered Von Schönberg. “Fire!” Nürnberg walked ranging shots towards the sloop. Astern, Leipzig began firing on the naval dockyard from maximum range. Because the German warships were steaming just beyond the edge of the forts’ range, their semi-circular course was now taking them south west, as if they were sailing away from the city. But their guns spoke differently. Leipzig’s shells had begun to land among the dockyard buildings, raising clouds of dust. Nürnberg’s shells had found the range of the sloop, and waterspouts rose in the basin behind the unfinished mole. The tempo of Nürnberg’s gunfire increased as she began to fire for effect.
“Enemy shell, over!” called a lookout. Von Schönberg turned to look, and from the port wheelhouse windows he could see the remains of a waterspout falling back into the sea, 3000 meters beyond Nürnberg, almost in American waters.
“Where did that come from?” Von Schönberg asked.
“Unknown, sir.” answered the lookout.
Nürnberg’s shells were churning up the harbour basin behind the mole. The plucky sloop kept up her rate of fire, despite all of her shells falling short. At this range the German shells were well dispersed. The sloop began to take hits. The derrick barge was struck, and the crane toppled and disappeared from sight. Some shells struck the mole itself, and raised dust, but did negligible harm to the giant granite blocks. A secondary explosion on the sloop cast the forward guns and their shields in sharp silhouette. A shell burst on top of the pile of stone blocks on its barge. The outline of the sloop became indistinct, as fires took hold. The flashes of gunfire from the sloop’s guns stopped. The White Ensign had disappeared when the mainmast was carried away.
“Cease fire!” ordered Von Schönberg. The barge loaded with stone blocks slowly capsized, until the cargo slid off and crashed into the sea.
Shell splashes from the sloop’s guns had stopped, but those from the forts continued, with long intervals between. The forts at Rodd Hill and McAuley Point were now both shooting. A much larger splash rose, out of synch with those from the forts, but equally short by more than 1000 meters. Von Schönberg did not like the look of it. His ears were ringing from the sound of Nürnberg’s guns, and now that they had ceased, all he could hear were Leipzig’s, so his ears were no help in locating the source. Was that a shell from the 23cm guns? The ones that N said were not operational? he thought. The gunnery officer looked at him expectantly.
“Mueller, what are we looking at here?” Von Schönberg asked, surveying the harbour entrance. As luck would have it, the wind was carrying the smoke from the burning sloop east, clearing the view to the harbour.
“That is Rithet’s Pier,” said Mueller, pointing at a pair of long warehouses atop timber wharves, well inside the mouth of the harbour. “On Shoal Point. Victoria’s main cargo handling facility.” The masts of two large sailing ships rose beside the warehouses.
“Take those wharves under fire!” he ordered. Nürnberg’s guns fired, as one.
“Enemy shell, over!” called the lookout again. “By more than 1000 meters.”
“Did you see that?” Von Schönberg hollered at the gunnery officer, just as one of Nürnberg’s salvos fired.
“I did,” answered the gunnery officer. Another salvo fired.
“Could that be a 23 cm battery?” asked Von Schönberg.
“Excuse me, sir. High Explosive! Fire for effect!” he ordered the guns, then responded, “I suppose. I only see one shell splash.” An outgoing salvo thundered. “It would be hard to range properly with just a single gun. Whatever is happening, they are not shooting well.”
“Perhaps it is time to cut short this leg of our mission.” Von Schönberg said, with consideration. Nürnberg fired another salvo. A waterspout rose, well astern of Leipzig and over by more than 1000 meters. His ships were steaming at 20 knots. The Canadians were shooting badly. Poor training? Bad equipment? Whatever the cause, he judged that the revelation of the heavy guns was not an overwhelming threat. He was at the moment in the midst of bombarding the provincial capital and seaport of the Kaiser’s enemy. “We will continue.” Nürnberg’s guns fired again. “We will break off at 1450 hours.” The chronometer now read 1443. The wharves were now blazing, producing volumes of smoke. Both sets of ship’s masts listed as he watched. More waterspouts from the fort’s guns appeared, predictably short. Some lighter quick firing guns had joined in, but these also could not reach the cruisers.
“Shift fire!” Von Schönberg ordered. “Mueller?”
“There is the BAPCO chemical plant on Laurel Point,” offered Mueller, gesturing at a tall factory partially hidden behind the smoke from the wharves, with a smokestack, water tower, and rooftop sign reading SATINGLO, in reverse. Four salvos had the structure burning fiercely, with shockingly variegated colours of flame. The German cruisers were at the western end of their circuit around the city’s defences, and were approaching Race Rocks Lighthouse. This aspect gave Von Schönberg a view deep into Victoria’s harbour, its skyline punctuated with sailing ship masts, brick buildings, water towers, silos, and smokestacks. The large splashes from the heavy gun continued to dog them, with shells long and short, ahead and astern, but none had landed within 500 meters of the cruisers.
“The BC Electric Railway power plant,” said Mueller. The Romanesque brick powerhouse in Rock Bay collapsed after six salvos. Nurnberg was running out of sea room, and was getting close to the hills of Metchosin so Von Schönberg had her reverse her course in a tight turn and steam east again.
“Clark and Turpel’s Shipyard at Point Hope.” Six salvos looked to sufficiently wreck the works, leaving the ways on fire, and incidentally collapsing one span of the nearby Point Ellice bridge.
“The Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Yard.” Eight salvos reduced much of the roundhouse structure to piles of bricks and burning wreckage, destroyed a good number of rolling stock, and dismounted the locomotive turntable.
Nürnberg steamed east, with Leipzig keeping station behind. Much of the harbour was cloaked in smoke now. Some shells had clearly fallen afield of their designated targets, and other fires could be seen to be burning in the town. Von Schönberg again had a view deep into the harbour, between sheets of smoke.
“There is the Provincial Legislature building,” pointed out Mueller. A green dome loomed out of the drifting smoke. Mueller’s outstretched arm pointed about the city. “Janion Wharves with its coal stores, Murihead and Mann Planer Mill, Spratt’s Wharf and Albion Ironworks. The CPR and Grand Trunk Pacific wharves are there, hidden behind the rise.”
“Bring us about again!” Von Schönberg considered the targets that Mueller was identifying to be too closely surrounded by the residential neigbourhoods of the city, and was quite frankly beginning to find Mueller’s eagerness to help with his former countrymen’s destruction to be distasteful. This is what we have made of the man, he thought. Thus far Von Schönberg had mostly not been observing the work Haun was doing on the naval dockyard, but now he did, and saw the whole base to be swathed in flames and smoke. A particularly dense black plume showed that the coal stores had been set alight. And finally he saw a single large muzzle flash, atop the tallest hill in front of Esquimalt harbour. Then the hill was hidden again behind palls of smoke. The chronometer read 1450.
“Helm, take us out past Race Rock light,” he ordered. With some relief he added, “we are heading back out to sea. Wireless, contact Princess Charlotte, and ask her status.” Ahead he could see the wharf and buildings of the William Head quarantine station, and beyond, the black and white striped lighthouse tower.
“Smoke! From a ship!” called a lookout. Indeed, a smoke trail was drifting past Rocky Point, just inshore of Race Rocks. This smoke seemed too close to be from any of the American warships on neutrality patrol. Von Schönberg did not have time to stop and take another prize by cruiser rules, he might just ignore this ship, or order her to abandon ship to be sunk by gunfire, depending on who she was.
“Warship masts!” called the lookout. A ship was emerging from behind the cliffs of Rocky Point. “Two funnels. White ensign. Royal Navy cruiser!”
“I identify her as Apollo class,” reported the gunnery officer. “Range 7000 yards!”
“Fire!” ordered Von Schönberg. The enemy warship’s single forward gun flashed, just as the words left his lips. “So there is the HMCS Rainbow. I’ll say that is some surprise.” Nürnberg’s forward guns fired. A shell whistled close overhead, and landed in the sea, midway between the two German cruisers.
The gunnery officer poked his head out onto the bridge wing to look astern. “Leipzig is masked by us”, he reported. The Canadian cruiser turned several points to starboard, to bring her broadside to bear, firing as fast as she could.
“Incredible!” exclaimed Von Schönberg. “The Canadian is crossing our T! And maneuvering to cut us off. Helm, take us southeast!” Nürnberg heeled over as she made the sharp turn. “Transfer command to the conning tower!”
The German gunners had their aim thrown off by the violent maneuvers. Nürnberg fired rapidly, but without accuracy. Liepzig opened fire when she was unmasked, and then turned to follow line astern of Nürnberg, spoiling her shooting.
With the turns completed, the battle emerged with the Germans and Canadians on parallel east-southeast courses 7000 yards apart, with the Germans on the northern track. Nürnberg and Leipzig were accelerating to 22 knots, but had thrown off much speed in their turns. The Germans cruisers were initially firing their 10.5 cm guns with four and five gun broadsides respectively, with one salvo every 4 seconds. The Rainbow was steaming at 15 knots, her broadside of two 6 inch guns firing every 10 seconds, three 4.7 inch guns every 5 seconds, and two 12 pounder guns every 4 seconds. Rainbow concentrated her fire on the lead ship, the Nürnberg.
Almost immediately, each side was straddling the other, and the ships were surrounded by a forest of waterspouts. This situation went on for almost a minute before the first hit was landed, a 6 inch Lyddite high explosive shell to Nürnberg’s bridge.
HMCS Rainbow
Victoria Fire insurance Map 1885
Rithet's Wharf
archives.victoria.ca
Ogden Point Breakwater under construction
archives.victoria.ca
British America Paint Company
www.victoriaharbourhistory.com
“Cease Fire!” ordered Captain Von Schönberg. One of the wooden masts holding up the antenna of the Canadian wireless station had been toppled by Nürnberg’s fifth salvo, putting the station off the air. The dust from the bombardment drifted east, over a residential municipality the chart labelled as Oak Bay.
“Wireless has stopped transmitting,” reported Nürnberg’s wireless cabin.
Nürnberg, with Liepzig following 1000 meters astern, rounded the Trial Islands, a group of low rocky islands with a lighthouse on the southern point. Clouds of gulls wheeled, having been disturbed by the gunfire. The outbound tide running past the point produced deep furrows and eddies in the water. The sun was bright, the sky was clear. The mountains of the Olympic peninsula marched toward the ocean to port, until they disappeared in the distance. A fresh breeze blew the ships’ smoke straight out astern. Before him in the early afternoon sun were spread out the neighborhoods of Victoria, capital city of one of the colonies of the British Empire, and to the west, Esquimalt, a Royal Navy Dockyard.
A chart showing the approaches to Victoria and Esquimalt harbours was laid on the chart table, and overlapping circles had been drawn in pencil showing the presumed ranges of the guns of the coastal defence forts. Command officers were clustered around the table at the back of the wheelhouse.
“This line marks a 10,000 meter distance from the shore batteries,” said Von Schönberg, his finger on the chart. “N says the published range for the 6 inch guns of these forts is 8000 meters, so if we steam no closer than this line we should keep a good margin of safety.”
“What is N?” asked Mueller.
“Nachrichten-Abteilung, answered Von Schönberg, frowning. “The Naval Intelligence Bureau.”
“Ah,” said Mueller. “Well, between the lighthouses at Trial Island and Race Rocks there are no hidden reefs this far off shore, so feel free to maneuver as you wish.” He stepped back from the huddle of naval officers.
“At 10,000 meters it is challenging to hit a ship with accuracy,” said Von Schönberg gravely, “but we will be shooting at area targets. Now, on every previous occasion when we have bombarded an enemy port, they have been ‘Undefended’, and thus have fallen strictly under the provisions of Hague Treaty 9 of 1907. As we are about to see, we can hardly describe the dual ports of Victoria and Esquimalt as undefended, but while Esquimalt is a military establishment, the city of Victoria is primarily a civilian port, with some military facilities.”
“I do not recall Vancouver as being undefended,” interjected Mueller.
“Once we had silenced the shore battery, it was,” answered Von Schönberg curtly, then produced a printed page from the table and held it up to read from.
“Hague Treaty 9 of 1907, Article 1,” Von Schönberg read, “just to remind you officers, says ‘The bombardment by naval forces of undefended ports, towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings is forbidden.”
“Article 2 continues, ‘military works, military or naval establishments, depots of arms or war matériel, workshops or plant which could be utilized for the needs of the hostile fleet or army, and the ships of war in the harbour, are not, however, included in this prohibition. The commander of a naval force may destroy them with artillery, after a summons followed by a reasonable time of waiting, if all other means are impossible, and when the local authorities have not themselves destroyed them within the time fixed.”
“He incurs no responsibility for any unavoidable damage which may be caused by a bombardment under such circumstances. If for military reasons immediate action is necessary, and no delay can be allowed the enemy, it is understood that the prohibition to bombard the undefended town holds good, as in the case given in paragraph l, and that the commander shall take all due measures in order that the town may suffer as little harm as possible.”
“Well, immediate action is clearly necessary,” said Von Schönberg. “We believe that the Canadian training cruiser is still chasing our false messages somewhere around Dixon Entrance, but those submarines we met are only half an hour behind us.”
“Still, we wish to cause as little harm as possible to the fair city of Victoria and her citizens, as we degrade the war making capacity of the British Empire. We, that is Nürnberg, will shell the port and industrial facilities of Victoria. Leipzig will shell the naval dockyard at Esquimalt. Leipzig retains her 5 gun broadside, so she can place more shells on target than we can in out limited time here. By engaging each harbour individually we will have a clearer view of our fall of shot. I wish to keep us in front of the harbours for no longer than 10 minutes. I trust the guns of the East Asiatic Squadron can make an impression in that amount of time.” The sound of incoming shells came from ahead, and a trio of waterspouts rose from the sea, well short of the two cruisers. “Gentlemen.”
“For the Kaiser!” called the officers in unison, then departed to their stations.
Von Schönberg swept the scene with his binoculars. To the south a pair of four stack American armoured cruisers, and three destroyers were fiercely patrolling the international boundary, their smoke streaming eastward. Beyond them, a couple of transpacific freighters were steaming south in American waters, their wakes and smoke trails showing they had obviously left Victoria recently. Von Schönberg noticed both ships flew the Japanese merchant ensign.
To the north, the peninsula on which Victoria sat was heavily treed with what looked like oaks. Wide swaths had been cleared, as Canadians seemed wont to do. The land was dotted with homesteads, some ramshackle, some tidy as an English countryside. His binoculars came to rest on a projecting point, and he saw an arrangement of grave markers that looked familiar from the villages around Tsingtao. A Chinese cemetery, here. Another mystery that would have to wait. Further to the west, the shoreline rose into a continuous series of cliffs. A grassy hill facing the sea looked to have been dug up and was host to an entrenched infantry unit. The men in khaki were still scrambling into their slit trenches. He located the mouth of Victoria harbour. A mole, more than a kilometer long, was under construction, with barges mounded up with great stone blocks and a derrick moored alongside.
Two minutes had passed since the first salvo of the fort guns. Now Von Schönberg saw muzzle flashes from the point on the far side of Victoria harbour. Then another pair of flashes came from the deck of a ship behind the mole. He looked more closely. It was a sailing ship. Had the Canadians dragged out muzzle loading cannons? She was running a White Ensign up her mainmast. No, this was a Royal Navy sloop, he realized, Condor or Cadmus class. His memory reeled off the characteristics. Armed with half a dozen 4 inch guns, of shorter range than Nürnberg’s. Three waterspouts were raised by the shells of the fort, and another two from those of the sloop. All well short. The gun barrels of Nürnberg’s starboard broadside, minus the wrecked number 4 sponson gun, were elevated to 30 degrees, and slowly tracking to stern.
“Range on that warship behind the mole,” ordered Von Schönberg. “Fire!” Nürnberg walked ranging shots towards the sloop. Astern, Leipzig began firing on the naval dockyard from maximum range. Because the German warships were steaming just beyond the edge of the forts’ range, their semi-circular course was now taking them south west, as if they were sailing away from the city. But their guns spoke differently. Leipzig’s shells had begun to land among the dockyard buildings, raising clouds of dust. Nürnberg’s shells had found the range of the sloop, and waterspouts rose in the basin behind the unfinished mole. The tempo of Nürnberg’s gunfire increased as she began to fire for effect.
“Enemy shell, over!” called a lookout. Von Schönberg turned to look, and from the port wheelhouse windows he could see the remains of a waterspout falling back into the sea, 3000 meters beyond Nürnberg, almost in American waters.
“Where did that come from?” Von Schönberg asked.
“Unknown, sir.” answered the lookout.
Nürnberg’s shells were churning up the harbour basin behind the mole. The plucky sloop kept up her rate of fire, despite all of her shells falling short. At this range the German shells were well dispersed. The sloop began to take hits. The derrick barge was struck, and the crane toppled and disappeared from sight. Some shells struck the mole itself, and raised dust, but did negligible harm to the giant granite blocks. A secondary explosion on the sloop cast the forward guns and their shields in sharp silhouette. A shell burst on top of the pile of stone blocks on its barge. The outline of the sloop became indistinct, as fires took hold. The flashes of gunfire from the sloop’s guns stopped. The White Ensign had disappeared when the mainmast was carried away.
“Cease fire!” ordered Von Schönberg. The barge loaded with stone blocks slowly capsized, until the cargo slid off and crashed into the sea.
Shell splashes from the sloop’s guns had stopped, but those from the forts continued, with long intervals between. The forts at Rodd Hill and McAuley Point were now both shooting. A much larger splash rose, out of synch with those from the forts, but equally short by more than 1000 meters. Von Schönberg did not like the look of it. His ears were ringing from the sound of Nürnberg’s guns, and now that they had ceased, all he could hear were Leipzig’s, so his ears were no help in locating the source. Was that a shell from the 23cm guns? The ones that N said were not operational? he thought. The gunnery officer looked at him expectantly.
“Mueller, what are we looking at here?” Von Schönberg asked, surveying the harbour entrance. As luck would have it, the wind was carrying the smoke from the burning sloop east, clearing the view to the harbour.
“That is Rithet’s Pier,” said Mueller, pointing at a pair of long warehouses atop timber wharves, well inside the mouth of the harbour. “On Shoal Point. Victoria’s main cargo handling facility.” The masts of two large sailing ships rose beside the warehouses.
“Take those wharves under fire!” he ordered. Nürnberg’s guns fired, as one.
“Enemy shell, over!” called the lookout again. “By more than 1000 meters.”
“Did you see that?” Von Schönberg hollered at the gunnery officer, just as one of Nürnberg’s salvos fired.
“I did,” answered the gunnery officer. Another salvo fired.
“Could that be a 23 cm battery?” asked Von Schönberg.
“Excuse me, sir. High Explosive! Fire for effect!” he ordered the guns, then responded, “I suppose. I only see one shell splash.” An outgoing salvo thundered. “It would be hard to range properly with just a single gun. Whatever is happening, they are not shooting well.”
“Perhaps it is time to cut short this leg of our mission.” Von Schönberg said, with consideration. Nürnberg fired another salvo. A waterspout rose, well astern of Leipzig and over by more than 1000 meters. His ships were steaming at 20 knots. The Canadians were shooting badly. Poor training? Bad equipment? Whatever the cause, he judged that the revelation of the heavy guns was not an overwhelming threat. He was at the moment in the midst of bombarding the provincial capital and seaport of the Kaiser’s enemy. “We will continue.” Nürnberg’s guns fired again. “We will break off at 1450 hours.” The chronometer now read 1443. The wharves were now blazing, producing volumes of smoke. Both sets of ship’s masts listed as he watched. More waterspouts from the fort’s guns appeared, predictably short. Some lighter quick firing guns had joined in, but these also could not reach the cruisers.
“Shift fire!” Von Schönberg ordered. “Mueller?”
“There is the BAPCO chemical plant on Laurel Point,” offered Mueller, gesturing at a tall factory partially hidden behind the smoke from the wharves, with a smokestack, water tower, and rooftop sign reading SATINGLO, in reverse. Four salvos had the structure burning fiercely, with shockingly variegated colours of flame. The German cruisers were at the western end of their circuit around the city’s defences, and were approaching Race Rocks Lighthouse. This aspect gave Von Schönberg a view deep into Victoria’s harbour, its skyline punctuated with sailing ship masts, brick buildings, water towers, silos, and smokestacks. The large splashes from the heavy gun continued to dog them, with shells long and short, ahead and astern, but none had landed within 500 meters of the cruisers.
“The BC Electric Railway power plant,” said Mueller. The Romanesque brick powerhouse in Rock Bay collapsed after six salvos. Nurnberg was running out of sea room, and was getting close to the hills of Metchosin so Von Schönberg had her reverse her course in a tight turn and steam east again.
“Clark and Turpel’s Shipyard at Point Hope.” Six salvos looked to sufficiently wreck the works, leaving the ways on fire, and incidentally collapsing one span of the nearby Point Ellice bridge.
“The Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Yard.” Eight salvos reduced much of the roundhouse structure to piles of bricks and burning wreckage, destroyed a good number of rolling stock, and dismounted the locomotive turntable.
Nürnberg steamed east, with Leipzig keeping station behind. Much of the harbour was cloaked in smoke now. Some shells had clearly fallen afield of their designated targets, and other fires could be seen to be burning in the town. Von Schönberg again had a view deep into the harbour, between sheets of smoke.
“There is the Provincial Legislature building,” pointed out Mueller. A green dome loomed out of the drifting smoke. Mueller’s outstretched arm pointed about the city. “Janion Wharves with its coal stores, Murihead and Mann Planer Mill, Spratt’s Wharf and Albion Ironworks. The CPR and Grand Trunk Pacific wharves are there, hidden behind the rise.”
“Bring us about again!” Von Schönberg considered the targets that Mueller was identifying to be too closely surrounded by the residential neigbourhoods of the city, and was quite frankly beginning to find Mueller’s eagerness to help with his former countrymen’s destruction to be distasteful. This is what we have made of the man, he thought. Thus far Von Schönberg had mostly not been observing the work Haun was doing on the naval dockyard, but now he did, and saw the whole base to be swathed in flames and smoke. A particularly dense black plume showed that the coal stores had been set alight. And finally he saw a single large muzzle flash, atop the tallest hill in front of Esquimalt harbour. Then the hill was hidden again behind palls of smoke. The chronometer read 1450.
“Helm, take us out past Race Rock light,” he ordered. With some relief he added, “we are heading back out to sea. Wireless, contact Princess Charlotte, and ask her status.” Ahead he could see the wharf and buildings of the William Head quarantine station, and beyond, the black and white striped lighthouse tower.
“Smoke! From a ship!” called a lookout. Indeed, a smoke trail was drifting past Rocky Point, just inshore of Race Rocks. This smoke seemed too close to be from any of the American warships on neutrality patrol. Von Schönberg did not have time to stop and take another prize by cruiser rules, he might just ignore this ship, or order her to abandon ship to be sunk by gunfire, depending on who she was.
“Warship masts!” called the lookout. A ship was emerging from behind the cliffs of Rocky Point. “Two funnels. White ensign. Royal Navy cruiser!”
“I identify her as Apollo class,” reported the gunnery officer. “Range 7000 yards!”
“Fire!” ordered Von Schönberg. The enemy warship’s single forward gun flashed, just as the words left his lips. “So there is the HMCS Rainbow. I’ll say that is some surprise.” Nürnberg’s forward guns fired. A shell whistled close overhead, and landed in the sea, midway between the two German cruisers.
The gunnery officer poked his head out onto the bridge wing to look astern. “Leipzig is masked by us”, he reported. The Canadian cruiser turned several points to starboard, to bring her broadside to bear, firing as fast as she could.
“Incredible!” exclaimed Von Schönberg. “The Canadian is crossing our T! And maneuvering to cut us off. Helm, take us southeast!” Nürnberg heeled over as she made the sharp turn. “Transfer command to the conning tower!”
The German gunners had their aim thrown off by the violent maneuvers. Nürnberg fired rapidly, but without accuracy. Liepzig opened fire when she was unmasked, and then turned to follow line astern of Nürnberg, spoiling her shooting.
With the turns completed, the battle emerged with the Germans and Canadians on parallel east-southeast courses 7000 yards apart, with the Germans on the northern track. Nürnberg and Leipzig were accelerating to 22 knots, but had thrown off much speed in their turns. The Germans cruisers were initially firing their 10.5 cm guns with four and five gun broadsides respectively, with one salvo every 4 seconds. The Rainbow was steaming at 15 knots, her broadside of two 6 inch guns firing every 10 seconds, three 4.7 inch guns every 5 seconds, and two 12 pounder guns every 4 seconds. Rainbow concentrated her fire on the lead ship, the Nürnberg.
Almost immediately, each side was straddling the other, and the ships were surrounded by a forest of waterspouts. This situation went on for almost a minute before the first hit was landed, a 6 inch Lyddite high explosive shell to Nürnberg’s bridge.
HMCS Rainbow
Victoria Fire insurance Map 1885
Image 4 of Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Victoria, British Columbia, British Columbia.
1885. 26. Double-paged plates numbered 1-12. Bound.
www.loc.gov
Rithet's Wharf
Rithet's (Outer) Wharf at Shoal Point - City of Victoria Archives' Online Search
Ogden Point Breakwater under construction
Ogden Point breakwater under construction - City of Victoria Archives' Online Search
British America Paint Company
BC Soaps and BAPCO Paints
The BAPCO plant on Laurel Point. Image courtesy of Victoria History In 1879, William Pendray established Victoria’s first soap-works at Humboldt and Douglas streets, on the northern edge of the James Bay mudflats. By 1883 his White Swan soap plant was
www.victoriaharbourhistory.com
Last edited:
I will note that 4.1" shells probably aren't going to do all that much damage in the grand scheme of things when doing shore bombardment especially with early WWI era shells
Good thing Von Schönberg moved to the conning tower. That shell would have killed a character you have written spectacularly well. Damm, I like the guy.
This is quite a good start for the Canadians. Had it started at longer range they'd have been in real trouble. Moreover, the battle is heading towards the submarines.
Still... first hit aside, the Rainbow is too far away for her non 6" guns to be effective, and she simply doesn't have a lot of chance right now. The Germans seem to have both found the range, and are mathematically almost certain to land far more hits. Moreover, they have very well practised gunners.
This is quite a good start for the Canadians. Had it started at longer range they'd have been in real trouble. Moreover, the battle is heading towards the submarines.
Still... first hit aside, the Rainbow is too far away for her non 6" guns to be effective, and she simply doesn't have a lot of chance right now. The Germans seem to have both found the range, and are mathematically almost certain to land far more hits. Moreover, they have very well practised gunners.
Time for the Germans to turn tail and haul ass. Staying and fighting Rainbow isn't their mission, and they need to be far more damage averse than their opponent.
To misquote Clara from Dr Who:
"Run you clever boys."
To misquote Clara from Dr Who:
"Run you clever boys."
Driftless
Donor
I think, due to the narrowness of the strait, the Germans either need to cross over into US territory, or deal with the Rainbow.
marathag
Banned
only 16 years past when the USN found that some of the ACW era Monitors could still move under their own power somehow to 'protect' some US Ports against Spain
with mighty 11" and 15" SB cannons, most I suspect, hadn't been fired since the end of the War
USS Passaic
USS Nahant
USS Jason(Sangamon)
USS Camanche
USS Catskill
USS Nantucket
USS Lehigh
USS Wyandotte
They were all quietly scrapped by 1907.
Alas, Canadians had nothing even iron plated to rush to service in the same way
The Germans, Canadians, and Americans all need to be careful that a US ship isn't hit by an errant shell or torpedo. At least one of the 6" coastal batteries can range close to the international boundary.
How much closer are the submarines? I'm seeing the cruisers getting boxed in by Rainbow and the submarines.
The monitors were NOT intended to fight anything then. They were intended to show the politicians "See--we're sending ships to protect you." Showing the flag, but for American citizens.
marathag
Banned
given that much of the Spanish Navy was hardly much newer, they had some chance.
The cruiser Castilla, sunk in 1898, was laid down in 1869 as a central battery ironclad, but budget cuts meant that she wasn't commissioned until 1882, as an unarmored wooden cruiser.
So even though armed with then new 1880s 5.9" breechloaders, was still vulnerable to iron cannonballs filled with black powder, as wrecking wooden ships is what the Dahlgrens were designed to to in the late 1850s