Prelude to Dogger Bank
For seven months now, Russia had been at war with Japan. Contrary to predictions, the Russians were being defeated in a series of land and naval battles in the Far East. Japan had trounced the Russians in the Battle of Yalu River, and the Russian Pacific Fleet had been thoroughly defeated in the Battle of the Yellow Sea.
With the front in Manchuria close to collapse, and perhaps encouraged by his cousin Kaiser Wilhelm II, Tsar Nicholas ordered the formation of the Second Pacific Squadron, under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, to overwhelm the Imperial Japanese Navy and delay the Japanese advance until Russian reinforcements could arrive in Manchuria. Formed from five divisions of the Russian Baltic Fleet, the Second Pacific Squadron consisted of:
- 8 battleships (the Knyaz Surovov, Imperator Aleksander II, Borodino, Oryol, Oslyabya, Sissoi Veliky, Navarin, Imperator Nikolai I)
- 3 coastal battleships (the General Admiral Graf Apraksin, Admiral Seniavin, Admiral Ushakov)
- 8 cruisers (the Admiral Nakhimov, Dmitrii Donskoi, Vladimir Monomakh, Zhemchug, Izumrud, Oleg, Aurora, Svetlana)
- 9 Destroyers (Byedovy, Buiny, Bravy, Buistry, Blestyashchy, Bezuprechny, Bodry, Gromky, Grozny)
It set sail on the 15 of October 1904, with the destination of the blockaded Port Arthur. However, the fleets voyage through the Baltic Sea was met with calamity as several ships in the squadron fired on Swedish fishing boats after mistaking them for Japanese torpedo boats. The Second Pacific Squadron entered the North Sea in the early morning of 20 October.
Meanwhile, Great Britain was watching Japans victories with great approval. Besides from being allied with the Empire in the east, Great Britain was in a phase of extreme Russo phobia. During the 19th Century and indeed the beginning of the 20th century, Great Britain had immense fear that Russia had ambitions on India, Britain’s Crown Jewel, and relations between Britain and Russia had steadily deteriorated following the advent of the Russo-Japanese War.
Perhaps noting this, (historians still debate on his true intentions), Vice Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, commander of the British Channel Fleet, began conducting regular training exercises and patrols in the Channel and the North Sea. By some stroke of chance, the entire Channel Fleet was patrolling the North Sea approximately 100 kilometres north of Holland on the 20 October. The entire fleet was on patrol, which consisted of:
- 13 battleships (the Albemarle, Albion, Caesar, Cornwallis, Duncan, Exmouth, Glory, Jupiter, Montagu, Prince George, Russell, Swiftsure, Triumph)
- 5 Cruisers (the Dido, Juno, Topaze, Patrol, Sapphire)
- 24 Destroyers (the Flirt, Kestrel, Peterel, Recruit, Thorn, Tiger, Vigilant, Wizard, Gala, Greyhound, Mermaid, Racehorse, Ribble, Roebuck, Teviot, Wolf, Blackwater, Express, Kennet, Leopard, Osprey, Ostrich, Vixen, Waveney)
On the morning of the 21, a dense fog blanketed the North Sea. Near Dogger Bank, the lead battleship of the Second Pacific Squadron, the Oryol, sighted a shape in the fog towards the south. The Oryol immediately opened fire, scoring few hits as most of their shots went wide. Allegedly, the Russians thought they were firing upon a Japanese Cruiser, but in reality it was the British Cruiser Sapphire, which was patrolling at the fringe of the British fleet. Radioing for help, the Sapphire attempted to disengage but an unlucky Russian shot hit the engine room, reducing the Sapphire to half speed. Responding to the Sapphires radio for help, several British cruisers joined the fight, by which time the rest of the Russian fleet had caught up to the Oryol.
Hearing of an attack by an unidentified hostile fleet, Beresford ordered his battleships north, and just as the fog lifted, the two battle fleets collided.
