AT DOGGER BANK

Evening Star, Issue 21714, 8 May 1934, Page 10

AT DOGGER BANK

WHY BEATTY FAILED CONTROL OF FLEET LOST HIS DISABLED SHIP “ I have learnt from Beatty, Tyrwhitt, and .others what was occurring below the horizon at the Battle of, the Dogger Bank in January, 1915, while my command was . striving to get athwart the track of the fleeing enemy. The following brief acocunt is based on their evidence and the British and German Official Histories,” writes Ad-, miral Sir Roger Keyes, who was Rearadmiral of the Grand Fleet, in the Daily Telegraph.’ At 7.25 a.m. on January 24 Beatty received the firs£ intimation of the presence of the enemy. Guns were heard and flashes seen in the half-light to the south-eastward of the flagship Lion, followed almost immediately by a signal from the light cruiser Aurora (Captain: Wilmot Nicholson) repeated three times: “Am in action with German Fleet.” Beatty at once turned to S.S.E., and the Lion (Captain E. Chatfield, now First Sea Lord) and the four battle cruisers in company,' worked up, to full speed. The Flag Lieutenant asked Beatty what signals he should make to the light cruisers and destroyers, which were spread on a wide front seeking for the enemy. He replied: “ Signals—Why P Look!” The Aurora’s signals had acted like a “ View Holloa ” to the scattered pack, and the light cruisers and destroyers, commanded by the young ■bloods of the Navy, had turned and were racing towards the sound of the guns—foaming at .the bows, with smoke and flames pouring from their funnels.By 8.30 a.m. Admiral Hipper, in the Seydlitz, having realised that, he was ‘ threatened by a, superior force, was in full flight for home, with the Moltke, Derflinger, Blucher, four light cruisers, and twenty-two destroyers. Beatty in the Lion, with’ Tiger, Princess Royal, New Zealand, and Indomitable, the First Light Cruiser Squadron, and Tyrwhitt’s Harwich Force, was in hot pursuit eleven miles rtstem, with ovef 130 miles of sea room. BIG SHIPS ENGAGED. By 9.35 four of our battle cruisers were engaged with the ..enemy’s four ships; the Indomitable was still out of range. , At 9.50 the Seydlitz was # hit aft. by a shell from the Lion, with terrible effect. The guns in the. two after turrets were put out of action, and their entire crews perished in the fierce fire which resulted, and which necessitated the, flooding of the after magazine. _ The enemy were, concentrating their fire on the Lion, and from 10.18 onwards she suffered considerably. At 10.27 Beatty placed his ships on a line of bearing, with orders to proceed at their utmost speed. At 10.45 the Lion, which had been repeatedly hit, could no longer keep the lead_ owing to the damage she had sustained, and the Tiger drew ahead. At 10.17 Beatty, in his anxiety to close to decisive range, signalled, “Close the enemy, as rapidly as possible consistent with keeping all guns hearing.” A minute later the Blucher, which had dropped astern of her consorts and was heavily on fire, broke away to the northward, and Beatty ordered the Indomitable, ' which had just come into range, to engage her. Despite the Lion’s injuries, she was still putting up a great .fight, with onlv one gun‘ out of action ; and she. the Tiger (with one gun disabled, otherwise undamaged), Princess Rova), nm' New Zealand (neither of which had been hit) were heavily engaged with the Seydlitz, Moltke, and Derflinger. The , Seydlitz and Derflinger Were ablaze, and the Moltke, which owing to a misunderstanding on the part of the Tiger had not been fired at, was alone uninjured. The Indomitable was capable of speedily "dispatching the Blucher—arid a decisive victory seemed assured. LION BADLY CRIPPLED.

At 10.50 the Lion was hit by a heavy shell, which drove in the armour on the waterline jjbreast of one of the boiler rooms, and stopped one engine. All power and light failed, and she took a list of lOdeg to port. A few minutes later the periscope of •St star-

board bow. To avoid it Beatty ordered an alteration of 8 points to port together (there was no German submarine within sixty miles), but two minutes after his signal had been hauled down he hoisted “ Course N.E.” again to close the enemy. The Lion, however, had rapidly lost way, and in order to ensure that the engagement would be pressed Beatty ordered a signal to be made to “ Engage the enemy more closely.” This age-old naval battle cry had disappeared from the modern signal book. “ Engage ” and “ Close ” necessitated two signals: “ Attack the enemy” at some specified point and “ Keep closer to .the enemy.” So' “ Attack the rear of the enemy ” and, the signal to keep closer were hoisted in the Lion as her consorts swept by. These, in conjunction with the signal “ Course N.E.,” were either misinterpreted, misunderstood, or unseen by the individual ships, which then proceeded to.assist the Indomitable destroy the poor tortured Blucher. The Lion’s searchlights and wireless had been destroyed, and in a few minutes Beatty had completely lost control. Although he transferred to a destroyer as soon as possible, it was noon before he could resume command and in the meantime the golden opportunities; had passed. He had had no means of projecting his fierce, offensive spirit, which could not rest content with anything short of complete victory, and the beaten, crippled enemy, still 80 miles from home, were allowed to make good their escape _ unmolested at a speed reduced by their injuries to 21 knots. STAYED AT HOME. . This narrow escape, following closely on that of December 16, made a profound impression on the German High Command. Sixteen months were to pass before German capital ships were encountered again in the North Sea. Our casualties in this action were:—

Meteor (Captain the Hon. H, Meade) suffered losses and was severely damaged when gallantly leading her division of destroyers to torpedo the’ Blucher. No other British ship was damaged or suffered casualties in this action. Of the enemy’s vessels which escaped, the Seydlitz alone had 159 killed and 33 wounded. The Blucher which fought gallantly until she sank, lost 792 killed, 45 wounded, and 189 unwountled prisoners. Many more would have been saved had not a hostile airship, with true German chivalry—thoroughly appreciated by their luckless compatriots—bombed our boats which were picking up men in the water, no doubt thinking that the Blucher was a British ship. Of the Tiger’s casualties, nine of the killed were young stokers of the fire party, who, contrary to orders, came out of their sheltered position to watch the action. I would like to leave one more record of the spirit of the youth of our Navy. When the Lion took a heavy list after being hit below the waterline, and all lights went out and dynamos ceased whirring, in the silence which ensued a young officer’s voice floated up the voice pipe to the conning tower from the control room 80ft below: “Well, 1 suppose this is Kingdom Come or three weeks’ leave! ” TOWED BACK. The Lion was towed to llosyth by the Indomitable and the Meteor to the Humber by the Liberty. According to a German official report, Ul7, U 33, and U 35 were sent out on the morning of the 24th towards the Humber to look out for damaged British ships. All three are reported to have unsuccessfully attacked the Lurcher and Firedrake (we only noticed one attack), which appears to have- delayed them so much that the Lion was well to the northward and the Meteor safely in the Humber before a German submarine arrived in the neighbourhood of the action. Although the Blucher had been sunk and the Dogger Bank action was hailed as a great success, the Admiralty were, of course, very disappointed their well-laid plans had failed to achieve an overwhelming victory. Lord Fisher, who was furious, was determined to find a victim or two, and expressed his opinion of certain officers very freely and in scathing terms. I had known for some time that, in spite of the friendly gesture he made after receiving my letter of November 10, Lord Fisher was determined to get rid of me out of his neighbourhood. But I was amused to learn, quite by chance, that I was one of his Dogger Bank “ suspects.” This was by reason of a signal which, in fact, never camp from me. A few days after the battle, on reading the official reports in the War Staff room at the Admiralty, I learnt of the error and notified the Admiralty that I had made no such signal.

Killed. Wounded. Lion ' ... ... 1 20 Tiger ... 10 11 Meteor ... 4 1 Total ... 15 32