AT DOGGER BANK

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 12263, 26 May 1934, Page 7

AT DOGGER BANK

WHY BEATTY FAILED AN ARM IRAL’S STOUT. T have learno from Beatty, Tyrwhitt, and others what was occurring below the horizon. at. the Battle of Doggor Bank in January, 1915, while my command -was striving to get- athwart tho track of the fleeing enemy. The following brief account is based on their evidence, and the- British and German Official Histories,, writes .Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, who was Bear-Admiral of the Grand .Fleet, in the “Daily Telegraph” (London).

At 7.25 a.tn. on January 21 Beat, in- received the first intimation of the presence- of tlie enemy. Guns ivere heard and Hashes seen in the halt-tight to. the south-eastward of ttjf! flogs]iip Lion, followed almost immediately by a signal from the light cruiser Aurora (Captain Willed Nicholson) repeated three times: ‘•Am in action wirli. German fleet.'; Beaity at once turned to S.S.E., and the Lion (Captain. E.. Cluitneld, jic.r First Sea- 3>ord) and the four bavrlc-erinfers in company, worked up n> full speed. The Flag Lieutenant asked Beatty v.bat signals lie should make- to tlio tight cruisers and destroyers, which were spread Ten a wide front seeking for the on { caiy. fie •replied: “Signals—Why? Look!"

Tilts Aurora's signals had acted like a. “View Holloa’ 5 to the seaticred pack, aud the light cruisers and destroyers, commanded by ills young blo-ods of the Xavv. had 'turned, and were, racing towards the. sound of the guns—roaming at the hows, with smoke and flames pouring from their funnels.

IX FULL FLIGHT. By -9.,‘1f) a.m. Adm i rid Flipper, ill ibo Seydlitz, having realised that he was threatened By a superior force, was in full flight for home, with tht Moltke, Detflinger, Bluehor, lornlight cruisers, arid twenty-two destroyers.

Beatty, in the Jiion, with Tiger, Princess Royal, New Zealand, an< f Indomitable, tho First Light Cntiscr Squadron, aiul Fyi’whitt’a Harwich Force, wa s in hot pursuit 11 miles astern, with over IflO miles ol sea room.

Bv 9.35 four of our Bottle cruisers were engaged with Hie enemy’s lour ships; the Indomitable wap still out of range.

At 9.50. tlie Soydliiz was hit aft by a shell from Hie Lion, with terrible effort. Th ( . gun's iu the two after turrets uric put out of action, and their entire crew:; perished in the fierce fire which resulted, and which necessitated Uio flooding ot the after magazine. The enomv were concentrating illcir fire on the Lion, and from 10.13 nimvaids she suffered considerably. At 10.27 Ileally placed his ships on a line of hearing, with orders ro proceed at their utmost speed. At 10.15 (he Lion, which had been repeatedly hit, could no longer keep the lead owing to the damage she Tad sustained, and the Tiger drew ahead.

At 10.-17, Bendy, in his anxiety to dose to decisive -range, signalled, “close on the enemy os rapidly as possible consistent wirli hooping all guns bearing.” A minute inter the Blucher, which had dropped astern of Jjo-r consorts and was heavily on (ire. broke away fo the northward, and Beatty ordered the I ndombahle, which had just come into range, to engage her.

DEtlrTvE VICTORY NEAR, 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 Roval. and Now Zealand (ncii.iici- of which bad been hit) were heavily engaged, with the Sevdlitz, ■Mo like, and Derllinger. The Heyiltiiz and Derfliurrer were ablaze, and ATottke, which owing to a misunderstanding oil the part of th*> Tiger had not been fired at, was alone uninjured.

The Indomitable was capable ot speedily dispatt/TTing the Blueher — and a decisive victory seemed assured.

At 10.50 the Lion was hit by a heavy shell, which drove in the armour on the water-line abreast ol .one of the boi!e.r-roouws. and stopped one engine. All power and light failed, and she took a list of 10 degrees to norfcA. few minutes later the periscope of a submarine was reported ou the starboard'bow. To avoid it, Beatty ordered an alteration of eight points .to port together (thei'c was no Gotanau submarine within 60 miles), but •.two minutes aftei his signal had ■been 'iailTcTi uown he hoisted “Course jN.E.” again to closo the, enemy.

Thfa Lioiy however, bad rapidly lost way. and in order to ensure that the engagement would b© pressed, Boa tty ordered a signal to he made to “Engage the enemy more closely.” This age-old naval battle cry had (disappeared from /the modem 'Signal-book. “Engage” and “close” uiocessibated two signals: “Attack the ■enemy” at some specified point , and ■“Keep closer to the enemy.” .So “AttacJc the fear of the enOTy” 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.” jyere either misinterpreted, misun-

derstood, or unseen by iho .individual ships, which thou proceeded bo assist the Indomitable io destroy the pom- For in red Blucher. OPPORTU NITIIfIS LOST. The Lion’s •searchlights and wireless had .been destroyed, aud in a low minutes Beatty had. completely lost control. Although he transferred .To a. destroyer a s ‘Spoil as possible, It was noon before tie could assume command again aud in th° mean time the golden opportunities had passed. He had had no means of projecting his fierce, offensive spirit, which could nut rest content with anything short of complete victory, and the beaten, crippled enemy, still o(.) miles from home, were- allowed to make good ihciv escape unmolested at a speed reduced by their injuries to 21 knots.

This narrow escape, following closely oil that of December 1.6, mado a profound impression oji tho German High. Command. Sixteen months were to pass before German capital shins wore encountered again In iho North Sea.

Our casualties in this notion were: Lion—l. killed. 20 wounded; Tiger--10 killed, 1J wounded; -Meteor—4 killed. Total—ls killed. 02 woundo:»

Meteor (Captain. the Bon. FI. Hondo) suffered losses, and was severely damaged when gallantly leaning Jie.r division of destroyers to torpedo- tho Bluehor. No other British ship was damaged or sustained casualties in this action.

P.IG ENEMY LOSSES. Of the enemy’s vessels which escaped, the Seydlitz alone had 159 killed and 33 wounded. The Blu-r-her, which fought gallantly until she sank, lost 79“ killed., 4r> wounded, and ISO unwounded prisoners.

Many would have been saved had not a hostile airship, with true German chivalry—thoroughly appreciated by Ihciy luckless compatriots—bombed our boats which, were picking up men in the water, no doubt thinking Thai the Bjuclier wn.i a British ship.

Of the Tiger’s casualties, nine nl the killed were young stokers of tho fire party who, contrary to orders, corn a out of tlieir .sheltered position to watch the action. I would like to leave one more record of the spirit of the youth °f out- Navy. When ihe Lion look a heavy list, after being hit below the water line, and all. lights went out and dynamos ceased whirring, in the silence which ensued, a young oilit;cr‘s voice floated np the voice pip o to ills conning tower from the control loom 30 feet- below, “Well, *- suppose this is Kingdom Come or three weeks’ leave I”

TOWED BACK TO PORT. - The Lion was towed to Rosyih by ike Indomitable and Ihe Meteor to the Humber by the Liberty. According to a German official report, Ul7, 1732, and *1783 were scut out on ihe morning of tho 2-1 Hi towards the Humber to look for the damaged British ships. All three, wore 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 hi e)e neighbourhood ot the action

Although the Blucher had been sunkj and the Dogger. Bank action was hailed as a. great success, the Admiralty were, of course, verv disappointed that 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 jiis ontUion of certain officers very freely, and in scathing terms. J had known for some time that, 'U spite of tlie. friendly gesture he made after receiving iny letter of November 10, Lord Fisher was determined to got rid of an© out ©f his neighbourhood. But I was amusocl to learn, quite by chance,'that I was one of hig Dogger Bank “suspects.” That was by reason of a signal which, in fact, never came from me. A few days after the battle, on reading the official reports in the War Staff room at the Admiralty, \ learnt of the error, and notified the Admiralty that I had made no such signal. >■