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Honour - Dogger Bank 1915 |
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| Description |
A powerful German force under Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper intended
attacking British patrols in the area around Dogger Bank in the North Sea
about 60 miles east of Northumberland. It comprised the German 1st Scouting
Group, with the battlecruisers Seydlitz (Flagship, 25,000 tons, 10 x
11" guns), Der Flinger (28,000 tons, 8 x 12" guns), Moltke
(23,000 tons, 10 x 11" guns), plus the armoured cruiser Blucher (15,500
tons, 12 x 8.2" guns), 4 x light cruisers and 2 x destroyer flotillas. Vice-Admiral Beatty's battle squadron from Rosyth, plus the Harwich Force under Commodore Tyrwhitt, sailed and positioned themselves between the German ships and their base. During a high speed action Seyderlitz was hit and had her X and Y turrets disabled. Blucher was also hit and began to lose way. Then Lion was hit heavily and began to fall behind. Rear Admiral Moore in New Zealand took command of the pursuit but made the tactical error of concentrating the entire pursuing ships fire onto Blucher. Her destruction took about 3 hours and only 189 of her crew were rescued. By then the rest of the German Squadron had escaped and the chance of a much greater victory lost. Lion was towed to harbour, British losses were 15 killed and 80 wounded. The Germans lost 954 killed and hundreds more wounded.
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| HM Ships | ||||
| Acheron | Arethusa | Ariel | Attack | Aurora |
| Birmingham | Defender | Druid | Ferret | Forester |
| Goshawk | Hornet | Hydra | Indomitable | Jackal |
| Laertes | Laforey | Landrail | Lapwing | Lark |
| Laurel | Lawford | Legion | Liberty | Lion |
| Lookout | Louis | Lowestoft | Lucifer | Lydiard |
| Lysander | Mastiff | Mentor | Meteor | Milne |
| Minos | Miranda | Morris | New Zealand | Nottingham |
| Phoenix | Princess Royal | Sandfly | Southampton | Tiger |
| Tigress | Undaunted | |||
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This page last edited -
05 December, 2012.
Copyright © Ian M King, except where otherwise indicated. |
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