| Action of 15 February 1918 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War I | |||||||
 Chief Skipper A E Berry DSC commander of British Flotilla | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Royal Navy |
 Kaiserliche Marine | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Chief Skipper A.E. Berry |
 Captain Heinecke | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| At least 13 drifters, 1 paddle minesweeper | 5 Destroyers | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| unknown | ||||||
The Action of 15 February 1918 was a naval engagement which occurred during the First World War. The action was fought between a Imperial German destroyer squadron and the lightly armed ships of the Dover Patrol in the Strait of Dover, English Channel.[1]
Background[]
By the beginning of 1918 a deep mine barrage across the Dover Strait from Folkestone to Cape Gris Nez, on the French coast was in place. The Germans didn't know of its existence as any U-boats that came across it were destroyed.[2] The minefield worked in combination with a squadron of Royal Navy trawlers who, upon sighting a submarine, would drive it into the minefield by means of gunfire and flares. Between 18 December 1917 and 9 February 1918, five German submarines had been sunk in the minefield.[A 1] The Germans didn't know about the minefield and thought the Royal Navy ships were sinking the submarines. The Imperial German Naval command decided to send a Destroyer unit to attack the Royal Navy ships.[2]
Action[]
British forces in the Channel sighted a submarine around 1:00 AM on 15 February 1918. As drifters attempted to force the submarine into the minefield in the usual manner, they were attacked by a force of German destroyers. The German ships appeared to use one destroyer to illuminate the target with a searchlight long enough for the other ships to get the range at which point the entire group would fire. The German destroyers enjoyed a considerable advantage in firepower over the smaller and scattered enemy craft and moved from one British vessel to the next, destroying each in turn.
In a similar fashion the Violet May was attacked and heavily damaged two Enginemen Ewing and Noble were able to launch a boat and row to safety. When the Germans left, they rowed back and re-boarded their burning ship, treated wounded and brought the fires under control, thus saving their ship. When dawn broke the drifter Courage towed them to Dover. The two engineers each were awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.[2]
Aftermath[]
Ships lost[]
| Ship | Country | Description |
|---|---|---|
| HMT Christina Craig | Royal Navy
|
The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine destropyer with the loss of all hands.[2][3] |
| HMT Clover Bank | Royal Navy
|
The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine warship with the loss of all but one of her crew.[2][3] |
| HMT Cosmos | Royal Navy
|
The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine destroyer. Three of her crew survived.[2][3] |
| HMT James Pond | Royal Navy
|
The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine warship with the loss of three of her crew.[2][3] |
| HMT Jamie Murray | Royal Navy
|
The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine destroyer.[2][3] |
| HMML 12 | Royal Navy
|
The motor launch was shelled and sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserlich Marine destroyer.[2] |
| HMS Newbury | Royal Navy
|
The Racecourse-class minesweeper was shelled and set on fire by German torpedo boats.[2][4][5][6] Twelve of her crew were killed.[7] |
| HMT Silver Queen | Royal Navy
|
The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine destroyer.[2][3] |
| HMT Veracity | Royal Navy
|
The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine destroyer.[2][3] |
| HMT W. Elliott | Royal Navy
|
The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine destroyer.[2][3] |
Annotations[]
Bibliography[]
Notes
- ↑ Stevenson 2004
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 Dunn 1933, p. 9
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 The Times 1918, p. 6
- ↑ Karau 2014, pp. 176–178
- ↑ "Vessel ID: 372065: Paddle Minesweeper: Newbury". Warship Histories, vol ii. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130731030802/https://www.rmg.co.uk/upload/pdf/Warship_Histories_Vessels_ii.pdf. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
- ↑ "Vessel ID: 370159: Paddle Minesweeper: Lingfield". Warship Histories, vol ii. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130731030802/https://www.rmg.co.uk/upload/pdf/Warship_Histories_Vessels_ii.pdf. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
- ↑ Kindell, Don (22 February 2011). "1st - 28th February 1918: in date, ship/unit & name order". World War 1 - Casualty Lists of the Royal Navy and Dominion Navies. Naval-history.net. https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1918-02Feb.htm. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
References
- Dunn, R.C.C. (25 March 1933). "The Dover Strait Raid". Australia Victoria Melbourne. ISSN 1833-9719. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4726055. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- The Times (16 February 1918). "Error: no
|title=specified when using {{Cite web}}". - Karau, Mark D. (2014). The Naval Flank of the Western Front: The German MarineKorps Flandern 1914–1918. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-231-8.
- Stevenson, David (2004). 1914-1918: The History of the First World War. Penguin UK. ISBN 9780141904344. - Total pages: 784
The original article can be found at Action of 15 February 1918 and the edit history here.