Naval order of 24 October 1918

Op. 269/A I
Part of Naval Operations in the First World War
Planned	24 October 1918
Planned by	German Naval Staff
Target	Southern North Sea
Date	30–31 October 1918
Executed by	High Seas Fleet under Admiral Hipper
Outcome	Cancellation following outbreak of mutiny in the German Fleet

The Naval Order of 24 October 1918 was a plan made by the German Admiralty at the end of World War I to provoke a decisive battle between the German High Seas Fleet and the British Grand Fleet in the southern North Sea. When the order to prepare for the sortie was issued on 29 October, mutiny broke out aboard the German ships. Despite the operation being cancelled, these in turn led to the more serious Kiel mutiny, which was the starting point of the November Revolution and the proclamation of the Weimar Republic.

Background

The origin of this operation was the exchange of diplomatic notes beginning on 5 October 1918 between the new German government under Prince Max of Baden and President Woodrow Wilson, in which Germany asked the President to mediate an armistice. One of Wilson's preconditions was the cessation of Germany's submarine war. Despite the objections of Admiral Scheer, the Chief of the German Admiralty Staff, the German Government made this concession on 20 October. The U-boats at sea were recalled on 21 October. In response, on 22 October Scheer ordered Admiral Hipper, commander of the High Seas Fleet, to prepare for an attack on the British Fleet, utilizing the main battle fleet, reinforced by the newly available U-boats. Hipper's order was promulgated on 24 October, and approved by Scheer on 27 October. The Fleet then began to concentrate at Schillig Roads off Wilhelmshaven to prepare for the battle.

The German plan

State of the German fleet

The High Seas Fleet in October 1918 was built around the core of 18 battleships and 5 battlecruisers, most of which had been completed before the outbreak of war. Since the Battle of Jutland in May 1916, the obsolete pre-Dreadnoughts had been de-commissioned, two new battleships with 15-inch guns (Baden and Bayern) and the new battlecruiser Hindenburg had joined the fleet, but one Dreadnought battleship Rheinland had been damaged beyond repair by running aground in the Baltic. The fleet had undertaken only three sorties into the North Sea at full strength since June 1916: 18–19 August 1916, 18–19 October 1916, and 22–25 April 1918. This prolonged period of relative inactivity, at a time when all other branches of Germany's armed forces were very heavily engaged, did much to undermine the morale of the crews and the self-respect of the officers. Acts tantamount to mutiny took place on various occasions during 1917, the most noteworthy being the arrest of 200 men from the battleship Prinzregent Luitpold in August, resulting in two executions.

Full text of the order

The order of 24 October for the High Seas Fleet's attack is as follows:

Commander of the High Seas Fleet Op. 269/A I SMS KAISER WILHELM II , 24.10.1918 VERY SECRET O. MATTER O.-COMMAND No.19. A. Information about the enemy It is to be supposed that most of the enemy forces are in Scottish east coast ports, with detachments in the Tyne, the Humber and the Channel. B. Intentions The enemy will be brought to battle under conditions favorable for us. For this purpose, the concentrated High Seas forces will advance by night into the Hoofden, and attack combat forces and mercantile traffic on the Flanders coast and in the Thames estuary. This strike should induce the enemy to advance immediately with detachments of his fleet toward the line Hoofden/German Bight. Our intention is to engage these detachments on the evening of Day II of the operation, or to have them attacked by torpedo-boats during the night of Day II or III. In support of the main task the approach routes of the enemy from east Scottish ports to the sea area of Terschelling will be infested by mines and occupied by submarines. C. Execution i) Departure from the German Bight by day, out of sight of the Dutch coast; ii) Route through the Hoofden so that the attack on the Flanders Coast and the Thames Estuary takes place at dawn on Day II; iii) The Attack: a) against the Flanders coast by the commander of the 2nd Torpedo-Boat Flotilla with Graudenz, Karlsruhe, Nürnberg and the 2nd Torpedo-Boat Flotilla. b) against the Thames estuary by the 2nd Scouting Group with Königsberg, Köln, Dresden, Pillau and the 2nd Torpedo-Boat Half-Flotilla Covering of a) by the fleet and b) by the C-in-C of the Scouting Forces; iv) Return so as to reach the combat area favorable to us, near Terschelling, one or two hours before nightfall on Day II. v) Protection of the return (Day II) by part of the 8th Flotilla vi) Mine laying by the leader of 4th Scouting Group with 4th Scouting Group (supported by minelayers by Arkona and Möwe) and the 8th Flotilla, on the approaches of the enemy, in accord with plan No. I. vii) Disposition of submarines on the enemy routes in accord with plan No. III viii) Attack by torpedo-boats during the night of Day II to III, in case an encounter has already taken place, from near the Terschelling Light Vessel towards the Firth of Forth, in accordance with the orders of the commander of torpedo-boats. On the meeting of the torpedo-boats with the fleet in the morning of Day III, see the following order; ix) Entrance into the German Bight by departure route or by routes 420, 500 or 750, depending on the situation; x) Air reconnaissance: if possible.

U-boat operations

The plan called for 25 U-boats to be deployed in six lines in the southern North Sea, in the hope of ambushing British ships sailing to counter-attack the German Fleet raiding forces. Other U-boats were to undertake special operations involving British Naval Bases. On 23 October seven U-boats at large in the North Sea (U-108, UB-86, UB-121, UB-125, UB-96, UC-58 and U-60) were diverted by wireless signals to take up positions off Rosyth, in order to give the alarm when the British Fleet sailed, and hopefully launch attacks. In addition,U-43, also at sea, was directed to take up a watching position near the Tyne. Starting on 24 October, the other U-boats began departing from Heligoland to their patrol areas.

Two of these U-boats were lost. The first, U-78 (Oblt. Johann Vollbrecht), sailed on 27 October from Heligoland for a minelaying mission off the Scottish East Coast, but she was torpedoed and sunk the same day by the British submarine G2 in the central North Sea, roughly 280 nautical miles east of the Firth of Forth. All 40 crewmen were lost.

The other submarine to be sunk was UB-116, which sailed from Heligoland on 25 October with special orders to attack the British fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow. She was commanded by the 26-year-old Oberleutnant zur See Hans Joachim Emsmann who, since first becoming a U-Boat captain in February 1918, had sunk a total of 26 ships. She attempted to enter Scapa Flow submerged by the southern passage, Hoxa Sound, on the evening of 28 October. Hydrophones mounted ashore at Stanger Head, Flotta, alerted the British defenses, and the sea-bed magnetometer loops, designed to detect the magnetic signatures of incoming vessels and thus trigger remote-controlled mines, were activated. Emsmann raised his periscope at 11:30 pm, presumably to check his position, and was spotted by look-outs on shore; the mines detonated shortly thereafter, leaving the submarine disabled on the sea bed. There are reports that at least some of the crew survived the initial mine detonation and that tapping could be heard from the disabled vessel. She was finished off by depth-charges from defense trawlers shortly thereafter; all 36 crew members were lost.

Two other submarines, UB-98 and UB-118 were damaged in collision with each other on 28 October, and had to return to port. Two others, UB-87 and UB-130 also aborted their missions due to breakdowns.

British reaction

State of the Grand Fleet

In late October 1918 the British Grand Fleet, based at Rosyth in the Firth of Forth, had some 35 Dreadnought battleships and 11 battlecruisers (including two of the very lightly armored Courageous class). Twenty of these ships had been completed since the outbreak of war, and a third of them were armed with the highly effective 15-inch gun; the oldest capital ship in the fleet was Indomitable (commissioned in June 1908). Five of these ships were from the United States Navy and one from the Royal Australian Navy.

The materiel problems which beset the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland and beyond, (i.e. poor flash-protection in ammunition handling, lack of deck armour over magazines, deficient armour-piercing shells, and too few destroyers) had all been remedied to various extents. In particular, the newly designed "Green Boy" shells for the fleet's heavy guns were thought to be such a great improvement in offensive power that they nullified the advantage of the heavier armour protection of German battleships. Moreover, the fleet possessed new weapons (such as ship-borne torpedo aircraft, and fast steam-driven submarines) for which the German fleet had no match. The morale in the British Fleet was high in anticipation of a re-match for Jutland, the personality and leadership of the Commander-on-Chief, Admiral Sir David Beatty, being an important reason for this.

Intelligence

In the First World War British Naval Intelligence in general, and code-breaking in particular, was highly efficient. It played a very important role in the battles of Dogger Bank and Jutland, in the American entry into the war on the Allied side, and the defeat of the U-boats in 1917-18. By late 1917 improvements in German communications security had made intelligence gathering more difficult, at least as far as the High Seas Fleet was concerned. Between October 1917 and April 1918, the Germans were able to launch three surprise sorties into Norwegian waters against mercantile traffic, on the last occasion (22–25 April 1918) employing their whole fleet. Each time the British did not receive sufficiently timely warning to mount an effective counter-attack.

High-power wireless communications were essential for the control of U-boats at sea; but this also allowed efficient triangulation-based location of the U-boats by the Allies. In addition, U-boats employed a simpler cypher system than that used by the surface fleet, which Room 40, the British Admiralty's code-breaking section, could usually read with few difficulties. In October 1918 these methods allowed the Admiralty to track the U-boats sent to blockade Rosyth. As early as the afternoon of 23 October the Admiralty alerted Admiral Beatty that the situation was abnormal and that they would reinforce him by sending destroyers from the anti-submarine Flotillas based at Plymouth and Buncrana. By late on 28 October the situation was reaching a climax, and Vice Admiral Sydney Fremantle, the Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and Rear Admiral Reginald Hall, the Director of Naval Intelligence sent Beatty a full appreciation which read, in part:

″Dispositions of enemy submarines combined with positions of their large minefield recently laid and now clear constitutes fairly decisive evidence of his desire to draw the Grand Fleet out ... No evidence of how he proposes to achieve this object but evidence that no move of his battlefleet can take place before ... tomorrow night. No objective of the enemy is apparent that will not involve great risk for him. Therefore he may confine himself to emerging from the Bight and returning after making us aware of his exit by W/T signals. Unlikely the enemy will risk fleet action until the Armistice negotiations are settled one way or another. Press reports of German submarines proceeding home via the Norwegian Coast probably emanate from Germany and are intended to conceal existence of submarine trap.″

Throughout the following 48 hours, Fremantle was able to keep Beatty well informed of developments in a timely manner, correctly describing the concentration of the High Seas Fleet at Schillig Roads on the evening of the 29 October, and its intention to sail on the 30 October . Hipper's unexpected postponement of the operation on 30 October was initially ascribed to fog.

Assessment

Comparison of forces

The detailed orders of battle are given in the Appendix, and are summarized in the table below. The disparity in forces was roughly 2-to-1 in favor of the British. Had the battle been joined, it would have involved some 69 capital ships (in comparison with 58 involved at Jutland).

	Grand Fleet	Other British Forces	German Fleet
Dreadnought Battleships	35	0	18
Battle Cruisers	11	0	5
Armoured Cruisers	4	0	0
Light cruisers	36	8	14
Aircraft Carriers	3	0	0
flotilla leaders, destroyers and large torpedo-boats	146	99	60
Submarines	14	58	25

A realistic plan or pointless sacrifice?

Writing postwar, Admiral Scheer asserted that this plan might have achieved a favorable result for Germany, with any German losses balanced by losses to the British, so that the Germans would retain sufficient surface forces to protect a renewed U-Boat offensive. The High Seas Fleet had undertaken similar diversionary attacks intended to draw British units into a submarine/mine ambush before: the Action of 19 August 1916 was the one occasion when this tactic came closest to succeeding. A surface engagement off Terschelling near dusk on the second day offered some tactical advantages for the Germans and, if surprise were achieved, the Germans would have had a reasonable chance of inflicting more losses than they received before retiring with the bulk of their force intact. On 27 October the German Government had agreed to the surrender the fleet as part of the armistice; thus in strictly material terms, the German Navy had nothing to lose.

Admiral Beatty's specific intentions are not recorded, but there seems no doubt that he would have sailed as soon as the Germans were reported to be at sea, and would have aggressively pursued battle. With the war as good as won, there was no need of the prudence which had characterized Grand Fleet operations until then. Given the distances involved, if the German sortie were reported promptly and the Grand Fleet sailed immediately on receipt of such a report, there was every possibility that they could have cut off the German line of retreat and forced a fight to the finish. Admiral Hipper seemed well aware of the risk in this plan, and expressed a sanguinary attitude about it: "a battle for the honour of the fleet in this war, even if it were a death battle, it would be the foundation for a new German fleet.".

Henry Newbolt, the official historian of the Royal Navy during the First World War, compared Hipper's planned operation with Michiel de Ruyter's Raid on the Medway in June 1667, when the Dutch Fleet launched a surprise attack on the English naval bases in the Thames estuary, inflicting a serious defeat and in consequence securing a more favorable peace treaty for the Netherlands at the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

More recently, it has been argued that the plan was a deliberate act of counter-revolution by the German Naval High Command against Prince Max of Baden and the peace party: regardless of the outcome of the battle, the launching of the attack would have hopelessly compromised the armistice negotiations and the credibility of Prince Max's government.

Cancellation of the plan

The High Seas Fleet had assembled in Schillig Roads on the afternoon of 29 October in preparation for sailing the following day, 30 October. A ruse that operation was a training sortie was employed for security, as was usual practice. The raid on the Thames and the Flanders Coast were thus scheduled for dawn, 31 October, and the battle with the British Fleet in the afternoon and evening of the same day.

However the evening of 29 October was marked by unrest and serious acts of indiscipline in the German Fleet, as the men became convinced their commanders were intent on sacrificing them in a deliberate attempt to sabotage the Armistice negotiations. A large number of stokers from Derfflinger and Von der Tann failed to return from liberty ashore and were rounded up by the authorities; insubordination was rampant on board Thüringen, Kaiserin, Helgoland and Regensberg; and mutinous demonstrations took place in König, Kronprinz Wilhelm and Markgraf. Even in the fleet flagship Baden the mood of the crew was dangerous. The mutinous behavior was confined to the crews of the larger ships; the crews of torpedo-boats, submarines and minesweepers remained loyal

Bowing to the inevitable, Admiral Hipper cancelled the operation on 30 October and ordered the fleet dispersed in the hope of quelling the insurrection. However, the damage had been done: ships of the III. Battle Squadron, arrived at Kiel via the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal on 1 November, carrying with it the glowing ember of mutiny which would ignite with full force on 3 November.

Appendix: Orders of battle

Had this operation resulted in a battle between the British and German fleets, it would have been one of the largest Naval Battles in history. The following lists give details of the ships which would potentially have been involved.

German order of battle

The German fleet was to be organized into three groups, plus supporting submarines and airships, as follows

High Seas Fleet
Commander-in-Chief, High Seas Fleet: Admiral Franz Ritter von Hipper in battleship Baden

Scouting forces

Commander, Scouting Forces: RAdm Ludwig von Reuter in battle cruiser Hindenburg

I. SG (RAdm Reuter) battlecruisers: Hindenburg (F), Derfflinger, Moltke, Von der Tann, Seydlitz

II. SG (Cdre Viktor Harder) light cruisers: Königsberg (F), Karlsruhe, Pillau, Nürnberg, Köln, Dresden, Graudenz

Deputy Leader of Torpedo-Boats FKpt Hans Quaet-Faslem in light cruiser: Frankfurt

II. TBF destroyers: (3. hf) G101, G104, V100, G103, G102; (4. hf) destroyers: B97, B111, B109, B110, B112

I. TBF (detachment) torpedo boats: (2. hf) V130, S133, S135, S134, S139

VII. TBF (detachment) torpedo boats: (13. hf) S138, V83, S65, V78, S56

Main body (under Commander-in-Chief)

III. BS (VAdm Hugo Kraft), battleships: König (F), Bayern, Grosser Kurfürst, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Markgraf

Fleet Flagship battleship: Baden (F, Adm Hipper)

I. BS (VAdm Friedrich Bödicker) battleships: Ostfriesland (F), Thüringen, Posen, Nassau, Oldenburg, Westfalen, Helgoland

IV. BS (VAdm Hugo Meurer) battleships: Friedrich der Grosse (F), König Albert, Kaiserin, Prinzregent Luitpold, Kaiser

Leader of Torpedo-Boats Cdre Paul Heinrich^(GE) in light cruiser Emden

I. TBF torpedo boats: (1. hf) V129, G39, G86, G40, G38, S32

V. TBF torpedo boats: (9. hf) G11, V6, V3, V2; (10. hf) G8, G10, V5

VI. TBF torpedo boats: (11. hf) V128, V127, S132, S131, V126, V125; (12. hf) V43, V45, V44, S49, S50, V46

IX. TBF (17. hf) torpedo boats: V80, S52, S51, S60, S36

Minelaying group

IV. SG (RAdm Johannes von Karpf^(GE)) light cruisers: Regensburg (F), Bremse, Brummer, Strassburg, Stralsund; attached minelayers: Arcona, Möwe

VIII. TBF torpedo boats: (15. hf) T180, T193, T192, T195, T190, T189; (16. hf) torpedo boats: T178, T179, T176, T186

Airships: L65, L64, L63, L52, L61, L56, SL22
Submarines: thirty U-boats were assigned to this operation, in six patrol lines: U-43, U-52, U-53, U-60, U-62, U-78, U-86, U-91, U-94, U-96, U-100, U-107, U-108, U-113, U-162, UB-64, UB-67, UB-80, UB-86, UB-87, UB-93, UB-96, UB-98, UB-116, UB-118, UB-121, UB-125, UB-126, UB-130, UB-131, UC-58.

British order of battle

This is the administrative order of battle of the Grand Fleet and other important commands in Home Waters in late October 1918. We have excluded minesweepers, sloops and older vessels employed on patrol duties, confining ourselves only to forces likely to have been engaged had the German sortie gone ahead. Some of these ships may not in fact have been available to sail on 30 October due to breakdowns or routine maintenance. The Grand Fleet was based at Rosyth, with usually one Squadron detached to Scapa Flow for gunnery training.

Grand Fleet
Commander-in Chief: Adm Sir David Beatty in battleship Queen Elizabeth (attached light cruiser: Blanche, destroyer: Oak)

1st BS (Adm Sir Charles Madden) battleships: Revenge (F), Resolution, Royal Sovereign, Royal Oak, Ramillies, Emperor of India, Benbow, Iron Duke, Marlborough, Canada (attached cruiser: Bellona)

2nd BS (VAdm Sir John de Robeck) battleships: King George V (F), Ajax, Centurion, Erin, Orion, Thunderer, Monarch, Conqueror, Agincourt (attached cruiser: Boadicea)

4th BS (VAdm Sir Montague Browning) battleships: Hercules (F), Neptune, St. Vincent, Colossus, Bellerophon, Collingwood (attached cruiser: Blonde)

5th BS (VAdm A C Leveson) battleships: Barham (F), Malaya, Valiant, Warspite

6th BS (RAdm H Rodman) battleships: New York^(USN) (F), Texas^(USN), Arkansas^(USN), Wyoming^(USN), Florida^(USN)

Cruisers (with main body)

2nd CS (RAdm E F Bruen) armoured cruisers: Minotaur (F), Achilles, Cochrane, Shannon

4th LCS (RAdm A F Everett) light cruisers: Calliope (F), Cambrian, Constance, Comus, Cordelia, Caroline

7th LCS (RAdm G H Borrett) light cruisers: Carysfort (F), Cleopatra, Penelope, Aurora, Undaunted

Flying Squadron (RAdm R F Phillimore) aircraft carriers: Furious (F), Campania, Argus, Vindictive, Nairana, Pegasus

Battlecruiser force

Commander-in-Chief: VAdm Sir William Pakenham in battle cruiser Lion

1st BCS (RAdm Sir Henry Oliver) battle cruisers: Repulse (F), Renown, Princess Royal, Tiger

2nd BCS (RAdm Sir Lionel Halsey) battle cruisers: Australia^(RAN) (F), New Zealand, Indomitable, Inflexible

1st CS (VAdm T D W Napier) battle cruisers: Courageous, Glorious

1st LCS (RAdm W H Cowan): Caledon (F), Inconstant, Galatea, Phaeton, Royalist

2nd LCS (RAdm J A Fergusson): Birmingham (F), Dublin, Melbourne^(RAN), Sydney^(RAN), Yarmouth

3rd LCS (RAdm A T Hunt): Chatham (F), Birkenhead, Chester, Southampton

6th LCS (RAdm E S Alexander-Sinclair): Cardiff (F), Calypso, Caradoc, Cassandra, Ceres

Destroyer flotillas

Commodore (Destroyers): Cdre H J Tweedie in light cruiser: Castor

3rd DF leaders: Nimrod, Talisman; destroyers: Maenad, Mameluke, Marvel, Menace, Michael, Munster, Napier, Noble, Nonsuch, Onslaught, Petard

11th DF leaders: Valorous, Seymour, Kempenfelt; destroyers: Romola, Sarpedon, Tenacious, Tormentor, Tancred, Vivacious, Vittoria, Vortigern, Watchman, Versatile, Walker, Vancouver, Viscount, Walrus, Vanessa, Vanity, Voyager

12th DF leaders: Valhalla, Saumarez; destroyers: Simoom, Winchester, Wrestler, Scimitar, Torch, Vivien, Wolsey, Scotsman, Scout, Scythe, Tomahawk, Waterhen, Sepoy, Speedy, Seabear, Sirdar, Trinidad, Tryphon

13th DF light cruiser: Champion, leaders: Valentine, Valkyrie; destroyers: Vimiera, Vega, Vectis, Violent; Vendetta, Verulam, Wakeful, Westminster; Verdun, Viceroy, Vesper, Venetia; Wolfhound, Ursa, Ursula, Urchin; Umpire, Ulster, Tower, Tristram; Vidette, Winchelsea, Westcott; Windsor, Whitley, Woolston, Walpole, Wessex, Wryneck

14th DF leaders: Vampire, Anzac; destroyers: Ophelia, Relentless, Medina, Nonpareil, Observer, Opportune, Orestes, Pellew, Peyton, Plover, Patriot, Offa, Peregrine, Plucky, Norman, Orford, Pylades, Warwick, Velox, Whirlwind, Paladin, Penn, Octavia, Patrician, Tyrant, Splendid, Tobago, Sabre, Seafire, Seraph

15th DF leaders: Parker, Grenville; destroyers: Rapid, Sabrina, Radstock, Rowena, Ready, Raider, Restless, Rocket, Rigorous, Sable, Rob Roy, Salmon, Sorceress, Rosalind, Trenchant, Undine, Tirade

21st DF leaders: Botha, Douglas, Swift; destroyers: Miranda, Matchless, Milne, Morris, Murray, Mentor, Mansfield, Moorsom

Harwich Force

5th LCS (RAdm Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt) light cruisers: Curacoa (F), Centaur, Concord, Conquest, Coventry, Curlew, Danae, Dragon

10th DF leaders: Montrose, Bruce, Shakespeare, Spenser; destroyers: Starfish, Sybille, Redgauntlet, Satyr, Skate, Stork, Sturgeon, Sylph, Radiant, Redoubt, Skilful, Tempest, Thruster, Retriever, Sharpshooter, Springbok, Truculent, Sceptre, Torrid, Taurus, Tetrarch, Thisbe, Teazer, Sparrowhawk, Swallow, Tactician

Minelaying destroyers

20th DF (Immingham) leaders: Abdiel, Gabriel, destroyers: Ferret, Sandfly, Lawford, Legion, Prince, Tarpon, Telemachus, Vanquisher, Vanoc, Venturous

Destroyer reinforcements The following are the modern vessels in Buncrana, Devonport and Dover flotillas in October 1918. These flotillas were ordered to provide reinforcements to the Grand Fleet after 23 October. There were 16 L-class/M-class destroyers temporarily attached to the Grand Fleet on 11 November 1918.

2nd DF (Buncrana) destroyers: Mandate, Marne, Martial, Michael, Milbrook, Minos, Moresby, Nicator, Ossory, Pelican, Pigeon, Magic, Manners, Medway, Mindful, Mons, Mounsey, Mystic, Musketeer

4th DF (Devonport) leader: Faulknor; destroyers: Nereus, Oberon, Onslow, Oracle, Oriole, Orpheus, Pasley, Laertes, Lance, Laurel, Laverock, Lennox, Leonidas, Liberty, Lochinvar, Loyal, Lysander, Lookout, Minion, Narwhal, Nepean, Nerissa, Morning Star, Nizam, Norseman, Obdurate, Obedient, Oriana, Osiris, Rival

6th DF (Dover) leader: Broke; destroyers: Afridi, Amazon, Cossack, Crusader, Saracen, Viking, Zubian, Manly, Myngs, Melpomene, Termagant, Trident, Nugent, Phoebe

Submarines
operating with the Battle Fleet

12th S/MF: K2, K3, K5, K6, K7, K8, K15

13th S/MF: K9, K10, K11, K12, K14, K16, K22

North Sea patrols

8th S/MF (Yarmouth) submarines: H21, H28, H29, H30

9th S/MF (Harwich) submarines: E29, E31, E41, E43, E45, E51, E52, E53, E56, L9, L15, L14, L17, C23, C25

10th S/MF (Tees) submarines: E27, E33, E39, E40, E42, E44, G6, G12, G13, L11, L12, L16

11th S/MF (Blyth) submarines: G1, G2, G3, G4, G5, G10, J2, J3, J4, J5, J6, J7

14th S/MF (Blyth) submarines: H8, H11, H12, H14, H15, H22, H23, H24, H25, H26, L8, R1, R2, R9, R12

Notes and references

Abbreviations

Adm: Admiral
BCS: Battle Cruiser Squadron
BS: Battle Squadron (German: Geschwader)
Cdre: Commodore (German: Kommodore)
CS: Cruiser Squadron
DF: Destroyer Flotilla
F: Flagship
FKpt: Frigate Captain (German: Fregattenkapitän)
hf: half-flotilla (German: halbflottille)
LCS: Light Cruiser Squadron
RAdm: Rear Admiral (German: Kontreadmiral)
^(RAN): Denotes a ship of the Royal Australian Navy
S/MF: Submarine Flotilla
SG: Scouting Group (German: Aufklärungsgruppe)
TBF: Torpedo-Boat Flotilla (German: Torpedoboot Flottille)
^(USN): Denotes a ship of the United States Navy
VAdm: Vice Admiral (German: Vizeadmiral)

Published Sources

• Patrick Beesly (1984) Room 40: British Naval Intelligence, 1914-1918 (Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-281468-0).
• F. J. Dittmar and J. J. Colledge (1972), British Warships 1914-1919 (Shepperton: Ian Allan Ltd. SBN 7110 0380 7).
• Admiral Walter Gladisch ^(GE) (1965), Der Krieg zur See 1914-18/Nordsee Bd.7 (Frankfurt: Verlag E S Mittler & Sohn).
• Robert M. Grant (1969), U-Boat Intelligence 1914-1918 (London: Putnam).
• Erich Gröner^(GE)(1983), Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815-1945, Bd.2: Torpedoboote, Zerstörer, Schnellboote, Minensuchboote, Minenräumboote (Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. ISBN 3-7637-4801-6).
• Prof. Arthur J. Marder (1969), From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, Vol.5: Victory and Aftermath (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
• Henry Newbolt (1931),The History of the Great War: Naval Operations Vol.5 (London: Longmans, Green and Co.)
• Tobias R. Philbin III (1982), Admiral von Hipper: The Inconvenient Hero (Amsterdam: B. R. Grüner Publishing Co. ISBN 90-6032-200-2).
• Reinhard Scheer (1920), Germany's High Seas Fleet in the World War, English edition (London: Cassell and Company, Ltd.), Ch.18.
• Rear Admiral Arno Spindler (1966), Der Krieg zur See 1914-18/Handelskrieg mit U-booten, Bd.5 (Frankfurt: Verlag E S Mittler & Sohn).