WWI Naval History: Jutland, Raiders and Scapa Flow
The First World War at sea was the age of the dreadnought, the commerce raider and the experimental submarine. Read how SMS Emden faked a funnel to raid Penang, how the Royal Navy lost steam submarines to its own fleet, and how Germany sank its entire interned navy at Scapa Flow.
The First World War ran from 1914 to 1918, with Britain, France, Russia and later the United States against Germany and its allies. At sea it was a war between two big battle fleets that met in force only once, fought around them by raiders, submarines and mines. The stories here cover the fleets, the raiders and the strange ships that came out of it.
The dreadnought race
The naval side of the war started before 1914. In 1906 HMS Dreadnought made every battleship afloat obsolete: heavy armour, ten 12-inch guns and steam turbines. Britain and Germany spent the next eight years building fleets around her design. Dreadnought herself never fired on an enemy battleship. Her only kill came in 1915, when her bow cut the submarine U-29 in two.
The Royal Navy also tried to make its submarines keep up with the battle fleet. The answer was steam. The K-class submarines made 24 knots on the surface and needed five minutes to dive. None were sunk by the enemy. Six sank anyway, several in collisions with their own fleet.
Raiders, U-boats and the war on trade
Germany’s overseas cruisers went after merchant shipping from the first weeks. SMS Emden captured or sank over twenty ships in the Indian Ocean, then rigged a fake fourth funnel, slipped into Penang in October 1914 and torpedoed the Russian cruiser Zhemchug at anchor while her captain was ashore at a hotel.
The U-boat became the bigger weapon. On 7 May 1915, U-20 fired one torpedo into the liner Lusitania off the south coast of Ireland. Survivors felt two explosions and she was gone in eighteen minutes. The arguments about the warning notice, the cargo and the second blast are still running.
Small ships fought in the narrow seas. In the Channel in late 1916, one Tribal-class destroyer lost her bow to a torpedo and another lost her stern to a mine. The Royal Navy joined the halves and sent the result, HMS Zubian, back to the Dover Patrol, where she sank a U-boat. The United States entered the war in 1917, and in March 1918 the collier USS Cyclops vanished between Barbados and Baltimore with 306 people. No wreck has been found.
Jutland
The one big fleet action came on 31 May 1916. At Jutland, three British battlecruisers exploded and took more than 3,300 men with them. Beatty’s flagship Lion took the same kind of hit and survived because of a dying Royal Marine and a warrant officer who had enforced the magazine rules. HMS Warspite’s helm jammed and she circled twice in front of the German High Seas Fleet, then lived to fight through the next war too. The German fleet went home and never again risked a full fleet action.
Revolution and endings
Russia’s navy came into the war already damaged. The cruiser Aurora had been shot at by her own squadron off Dogger Bank in 1904, survived Tsushima, and in 1917 her crew mutinied. On the evening of 25 October 1917 she fired a single blank round on the Neva, which Soviet lore made the signal for the assault on the Winter Palace.
Germany’s fleet ended the war interned at Scapa Flow. On 21 June 1919 its own crews opened the valves, and 52 warships sank in a British anchorage while a boatload of schoolchildren watched.
The United States closed its war with a ceremony. In 1921 the old cruiser USS Olympia, Dewey’s flagship at Manila Bay, carried the Unknown Soldier home from France and nearly lost him to an Atlantic storm on the way.
All World War I stories
SMS Emden: The Raider Who Faked a Funnel and Killed a Ship in Port
SMS Emden rigged a fake fourth funnel, slipped into British-controlled Penang harbor, and torpedoed the Russian cruiser Zhemchug. Her captain was at the E&O Hotel with a woman. He watched through the window.
The Royal Navy Put Steam Engines in Submarines and Lost More Boats to Themselves Than to the Enemy
The British K-class submarines were steam-powered, 339 feet long, and needed five minutes to dive. None were sunk by the enemy. Six sank anyway.
The Day Germany Sank Its Own Navy in Someone Else's Harbor
On June 21, 1919, a German rear admiral sent a two-word coded signal. Within five hours, 52 warships sank in a British anchorage while 160 schoolchildren watched from an excursion boat.
306 Men Sailed Out of Barbados and the Navy Never Found a Single One
USS Cyclops left Barbados on March 4, 1918 with 306 people and 11,000 tons of manganese ore. No distress signal. No wreckage. No explanation. It's the largest non-combat loss of life in US Navy history and nobody knows what happened.
The Cruiser That Got Shot by Its Own Fleet, Started a Revolution, and Became a Museum
Russia's 2nd Pacific Squadron mistook British fishermen for Japanese torpedo boats. Aurora took fire from her own battleships. Then she survived Tsushima, fired the shot that started the Bolshevik revolution, and never left.
The Ship That Almost Lost the Unknown Soldier to the Atlantic
In 1921, the casket wouldn't fit below deck. They lashed it to the open deck. Then a hurricane hit.
Jutland, 1916: The Gunner Who Kept Beatty's Flagship From Exploding
Three British battlecruisers exploded at Jutland and took more than 3,300 men with them. The flagship Lion took the same kind of hit and survived, thanks to a dying Royal Marine and a warrant officer who enforced the rules everyone else ignored.
One Torpedo, Two Explosions: What Actually Sank the Lusitania
U-20 fired one torpedo at the Lusitania on 7 May 1915. Survivors felt two blasts. A century of arguments about munitions, coal dust and a newspaper warning, sorted into what is known and what is not.
HMS Warspite Circled Under Fire at Jutland, Survived a Guided Bomb, and Lost Her Last Fight to a Cornish Cove
HMS Warspite jammed her rudder at Jutland and circled twice in front of the German fleet, hit an Italian battleship from about 24,000 metres at Calabria and survived a German guided bomb at Salerno. In April 1947 her tow to the breakers parted and she went onto the rocks at Prussia Cove in Cornwall.
HMS Dreadnought: The Battleship That Rewrote the Rules, Got Pranked, and Rammed a U-Boat
HMS Dreadnought made every battleship afloat obsolete in 1906. Four years later Virginia Woolf and five friends talked their way aboard in fake beards. Her only kill came in 1915, and it wasn't with her guns.
The Navy Welded Two Broken Destroyers Together and Sent the Result Back to War
HMS Zulu lost her stern to a mine. HMS Nubian lost her bow to a torpedo. The Royal Navy joined the front of one to the back of the other, named her HMS Zubian, and she sank a U-boat.