Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
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Armored Cruiser As "Live Baits"!
On September 22, 1914, the three British armored cruisers "Aboukir" ...
..."Hogue"...
...and "Cressy"...
... sail a war patrol in the sea area called "Hoofden" off the coast of the Netherlands.
The three cruisers are technically completely out of date: They have no belt armor to protect the side hull above and below the waterline and no torpedo bulkheads!
When they were built between 1900 and 1904, the coal bunkers built into the side of the hull were considered to be sufficient "armor" against mines.
Far-sighted naval strategists such as Winston Churchill have no illusions about the combat value and stability of these three old ships and contemptuously call the three armored cruisers the "live bait squadron".
Nobody had expected submarines in 1900 - and even now, in 1914, the British view the submarine as a defensive means of defense for shallow coastal waters.
Offensive submarines were not yet envisaged in the British naval doctrine of 1914.
When the cruiser HMS "Aboukir" was shaken by a heavy explosion at 6:20 am ...
... and immediately afterwards begins to sink, the commander suspects that his ship has run into a mine and calls HMS "Hogue" and HMS "Cressy" for help.
The two sister ships take many of the crew members of "Aboukir" on board - and after 25 minutes the fatally hit ship disappeared from the surface of the water.
"Aboukir" was not sunk by a mine, but by a torpedo that the German submarine "U9" ...
...under Kapitänleutnant Otto Weddigen...
... has fired!
However, "Cressy" and "Hogue" have no idea of this - stay in place and search the surface of the water for survivors of the "Aboukir" - perfect targets for the German submarine!
At exactly 7 o'clock HMS "Hogue" got hit!
Weddigen unleashes two torpedoes at the old armored cruiser, which immediately lies on its side ...
... and sinks like a stone in just 15 minutes.
On "Cressy" one can no longer assume a mine hazard, because "U9" has since appeared after Weddigen calmly reloaded his torpedo tubes.
The armored cruiser desperately tries to pick up speed in order to be able to take evasive maneuvers (the slower a ship goes, the worse the rudder works!).
Weddigen releases two "eels" again at 7:30 am - "Cressy" can avoid the first one, the second hits the starboard amidships full!
Like its two sister ships, "Cressy" immediately got a heavy list and sank at 7:55.
"U9" leaves the scene of the one-sided slaughter and expires - the boat has no space to accommodate the hundreds of British sailors who are now desperately fighting for their lives in the water.
Two neutral steamers passing by under the Dutch flag, the "Titan" and the "Flora" save many of the British from drowning.
837 men survived the sinking of the three armored cruisers.
However, the losses of the Royal Navy are much higher: on this day 62 officers and 1,405 men go down with the three armored cruisers.
From this September 22nd, the British take the danger posed by German submarines seriously!
As an immediate measure, the entire British battle fleet is moved all the way north to the natural harbor "Scapa Flow" on the Orkney Islands - beyond the reach of German submarines, as the British (incorrectly) assumed ...:
Second, all "live bait" armored cruisers are withdrawn from the front, which is why the huge (armed and loaded with ammunition!) British liner "Lusitania" is sunk by another submarine on May 7, 1915 ...:
1,198 people perish, including 94 children and 287 women ...:
The support ship HMS "Juno" planned for the "Lusitania" ...
... was also one of the "live bait" ships, had received an exit ban from the Admiralty and was not allowed to leave the port of Cork Corcaigh)!
And thirdly, the British are frantically trying to develop suitable defensive measures against German submarines!
The strangest attempt is surely to train seagulls in such a way that they deposit their excrement on submarine periscopes in order to block the view of the submarine!
In the autumn of 1914, the naval port of Portmouth was teeming with floating cans (which were supposed to represent periscopes) and gulls eager to leave ...!
The commander of "U9", Kapitänleutnant Otto Weddigen, got the Order "Pour le Merite" for the hree sunk armored cruisers - and a new command of the larger and more modern boat "U 29" ...:
On March 18, 1915 "U 29" meets the famous battleship HMS "Dreadnought". This new "all big gun battleship" gave the name to a whole class of battleships of their time ...:
"Dreadnopught" sees "U 29", Weddigen can no longer dive fast enough - and his boat is cut into two parts by "Dreadnought" by ramming and sinks with the entire crew ...:
This was the only combat action the famous battleship took part in during World War I.
It was not taken to the Skagerak Battle because it was built in 1906 and was considered "out of date" ...
On September 22, 1914, the three British armored cruisers "Aboukir" ...
..."Hogue"...
...and "Cressy"...
... sail a war patrol in the sea area called "Hoofden" off the coast of the Netherlands.
The three cruisers are technically completely out of date: They have no belt armor to protect the side hull above and below the waterline and no torpedo bulkheads!
When they were built between 1900 and 1904, the coal bunkers built into the side of the hull were considered to be sufficient "armor" against mines.
Far-sighted naval strategists such as Winston Churchill have no illusions about the combat value and stability of these three old ships and contemptuously call the three armored cruisers the "live bait squadron".
Nobody had expected submarines in 1900 - and even now, in 1914, the British view the submarine as a defensive means of defense for shallow coastal waters.
Offensive submarines were not yet envisaged in the British naval doctrine of 1914.
When the cruiser HMS "Aboukir" was shaken by a heavy explosion at 6:20 am ...
... and immediately afterwards begins to sink, the commander suspects that his ship has run into a mine and calls HMS "Hogue" and HMS "Cressy" for help.
The two sister ships take many of the crew members of "Aboukir" on board - and after 25 minutes the fatally hit ship disappeared from the surface of the water.
"Aboukir" was not sunk by a mine, but by a torpedo that the German submarine "U9" ...
...under Kapitänleutnant Otto Weddigen...
... has fired!
However, "Cressy" and "Hogue" have no idea of this - stay in place and search the surface of the water for survivors of the "Aboukir" - perfect targets for the German submarine!
At exactly 7 o'clock HMS "Hogue" got hit!
Weddigen unleashes two torpedoes at the old armored cruiser, which immediately lies on its side ...
... and sinks like a stone in just 15 minutes.
On "Cressy" one can no longer assume a mine hazard, because "U9" has since appeared after Weddigen calmly reloaded his torpedo tubes.
The armored cruiser desperately tries to pick up speed in order to be able to take evasive maneuvers (the slower a ship goes, the worse the rudder works!).
Weddigen releases two "eels" again at 7:30 am - "Cressy" can avoid the first one, the second hits the starboard amidships full!
Like its two sister ships, "Cressy" immediately got a heavy list and sank at 7:55.
"U9" leaves the scene of the one-sided slaughter and expires - the boat has no space to accommodate the hundreds of British sailors who are now desperately fighting for their lives in the water.
Two neutral steamers passing by under the Dutch flag, the "Titan" and the "Flora" save many of the British from drowning.
837 men survived the sinking of the three armored cruisers.
However, the losses of the Royal Navy are much higher: on this day 62 officers and 1,405 men go down with the three armored cruisers.
From this September 22nd, the British take the danger posed by German submarines seriously!
As an immediate measure, the entire British battle fleet is moved all the way north to the natural harbor "Scapa Flow" on the Orkney Islands - beyond the reach of German submarines, as the British (incorrectly) assumed ...:
Second, all "live bait" armored cruisers are withdrawn from the front, which is why the huge (armed and loaded with ammunition!) British liner "Lusitania" is sunk by another submarine on May 7, 1915 ...:
1,198 people perish, including 94 children and 287 women ...:
The support ship HMS "Juno" planned for the "Lusitania" ...
... was also one of the "live bait" ships, had received an exit ban from the Admiralty and was not allowed to leave the port of Cork Corcaigh)!
And thirdly, the British are frantically trying to develop suitable defensive measures against German submarines!
The strangest attempt is surely to train seagulls in such a way that they deposit their excrement on submarine periscopes in order to block the view of the submarine!
In the autumn of 1914, the naval port of Portmouth was teeming with floating cans (which were supposed to represent periscopes) and gulls eager to leave ...!
The commander of "U9", Kapitänleutnant Otto Weddigen, got the Order "Pour le Merite" for the hree sunk armored cruisers - and a new command of the larger and more modern boat "U 29" ...:
On March 18, 1915 "U 29" meets the famous battleship HMS "Dreadnought". This new "all big gun battleship" gave the name to a whole class of battleships of their time ...:
"Dreadnopught" sees "U 29", Weddigen can no longer dive fast enough - and his boat is cut into two parts by "Dreadnought" by ramming and sinks with the entire crew ...:
This was the only combat action the famous battleship took part in during World War I.
It was not taken to the Skagerak Battle because it was built in 1906 and was considered "out of date" ...
