The Germans were using flotillas of destroyers
to patrol the Bight, but British submarines
had figured out the times and courses used
when the patrols changed. After several embarrassing
incidents at sea, including a destroyer attack
on a friendly steamer and one engagement
where a single German light cruiser has put
a British light cruiser and 16 destroyers
into full flight, the British decided it
was time to take the offensive.
The British planned to use three surfaced
submarines to pull the German patrol flotilla
further out to sea, which would deplete their
fuel and delay their return to base. Then
the 31 destroyers based at Harwich, led by
the light cruisers Arethusa and Fearless,
and commanded by Commodore Tyrwhitt, would
sneak into the Bight at dawn and chase back
the out coming German patrol. They would
then be in position to destroy the incoming
patrol, which would be short of fuel with
the British forces between themselves and
their base. The German heavy units would
not be able to assist the patrols, as the
tide would not allow the German heavies to
clear the sandbar until 1 PM. Six light cruisers
of Commodore Goodenough's command would follow
the destroyer flotillas into the Bight and
assist.
Six of Commodore Keyes' submarines would
be stationed to intercept any ships that
did leave the Jade, and the battlecruisers
Invincible and New Zealand would stand by
in the Humber as support, should they be
needed. Keyes suggested that further BC support
should come from Jellicoe, but the Admiralty
rejected that idea.
But a sudden need to transport 3000 Royal
Marines cross-channel made the Admiralty
change their minds, and they instructed Jellicoe
to send assistance.
Jellicoe offered to send three battlecruisers
(Lion, Princess Royal, and Queen Mary) and
six light cruisers under Beatty as further
support, to destroy German light cruisers
that patrolled the Elbe and Ems river estuaries,
should they come to the assistance of the
trapped German patrol or threaten the cross-channel
movement.
The plan sounded great on paper, but the
telegrams informing Tyrwhitt and Keyes of
Beatty's intentions did not arrive, and no
one told Beatty where Keyes' submarines were.
Due to radio silence, no messages could be
sent, so Beatty and Tyrwhitt's forces had
some tense moments when the two groups met
in the early morning. Fatal mistakes were
avoided on the surface, but there was a fair
chance that Beatty's battlecruiser would
be torpedoed by their own subs, as it was
assumed that any large ships sighted would
be German.
The German guessed that a British attack
was coming about the time Tyrwhitt's forces
sailed south to put the end of the German
line 12 miles off their port beam, thanks
to excessive wireless traffic from the British
ships. Light cruisers and torpedo boats were
dispatched to intercept.
The British group sighted two groups of German
destroyers, one off each side of the bow.
The outnumbered Germans turned for home,
with the British giving chase. The British
ran into the light cruiser Stettin, which
mixed it up for 25 minutes with Arethusa,
in a high-speed running battle to the South.
Soon the light cruiser Frauenlob joined in,
and at short range hammered the British ship.
The Germans turned away at the edge of their
patrol zone, leaving Arethusa with only one
operational gun, three feet of water in the
engine room, and her wireless out of action.
Fearless came alongside, and Tyrwhitt transferred
his flag while attempting to assemble his
scattered destroyers.
The British resumed their Westerly course
to roll up the German line. They first ran
into the destroyer V 187, which avoided Arethusa
and Fearless but ran into two of Goodenough's
light cruisers. V 187 tried to avoid them,
but turned into 4 British destroyers and
was sunk with heavy loss of life. The British
stopped to pick up survivors, but the German
cruiser Stettin re-appeared and the fight
resumed. Two boats belonging to HMS Defender
were left behind, and their crews and the
rescued Germans were later picked up by the
submarine E4. Unable to take all of them
on board, E4's captain took a few German
prisoners and left the rest the boats, water,
biscuits, a compass, and the course to steer
back to their base.
The British forces tried to track down the
German forces in the Bight, but Keyes sighted
Goodenough's forces and reported them as
the enemy. Goodenough realized the danger,
and withdrew his ships to avoid a friendly
fire incident.
The British forces stormed about, chasing
the shadowy ghosts they sighted through the
mists, but ended up just chasing each other
while the Germans escaped. By 1010 hours,
Arethusa was underway at a maximum speed
of 10 knots, with no assurance that she would
get home. In exchange, the British had sunk
only one German destroyer, hardly the results
they anticipated. The British destroyers
turned for home per the plan, with the light
cruisers covering their withdrawal.
The German battlecruiser were penned behind
the sand bar, but light cruisers were coming
out to meet the British. The light cruiser
Strassburg engaged the British destroyers,
and a wireless call from Fearless led to
Goodenough's cruisers swooping in to drive
her off. The light cruiser Mainz appeared
next, but a trick of the light caused the
British to mistake her for a much larger
armored cruiser, the type used to scout for
the High Sea Fleet. Thinking that he was
about to be jumped by the German battlecruisers,
Tyrwhitt wired to Beatty "Respectfully
request that I may be supported. Am hard
pressed."
Beatty charged in to save the light forces,
ignoring the danger presented by his own
submarines, because the glassy calm waters
made spotting an attacking submarine fairly
easy. The destroyers were ordered to return
to the Bight, and some were soon in action
against the Mainz. For 15 minutes neither
side scored any hits, but at 1150 they closed
to ultra-short range. The destroyers Laurel
and Liberty were badly damaged.
Mainz then turned on Goodenough's light cruisers,
probably mistaking them for more destroyers
in the mist, but soon had her rudder disabled
by a shell hit. As she circled, she was struck
by a torpedo and lost speed rapidly. Surrounded
by British destroyers and cruisers, Mainz
continued to fight until only one gun remained,
and her captain ordered her scuttled. But
before the order was passed on, the British
battlecruisers appeared, guns blazing at
the cruiser. Mainz opened up with her one
gun, and was torn apart by Lion, Princess
Royal, Queen Mary, New Zealand, and Invincible.
Mainz was ordered abandoned, and as she sank
the British destroyer Lurcher came alongside
so German sailors could jump on her quarterdeck.
Mainz slipped beneath the waves at 1310.
One of the survivors was Lieutenant von Tirpitz,
son of the German Minister of Marine. Word
of his capture and safety was passed to the
German Admiral in a personal message from
Churchill, via the Red Cross.
Meanwhile, the British battlecruisers ran
into other German light cruisers. Two salvos
from Lion disabled Koln. Ariadne appeared
out of the mist, and was blasted by salvos
from the British battlecruisers. She caught
fire and staggered back into the fog, to
sink two hours later. The BCs then turned
their attention back to Koln, and while steaming
slowly in circles hammered the little cruiser
to pieces. Of her crew of 380, only a handful
abandoned ship, and only one of them survived
to be rescued 76 hours later.
At around 1310 Beatty considered his position:
he had sunk Koln and Mainz, and Ariedne was
sinking. But British forces were scattered,
Arethusa might sink, there were a number
of German torpedo-carrying ships scattered
in the fog, and the raising tide would have
let the German battlecruisers out of the
Jade an hour before. It was time to go. The
recall order was sent out, and the British
ships began to exit the Bight.
This was a wise chose, for the German battlecruisers
Seydlitz, Moltke, and Von der Tann had left
the Jade and would arrive around 1500 hours.
They would join the light cruisers Stralsund,
Strassburg, Stettin, Frauenlob, Kolberg,
Danzig, and Hela in an attempt to round up
any stray British cruisers or destroyers.
Arethusa's engines finally gave out about
1500, but she made port in tow of the armored
cruiser Hogue.
The final cost was 35 British killed and
40 wounded, to German losses of over 1000
killed, wounded, or captured, having lost
three light cruisers and a destroyer.
The British made much of their victory, their
first real success in the war at sea. But
there success was mostly just luck.
The Kaiser decided to take more steps to
protect his precious High Seas Fleet, so
the aggressive patrols were stopped and the
Bight was mined.