Action of 15 February 1918

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Action of 15 February 1918
Part of World War I

Chief Skipper A E Berry DSC commander of British Flotilla
Date15 February 1918
Location
Strait of Dover minefield, English Channel
Result 9 ships sunk
Belligerents
 Royal Navy  Imperial German Navy
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom Chief Skipper A.E. Berry German Empire Korvettenkapitän Oskar Heinecke (II. Torpedoboots-Flottille)
Strength
At least 13 drifters, 1 paddle minesweeper 5 Destroyers, 8 Torpedo Boats
Casualties and losses
  • 1 Trawler sunk
  • 7 drifters sunk
  • 1 paddle minesweeper sunk
  • 6 drifters damaged
  • 3 Royal Naval Reserve officer KIA
  • 7 skippers KIA
  • 12 men were KIA
  • 54 MIA
  • 13 WIA
 none

The action of 15 February 1918 was a naval engagement which occurred during the First World War. The action was fought between an Imperial German destroyer squadron and the lightly armed ships of the Dover Patrol in the Strait of Dover, English Channel.[1]

Background[edit]

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]

The British had a light cruiser and three destroyers in the Downs, two destroyers on the West Barrage Patrol, four destroyers on the East Barrage Patrol and two paddle minesweepers, a monitor, a destroyer, a Patrol boat, two French torpedo boats and 10 trawlers supporting the 58 drifters patrolling the deep minefield. There should have been a monitor with 12 or 15 inch guns on duty but none was available so the 7.5 inch gunned HMS M26 was on duty.[3]

Action[edit]

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[edit]

Ships lost[edit]

List of shipwrecks: 15 February 1918
Ship State Description
HMT Christina Craig  Royal Navy The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine destroyer with the loss of all hands.[4][2]
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.[4][2]
HMT Cosmos  Royal Navy The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine destroyer. Three of her crew survived.[4][2]
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.[4][2]
HMT Jamie Murray  Royal Navy The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine destroyer.[4][2]
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][5][6][7] Twelve of her crew were killed.[8]
HMT Silver Queen  Royal Navy The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine destroyer.[4][2]
HMT Veracity  Royal Navy The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine destroyer.[4][2]
HMT W. Elliott  Royal Navy The naval trawler was sunk in the Strait of Dover by a Kaiserliche Marine destroyer.[4][2]

Annotations[edit]

  1. ^ These U-boats were lost in the area during this time frame: SM UB-56 19 December 1917, SM U-93 January 1918, SM U-109 26 January 1918, SM UB-22 19 January 1918, SM UB-38 8 February 1918

Bibliography[edit]

Notes

  1. ^ Stevenson 2004
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Dunn 1933, p. 9
  3. ^ German Attack on the Dover Straits 14-15 February 1918
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h The Times 1918, p. 6
  5. ^ Karau 2014, pp. 176–178
  6. ^ "Vessel ID: 372065: Paddle Minesweeper: Newbury" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol ii. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  7. ^ "Vessel ID: 370159: Paddle Minesweeper: Lingfield" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol ii. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  8. ^ 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. Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.

References

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