The book is picked up again. This issue is the last installment of the history of naval combat during World War I. The previous issue told about the naval battles fought by the belligerents in West Asia and the Middle East near the Ottoman Turkish Empire during World War I. In this issue, we will turn our perspective to the cold north and tell the story of the ironclad confrontation ...... on the Baltic Sea
(The full text of this issue is about 3500 words, thank you for your **).
In winter, the Baltic Sea seabed is shallow and narrow, massively frozen, and it has its own special complexity for naval operations. Admiral Sir John Fisher put forward plans to seize the Baltic exit and was ready to send a fleet to supervise the landing of ** troops on the Pomeranian coast, less than 100 miles from Berlin. However, this strategic risk was too high for the Admiralty to support, nor for the fleet itself, and this proposal ended with his resignation in 1915.
Thus, the Baltic Sea remained a rear body of water, with neutral Scandinavian states on its western shore and warring Germany and ** on its eastern shore. For Germany, the North Sea was of greater importance, since there the British Grand Fleet always posed a threat to it. In an emergency, a powerful fleet was able to quickly reach the Baltic Sea through the Kiel Canal, while in general, only the old fleet defended the Baltic and served mainly on training tasks.
In any case, Germany had no reason to be afraid of the tsar's combat fleet. ** The main function of the fleet was to protect the capital St. Petersburg, which was soon renamed Petrograd. Petrograd is located at the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland, a 250-mile cul-de-sac. **The fleet is based in Kronstadt, on the island of Kotling, close to the capital. The bulk of the forces of the fleet were stationed behind two patrolling minefields, which blocked the bay at the middle and western ends.
The eastern shore of the Baltic Sea is the Baltic states controlled by **, and from a military point of view, they form the far left wing of Germany. this area. The strategic significance is not very important, and the offensive on this area is mainly aimed at pinning down some of the divisions of **. Due to the reluctance of countries to commit major combat ships and the shallow seabed here, naval battles were dominated by skirmishes between cruisers, destroyers, and during large-scale mine-laying operations.
At first, Germany took the initiative to attack, which led to a catastrophe, which became more and more harmful as the situation became clearer. On August 26, 1914, the cruiser "Magdeburg" ran aground in Odensholm, and before it was completely destroyed, it captured its wreckage. ** Obtained the ship's naval telegraph codebook and made a copy to the British. In addition, there were several more important resources that provided the basis for the British Admiralty to create an efficient intelligence department in "Room 40" just two months later.
(Above) British submarine L55 was quickly sunk after being penetrated by a shell fired by a Bolshevik destroyer, and the entire crew was killed. From 1928 to 1931, it was salvaged and repaired by the Soviet Navy. to make it join the Soviet fleet. The picture shows L. in the dry dockyard in Kronstadt55。
The British Admiralty rejected the request for surface ship assistance from the United Kingdom, but in October 1914, Britain sent three E-class submarines. Although there were competent commanders at the command of the three submarines, they only made Germany more careful and did not achieve much before the start of winter. In 1915, more E-class submarines were put into combat, but shallow water and variable salinity made submarine operations difficult. Nevertheless, they still found useful targets on the iron ore route between Sweden and Germany. In the same year, Germany launched a number of powerful attacks in the Gulf of Riga. Despite the fact that the immediate purpose of these operations was large-scale minelaying, they were covered only by the first-line ships of the High Seas Fleet. However, any hope of luring the Tsar's capital ship to the operation was dashed.
By 1916, a shortage of manpower in Germany required the decommissioning of former dreadnoughts, which required a large number of crews, in order to allocate them to more important escort ships, as commercial transport at sea began to be organized in the form of escort convoys. In June, a convoy of about 10 ships, escorted by only 3 armed auxiliary ships, became the target of an attack by a ** cruiser-destroyer flotilla. Although at the beginning, the offensive was very effective, but in the face of stubborn resistance, the fleet withdrew.
While the British submarine commanders were annoyed by the restrictive orders given to them, Germany sent a small, modern destroyer fleet to survey the Gulf of Finland. The fleet fell into a group attack on the minefield and suffered heavy losses, losing 7 ships. From March 1917 onwards, both the army and navy were influenced by the deepening revolutionary fervor in their countries. In October, Germany took advantage of this situation by bringing in 11 capital ships from the North Sea, landing 25,000 men, and seizing the islands of Auxerre, Morn, and. The occupation of these islands was like putting the ** naval power of Riga in a bottle, making it difficult for them to pin down the flanks of the German Army. In this fierce battle, the navies of both sides had each other's **, the most serious was the loss of the battleship "Glorious", the Germans were sunk more than a dozen small ships, and due to the lack of sufficient minesweepers, 3 capital ships were destroyed by mines.
Above, the Retaliation at anchor with an Invincible-class battlecruiser shows it from the cruiser Cavendish in anchor"The new look after the refit. "The name "Retaliation" is a continuation of an old cruiser that became famous during the attack on Zeebrech. "Retaliation"The Korwin effectively supported Cowen's Baltic Fleet with its fighter jets and seaplanes.
By December, the Bolsheviks had seized Petrograd and agreed to an armistice with Germany, which in March 1918 forced a comprehensive peace agreement. Under certain conditions, Germany allowed ** to withdraw the ships to the military port of Kronstadt, and Britain, which was still at war with Germany, needed to prevent Germany from using these ** ships. As a result, 7 British-made submarines based in Kronstadt had to be destroyed.
Finland, Latvia, and Estonia declared independence, but the new regime in Petrograd confidently referred to the Baltic Sea as the "Sea of Soviets", despite a mutiny in German forces demanding repatriation. The Entente had begun to defend the ports of the North, and the newly independent nations had directly requested British support. Britain did not agree to send an army, but agreed to send a naval force carrying **equipment.
So, on November 22, 1918, a fleet of cruisers and destroyers, supported by minesweepers and auxiliary ships, sailed for Latvia and Estonia. Britain did not declare war on the Bolshevik ("red") regime, but Rear Admiral Alexander Sinclair, a senior naval officer, was told that any ** encountered in the waters off the coast of the newly independent state would be considered hostile and should be treated "with corresponding measures". Even before reaching Estonia, the fleet had already lost the cruiser "Cassandra" because it touched a mine. However, on the day after Christmas Day in 1918, the flotilla captured 2 destroyers that were trying to shell Tallinn and then launched an offensive to support the seaward flank of the Estonian "White" Army resisting the Red Army's western offensive with firepower.
The former captain of the battlecruiser HMS Royal Princess, British Royal Admiral Sir Walter Cowen, commanded the Royal Navy's difficult intervention in the Baltic Sea. He was a general who was strict with self-discipline and eager to fight. Participated in the Sudanese War. The Boer War, the Battle of Jutland, and Operation Helgoland Bay. Finally, at the age of 70, he also took part in operations in Libya and the Adriatic.
In Latvia, people's loyalties take place**, the situation is dire. Britain had to order the volunteers to use supplies**, reminding Germany of the large remaining forces that under the conditions of a total armistice, they should obey the orders that the Allies deemed necessary, rather than be sent home.
On January 3, 1919, the Red Army captured Riga, the capital of Klatvia, and the British ships were responsible for evacuating the refugees, and the increasing ice forced them to retreat quickly to Copenhagen. It was a complicated situation, as Britain had pledged to protect the newly independent State from the Bolsheviks, but Britain itself had not declared war on the Bolsheviks. In order to continue this policy, Britain used German teams, and Britain had not yet signed any peace treaty with Germany. The German commander, Army General Count von der Gorz, actively sought to create a new pro-German Baltic totalitarian state, using the approving ** army. Unable to reach an agreement, this plan could not be implemented, and von der Golz's army needed to be transported and supported by sea forces, but the terms of the armistice required Britain to maintain a naval blockade of Germany.
In early 1919, Sinclair was replaced by the aggressive Rear Admiral Walter Cowen, but his formal duties were equally vague. However, Kovin decided that Tallinn was too far away, so he established a forward base in the Bioko Strait, on the coast of Finland, just 30 miles from the military port of Kronstadt. From this base he sent torpedo-armed coastal motorboats (CMBs) to resist the shelling of the Red Navy**, and on the night of June 16-17, 1919, coastal motorboats sank the cruiser "Oleg". Later, the aircraft-carrying cruiser "Retaliation" reinforced Kowen. On the night of 17-18 August 1919, aircraft taking off from the "Retaliation" launched a diversionary attack on the Kronstadt military port to cover the assault of coastal motorboats. 2 battleships and 1 supply ship were sunk by torpedoes fired by them, sitting at the bottom of this shallow water area.
A Royal Navy 55-foot coastal motorboat (CMB).It was the predecessor of the later motorized torpedo boat (MTB). These coastal motorboats, stationed in Finnish waters and using the "Retaliation" as a ** ship, sank the Soviet Russian cruiser "Oleg" and successfully broke through the base of the main Soviet Russian fleet in Kronstadt.
In September, although the new Soviet ** proposed to end the state of hostilities and recognize the independence of the Baltic states, von der Golz had other ideas, and he, through his loyal ** subordinates, strongly ordered the seizure of Riga. Thus, in mid-October, as one of the final British actions in the Baltic, Cowen's ships shelled the rebels who were directing the operation on the fortifications of the port of Riga. Germany launched a similar direct operation in Liepaja, after which German troops withdrew. At the end of November, all was quiet again.
Apparently, the end of this "war that is not a war", plus the beginning of another winter in the Baltic, exacerbated the discontent of the fleet. Those who belonged to the category of "only wartime service" were still required to remain behind, while their domestic counterparts were demobilized. They are occasionally allowed to take leave, but it is very short and the pension is unevenly distributed. Needless to say, salaries and perks are also very bad. Due to the general dissatisfaction of the crews of the regular ** and auxiliary ships, Cowen returned to London in January 1920 and strongly advocated a reduction in the activities of the British Navy in the Baltic Sea. Although the area has become more stable, the retreat has taken more than a year and is being carried out in stages.
On this battlefield, the British Navy was the only one in a state of war among the Allied navies. Of the 280 ships that took part in the war, 238 were British. Of these, 1 cruiser, 2 destroyers, 2 minesweepers, 1 submarine, 8 coastal motorboats, 3 auxiliary ships and 37 aircraft were destroyed. 123 people were killed in the Royal Navy and 5 in the newly established Royal Air Force. Many people wonder what exactly is the purpose of doing this.
Thank you**, all 9 issues of the World War I Maritime Combat History Series (8 issues of the main text and 1 issue above) have been updated, and you can view it by clicking on the homepage.
The next issue will start with a new series about the history of naval combat during World War II