The North Sea and Channel 1914

THE NORTH SEA AND CHANNEL 1914 The Commencement of Hostilities.—On the morning of Aug. 4 the Grand Fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, left Scapa Flow on the first of its many "sweeps" through the North Sea. Its object was to intercept any German commerce raiders that might put to sea before war was declared. At I I P.M. that night all ships received the fateful wireless mes sage to "commence hostilities against Germany." For three days the fleet cruised without seeing an enemy and on Aug. 7 returned to Scapa. The loth Cruiser squadron, drawn from 3rd fleet cruisers, was not yet complete and this shortage of cruisers en abled one raider, the "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse," to escape through the cordon. Meanwhile the Harwich Force (Commodore Tyrwhitt) made a search of the Heligoland Bight, which resulted in the sinking of the minelayer "Konigin Luise" by the "Am phion." But the German mines had been laid and the "Amphion" ran into them on her return and was sunk. Thus early was first blood drawn upon both sides and Germany showed her intention to disregard, not only the customs of the sea, but her own signa ture to the Hague convention, by laying mines without warning, in international waters.

The Expeditionary Force.

The decision, on Aug. 5, to send the Expeditionary Force to France threw upon the navy the duty of safeguarding its passage. In the Channel were stationed the 5th, 7th and 8th Battle squadrons (eighteen pre-dread noughts) with one French and two British Cruiser squadrons. The Dover Straits were guarded by British and French destroyer and submarine flotillas, and an aerial patrol was established be tween the North Foreland and Ostend. Further north the Har wich Force patrolled the "Broad Fourteens" to the Dutch coast and the Grand Fleet took up a position in the centre of the North Sea, its cruisers and destroyers spread southward, ready to counter any move of the High Sea Fleet. Several unsuccessful submarine attacks were made upon ships of the Grand Fleet and on Aug. 9, "U. 15" was rammed and sunk by the cruiser "Bir mingham" close to the fleet rendezvous. Regardless of the sub

marine risk, the fleet maintained its watch and from Aug. 15 to 17, when the bulk of the troops were afloat the Heligoland Bight was closely blockaded. Nothing was seen of the German fleet, whose inertness appeared surprising, it not then being realised that the policy of the German High Command was to preserve its fleet and to make only minor attacks with submarines and mines. By Aug. 18 the first four divisions were in France without the loss of a man and five days later the 5th Division was safely across. The enemy made their only appearance on Aug. 18, when two cruisers were sighted but escaped without being brought to action. The safe transport of the main body of troops being complete the Grand Fleet battleships withdrew to the west coast of Scotland, leaving two battlecruisers in the Humber to support the southern force.

Heligoland Bight Action.

To assist the Belgian army in creating a diversion on the German flank a brigade of Royal Marines was sent to Ostend : they landed with difficulty, in bad weather, on Aug. 27-28 from battleships of the Channel Fleet. This force being exposed to a sudden blow from the German Fleet, the Harwich flotillas, supported by battlecruisers and cruisers from the Grand Fleet, made an organised drive towards the Ger man coast on the morning of Aug. 28. The outcome was the battle of the Heligoland Bight (q.v.) in which 'three German light cruisers and a destroyer were sunk and several other ships dam aged, whilst the damage to British ships was small. This success in the first serious contact with the enemy at sea, did much to dispel the gloom cast by the retreat of the Allied armies before the German advance.

The shifting of the British army base from the Channel Ports to St. Nazaire, following the retreat from Mons threw a heavy burden upon the navy and especially upon the Admiralty trans port service. Ships could no longer be spared for the Ostend diversion and the Royal Marine brigade was withdrawn on Aug. 31. The moving of the base began on Sept. 2 and was smoothly and rapidly completed.