Action of 22 September 1914

The Action of 22 September 1914 was a German U-boat ambush that took place during the First World War, in which three obsolete British Royal Navy cruisers, manned mainly by reservists and sometimes referred to as the "livebait squadron", were sunk by one German submarine while on patrol.

Approximately 1,450 sailors were killed and there was a public outcry in Britain at the losses. This incident eroded confidence in the British government and damaged the reputation of the Royal Navy, at a time when many countries were still considering which side in the war they might support.

Background

The cruisers were part of the Southern Force (Rear-Admiral Arthur Christian) composed of the flagship Euryalus, the light cruiser Amethyst and the 7th Cruiser Squadron (7th CS, also known as Cruiser Squadron C, Rear-Admiral H. H. Campbell), comprising the Cressy-class armoured cruisers Bacchante, Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy, the 1st and 3rd Destroyer flotillas, ten submarines of the 8th Oversea Flotilla and the attached Active-class scout cruiser, HMS Fearless. The force was assigned patrol duties in the North Sea, supporting destroyers and submarines of the Harwich Force to guard against incursions by the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) into the English Channel.

File:HMS Aboukir.jpg

HMS Aboukir

Although concerns had been expressed about the vulnerability of these ships, particularly to attack by more modern German cruisers, no changes had been made before the events of 22 September. There was less concern about submarine attacks and the War Orders of 28 July 1914, in which pre-war assumptions about attacks by destroyers rather than submarines, had not been modified and which required the ships to patrol the area "south of the 54th parallel clear of enemy torpedo craft and destroyers" with the support of Cruiser Force C during the day. The Harwich Patrol was given two patrol areas, at the Dogger Bank and further south in the Broad Fourteens and usually three of the cruisers were to the north, closer to the Dogger Bank and sailed south during the night. The cruisers shifted area to the Broad Fourteens and reinforce the fourth cruiser there, during troops movements from Britain to France. Heading south meant sailing towards German bases and becoming more vulnerable to submarine attack.

Prelude

The U-boat was treated equally lightly by the Imperial German Navy; in the first six weeks of the war, the U-boat arm had lost two boats and seen little result for their effort. On the morning of 22 September, U-9 (Kapitänleutnant Otto Weddigen) passed through the Broad Fourteens on her way back to base. On 16 September, Christian had been allowed to keep two cruisers to the north and one at the Broad Fourteens but had kept them together in a central position, able to support operations in both areas. Next day, the destroyer escorts had been forced to depart by heavy weather, which continued so bad that neither patrol could be reformed. The Admiralty ordered that the ships were to cancel the Dogger Patrol and cover the Broad Fourteens until the weather abated. On 20 September, Euryalus returned to port to re-fuel and by 22 September, Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy were on patrol under the command of Captain J. E. Drummond of Aboukir.

Action

File:Action of 22 September 1914 - EN.svg

Scheme

The German submarine U-9

At 06:00 on 22 September, the weather had calmed and the ships were patrolling at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), line abreast, 2 nmi (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) apart. Lookouts were posted for submarine periscopes or ships and one gun either side of each ship was manned. U-9 had been ordered to attack British transports at Ostend but had been forced to dive and shelter from the storm. On surfacing, she spotted the British ships and moved to attack.

At 06:20, the submarine fired one torpedo at the nearest ship from a range of 550 yd (500 m), which struck Aboukir on the starboard side, flooding the engine room and causing the ship to stop immediately. No submarines had been sighted, so Drummond assumed that the ship had hit a mine and ordered the other two cruisers to close in to help. After 25 minutes, Aboukir capsized and sank five minutes later. Only one boat could be launched, because of damage from the explosion and the failure of steam-powered winches needed to launch them.

U-9 rose to periscope depth from her dive after firing the initial torpedo, to observe two British cruisers engaged in the rescue of men from the sinking ship. Weddigen fired two more torpedoes at Hogue, from 300 yd (270 m). As the torpedoes left the submarine, her bows rose out of the water and she was spotted by Hogue, which opened fire before the submarine dived. The two torpedoes struck Hogue; within five minutes, Captain Wilmot Nicholson gave the order to abandon ship and after 10 minutes she capsized before sinking at 07:15.

At 07:20, U-9 fired two torpedoes from her stern torpedo tubes at a range of 1,000 yd (910 m). One missed, so the submarine turned to direct her remaining bow torpedo toward Cressy and fired at 550 yd (500 m). Cressy had already seen the submarine, opened fire and attempted to ram but failed. The ship had then returned to picking up survivors. The first torpedo struck the starboard side at around 07:15, the second the port beam at 07:30. The ship capsized to starboard and floated upside down until 07:55. Two Dutch sailing trawlers in the vicinity declined to close with Cressy for fear of mines.

File:Reuterdahl - HMS Cressy Sinking.jpg

Sketch of Cressy sinking (Henry Reuterdahl)

Distress calls had been received by Commodore Tyrwhitt, who, with the destroyer squadron, had already been at sea returning to the cruisers, now that the weather had improved. At 08:30, the Dutch steamship Flora approached the scene (having seen the sinkings) and rescued 286 men. A second steamer—Titan—picked up another 147. More were rescued by the two Lowestoft sailing trawlers Coriander and J.G.C., before the destroyers arrived at 10:45, 837 men were rescued while 1,397 men and 62 officers—mostly part-time men from the Royal Naval Reserve rather than regular sailors—had been killed. The destroyers began a search for the submarine, which had little electrical power remaining to travel underwater and could only make 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) on the surface. The submarine submerged for the night before returning home the next day.

Aftermath

The disaster shook public opinion in Britain, and the reputation of the Royal Navy worldwide. The surviving cruisers were withdrawn from patrol duties; Admiral Christian was reprimanded, and Captain Drummond was criticized by the resulting inquiry for failing to take the anti-submarine precautions recommended by the Admiralty. However, he was praised for his conduct during the actual attack. The 28 officers and 258 men rescued by Flora were landed at Ymuiden and were repatriated on 26 September.

Wenman "Kit" Wykeham-Musgrave (1899–1989) survived being torpedoed on all three ships. His daughter recalled

He went overboard when the Aboukir was going down and he swam like mad to get away from the suction. He was then just getting on board the Hogue and she was torpedoed. He then went and swam to the Cressy and she was also torpedoed. He eventually found a bit of driftwood, became unconscious and was eventually picked up by a Dutch trawler.

— Pru Bailey-Hamilton

Wykeham-Musgrave survived the war and rejoined the Royal Navy in 1939, reaching the rank of commander.

Weddigen and his crew returned to a heroes welcome, Weddigen was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st Class and his crew each received the Iron Cross, 2nd Class. The sinking of the three ships caused the danger of U-boat attack to be taken more seriously by the Admiralty. Commander Dudley Pound—then serving in the Grand Fleet as a commander aboard the battleship St. Vincent—who became First Sea Lord—wrote in his diary on 24 September,

Much as one regrets the loss of life one cannot help thinking that it is a useful warning to us — we had almost begun to consider the German submarines as no good and our awakening which had to come sooner or later and it might have been accompanied by the loss of some of our Battle Fleet.

— Pound

In 1954, the British government sold the salvage rights to the ships and work began in 2011.

Order of battle

Royal Navy

• HMS Aboukir, armoured cruiser, flagship
• HMS Hogue, armoured cruiser
• HMS Cressy, armoured cruiser

German Navy

• U-9, submarine

References

Books

Journals

Websites

External links

• Loss of HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue