After the battle in the Fehmarn Belt, the surviving British ships passed through the Kattegat to the Skagerrak. There they were met by the other division of the 2nd Battle Squadron (four Orion class dreadnoughts) and the battlecruiser New Zealand (assigned to the 1st BCS at this time). This force was then intercepted by German ships from Wilhelmshaven.
View looking North. The fleets meet just north of Danish coastal waters. Several British ships have damage from the previous battle.
German CLs screen a TB attack and are destroyed. British maneuvers avoid torpedo hits.
The fleets race NW towards the Lion, heavily damaged in the previous battle.
As the range closes, both side accumulate damage. The wind favors the British.
The Lion is protected and the German fleet turns toward home. A course error sends the British DNs straight toward the German guns. The Orion blows up and the Monarch drops out of line.
The German intention to break off is thwarted since several DNs are slowed by flooding.
In June 1914, units of the British fleet were in the Baltic Sea. A division of the 2nd Battle Squadron (four King George V class dreadnoughts) commanded by Vice Admiral Sir George Warrender and three light cruisers were in Kiel, Germany between June 23rd and June 30th. The 1st Battlecruiser Squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Sir David Beatty visited Riga, Revel and Kronstadt, and was in Kronstadt on the 28th when the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand occurred.
This hypothetical engagement assumes (1) that the Austrian government promptly responded to the assassination with a declaration of war on Serbia, (2) that a state of war existed between Britain and Germany on July 1st, and (3) that the Germans sortied their available ships to intercept the British squadrons before they could exit the Baltic.
The composition of the German force is extrapolated from the ships mentioned in von Hase’s description of the Kiel visit. British light cruisers are assumed to have also accompanied the 1st BCS.
After leaving Kiel, Warrender cruises in the Fehmarn Belt waiting for Beatty to arrive from the east. The 1st BCS leaves Kronstadt on the 29th in order to reach the Fehmarn Belt on July 1st. Beatty is still a Rear Admiral at this point and Warrender will be in overall command when the two forces join.
References:
George M. Nekrasov, “Expendable Glory: Russian Battleship in the Baltic, 1915-1917” [for the presence of the 1st BCS at Kronstadt on July 28th]
Commander Georg von Hase, “Kiel & Jutland” [for details of the Kiel visit and the ships present]
The two British forces have not yet joined when the first German ships are spotted.
The German fleet revealed. Only one dreadnought.
Vice Admiral Warrender reverses course to the east to aid the battlecruisers.
Lion and several German pre-dreadnoughts take damage.
Two British light cruisers are lost and the Lion limps away covered by the British dreadnoughts.
Just as it seems British will get away without major loss, the Audacious is blown up. A German pre-dreadnought sinks, having survived more than her ‘fünf minuten’. A German torpedo boat half-flotilla is destroyed before it can launch torpedoes.
The British head for the Langeland Belt.
The Germans are damaged enough that they are glad to see the British go.
The view looking SE. Light cruiser screens have just spotted each other at 20,000 yards.
View looking N. The British have deployed to the south and then turned east. The Germans have sailed north and then west.
The dreadnought divisions spiral closer. British light forces are staying out of range of the deadly 15cm guns on the German dreadnoughts.
The British light cruisers stage a suicidal attack to cover the torpedo attack of the destroyers. The destroyers have turned away after they launched.
The game was ended at this point due to time. A few additional turns were played on the computer. The German dreadnoughts avoided the torpedo attack, although two light cruisers were hit.
In this hypothetical engagement, the Germans send a portion of the High Seas Fleet into the Gulf of Finland in an attempt to engage and destroy the Russian Baltic Fleet.
The Germans have limited knowledge of the Russian dispositions. Only cruisers and torpedo boats are spotted so far.
Russian torpedo boats attempt to close to torpedo range, which for their torpedoes is only about 4,000 yards.
German light cruisers screen the battle line and shoot up the Russian torpedo boats.
The few surviving Russian torpedo boats launch, but the German dreadnoughts turn away and are not hit.
Russian destroyers attack and the German dreadnoughts turn away again. These destroyers have a slightly better torpedo with a range of about 6,500 yards.
German armored cruisers also turn away from the torpedo threat, but don’t comb the tracks quite long enough. Two ACs are torpedoed, one of which sinks. This error was caused by the week-long delay between the first half of the game (when the torpedoes were launched) and the second half (when they arrived).
Both sides try to reform their lines in the confined waters of the gulf.
The Russians Turn back to the NE. If they continued to skirt the southern shore of the gulf, the southerly wind would inhibit their shooting. Pre-dreadnoughts and armored cruisers comb torpedo tracks.
The German dreadnoughts start to take damage.
The Russian fleet has suffered much worse.
With one pre-dreadnought sunk and several large ships heavily damaged, the Russians give up the game.
Copenhagen the verb that is. In May 1914 the British finally accept Admiral Fisher’s suggestions (made in 1904 and 1908) to preemptively attack the German fleet in the naval base at Wilhelmshaven. A routine flight by the German Navy’s only dirigible, the L 3, spots the British in the North Sea in time for the German fleet to sortie.
Visibility was 14,000 yards. Wind was westerly at 8 knots and the seastate was 2.
The light cruiser screens have formed up in line ahead. The fist hit has blown up HMS Southampton.
British fleet. The wreck of the Southampton is visible in the upper right corner.
German fleet
The light cruisers withdraw under fire from battleships.
Two British dreadnoughts in the lead division have been lost to turret hits followed by magazine explosions.
The fleets close to around 5000 yards as damage mounts. British destroyers have launched torpedoes and withdrawn.
German torpedoes hit the British line, crippling or sinking several ships. With the British clearly worsted, the Riskflotte theory is vindicated.
Analysis:
Examining only the battleship action, the British hit rate was 9.3% and the German hit rate was 14.1%. This difference was the result of the westerly wind blowing the gun and funnel smoke in front of the British line, while the German smoke was blown to the disengaged side. The British needed the guidance in the Grand Fleet Battle Orders (~ May 1916):
Weather …The leeward position, with the wind on the engaged bow, is usually the better … the main consideration is that of being in a position where the gun and funnel smoke from our own ships do not interfere with gunlaying… [page 15]
I don’t know if there was any such guidance in May of 1914.
The British suffered gun losses due to 29 turret face penetrations. Four British battleships were lost to explosions as a result of turret fires reaching the magazines. Turret hits represented 14.7% of all hits on British ships and 12.7% of all hits on German ships. These numbers are consistent with the algorithms. The consequences (for the British) of turret hits are so significant that the algorithms for turret face hits and penetrations will be elaborated in future code modifications. For example, the probability of a turret hit for flat trajectory shells will be examined, and the curvature of British turret faces might need to be modeled.
The strategic lesson is that a preemptive attack should have been considered at an earlier date, ideally before the Germans developed effective AP shells.
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