The first rays of sun broke out in the East, and the shadows in the dark quickly became discernible as the battle line of the Grand Fleet. The fresh air and salt spray breaking over the bow of HMS Revenge reinvigorated Rowley: after a month stuck at his desk, he was at sea once again. Not only that, he was finally in command himself, rather than being a mere observer. His post as C-In-C North Sea allowed him only a few opportunities to directly command an operation at sea: when individual forces sortied, they were under the command of their respective commanders, and his job, if he came along, was to butt out and let Tyrwhitt, Beatty [freshly recovered from the loss of his feet, though still unsteady], and Jellicoe run the show. However, he could take direct command of an operation that had any two of the fleet-sized units operating in concert. In Rowley’s mind, this meant that the Battlecruisers and Grand Fleet had to be operating together: though the Harwich Force was a fleet unit, he did not count it. Tyrwhitt had earned the right to his flag, but technically the Harwich Force was a Commodore’s billet.
Still, it remained to be seen how this system would work out. For one thing, Jellicoe and Beatty retained tactical control over their fleets, so Rowley was restricted to giving orders such as ‘disengage and break off in x direction’ or ‘general chase’. He could not order the Battlecruiser Fleet to make a flotilla attack or have half of the Grand Fleet’s battle-line to break off an envelope an enemy fleet. In his mind, it would have made more sense if he could do all of those things: after all, these limitations essentially made him a nominal commander. Yet he had to live with them, and the fact that his position as C-In-C North Sea was still a bit jury-rigged. The Grand Fleet had only sortied once since he had taken command, and it had made no contact with the Germans, though Tyrwhitt’s Harwich Force had made some noise by raiding the German minesweeper patrols. As such, the issue of command authority in battle had not come up, and Rowley hoped that it would not come home to roost this time.
Unlike his last jaunt with Beatty and the battlecruisers, Rowley’s staff was along with him this time. Vice-Admiral Sands, Commodore Osborne, Commander Jones, and Commander Yamamoto were both along. Lieutenant Jacobs, his flag lieutenant, was also aboard, as was Simon. The presence of Simon was providing some comical relief to the crew, as he, like many stewards, tended to mutter under his breath about the more irritating habits of his charge, and the crew enjoyed the comedy provided by the near-mutinous muttering that Simon got away with. In Rowley’s case, it was his unfailing ability to stain his uniform with any number of substances. Ink was a common one, but a month before, it had taken Simon a long time of hard scrubbing before the curry sauce stains came out of Rowley’s No. 1 Uniform. Simon had served as Rowley’s steward ever since Rowley reached flag rank and Rowley put up with his impertinent remarks.
Currently, Simon was in a bit of s state due to Rowley’s soaked day uniform. Rowley had been standing on an open part of HMS Revenge’s flag bridge, which was being shared by his staff and Jellicoe’s staff. Jellicoe himself was sitting inside the Flag Bridge, sitting in a camp chair and sleeping propped up by a bulkhead. The two staffs were standing around, some sipping tea, others quietly chatting. Boredom had set in, and Rowley was staring aimlessly at the horizon, willing something interesting to happen, but lacking any sort of indication that anything would. On a tabletop in the bridge was a small map of the North Sea with markings on it. It belonged to Commodore Osborne, and it marked the location of every submarine that had been deployed to the North Sea for this operation. Rowley glanced at it.
Nothing! His thoughts were full of frustration. Osborne deploys every submarine we’ve got and nothing is seen, he fumed to himself. Either we have the worst luck, or our submarine fleet needs to get its collective eyes checked! Nothing from Room 40, and no sightings by Beatty or those blasted armored cruisers.
The Grand Fleet nominally had three squadrons of old armored cruisers attached to it. They were nominally attached in the sense that Rowley refused to make any use of them. He thought that they were too slow to run away from battlecruisers, too lightly armed and armored to take them on, and lacked purpose. Furthermore, their nominal function as being attached to the battle-line for support was also useless as it put them in a position where they might take a hit from a dreadnought, and they certainly could not take too many of those. Thus, the armored cruisers had been attached to the Grand Fleet, mainly because they could sit inside Scapa and rust. However, a general sortie order had neglected to exclude them (though luckily the fleet’s seaplane tender and minelayers had been excluded), and Rowley had sent them off on their own as scouts, reasoning that even if one was lost, they still might find the High Seas Fleet.
Rowley’s plan called for the Battlecruiser Fleet to reach a point just to the North of the of the Frisian Islands, while the Grand Fleet would sweep a bit more towards the German Bight. The armored cruisers were sent more towards the Danish Coast, on the off chance that the Germans were to try a raid on the Northern Patrol. Rowley hoped that if they didn’t run into any battlecruisers, as the 23 knot speed of the armored cruisers could get them away from battleships.
Yet, as Rowley had lamented, nothing had been spotted. Every submarine available was patrolling the North Sea, and there were three different forces on the hunt. Yet nothing had been reported, and for over 24 hours, the Grand Fleet had simply sailed aimlessly around off the German Bight, waiting for even a hint of the Germans. A submarine sighting, or a Room 40 report would have sufficed, no matter how vague.
Sands walked over to Rowley and started to talk. “Admiral Beatty ought to be nearing its target point pretty soon,”
Rowley nodded. “Yes” he said, “he should be. I wish we had some news,”
“Well sir,” Sands said, “We could just be unlucky again. After all, we’ve had no sightings of any German ships, and nothing from Room 40. Not to read too much into this silence, but Room 40 probably would have picked something up by now if the Germans were out. Though Harry Hun might just be maintaining better radio silence discipline, and I would not put too much stock in Osborne’s submarines. Not to knock him, but some of those submariners can barely tell the difference between our ships and German ships,”
Rowley thought about that. It was logical, and perhaps the Germans had got wind of the Grand Fleet being out and had decided to bugger off back to port. After all, Scheer was too smart to engage the full force of the Grand Fleet, though the rumors that the NID and spies had obtained on Bayern-Class dreadnoughts: unlike a lot of the German battleships, which Rowley felt were under-gunned, the Bayern-Class had eight 15-Inch guns. Yet Scheer was not omnipotent, and it was possible that all the Germans had gotten wind of were the armored cruisers or the battlecruisers.
As the sun rose further into the sky and dawn became two o’clock in the afternoon (14:00), the wireless room of HMS Revenge exploded into action. Reports came in rapidly from the Battlecruiser Fleet, and the senders would not quit until “acknowledged’ was sent in reply. The ship’s grape vine quickly spread the news faster than the runner sent to the flag bridge. Signal lamps began to flash across the Fleet.
The same runner from earlier came bursting back in, and loudly exclaimed “Sir, Admiral Beatty reports enemy dreadnoughts in sight headed west! He’s engaged the lead squadrons but he is requesting orders,”
Beatty runs into High Seas Fleet, almost literally.
Rowley was stirred from his boredom and quickly thought. There was no time to consult with Admiral Jellicoe, a snap decision had to be made. Beatty’s battlecruisers could slug it out for a short while, but had no business engaging dreadnoughts unless support was close at hand.
“Signal back to Admiral Beatty. Give him our position in code, and tell him that we will set a course to intercept, and that he should fall back on us by proceeding to the northeast. Tell him that he should endeavor to maintain contact with the Germans, but that he may break off if the Germans should cause too much damage,”
The runner had written all of this down as it was said, and he turned to leave. Before he could go, Rowley spoke again: “Young man,” he said, and the runner came to a halt. “Add to the end of the message, ‘good luck and happy hunting’”
“Aye sir!” the runner said, before scrambling out of the flag bridge. Rowley glanced at Jellicoe, who was now standing alertly at the bridge windows: Jellicoe was smiling like a lion that had spotted a buffalo, and then Rowley noticed that most everyone else had that same smile. If he could have looked in mirror, he would have seen that he had this same look on his face.
The next few hours found Rowley sitting in HMS Revenge’s cramped wireless office. From what little information they were getting, Beatty was carrying out his plan as well as anyone could expect. His seven battlecruisers (the entire 3rd and 4th BC Squadrons were still under repair, as were HMS Queen Mary and HMS Leopard) were maintaining contact with the High Seas Fleet just outside of gun range. However, it did appear that HIJMS Kongo was being knocked about. This gave Rowley a momentary flash of worry: Vice-Admiral Takeshita, his friend, commanded the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron and flew his flag from the Kongo.
A pipe was heard, and Rowley’s ears heard the feet of hundreds of sailors go into motion as Jellicoe had ordered the Grand Fleet to have dinner early. As Rowley had already experienced, a lot of the time in a fleet action was waiting for something to happen, and since Beatty’s position was known, and it would still be awhile before the Grand Fleet even sighted them, Jellicoe took the opportunity to see that his officers and sailors went into battle with food in them. For some, it would be their last meal, and for many, it would likely be the last food they’d eat until reaching Scapa. There would certainly be no time once battle commenced, and emergency repairs might occupy the voyage back to port. Rowley glanced at his watch: it was 14:00 hours.
At 16:00 hours (6:00 PM), Rowley was back on the bridge with Jellicoe when lookouts reported smoke on the horizon. The audible sound of gunfire could be discerned, and before long, spotters were reporting muzzle flashes. These flashes were difficult to make out, as they were not being fired towards the Grand Fleet. No, they were trained in the opposite direction. Shell splashes were also reported, which made Rowley wince just a bit. The Battlecruiser Squadron did not seem to be firing accurately. Yet they had done their job: the Grand Fleet had made contact. The fleet had already been at action stations for the past twenty minutes, but another blast of the Action Stations rattlers was given just for form.
Grand Fleet headed towards the High Seas Fleet
Signal Admiral Beatty the following message” Rowley said. “We have enemy in sight and will engage him presently. Withdraw to the Northwest towards Edinburgh until out of range. Maintain station from there as we may have further need of you. Well Done” As a runner left to take the message down to the wireless room, Rowley turned to Jellicoe.
“Well John,” He started. “Looks like we’ve come between them and the German Coast,” Then he crossed his arms as the Germans came ever closer, and then just into range. “Engage the enemy Admiral,”
“Aye Sir!” Jellicoe replied. Then, to his signal officer he said “Signal the fleet, we will proceed to south-southwest and engage the enemy. The fleet may open fire as soon as the flagship does, and from there they may continue to do so until all enemy ships are out of range. In terms of maneuvers, they are to follow their lead formation, but with general freedom to avoid torpedoes and such,”
“Aye!” The signal officer replied, getting to his work.
HMS Revenge came to a point south-southwest and her guns trained starboard. A klaxon rang out, and several seconds later, Rowley’s world shook as a full salvo was fired at the lead squadron of the High Seas Fleet. Rowley had his pair of binoculars trained on the Germans, but this salvo knocked him off his feet. Yet he heard cheering from those that had a managed to stay upright.
HMS Revenge and 1/1 Battle Squadron open fire.
“Damn fine shooting!” Admiral Sands said. “A hit right on the first broadside!”
Anything else that was said was drowned out as the four leading divisions opened fire. As Rowley got back up on his feet, the whole sea around the leading German squadrons had erupted into violent plumes of water. It took him a moment to realize why there was such a volume of fire, but then he noticed that the Grand Fleet had managed to “cross the T” and would soon put the Germans in a very bad position indeed.
The 1/1 Battle Squadron’s maneuver essentially made the Grand Fleet adopt a crescent-shaped line of battle, and the Germans where sailing into it. Rowley watched as the dreadnoughts fired salvo after salvo towards the Germans, who by now were under the full fire of the Grand Fleet. Harry Hun did not react well to this, and for some reason, all of the German dreadnoughts ended up packed close together. This made them an even better target, as the shells that missed their targets seemed to hit other ships that were too close by.
Grand Fleet fully engaged (cue brass instrumental of Rule Britannia!)
Yet they were neither hapless nor helpless. After all, Scheer knew his business, and the reason for their blob formation became apparent. The German Nassau-Class had been in the lead when contact was first made. Now Rowley had little idea of how much damage Beatty had managed to do to them, but Jellicoe had certainly given them a good drubbing. Scheer was having his better armored, and likely less damaged, Kaiser-Class battleships take the lead. And at any rate, the Germans began to return fire in their usual accurate fashion, and Rowley had to brace himself has HMS Revenge started to draw heavy fire.
Eventually, the Grand Fleet began to slip past the High Seas Fleet, and Jellicoe had them come to port and head to the northeast in order to keep the Grand Fleet between the Germans and their bases. However this maneuver was difficult due to the size of the Grand Fleet: with 28 dreadnoughts, such a turn could take a while to be completed. While this was taking place, the High Seas Fleet continued to run to the northeast, hoping to slip by.
It was at this juncture that Rowley felt compelled to get involved. He looked at a tracking map that his staff had, and he knew what he could do to help Jellicoe. He looked to his runner and said: “Message for Beatty to be sent by wireless. Bring Battlecruisers on a course to the east-northeast and help cut off the Germans,”
High Seas Fleet trying to flee to the Northeast
As the messenger left, Jellicoe looked at Rowley. There was a hint of worry in Jellicoe’s eyes that Rowley would try to take over, yet when he looked at the map, he nodded. If Beatty’s battlecruisers could get into the position that Rowley wanted them in, they could cut off the German retreat and herd them right into the muzzles of the Grand Fleet. Then Jellicoe added his own orders.
“Signal the 4th Battle Squadron’s two divisions. Order them to break off and engage the rear of the German line. We’ve crossed the T already, now let’s make an I”
Rowley nodded his approval at this. It was a good idea, as by this point in time, the 4th Battle Squadron’s two divisions had fallen so far behind, they were effectively out of the battle. Yet the rear of the German line was made up of their Deutschland-Class battleships, and they could be easier targets for the older and slower dreadnoughts. Soon the gunfire of the 4th BatRon could be heard picking up as their fire-control directors honed in on new targets.
Moving parts of a battle.
Rowley’s order to Beatty paid off, as the High Seas Fleet turned slightly to the southeast, and the Grand Fleet was able to regain a lead and draw the very confused German battle line into engaging another “crescent of fire”. Sweet Jesus, Rowley heard himself say, what a price we’re inflicting! By this point in time, the Germans were staggering under the weight of even more hits. Yet they were not sinking yet. Their heavier armor was keeping them in action, and they were still fighting. However, their formation was badly organized, and their screening vessels were badly out of place. Jellicoe seized on the opportunity.
“Signal to all light forces. Launch flotilla attacks immediately! We will cover with gunfire!” Jellicoe ordered.
Rowley watched as the destroyers and cruisers slipped away and began to charge for the uncovered German battleships. He felt a surge of excitement, as it appeared that the German position was quite hopeless. Dozens of torpedo-armed craft descending on an unescorted battle line was the nightmare scenario for many an admiral, and he could only imagine the horror that must have been going through Scheer’s mind as the destroyers bore down. But then, they went right by the dreadnoughts and straight at the German light forces that had gotten so badly out of position.
Wrong bloody way!
Rowley wanted to curse at them! This was an opportunity lost, and it appeared that the German light forces had the better of the British destroyers. However, a stroke of luck was achieved as a wave of torpedoes was, at last, launched by the destroyers towards a group of Nassau-Class battleships. A few explosions were seen against two of the battleships, which were welcomed with much cheering on the flag bridge.
By this point in the action, it was late in the day, and the sun began to slip beneath the horizon. Jellicoe began to have the fleet break off and head for home, yet it was not that simple. Since the two fleets could not see each other, they could not disengage in the usual manner of heading in opposite directions. Jellicoe assumed that the Germans would break off to the southeast, yet they headed northeast. This was nearly disastrous for the Grand Fleet, as contact was sporadically made with the Germans, and everyone and their uncle seemed to be firing torpedoes. The Grand Fleet, which was headed northeast to try and slip around the Germans and head for home, took several hits. The much-dreaded plumes of water shot up from the port-sides of HMS Iron Duke and HMS Colossus. Both ships immediately broke off hard to east and slowed down to five knots. Yet these were not the most distressing torpedo hits, as a torpedo exploded against the starboard side of HMS Neptune. This one caused Jellicoe to curse, as that torpedo had to have come from a British ship.
“When I find the lame brained bastard who fired that torpedo,” Jellicoe growled, “I’ll rig a yardarm and let him dance from it! It takes a special kind of stupidity to do what he just did!”
Rowley agreed, and even if the ship survived, there were men aboard HMS Neptune who would have died because of that man’s negligence. Some might argue for disgrace, but Rowley felt more inclined to bring charges of manslaughter at a court-martial. It was enough that the Germans were killing them. Rowley felt that he should not have to explain to torpedo officers that it was a bad idea to fire a torpedo straight at a British warship.
Eventually, the fleet was able to disengage and head for home. The 4th Battle Squadron reformed with the rest of the fleet, reporting that the Germans had two fewer Detuschland-Class battleships than before. HMS Neptune gave serious worry during her voyage to the nearest port, as even a slight drizzle would have finished her off, and Rowley was determined that if she was lost, the man who was responsible for that torpedo would hang. Yet in a miracle, all three of the torpedoed battleships were able to make port.
Even more of a miracle was the odyssey of the armored cruisers. When the Grand Fleet had gone into action, Rowley had forgot that they were still out. However, the Commodore in charge of them, Rowley not remembering his name, had continued his patrol. While the battle was raging, he decided to head for the original objective point so that it could be marked as “swept”. While on his way there, the Grand Fleet had broken off with the High Seas Fleet in the night, and in the midst of a heavy fog in the wee hours of the next morning, the armored cruisers had come across the scattered High Seas Fleet. The commodore, being wise, ordered the cruisers to disengage, but not before gamely trading a few shots with the Germans, and to Rowley’s surprise, they’d actually made a few hits. He smiled at this: for most of these ships, they’d never see action again. Yet their logbooks would note their antics as such:
HMS Shannon:
03 July 1916
On Operation with the 2nd Cruiser Squadron/Grand Fleet. In action.
No damage.
Scored 1 main battery hit on BB Ostfriesland
He wanted to give them some sort of reward. He did not think that he could get ant Victoria Crosses for “sheer nerve and intestinal fortitude” yet they deserved something. Particularly as their performance had been far superior to that of certain other ships. Indeed, Rowley knew he would need to have a word with Commodore Osborne, as not only had the submarines failed in their spotting duties, HMS E18 had made up for it by torpedoing HMS Devonshire, nearly sinking her.
In spite of the friendly fire, Jellicoe was thrilled with the result. The three dreadnoughts that his command had sunk comprised 20% of the High Seas Fleet’s battle line in the action. The further two pre-dreadnoughts were icing on the cake so to speak, yet the press might report five battleships sunk, if Jellicoe was lucky. Rowley almost wanted to laugh at the result, as the two most heavily damaged British ships had been damaged by British ships. If this really was a decisive victory, than, Rowley thought, ‘God help poor old Britain!’
Battle area map
Final Screen
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