Kiel and Jutland

Presented to the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY

by the

ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY

1980

KIEL AND JUTLAND

4753?

KIEL *ND JUTLAND

BY

COMMANDER GEORG VON HASE

(First Gunnery Officer of the " Derfflinger " )

Translated by Arthur Chambers and F. A. Holt

47537

LONDON: SKEFFINGTON S£ SON, LTD.
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, ST.

ONTARIO

PREFACE

WE Germans are faced with a cruel fate. Our
German youth will grow up in an enslaved Ger-
many in which foreign Powers are compelling us
to work for them. We shall see how the Anglo-
Saxon will look scornfully down upon us. Even
Frenchmen, Italians, and representatives of other
races which are inferior to us intellectually,
morally and physically, will pluck up courage to
regard us Germans as brute barbarians, rightly
punished for their crimes.

I am firmly convinced that our German youth
will not allow all this to close its eyes to the
truth. Brave Germans, old and young alike,
must, and will, see to it that our nation does not
lose its inherited characteristics in feeble, servile
and un-German conceptions of life and the world.
It is the duty of us elders to give young Germany
the benefit of our advice and help in its approach-
ing struggle. Part of that duty is to keep alive
the memory of all that was done by the German
people when it was proud and strong, and to recall
the deeds and times in which it proved itself a
true nation of heroes.

The twenty-two years during which I was

5

Preface

permitted to serve the Fatherland as a naval
officer gave me an insight into two phases of pro-
fessional activity, that of the German officer and
that of the sailor. To-day, after the Revolution
and our downfall have almost entirely put an end
to those two sets of activities, I look back into the
past with a feeling of gratitude to my profession
in which I lived and worked all the time with men
and boys who were German to the core and offered
their lives and energies for Germany's greatness in
peace as in war. I am particularly grateful to my
profession for having brought me into contact
with almost all the peoples of the earth under
conditions which always left me proud that I
was a German and a sailor.

In relating events from my old professional
days my aim is to do something towards filling
young Germany with the same pride in our
Fatherland which inspired us grown-ups before
we had to draw our sword against a world of
enemies. It was with that proud feeling that we
were in no way inferior to any nation upon earth
that we fought during four long years and stepped
from victory to victory until we finally collapsed
when men of our own race, essentially un-German,
knocked our weapons out of our hands in the
moment of betrayal.

In my little book I shall tell of two historic
meetings between Germans and Englishmen.

6

Preface

The first was just before the outbreak of the
war and was as characteristic as possible of the
relations then existing between us Germans and
our present mortal enemies, the English.

It was in June, 1914, that a great English
squadron visited Kiel. I was appointed personal
aide-de-camp to the English commander, Vice-
Admiral Sir George Warrender, for the duration of
the visit of this squadron. All that time, during
which the Serajevo assassination occurred, I
lived on board the flagship, King George V.y
with the English ambassador and other guests
of the Admiral.

I wrote down my experiences and impressions
of my stay on board the King George V. at the
beginning of July, 1914, immediately after the
English squadron left, using notes I had made
in my diary every day.

The second historical encounter of which I
shall speak is the Battle of the Skagerrak.* In
the Battle of the Skagerrak, as the First Gunnery
Officer of our largest, most powerful and swiftest
ship, the battle-cruiser Derfflinger, I had the
good fortune to be in the thickest of the fight,
to take a personal part in every phase of the action,
and thus play a decisive part in the destruction
of the two English battle-cruisers, Queen Mary
and Invincible. As at the moment there is no

* The Battle of Jutland. (Tr.)
7

Preface

description of the battle in which one of the com-
batants gives an absolutely impartial and critical
account, free from the shackles of the censorship,
in recounting my experiences I have endeavoured
to relate events solely from an historical and thor-
oughly unbiassed point of view, and to describe the
course of the action, as far as I was able to judge
by my own observation, as it really developed.

But before I begin my story of these two his-
toric encounters, I should like, here and now,
to bring forward a classic example of something
which shows that, in spite of all envy and rivalry,
no true Englishman before the war ever thought
of regarding a true German otherwise than as a
representative of an equal and related race.

It was in June, 1913.

Off the coast of Albania ships of almost all the
nations were lying at anchor. The captain of
the German cruiser Breslau had invited the
admirals and captains of the other nations to
dine with him. The English admiral sat next to
the German captain, and around them sat Ger-
mans, English, Italians, French, Russians,
Spaniards, Turks, Greeks and Albanians. A
motley throng. There were toasts. The live-
liest conversation on political events was carried
on in every conceivable tongue. The English
admiral and German captain caught each other
silently examining the members of the " Round

8

Preface

Table/' and exchanged notes on the results of
their observation of the various national types.

Suddenly the English admiral raised his glass,
looked straight into the blue eyes of the German
captain, and as the glasses clinked, whispered
in his ear : " The two white nations ! " With
flashing eyes the two Teutons gazed at each
other, the representatives of the two greatest
seafaring Germanic peoples. They felt that they
were of the same stock, originally members of
one and the same noble race.

And before the war all true Germans and all
true Englishmen felt exactly the same !

And now ? The English people and their
satellites now dare to call us " Huns ! " The
other of the " Two White Nations " gives our
noble race, which has fought for right and free-
dom, hearth and home as none has ever fought
before, the name of a Mongolian people of the
lowest degree of culture !

German men ! German youths ! Do not let
such foolish effrontery grieve you. Let us show
our enemies in our daily actions that the culture
of our nation is no lower than that of any other
nation. Let us do all we can to teach the world
the truth that we fought the war not less chival-
rously than our opponents, and that it was their
cruel measures only which compelled us to adopt
stern reprisals.

9

CONTENTS

PART I

CHAP. PAGE

THE KIEL WEEK 15

PART II

THE BATTLE OF THE SKAGERRAK

I. — MY FIRST MEETING WITH BRITISH NAVAL

FORCES 63

II. — THE PRINCIPLES OF GUNNERY IN AN ACTION

ON THE HIGH SEAS ..... 71
III. — THE TACTICAL PRINCIPLES OF A NAVAL ACTION

ON THE HIGH SEAS ..... 93
IV. — THE HISTORICAL VALUE OF PERSONAL ACCOUNTS

OF NAVAL ACTIONS 103

V. — ON BOARD THE " DERFFLINGER," HEADING FOR

SKAGERRAK . . . . . .119

VI. — FIRST PHASE OF THE BATTLE OF SKAGERRAK
(5.48 TO 6.55 P.M.). " QUEEN MARY " ENGAGED.
DESTROYER ATTACKS AND THEIR REPULSE . 137
VII. — THE SECOND PHASE OF THE SKAGERRAK BATTLE
(6.55 TO 7.5 P.M.). THE FIFTH BATTLE
SQUADRON ENGAGED. BEATTY'S OUTFLANK-
ING MANOEUVRE ..... 169

VIII. — THIRD PHASE OF THE SKAGGERAK BATTLE
(7.50 TO 9.5 P.M.). HEAVY FIGHTING AGAINST
SHIPS OF THE LINE, CRUISERS AND DE-
STROYERS. DESTRUCTION OF THE " IN-
VINCIBLE." "DERFFLINGER" FORCED TO
STOP TO CLEAR HER TORPEDO-NET . . 175

Contents

CHAP. PAGE

IX. — THE FOURTH PHASE OF THE SKAGERRAK BATTLE
(9.5 P.M. TO 9.37 P.M.). THE DEATH RIDE
OF THE BATTLE-CRUISERS. ADMIRAL SCHEER
EXTRICATES THE FLEET FROM THE ENEMY
ENVELOPMENT. DESTROYER ATTACKS. THE

ENEMY SHAKEN OFF 193

X. — THE FIFTH PHASE OF THE SKAGERRAK BATTLE
(9.37 TO 10.35 P-M-) AND THE NIGHT OF JUNE
IST. LAST ENGAGEMENT. NIGHT FIGHTING.
SINKING OF THE " POMMERN " . . . 211

XI. — REFLECTIONS ON THE BATTLE OF SKAGERRAK 225

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The German Battle-Cruiser Derfflinger at

Anchor ...... Frontispiece

Vice- Admiral Sir George Warrender . . Facing p. 16
German and British Fleets saluting the Kaiser

at Kiel on June 24, 1914 ... ,, 32

King George V., Flagship of the English 2nd

Battle Squadron ..... ,, 48

Southampton, Commodore Goodenough's

Flagship „ 48

The Forward Guns of the King George V. . ,, 64

The Quarter-deck of the Derfflinger . . ,, 64

The 30.5-cm. Turrets " Anna " and

"Bertha" 80

The 3O.5-cm. Turrets " Caesar " and " Dora " ,, 80

The Fore- top, or Crow's Nest ... ,, 96

Range-takers with Bg.-fmder ... ,, 96

The Quarter-deck of the Derfflinger at Full

Speed 112

Line Ahead „ 128

Line of Bearing . . . . . ,, 128

The Secondary Armament firing a Salvo . ,, 144

Battleship firing ..... ,, 160

Splashes made by Heavy Guns ... „ 160
English Battle-Cruiser Queen Mary, sunk at

6.26 p.m. on the 3ist May, 1916 . . ,, 177
English Battle-Cruiser Invincible, sunk at

8.31 p.m. on the 3ist May, 1916 . . „ 192

List of Illustrations

Derfflinger screened from Submarine Attack

by Four Destroyers (aerial photograph) . Facing p. 214
Derfflinger firing a Salvo from her Heavy

Guns while steaming at Top Speed (aerial

photograph) „ 214

Derfflinger firing a Full Salvo from all eight

3O.5-cm. Guns simultaneously . . ,, 218

At Sea M 218

Sketch I. „ 188

Sketch II. . . 208

PART I

THE KIEL WEEK, 1914

Q c^7^ A>

Vice-Admiral Sir George Warrender.

\_Tofacep. 16.

KIEL AND JUTLAND

ON May 22nd, 1914, The Times made the follow-
ing announcement :

The Admiralty announce that four
squadrons of battleships and cruisers are
to cruise in the Baltic next month. All the
principal ports are to be visited, including
Kiel, Kronstadt, Copenhagen, Christiania and
Stockholm. These visits are of a similar
character to those which British squadrons
have made recently to Austrian, Italian
and French ports, which an Austrian squad-
ron is now making" to Malta, a Russian
squadron made to Portland last summer,
and a French squadron will make to that
port next month.

They have been arranged between the
respective Governments, and while they have
no political or international significance, it
17 2

Kiel and Jutland

is hoped that they may not be made occa-
sions for anything beyond the customary
exchange of hospitality which such visits
must be expected to bring forth. These
cruises will be most welcome to the officers
and men, since they give relief from the
routine of service in home waters and add
to their knowledge of foreign ports. The
last time a British naval force was in the
Baltic was in the autumn of 1912, when
the Second Cruiser Squadron visited Chris-
tiania, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Reval and
Libau.

The following are the prospective move-
ments of His Majesty's ships of the First
Fleet, announced by the Secretary of the
Admiralty :

The Vice-Admiral commanding 2nd Battle Squadron
in the King George V., with the Ajax, Audacious and
Centurion, and the Commodore ist Light Cruiser Squad-
ron in the Southampton, with the Birmingham and Not-
tingham, will visit Kiel from June 23 to 30.

The news of the proposed visit of the English
Fleet to Kiel caused the greatest excitement in
Germany and all the world over. Some liked
to regard it as an important step towards easing
the political situation, while others saw in it
nothing but a final bit of espionage before the
inevitable conflict. The German Press soon be-

18

The Kiel Week, 1914

came very busy with the approaching visit of
the English Fleet, and the Navy made preparations
for the reception of the ships at Kiel.

His Majesty the Kaiser commanded that two
German officers should be assigned to the two
English commanders as personal aides-de-camp.
As early as May I heard that my name had been
put forward for this duty to one of the English
admirals, and at the beginning of June it was
announced in Fleet Orders that I had been posted
as aide-de-camp to Vice- Admiral Sir George
Warrender and Lieutenant Kehrhahn as aide-
de-camp to Commodore Goodenough, command-
ing the light cruisers.

During my service in foreign waters, parti-
cularly the Far East, as well as during a con-
siderable period of residence in England, I had
always had good relations with the English,
especially with English naval officers of my own
age. I had spent many a pleasant hour in con-
versation with Englishmen, and so it was a real
pleasure, when I heard of my new appointment,
to think of the social intercourse I anticipated
with the English officers.

On Tuesday, June 23rd, early in the morning,
the English Naval Attache in Berlin, Captain
Henderson, the navigating officer appointed to
pilot the English flagship, and I embarked in a
motor-boat, in which we went out to meet the

19 2*

Kiel and Jutland

English squadron at the Bulke lightship, some
ten sea miles out from Kiel. It was a rainy,
thick day, and there was only a light breeze.
At the Bulke lightship we met the six motor-
launches of the navigating officers who were to
bring in the other ships. Our little flotilla had
just assembled when we observed two great
columns of smoke away to the north. The
English ships were approaching us in two columns.
We soon recognized four battleships in line ahead
in the left column, and three light cruisers in
the right-hand column which was further astern.
Seen from our low elevation the English battle-
ships were an imposing sight. The dark-grey
objects looked almost black against the smoke-
grey background. On came the formidable giants,
the greatest warships in the world. They were
the celebrated Dreadnoughts, King George V.,
Ajax, Audacious and Centurion, and with them
were the light cruisers Southampton, Birmingham
and Nottingham.

A signal was hoisted by the English flagship,
which was flying the flag of the English Vice-
Admiral, as soon as they noticed ours. The ships
stopped, the engines were reversed, and when the
mighty vessels had ceased to move our seven
motor-launches went alongside the seven English
ships practically simultaneously. We went along-
side the King George's starboard accommodation-

20

The Kiel Week, 1914

ladder and climbed on board. The ship's second
in command, Commander Goldie, received us and
conducted us to the Admiral, who was standing
on the high Admiral's bridge with the officers of
his staff. Captain Henderson introduced us to
the Admiral. I welcomed him in the name of the
Commander-in-Chief of the High Sea Fleet and the
Officer Commanding the Baltic Station, and
reported that I had been appointed his personal
aide-de-camp for the duration of the visit of the
English squadron to Kiel. The Admiral ex-
pressed his pleasure and thanked me very
kindly. He at once introduced me to the officers
of his staff, Captain Baird, Flag-Captain and
Chief of Staff, the Honourable Arthur Stopford,
Flag-Commander, and Lieutenant Buxton, the
Flag-Lieutenant .

Vice- Admiral Sir George Warrender was a good-
looking man. He was clean-shaven, and had an
aristocratic face and fine blue eyes. He might
have been about fifty, was just turning grey, but
in his manner he had the elasticity of youth, and
he was cheerful and kind. I had to draw up an
official report immediately after the visit of the
English Fleet, and in it I made the following
observations on the personality of the Admiral
and the officers of his staff :

21

Kiel and Jutland

VICE-ADMIRAL SIR GEORGE WARRENDER, BART.

Vice-Admiral Sir George Warrender, Bart.,
is a distinguished man of the world of the true
English type. He is self-possessed and decided.

The officers of his staff and his ship have a high
opinion of his qualities, and he is said to be very
popular in his squadron, thanks to his personal
character and his care for his men.

As we came into harbour, and subsequently, I
was particularly struck with the way in which
he — and, indeed, almost all the other English
officers — settled all official questions. It was
a matter of short orders and short replies, for
which the English language is particularly suited.
No superfluous words on duty. Thus, in spite
of a general absence of military formalities in
address, conversation and behaviour, the manner
in which work was carried on seemed to me
very sailor-like and professional. Warren der is
hard of hearing, but the officers of his staff have
had such good practice with him that he under-
stands them even when they speak softly. He
was in difficulties with the other officers and
strangers, particularly when general conversation
was at its height at table.

When I was with the Admiral alone, as when
members of his staff were present, he made most

22

The Kiel Week, 1914

minute inquiries about affairs in the German
Navy, and was particularly anxious to learn
about the conditions of life and service and the
spirit of our officers and men. He also showed
the liveliest interest in our wireless and petrol
engines, particularly our submarine engines. It
had become second nature with him and with his
officers to compare their own navy with ours.
Sir George Warrender frequently showed himself
a superlative conversationalist. He knew some
German, though he never spoke German in con-
versation. At his request I translated every day
the German newspaper articles and letters which
discussed the visit of his squadron.

Sir George Warrender is said to be a good
tennis player and a splendid golfer.

He always spoke of His Majesty the Kaiser and
His Royal Highness Prince Henry with the
greatest respect. He was extremely pleased with
the reception which His Majesty the Kaiser and
His Royal Highness Prince Henry had given
him and his wife. He always endeavoured to be
exceedingly courteous to all German officers.
To me personally Sir George Warrender always
showed himself very kind and attentive. He
frequently said how thankful he was that he and
Commodore Goodenough had had German naval
officers attached to them. As a matter of fact he
used me exactly like a personal aide-de-camp.

23

Kiel and Jutland

Put shortly, my opinion of Sir George War-
render is as follows : He is a distinguished per-
sonality, who has his officers and men well in
hand. He has a good head, is interested in and
understands his profession, and his alertness
is almost youthful.

FLAG-CAPTAIN BAIRD

He is Chief of Staff and Captain of the flag-
ship in one. On his legs from morning to night,
his principal function is to settle all questions
relating to officers and men which concern the
whole squadron (fetes, leave, sport, etc.). He
looks somewhat worn out, but is a clever and
energetic officer.

FLAG-COMMANDER THE HON. ARTHUR STOPFORD

He is the squadron gunnery officer. Has a
clever head and a frank and honest nature, with
special sympathy for German family life and
customs.

FLEET-PAYMASTER HEWLETT

Has a very confidential position. He comes
before the Flag-Commander. His duties corre- '
spond entirely with those of our Squadron
Secretary.

24

The Kiel Week, 1914

About nine o'clock in the morning of June 23rd
we ran into Kiel Bay. It amused me to think
that I, who had made this trip so often before,
should now be making it on the Admiral's bridge
of an English flagship. Off the entrance we ran
into a heavy squall, but it cleared up as the storm
passed over Labo and we saw the lovely harbour
of Kiel lying in bright sunshine. A large number
of yachts and naval launches circled round us,
and the shore was black with curious folk, who
had hurried up to witness the entry of the cele-
brated English Dreadnoughts. From Labo we
were accompanied by the white motor launch of
Prince Henry, who greeted us, with his ladies.
The Admiral and Prince Henry welcomed each
other with much waving of caps. In good order
and showing splendid seamanship, all the ships
made fast to their special buoys practically
simultaneously.

Shortly afterwards we all assembled for break-
fast with the Admiral. The Admiral had a very
large dining-room occupying the whole width of
the ship and panelled with mahogany. He had
also a state cabin appointed very elegantly with
light furniture. With all its cushions and its
light carpet it looked just like a lady's drawing-
room. These two rooms were for general use by
the members of the Admiral's mess, though the
latter usually spent their free time in their large

25

Kiel and Jutland

cabins or the wardroom. For his personal use
the Admiral had a large office, a capacious bed-
room, bath and dressing rooms.

We made an excellent breakfast, and the
Admiral discussed the arrangements for the day
with me. Provision had been made for : n a.m.
Exchange of visits on S.M.S. Friedrich der Grosse.
Then report to Prince Henry. The Admiral
asked me where I was to be found. I requested
to be allowed to stay on the King George V.,
which pleased him very much. He gave me
temporary quarters in the state room intended
for the Ambassador, and so my servant, Able
Seaman Hanel, moved in with all my gear. It
was a small, self-contained apartment, a cabin
prettily appointed, bed, bath and dressing rooms.
Unfortunately I did not enjoy it long, for the same
evening the British Ambassador came on board,
and I moved into a cabin on one of the lower
decks, which was certainly roomy, but very
uncomfortable and hot.

I lived and slept on board the King George V.
all through the Kiel week. As a result of my
continuous contact with Admiral Warrender, and
his officers and men, I had a chance of getting
to know them well, and forming an opinion on
their spirit.

In addition to the English Ambassador, the
latter* s son and a nephew of the Admiral, young

26

The Kiel Week, 1914

Lord Erskine, were the Admiral's guests on
board. At the time appointed we went in the
Admiral's " barge/' a very large and fine steam
launch fitted up in mahogany, to the Fleet Flag-
ship Friedrich der Grosse, where all the admirals
and captains present in Kiel were assembled for
the formal reception. Admiral von Ingenohl
and Admiral Warrender presented their respective
officers. The German officers adopted a cool and
reserved attitude, and the English more or less
did the same, so that, in spite of formal courtesies,
the political tension could be observed.

In the subsequent festivities I failed to notice
anything similar, especially in the intercourse of
the junior officers, who were very soon good
friends. At all the balls and dinners the young
English officers could be seen getting on famously
with the German officers and flirting zealously
with the German ladies. A good many English
officers were also invited out by our married
naval officers, and so they enjoyed many an
hour of German domestic hospitality. Many
officers and men made use of the opportunity
of free railway journeys which were offered them.

Every day hundreds of them went to Berlin
and Hamburg, so that a large proportion of the
officers and men were away from Kiel.

From the Friedrich der Grosse we went to the
Royal Castle. We were received by Prince

27

Kiel and Jutland

Henry, the Princess, the young princes and the
household. Their Royal Highnesses talked very
intimately to the English officers. Both of them
had a particular predilection for everything
English before the war, and, indeed, among
themselves hardly spoke anything but English.
I had a long talk with the youthful Prince Siegis-
mund and then with Princess Henry, who dis-
played a keen interest in what I was doing on the
King George V. All the Englishmen were greatl)
charmed by the kindness and distinction oi
Prince Henry.

From the Royal Castle we went back to the
King George V., where meanwhile the two naval
attaches, Commander Erich von Miiller, who
had come from London, and Captain Wilfrid
Henderson, had arrived as guests for lunch.
Commander von Miiller drew me aside, and
said: " Be on your guard against the English!
England is ready to strike ; war is imminent,
and the object of the naval visit is only spying.
They want to see exactly how prepared we are.
Whatever you do, tell them nothing about our
U-boats." '

This information completely confirmed my own
views, but I was none the less taken aback to hear
the point put so baldly. I paid strict heed to his
advice during the whole of the English visit.

The future was to justify Commander von

28

The Kiel Week, 1914

Miiller up to the hilt. He realized the approach
of danger, even before the murder at Serajevo,
so much better than his chief, Ambassador Prince
Lichnowsky.

We had only been on board a few minutes
when Prince Henry appeared to pay his return
call, and he was soon followed by the Commander-
in-Chief and the officer in command of the Base.

In the afternoon Flag-Lieutenant Buxton and
I accompanied the Admiral on a round of visits.
First we went to the Yacht Club, where War-
render had quite a touching reunion with his
friend Rear- Admiral Sarnow, whom he had met
in Eastern Asia long years before. For a whole
hour we sat drinking champagne with the old
gentlemen who could not do enough to revive
the memories of bygone days they had spent
together. Then we had tea with Admiral von
Coerper, commanding the Baltic Naval Station,
and afterwards went with him and Frau
von Coerper to watch the tennis tournament
for the Kaiser Prize on the square in front of
the Marine Akademie.

When we went back on board we found that the
English Ambassador, Sir Edward Goschen, had
arrived and moved into the feudal stateroom,
in which I had had to be content with an after-
noon nap. During the next week I was to learn
what a particularly kind and witty man he was.

29

Kiel and Jutland

He always treated us Germans with the greatest
cordiality. He was descended from the Leipzig
bookseller family, the Goschen, and was thus
more German than English in origin.

After a short talk with the Ambassador we
all shifted for dinner with Prince Henry. Full
mess dress, i.e., mess jacket with white waistcoat
and gold braid on the trousers, was the prescribed
rig. Just before eight we all went to the Royal
Castle in the splendid " barge " in which we
were to make many a trip in the next week.
Dinner was a very jolly affair. We dined at
eight small tables in the " White Room." In
addition to the senior English officers, the
admirals present in Kiel were invited with their
wives, as well as a few members of the Holstein
nobility. While the sumptuous banquet was in
progress, a splendid orchestra played alternate
English and German selections.

Soon after ten o'clock we again returned to
the King George V. in the barge. With Stopford
and Buxton I went into the wardroom, where I
made the acquaintance of several officers of the
ship. We spent a long and pleasant time
together, drinking whisky and soda. The officers
of the English ships almost always had two pretty
large rooms for their common use— the officers'
mess proper, which is used almost exclusively
as a dining-room, and the ante-room, which is

30

The Kiel Week, 1914

provided with club chairs and leather sofas,
and in which the officers smoke, read and play
cards. The furniture is the property of the
officers. On the King George V. both rooms
were furnished in particularly good taste.

The following programme had been arranged
for June 24th : 10 a.m. — Visit to the Secretary of
State of the Imperial Admiralty. 1.30 p.m. —
Arrival of His Majesty in the royal yacht Hohen-
zollern. The English flag officers and captains
report on board the Hohenzollern (immediately
after she anchors). 7.30 p.m. — Dinner with
the English Consul.

Lieutenant-Commander Kehrhahn, Buxton and
I accompanied Admiral Warrender and Commo-
dore Goodenough to the Secretary of State of the
Imperial Admiralty, who had hoisted his flag on
S.M.S. Friedrich Karl. Admiral von Tirpitz
received us at the gangway and took us to his
cabin. He there sat at a small table with the
two English flag officers, while we juniors sat
at another table with his aides-de-camp. English
alone was spoken, as the Admiral spoke it very
well. Warrender and Goodenough brought him
kind messages from his many friends and ac-
quaintances in the English Navy. Tirpitz then
spoke of the development of the German fleet.
Champagne was handed round. We remained
about half an hour, and then returned to the

31

Kiel and Jutland

King George V., where the preparations for the
reception of the Hohenzollern were at their height.
During the whole stay at Kiel the men had no
duties beyond keeping the ships clean. The
result was that they all looked " tip-top/' All
the damage to the paintwork on the voyage over
had been made good ; the decks had been
swabbed, and the space for the inspection of the
crew had been marked off into equal distances
with thin chalk lines.

At the appointed minute the Hohenzollern
passed through Holtenau Locks. This trip marked
the opening of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal to
public traffic. The work of widening it had been
completed. Of course some dredging was still
required before battleships could pass through,
but this work was carried on at full pressure.
On July 30th, 1914, the Kaiser in was the first
dreadnought to pass through the canal. It was
thus ready at the very moment the war began.
The result was that when the fleet returned from
Norwegian harbours at the end of July, Admiral
von Ingenohl was able to distribute the battle
fleet between its bases, Wilhelmshaven and Kiel.
When the order came for the concentration of the
fleet in the North Sea, the battleships from Kiel
passed through the canal for the first time,
though they had first to empty their bunkers.
The fact that the war broke out practically the

32

The Kiel Week, 1914

same day as that on which the canal was ready
fulfilled a prophecy which I had made in the year
1911. As I was firmly convinced that the mad
competition in armaments of all the great nations
would inevitably lead to a war some day, just
as in the days gone by the creation of every
fleet had led to its being used for war purposes, I
prophesied to some merchants in Hamburg in
1911 that we should have war as soon as we had
a high-sea fleet, consisting of two great dread-
nought squadrons, with the necessary battle-
cruisers, light cruisers and destroyers, in addition
to a considerable number of U-boats, and imme-
diately the coast defences we had planned,
particularly Heligoland, had been completed. On
August ist, 1914, when the canal was ready, all
these conditions precedent were fulfilled. The
Dance I had prophesied could begin — and it
began ! Subsequently one of the Hamburg mer-
chants referred to the astounding accuracy of
my prophecy. I must admit that at the time
I had not thought that my conditions would be
satisfied before the spring of 1915.

When the Hohenzollern passed through the
Holtenau Lock, on June 24th, all the ships fired
the Imperial salute. Several aeroplanes and a
Zeppelin circled over the flohenzollern. Un-
happily one aeroplane crashed, and the officer,
Lieutenant Schroeter, was killed.

33 3

Kiel and Jutland

The Hohenzollern passed us very swiftly. The
Kaiser waved from the bridge of the Hohen-
zollern to where he saw Admiral Warrender
standing. The red-coated marines were drawn
up on the quarter-deck of the English ships. The
crews manned ship, and every ship gave three
loud hurrahs, the men waving their caps at each
hurrah. The bands of the Royal Marines struck
up the salute. It was a magnificent sight, which
I shall never forget.

The English officers were to be presented on
the Hohenzollern immediately after she had been
made fast. We therefore quickly shifted into full-
dress uniform, and were quite ready to start
when the Admiral reappeared on deck. The
English captains had been told about the pro-
gramme, but not one of them was in sight. We
could see their gigs lying at the gangways, but
not a boat moved. The Admiral was angry,
and had the signal, " All captains to come on
board the flagship," hoisted. There was quite a
pause before the signal was understood by all
the ships. Then, at last, all the gigs, pretty
but slow boats, put off. It turned out subse-
quently that the captains thought they were not
to come on board until a special signal was given.
The Admiral was very much displeased, and I
must admit that this want of initiative on the
part of the captains was somewhat incomprehen-

34

The Kiel Week, 1914

sible to me also. They had not used their fast
picket-boats because there was a regulation that
for official purposes the captain must only use
his gig.

The Admiral's barge now quickly took us to
the Hohenzollern, where there was already some
excitement over the half-hour's delay. The
Kaiser stood on the upper promenade deck to
receive us. He was in high spirits and full of
humour, as usual. Not one of the English
officers failed to look anything but very pleased
while the Kaiser was talking with him. As we
were returning all the officers congratulated them-
selves on their good fortune.

After lunch, the Admiral, with Buxton and
myself, went to the station to meet his wife.
Lady Maud Warrender was a very tall and
beautiful woman, of perhaps forty, the typical
English society lady. I knew from the English
papers that she was one of the leaders of London
Society. She was known as a singer with a
magnificently trained voice. She was staying
on board the Hamburg-Amerika liner Viktoria
Luise, which Ballin always sent to Kiel for the
Kiel Week. This ship was the evening rendez-
vous of the social world at Kiel.

In the afternoon Princess Henry and her
sons paid a visit to the King George V . Every
spare moment I had was taken up withdrawing

35 3*

Kiel and Jutland

up the list of invitations to a great banquet on
board the King George V. In this task I was
helped by the Flag-Lieutenant of the High Sea
Fleet and the aide-de-camp of the Officer Com-
manding the base. In addition I had to keep in
constant touch with the English officers of the
watch, the Admiral's secretary, the Commander
of the King George V., and many others. I was
frequently called to the telephone, which had
been laid on the flagship, to give information to
German officers and authorities. These were
appallingly strenuous days for me, to the strain of
which the excellent meals with the best of wine
and much drinking of whisky and cocktails at
all hours of the day and night contributed not a
little.

In the evening of June 24th we assembled in
the Hotel Seebadeanstalt, to which the English
Consul Sartori and his wife had invited us. I
had an opportunity of making the closer acquain-
tance of Commodore Goodenough and the cap-
tains. I was particularly impressed by Com-
modore Goodenough, the commander of the
light cruiser squadron, who subsequently took
an outstanding part in the war. After the
Skagerrak Battle, in particular, Admiral Jellicoe
emphasized his share in the action. As O.C.
of the light scouting force he established contact
with our main fleet, and is said to have kept

36

The Kiel Week, 1914

Jellicoe always well informed of our move-
ments.

This evening he showed himself a great wit in
company. I also found out what a great con-
versationalist Captain Dampier, commanding the
Audacious, was. Inter alia he taught me an
amusing toast, which runs :

" I drink to myself and another,
And may that one other be she (he),
Who drinks to herself (himself) and another,
And may that one other be me ! "

Most of the captains looked somewhat over-
worked. One of the principal causes may be
that the officers of the First Fleet live quite a
different kind of life from that which we lead on
board the ships of our High Sea Fleet. Service
in the First Fleet usually lasts two years. During
that period the ships are almost always either
at sea or in different harbours. It is highly
exceptional for the officers to have a chance of
living ashore. Our ships, on the other hand,
always return to their so-called " Main Base "
after fleet exercises, and then we officers live
ashore with our families, and during free times
there are no officers on board except a senior
officer and two juniors as officers of the watch.
Thus we have plenty of opportunity of recuper-
ating from the wearing life on board. The

37

Kiel and Jutland

result of the unsettled life of the English naval
officers (with whom, moreover, two or three years
of foreign service are far more frequent than
with us) is that most of the married ones cannot
have a home of their own, but have to bring their
families to the place where they and their ships
are likely to remain for a considerable time.
Their families then live in the boarding-houses,
which are so common in England, or else they
live somewhere inland, where their men folk can
visit them from time to time.

In view of the fact that they spend so much
time on board, the cabins of the officers are
much larger and more habitable than ours.
Most of them have a fireplace, as there is no steam
heating on the English ships. The great leather
club chair is a feature of every cabin. The
mahogany furniture of the cabins is practically
of the same style as that which was seen on
board in Nelson's days. After two years on
board the First Fleet the whole complement of
the ship is paid off — a few particularly important
individuals alone remain on board — and then the
whole crew have six months ashore during
which home leave is freely granted.

On June 25th the yacht regatta began. It
had been preceded on the 23rd by the races of
the men-of-war's boats. The bay was the scene
of the usual sporting contest, the sight of which

38

The Kiel Week, 1914

fills every seaman's heart with joy. Un-
fortunately the starting-point was too far from
the King George V. for us to follow all the details
of the start from on board. A very large number
of yachts had been entered, particularly foreign
boats. The King George V. was made fast to a
buoy in the immediate vicinity of Bellevue Bridge.
South of her lay the Fleet Flagship Friedrich
der Grosse and the Hohenzottern] north of her
the other English ships, and on the east the
Viktoria Luise moored between two buoys. At
9 a.m. the 8m. and 5m. Class started, the igm.
and I2m. Class at 10 a.m., the i5m. Class at n
a.m., and the Special Class at midday. Thus
the bay was flecked with sails practically the
whole day.

A comprehensive programme had been pro-
vided for the 25th :

Midday. — Lunch with the Commander-in-Chief
of the Fleet.

Afternoon. — Three functions : Kiel Town sports,
a fete on board the Preussen, flagship of the
Second Squadron, and a garden-party at the house
of the Mayor, Dr. Ahlmann.

Evening. — Invitation to the Kaiser's dinner
on board the Hohenzottern.

Early in the morning came a note from Admiral
Miiller, Chief of the Cabinet, to say that the Kaiser
would visit the King George V. at twelve o'clock.

39

Kiel and Jutland

At the appointed time the whole ship's comple-
ment was drawn up for inspection on the upper
deck. The Kaiser came on board in the uniform
of a British Admiral of the Fleet. He looked
very happy and well and was apparently in the
best of spirits. He was accompanied by Admiral
von Miiller and his aide-de-camp, Commander
Baron von Paleske. All the English captains
and the officers of the King George V. were present
on the quarter-deck. Lieutenant Kehrhahn and I
were on the left. The Kaiser asked Admiral
Warrender to present all the officers to him.
When the Admiral was about to present us also
the Kaiser said : "I know my officers/' and
gave us his hand with the words : " Konnen Sie
sich denn einigermassen mit den Leuten ver-
standigen ? "* The Kaiser did not inspect the
ship's company, as is usual on such visits, but
went immediately with Admiral Warrender to the
Admiral's cabin, where he stayed talking with
him more than half an hour. Before he left
the Kaiser signed the Visitors' Book of the
King George V.y which already bore the signatures
of many famous people. He conversed for some
time longer with young Lord Erskine, who had
put on his Highland full-dress uniform in honour of
the day, and then bade a very warm farewell to
Admiral Warrender and the English captains.

* " Do you find you get on fairly well with these gentlemen ? "*

40

The Kiel Week, 1914

Lunch with the Commander-in-Chief of the
Fleet, Admiral von Ingenohl, passed off very
smoothly. We lunched in the Admiral's cabin
at small tables charmingly decorated with flowers.
A special small orchestra played works exclusively
by German composers. I sat with our first
flag-lieutenant, and, of course, Stopford and
Buxton. Ingenohl and Warrender both made
very good speeches about the English and German
fleets respectively. Indeed Warrender spoke twice
and devoted the whole of his second speech to
the spirit of good fellowship which had always
existed between our navies. He referred to all
the friends in the German navy whose acquaint-
ance he had made in his professional career, and
specially mentioned his friendship with Rear-
Admiral Sarnow.

In the afternoon we had the difficult task of
putting in an appearance at three simultaneous
functions. With the help of fast cars and the good
barge we easily solved this difficulty. First we
went in several cars which I had had brought
to Bellevue Bridge to the sports which the town
of Kiel were holding in honour of the English
crews on the town sports ground. The ladies
watched the events from the stand while the
Admiral went down with us among the com-
petitors. Warrender had a wonderful way of
talking to his men. He talked like a friend to

Kiel and Jutland

the seamen about the contests and made them tell
him what was happening. The events comprised
a football match, a shooting competition, relay
races, tug- of- war and so forth. It was extra-
ordinary to see how our people won nearly all
the events. We arrived just in time for the tug-
of-war. Four times in succession the same process
was repeated. With one irresistible swift pull
our sailors drew the English crews over the line.
The English could not claim a single victory in
the tug-of-war. It was just the same with the
other events. The football match alone was a
draw.

I was not particularly surprised at the success
of the German sailors. Most of the English
sailors were little fellows. Many of them were
very young — the King George V . alone had 70
men under seventeen — while there was also an
excessive proportion of old men. The tall Teutonic
type was far rarer than among our men. Indeed,
I observed that a large number looked strongly
Jewish, a thing which astonished me, as I knew
that the Jews had a fundamental aversion to
seafaring.

From the sports ground we went in cars to Dr.
Ahlmann's splendid place. Unfortunately it came
on to rain, so that the party could not be held
in the park in Diisternbrook Wood. We had
to go into the fine rooms of the great house.

42

The Kiel Week, 1914

There was tea-drinking, dancing and flirting.
We did not stay long and then went by car and
barge to the Preussen. The Base authorities
had given me carte blanche as regards the use
of cars, and that alone made it possible for the
Admiral to meet all the demands upon his time.
Prince and Princess Henry were present on the
Preussen, but otherwise it presented the usual
picture of a fete on board. The decks were
prettily decorated and we danced zealously.
For the reception of the English guests the
Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet had permanently
assigned two Germans to each English ship, and
the German ships were instructed to invite the
English officers to lunches and functions on board.
The result was that a large number of English
officers were seen at the festivities on board
during the Kiel Week. This was true of the
Preussen also.

Introducing the Admiral to Kiel society kept
me going the whole time. I knew so many
people I introduced that he asked me in astonish-
ment : "Do you know everybody ? "

At eight o'clock in the evening we were com-
manded to dine on the Hohenzollern. It was the
last banquet which was ever given on the splendid
royal yacht. On this day the Hohenzollern
showed herself in all her glory for the last time.
We assembled on the promenade deck, where

43

Kiel and Jutland

the Kaiser welcomed us. He was wearing —
as we were guests — the simple mess uniform. The
tables were set in the great saloon and decorated
with superb orchids. Germans and Englishmen
sat together in a gay throng. I give opposite
the order of the seats at this last great Imperial
banquet on board the Hohenzollern. The letter B
before the names indicates a British officer.

The Kiel Week, 1914

OFFICER OF S. M. Y. HOHENZOLLERN

Staff-Surgeon Dr. Wezel
Commander v. Miiller
Capt. Begas

(B) Lieut. B. Buxton
Vice-Admiral Scheer

(B) Capt. A. Duff
Admiral von Ingenohl

(B) Capt. M. Culme-

Seymour

Col.-General v. Plessen
(B) Vice-Admiral Sir

George Warrender
H.M. the Kaiser and

King
Ambassador Sir Edward

Goschen
Admiral of the Fleet

von Tirpitz
(B) Capt. William E.

Goodenough
Admiral v. Pohl
(B) Capt. Wilfrid Hen-
derson
Ambassador Count v.

Wedel
(B)Commander the Hon.

D. Stopford
Rear-Admiral Mauwe
Lieut.-Col. v. Estorff

Lieut. Kehrhahn

Lieut, v. Hase
Capt. v. Karpf
Rear - Admiral Heb-

binghaus

Rear- Adml . Eckermann
Ambassador v. Eisen-

decker

(B) Comdr.E.A.Rushton
O.H.M. Baron v. Rei-

schach
(B) Capt. Charles B.

Miller

Admiral v. Miiller
(B) Capt. Cecil F.

Dampier
H.R.H. Prince Henry of

Prussia
(B) Capt. Sir Arthur

Henniker-Hughan
Admiral v. Coerper

(B) Capt. George H.

Baird

Vice-Admiral Koch
(B) Fleet - Paymaster

Graham Hewlett
Rear-Admiral Funke

Wirkl. Geh. Rat v.

Valentini

Captain Hopmann
Commander Baron v.

Paleske
Lieut, v. Tyszka

OFFICER OF S. M. Y. HOHENZOLLERN

45

Kiel and Jutland

There were no speeches, but the conversation
was lively. Indeed, the conversation on the
Imperial yacht was always as unrestrained as
possible. I had the pleasure of sitting next to
Captain von Karpf , commanding the Hohenzollern,
of whom the whole navy and particularly the
royal family had the very highest opinion. He
is well known for his splendid humour. We did
full justice to the excellent food and the choicest
of wines. Of one particular hock Captain von
Karpf said that it was the best drop to be found
in the Kaiser's cellars in Berlin. I noticed that
the Kaiser did not get on very well with Admiral
Warrender. Unfortunately Warrender also had
the Kaiser on his practically deaf side, so that
the latter talked almost all the time to the English
ambassador. After dinner we had coffee and
cigars on the promenade deck and conversation
was merry and free. The Kaiser spoke to almost
all his English guests. We noticed the way
in which he devoted himself to showing himself
to his guests as nothing but a kind host.

I had a very interesting conversation with
the English captains Dampier and Sir Arthur
Henniker-Hughan on the political situation and
Germany's prospects in the world. Both insisted
that England had no idea of isolating Germany
from the world, but if war came it would be
Germany that started it, not England.

46

The Kiel Week, 1914

It was pretty late when we returned to the
King George V., where we sat for some time
longer in the ante-room of the officers' mess.
It was on this occasion that I struck up a friend-
ship with Commander Brownrigg, Gunnery Officer
of the King George V. He told me many interesting
points about guns, and in his cabin showed me
shooting charts, the results of gunnery tests and
gunnery prizes. We were at one in our mania
for everything to do with naval gunnery. The
English naval authorities knew how to make
the career of the gunnery officer the most dis-
tinguished and coveted among naval officers.
In the German navy the gun was a secondary,
not the main weapon, and the torpedo arm had
become the object of the ambition of every
efficient officer.

This has always seemed to me regrettable, and
I regarded it as a great mistake. The preference
for the torpedo was justified when our navy was
so weak that a battle for the mastery of the
seas — which could only be waged with the guns
of powerful ships — seemed to have no prospects
from the start. Churchill said very aptly during
the war, after the Battle of Skagerrak : " The
first sea-power relies on the gun ; the second is
bound to place its hopes on the torpedo/'

The fact that we put our hopes almost entirely
on the torpedo in the war meant that to a certain

47

Kiel and Jutland

extent we renounced the battle methods of a
first-class naval power. It was only at the Battle
of Skagerrak, almost two years after the out-
break of war, that Admiral Scheer, the Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Fleet, ventured on an
artillery action on the high seas, and that was
after his predecessors, Admirals von Ingenohl
and von Pohl, had failed to exploit any of the
opportunites for a high seas action which had
offered themselves so frequently.

Commander Brownrigg told me of gunnery
exercises in which he had been successful at a
range of 150 hm.* This seemed to me an enor-
mous range. As a matter of fact, in the war
itself, shooting was almost always at even greater
ranges.

For Friday, June 26, Admiral Warrender had
been invited by the Kaiser to sail on the Meteor.
The large yachts started for their race at 10.15.
As I was not accompanying him I was able to
devote myself to the preparations for the great
fete which was to be held on the King George V.
in the afternoon. For the afternoon also, the
Imperial Yacht Club had arranged a regatta for
the ships' boats of the English squadron. In the
evening we had been invited by the officers of
the Baltic Station to a ball at the Marine
Akademie.

* i hectometre = 100 metres = no yards (approx.).

King George V., Flagship of the English 2nd Battle Squadron.

Southampton, Commodore Goodenough's Flagship.

[.To face p. 48.

The Kiel Week, 1914

Admiral Warrender did not get back until
the afternoon. Meanwhile we had had a very
pleasant lunch, at which Sir Edward Goschen
presided and which was graced by the presence
of several young ladies. The Admiral was de-
lighted with the regatta, in which Rear-Admiral
Begas had steered the Meteor to victory.

The " At Home " (on the King George F.), as
the English call their ships' fetes, was an affair
of the first order. All Kiel was there and
the invitations were issued through me. Of
course some folk grumbled because they were
not invited. Lady Warrender did the honours
very skilfully and was supported by several
German ladies, notably her friend, Frau von
Meister, wife of the Regierungsprdsident of Wies-
baden. The huge decks of the King George V.
were unanimously approved by the German
ladies owing to the large amount of dancing space
they afforded. Borchert of Berlin had supplied
the excellent refreshments, the splendours of
which met with well-earned praise.

I made the acquaintance of old Lord Brassey,
who was in Kiel with his yacht the Sunbeam,
to which he invited me. He has written a famous
book on his cruise round the world in this yacht.
I was also introduced to his daughters, Lady Helen
and Lady Mary. The yacht is rather old, but
very large and comfortable. A few days later

49 4

.

Kiel and Jutland

Lord Brassey had a remarkable experience. In
one of the yacht's dingheys he went into the
U-boat dock of the Imperial Yards, which was
closed to all civilians. There were several of
our latest U-boats there. He was arrested by
a dock-guard and spent several hours in the guard-
room. It was only after he had been identified
by a German officer he knew that he was released
on the orders of the director of the dockyard.
There was general indignation in Kiel at Lord
Brassey's great want of tact, and even the Kaiser
spoke rather sharply about it.

I realized the very day after the English ships
arrived in Kiel that the English were extremely
anxious to know all about the modern ships and
craft of our fleet. Admiral Warrender sent me
that day to our Commander-in-Chief, Admiral
von Ingenohl, and I was commissioned to tell
him that Admiral Warrender placed the English
ships at the disposal of German naval officers who
desired to see them. The Admiral particularly
insisted that the German officers would be shown
everything which they cared to see for professional
purposes.

Admiral von Ingenohl was absolutely averse
to this proposal and instructed me to present
his compliments to Admiral Warrender and say
that he regretted that he could make no use of
this kind invitation, as he could not return the

50

The Kiel Week, 1914

compliment, because, in accordance with regula-
tions, we were not allowed to show many parts
of our ships to anyone. I reported accordingly
to Admiral Warrender, and the next day he sent
me back to Admiral von Ingenohl with a commis-
sion to tell him that of course the English also
had similar regulations, e.g., the conning- tower,
the torpedo-room and the wireless could not be
shown. Everything else could be seen, and of
course he did not expect that his officers should
be shown anything contrary to orders.

It was not until June 26th that I received from
Admiial von Ingenohl a reply by letter in which
he said that I was to tell Admiral Warrender that
" he thanked the Admiral for his willingness to
show the German officers the English ships, and
invited the English officers to visit the German
ships. "

Simultaneously Admiral von Ingenohl issued
orders that the visits of English officers to the
German ships were permitted, but that the
regulations for the visits of strangers were to be
observed. As these regulations absolutely for-
bade the visits of foreigners to our most modern
ships — those of the Third Squadron, the latest
destroyers and all submarines — the only vessels
the English could see were the old battleships of
the " Deutschland " Class. They certainly could
not find out much about us from them.

5i 4*

Kiel and Jutland

The English themselves had prepared their
ships — which were actually the very latest in the
English navy — for the visit of the German officers,
by either removing or covering with wood all
important apparatus, particularly all fire-control
apparatus and the sights. Personally I was fre-
quently shown most of the gear on the King
George V.y although I did not ask to see it. Com-
mander Brownrigg took me into the most remote
corners of his turrets and magazines. It was only
the famous Percy Scott " firing director" which
all the officers shrouded in a veil of mystery.
This was a device with the help of which it was
possible to direct and fire all the guns from the
conning-tower or fore- top, a device which was
the invention of the English Admiral Sir Percy
Scott. Of course the English officers who showed
me round generally asked me about our corre-
sponding arrangements, but they did not get much
out of me.

The ball which the officers of the Baltic Station
gave to our English guests on June 26 in the
splendid rooms of the Marine Akademie was a
brilliant affair. For the flower- waltzes flowers
were scattered in a riotous profusion such as I
have seldom seen. It was a pure battle of flowers.
We danced far into the morning hours.

For Sunday, June 28, we were invited to a
luncheon given by the town of Kiel, and in the

52

The Kiel Week, 1914

afternoon to a garden-party given by the officer
commanding the Baltic Station. For the evening,
Admiral and Lady Warrender had issued invita-
tions to a dinner on board.

At i p.m. we found ourselves in the fine rooms
of the new Town Hall of Kiel for the luncheon in
honour of the English officers. Lord Mayor
Lindemann made a speech on the English, and
then Warrender followed with an excellent one
on the town of Kiel, and everything else which
had made an impression upon him. He described
how the German officers had received the squadron
in their motor launches and how they had come
on board in the open sea. He even had a few
grateful words for myself and all I had done.
After Admiral of the Fleet von Koster, as a
freeman of the city, had spoken about the English
navy, Warrender made a second speech in brilliant
form. Thanks to the many speeches and inter-
vals in the meal, lunch lasted so long that we only
just had time to get back, by car and barge, on
board to change for the garden-party.

The historic garden-party of the officer com-
manding the Base, at which the Kaiser is always
expected but to which he hardly ever goes, passed
off very smoothly in brilliant sunshine. The only
princes present were Prince Henry with his family,
and Princess Marie von Hoist ein-Gliicksburg.
That year Prince Adalbert was absent for the

53

Kiel and Jutland

Kiel Week for the first time. Moreover, the
Kaiserin, the Crown Prince and the other Prussian
Royalties had not come to Kiel this time as they
usually did. I was assured from a well-informed
quarter that the Kaiserin and the Princes had
not turned up owing to the English visit. I
considered this aloofness quite justified towards
a nation whose Government had so frequently
thwarted ours, for indeed the cool reserve of all
Germans in high position had not failed to make
an impression upon the English.

The garden-party was a particularly gay scene
this year. We stood about, talked to everyone,
and drank a cup of tea while the younger guests
danced in the great hall of the house. Some
ladies and gentlemen of Kiel society danced a
quadrille (which they had practised beforehand)
on the lawn. I took part in this. A large red
carpet had been put down on the lawn behind
the house, and here there were basket chairs for
the most distinguished guests.

During the garden-party Admiral Warrender
and his wife received an invitation to dine on board
the Hohenzollern. The guests invited to the
dinner-party on the King George V. were there-
fore released with the exception of a few of the
younger ladies with whom we dined very pleasantly
in the evening. Sir Edward Goschen again
presided and got on very well with the German

54

The Kiel Week, 1914

ladies, who supported him in his duties as
host. After dinner we danced a little on the
deck of the King George F., and then transferred
to the Hamburg-Amerika liner Viktoria Luise,
and danced there. The international character
of the Kiel Week was even more obvious here than
elsewhere. All languages could be heard. As
there was very little room for dancing, owing to
the crush, Stopford, Buxton and I collected a few
nice people together, returned to the King George V.
and continued dancing there. It was pretty late
before the last guest left the ship. Thus the
last day before the fateful day of Serajevo ended
for us in the merriest association with our English
guests.

Another very full programme had been arranged
for Sunday, June 28. The Admiral and Lady
Warrender were invited to lunch with Admiral
von Tirpitz. In the afternoon there was to be
a great reception in the Royal Castle, and in the
evening we were to dine with the officer command-
ing the Base. Dinner was to be followed by a ball.

I was not invited to the lunch with Admiral
von Tirpitz, so I lunched quietly at home. When
I returned to the King George V. after lunch I
was called to the telephone, and there received
the order issued by the Kaiser : " Flags half-
mast, ensigns half-mast, Austrian flag at main-
mast, for murder of the Austrian heir." Admiral

55

Kiel and Jutland

Warrender and Sir Edward Goschen immediately
came back from the Hohenzollern. Both looked
very serious and the ambassador was in great
agitation. I told them of the telephone message
I had received. I stayed with them on deck for
a time. Sir Edward Goschen had tears in his
eyes, so that I asked him if he attached special
importance to the assassination. He simply said
that he had known the Austrian heir very inti-
mately and loved him as a friend. Goschen then
suggested to Warrender that they should send
a joint telegram to Sir Edward Grey. I therefore
withdrew. When Warrender came on deck again
he was even more serious. He told me frankly
of the consequences the assassination might have.
He bluntly expressed his fears — indeed his con-
viction— that this crime would mean war between
Serbia and Austria, that Russia would then
be drawn in, and thus Germany and France could
not remain lookers-on. He said nothing about
England, but before he had finished he said openly
that this murder would certainly result in a general
world war. I recorded this conversation in my
official report, which I handed in on July 4, 1914.
Even as we were talking together on deck Prince
Henry came on board to bring us the news of the
murder, and discuss it with Sir Edward Goschen
and the Admiral. He was already in possession
of some details of the murder.

56

The Kiel Week, 1914

The character of the Kiel Week was now revolu-
tionized at a blow. The reception at the castle
and the ball at the Base headquarters were can-
celled. The Viktoria Luise received instructions
from Hamburg to return there next day. The
regattas were continued, but all dances stopped.
We could begin to feel the thunderladen atmo-
sphere which filled the world until the outbreak
of war. In the afternoon we learned that the
Kaiser would leave next morning.

Very early in the morning of Monday, June 29,
we left in the barge for the station, Warrender
and Goodenough with their staffs, and Lieutenant
Kehrhahn and I. The admirals and generals
who had been summoned assembled on the
quay side. Just before the Kaiser appeared
Her Majesty the Kaiserin arrived. She had
hastened from Grunholz by car, and was now to
accompany the Kaiser to Vienna. She was
all in black and looked as if she had been weeping.
The Kaiser's launch came alongside and the Kaiser
stepped out with his suite. He looked terribly
serious. He received various reports and among
them the notice of the departure of Warrender and
Goodenough. He talked to both of them for
several minutes. Then he had a long talk with
Sir Edward Goschen, and spoke to the American,
Mr. Armour, Prince Miinster, Admiral von Ingen-
ohl and others. We all followed to the train

57

Kiel and Jutland

to see them off. The departure was marked
by a heavy silence, which was observed even by
the numerous throng which had assembled not-
withstanding the early hour.

In the morning the Admiral was present at the
public funeral of Lieutenant Schroeter, who had
crashed with his aeroplane. It was followed by
an official luncheon on board the King George V.
to which practically no one but the German ad-
mirals and their wives were invited. Owing to
shortage of space only a limited number could be
invited. Admirals von Tirpitz, von Ingenohl and
von Coerper were among the guests. It was quite
a simple meal, only distinguished from the
ordinary daily lunch by a few good wines. After
lunch Admiral Warrender offered to show the
German admirals over the King George V.
Curiously enough Admiral von Ingenohl accepted,
while Admiral Tirpitz and the other admirals
declined. Admiral Warrender took Admiral von
Ingenohl and his officers (I myself joined the
party) into a 34.5 cm.* turret and Commander
Goldie operated all the machinery of the turret
for our benefit.

In the afternoon I accompanied the Admiral
alone by car to the dockyard convalescent home,
where there was a sailors' function which was being
given for our men by the English, as some return

•13.5 in. (Tr.)
58

The Kiel Week, 1914

for the fete given in their honour. As Admiral
Warrender entered the room he was received with
thunderous stamping, a spontaneous act of homage
which made a deep impression upon me. War-
render mounted a table as if he had been a boy,
and made an enthusiastic speech about the friend-
ship of the two nations. It ended with three
cheers for the German navy. Rear- Admiral
Mauwe then mounted the table and replied.
When he had concluded his speech and three
cheers for the English navy had been given,
Warrender gave him his hand, and thus the
German and English sailors could see him hand in
hand with the German Admiral in a somewhat
theatrical pose. A terrific stamping, renewed
time after time, was the answer.

At this time Warrender often spoke to me about
the form which a naval war between England and
Germany would take. I was particularly in-
terested in his remark that it was owing to several
articles by German naval officers that the atten-
tion of people in England had been drawn to
the importance of Scapa Flow, and that prepara-
tions were being made to convert Scapa Flow
into a base for the so-called " long-range "
blockade of the German Bight. His words were :
" Scapa Flow is a German invention.'*

He and the officers of his staff often mocked
at the well-known " submarine " letter of Admiral

59

Kiel and Jutland

Sir Percy Scott in which the latter had said
that the submarine meant the end of England's
control of the seas. But even Admiral Warrender
thought that submarines would effect a funda-
mental change in the strategic situation in the
future, and that, owing to them, a distant blockade
only, i.e., in Norwegian waters, would be possible.

In the evening of June zgth the official dinner
of the Imperial Yacht Club took place. Before
it began there was the distribution of prizes,
a duty which Prince Henry performed on behalf
of the Kaiser. A large number of yacht owners
and naval officers had assembled at the Yacht
Club. I shall never forget how critically War-
render looked at every one of the young officers
present, in order to gain some idea of his per-
sonality. He took quite a special interest in
the officers of the submarine arm. He and his
officers always tried to get to know as many of
them as possible.

All kinds of interesting people were present
at the club dinner, Field-Marshal Von der Goltz,
Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, the foreign
naval attaches, and so forth. That night I
slept for the last time on the King George V .

The departure of the English squadron had been
fixed for June 3oth. I was very sorry to see the
end of a time which had been extremely in-
teresting for me.

60

The Kiel Week, 1914

At their request I sent my photograph to
Stopford and Buxton, who had always been most
friendly to me. In return they sent me theirs.
I also gave each of them some good hock. They
replied by jointly presenting me with a very
fine silver inkstand. They sent it from England
on July 3oth and it reached me at the end of
August through the channel of the German
Admiralty !

On saying good-bye, Admiral Warrender gave
me a wonderful tie-pin, consisting of a large
ruby set in brilliants. It was only in my pos-
session a short time, as in August, 1914, I handed
it over to the Red Cross. He also gave me his
photograph.

I remained on board until the ship slipped
her moorings. Then I left. Everyone was
extremely kind, and I said farewell with feelings
of gratitude. The fatherly, affectionate hos-
pitality of the English Admiral I shall never
forget, in spite of all the evil things which the
English nation has done to our people since then,
things which for the time being make it impossible
for any self-respecting, honourable German to
have friendly relations with an Englishman.
The demand for the surrender of our Kaiser has
produced an impassable gulf between us and the
English.

I dropped into my launch and saw the ships

61

Kiel and Jutland

leave the harbour at high speed. From the
German ships the signal flew, " Pleasant Journey."
As the ships stood out to sea, Warrender sent
the farewell message of his squadron to the
German fleet by wireless :

" Friends in past and friends for ever/'

62

PART II
THE BATTLE OF THE SKAGERRAK

CHAPTER I

MY FIRST MEETING WITH BRITISH NAVAL FORCES

The Forward Guns of the King George V-a

The Quarter-Deck of the Derffingcr

ON December i5th, 1914, I witnessed for the first
time a collision between German and English
naval forces. On that day our battle-cruisers
had been bombarding Scarborough, a fortified
English port. I myself was on board a battle-
ship, and had to be satisfied with seeing the
Hamburg successfully beat off an English de-
stroyer at daybreak. Just about the same time
we had a meeting with our friends of Kiel Week
which was extremely interesting, though for
obvious reasons it has not been made public
hitherto.

Our light cruisers had been attached to the
battle-cruisers with the object of taking part
in the bombardment. Unfortunately the seas
were running so high off the English coast and
the weather was so bad that it was impossible for
the light cruisers to use their guns. Vice- Admiral
Hipper, in command of the battle-cruisers,
therefore decided to send the light cruisers back

65 5

Kiel and Jutland

to the main fleet. The execution of this order
was exposed to the great risk that the ships
might meet a superior force on their way back.
About halfway home our light cruisers came
across a squadron of English light cruisers which
were probably under the command of Commodore
Goodenough. Owing to the thick weather the
ships suddenly found themselves quite close
to each other. The English flagship made an
identity signal in Morse with her searchlight,
and this signal consisted of two letters of the
alphabet. This was read off by the German flag-
ship, and replied to with certain letters also in
Morse. The English at length realized whom
they were dealing with and opened fire, to which
the German cruisers immediately replied. Thanks
to the storm which was raging, however, hits were
practically impossible on both sides. A thick
squall came down in which the two sides lost
sight of each other.

Almost immediately afterwards our six small
cruisers ran into the eight Dreadnoughts of the
English 2nd Battle Squadron, commanded by
Vice-Admiral Sir George Warrender ! With
wonderful presence of mind, the commander of
our light cruisers immediately made the English
signal which he had previously noted. The
English squadron was taken in and its officers
thought they had their own light cruisers in front

66

My First Meeting with British Naval Forces

of them. That was the salvation of our ships,
for a few salvoes from the 34.5 cm. (12 in.) guns
of the King George V . would have been quite
enough to send them all to the bottom. The
two squadrons were only in sight of one another
for a short time : then another heavy squall
separated them and our light cruisers soon met
our own battleships, in high spirits that they had
successfully escaped so dire a peril. I think that
both Admiral Warrender and his flag-lieutenant,
Buxton, must have looked a bit foolish when they
learned subsequently what kind of ships they had
had in front of their guns.

Soon afterwards, Sir George Warrender gave
up his command of the 2nd Battle Squadron,
and was appointed to a shore command, undoubt-
edly because he had missed the one and only
opportunity of successful action with which fate
had ever presented him. In 1916 I read in a
wireless message of the British Intelligence service
that he had died while in command of a naval
station.

The next bombardment of the English coast
by German battle-cruisers took place on April
25th, 1916, and this time, as First Gunnery Officer
of S.M.S. Derfflinger, the largest and most powerful
of our battle-cruisers, it was my duty to direct
the iron hail at the harbour establishments of
Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth.

67 5*

Kiel and Jutland

As soon as our bombardment of the harbour
began two small English cruisers and about
twenty destroyers ran out of Lowestoft, and after
the bombardment was over a short running
fight developed between us and these units.
Unfortunately this action, in which we could
easily have destroyed a large number of the
enemy ships, was broken off after a few minutes,
as the approach of a superior enemy force was
reported by the light cruisers sent out to secure
our flank in the south. Thus we did not get
much satisfaction out of this action, though in
the few minutes at our disposal we had set a
small cruiser on fire and sunk one or two de-
stroyers. The report of our light cruisers subse-
quently turned out to be false. Just as we were
leaving the coast we were attacked by an English
aeroplane which got so hearty a reception from
our anti-aircraft guns that it left us, and, as I
read later in an English paper, the officer was
seriously wounded and only just succeeded in
reaching safety on the coast.

In spite of our small military success against
the English forces our raid against the English
coast was none the less a very heartening ex-
perience. I shall never forget the moment when
the high shores of England emerged from the
grey mists of dawn and we could make out the
details of Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, and

68

My First Meeting with British Naval Forces

fire mighty salvoes from our great guns at the
harbour works. In his book " Nordsee," Gorch
Fock has written about this voyage of April 24th
and 25th to England in the " Tag- und Nachtbuch,
S.M.S. Wiesbaden." He was on board the Wies-
baden, the same ship on which he was killed in
the battle of Skagerrak. The splendid lines
which follow will show what an immense im-
pression this affair had made on the poet :

" About midday we make ready for sea, and
all at once the whole ship knows that there is
to be a raid against England, and that a great
and solemn hour may once more have struck !
A world power rushes out for its race with death,
a mighty fleet. Here we are only beaters, and
the giant grey torpedo-boats are only hounds for
great hunters such as a Liitzow, a Seydlitz or a
Derfflinger ! Beware, John Bull, beware ! Ger-
man wrath, the fierce, smiling anger of a Siegfried
at Saxon perfidy, is about to break over you.

*****
' ' How the ship trembles ! As far as the eye can
reach there are German ships of war, tearing,
racing, wrathful hunters and hounds ! Ever bluer
is the sea, ever higher rise the mounting waves,
ever whiter is the foam from our bows. How
our wake flashes behind us !

*****
69

Kiel and Jutland

' ' Rapidly darkness settles about us. Now we
plunge forward into the night in grim earnest,
raising great mountains of glistening spray. Pale
stars gaze down upon us. The seas mount yet
higher. Now and then a searchlight flashes
forth. The destroyers can hardly be seen, but
their white track of foam reveals their presence.

" The ship has become a mountain vomiting
forth flames. All our neighbours are also vol-
canoes. An angry giant of superhuman powers
has given vent to his rage. All the old gods have
come back to fight with us. Valhalla in the
Goiter ddmmerung.

" Not a light to be seen on the seas ! Almighty
and primeval they menace us with the hammers
of night !

" A Zeppelin passes above our heads — a streak of
shadow in the night clouds. There are stars. . . ."

The rest of this diary went down with the poet
in the Wiesbaden, in the battle of the Skagerrak.

70

CHAPTER II

THE PRINCIPLES OF GUNNERY IN AN ACTION ON THE
HIGH SEAS

ON the day of the attack on Lowestoft I learned
a great deal which was useful to me, subsequently
in the battle of the Skagerrak. Several failures
in the armament itself as well as mistakes of the
guns' crews, revealed to me quite clearly once
more that a perfect handling of the guns is possible
only if all the gunnery mechanism functions
faultlessly and the guns themselves are served
without a hitch. It is only when the gunnery
officer's instrument is working perfectly that he
can obtain the maximum effect from his guns
and their officers, gun-layers and crews can
show that they know how to make a proper use
of the complicated mechanical devices, mostly
worked by hydraulic or electrical power, of their
turrets, casemates and ammunition-chambers, as
well as how to keep them in such perfect condition
that however rapid the rate of fire their guns are
always loaded and ready to fire the moment the
fire-gong goes. If this is to be possible a daily
examination — which is in some respects a most

73

Kiel and Jutland

laborious business — of all the electrical and
mechanical devices is necessary and the artificers
must at once put right any defects discovered.
In this book I must give a special word of thanks
to the tireless personnel of the Derfflinger. At
the head of nine petty officers and more than
twenty men of the gunnery mechanics branch we
had our warrant officer Wlodarczek, who was
known as the " goblin " all over the ship because
he got things done even before they were thought
of. He was my right-hand man and helped me
most splendidly in achieving my aim. In the
Skagerrak battle, there was scarcely a single
failure in the mighty and complicated machine
of the Derfflinger1 s armament which was due not
to the effects of the enemy's fire, but to the
incessant use of the gunnery mechanism which
went on for hours on end. And what an enormous
business the ship's armament meant with all its
subsidiary paraphernalia. It had cost seven or
eight million marks and improvements to the
value of several hundred thousand marks more
had been added during the war.

In the forward part of the ship, the forecastle,
were two huge turrets, each with two 30.5 cm.
(12 in.) guns. There were two similar turrets in
the after part of the ship, over the quarter-deck.
These four turrets with their eight 30.5 cm. guns
formed the main armament of the ship. We called

74

The Principles of Gunnery

the turrets after the letters of the alphabet —
"Anna," "Bertha," " C^sar " and "Dora.11
" Anna " was the most forward of the turrets,
" Dora " the furthest aft. Each turret had a
turret officer who was either a lieutenant-comman-
der or a lieutenant, but owing to the shortage of
officers, turret " Dora " was in charge of a warrant
officer. Our men had given turret " Bertha " a
special name. It had been christened " the
Schiilzburg," after its turret officer, Kapitan-
Leutnant Baron von Speth-Schiilzburg, who was
particularly popular with his men.

The secondary battery of the Derfflinger con-
sisted of fourteen 15 cm. (6 in.) quick-firing guns,
seven on each side of the ship and each of them
in a splendidly armoured casemate. For other
armament we had only four 8.8 cm. anti-aircraft
guns (Flaks) ; the rest of them had been given
up long before for our brave minesweepers and
merchant ships in the Baltic.

The ammunition for these guns was kept in
about fifty magazines which were protected
against torpedoes by longitudinal bulkheads of
strong nickel steel.

For all the guns I had under me three lieutenant-
commanders, three lieutenants, four sub-lieu-
tenants, four midshipmen, six warrant officers
and about seven hundred and fifty petty
officers and men. The whole ship's company of

75

Kiel and Jutland

the Derfflinger comprised fourteen hundred
men. As First Gunnery Officer I commanded all
the guns, but in action I directed the main arma-
ment only. The secondary armament and the
anti-aircraft guns were in charge of two of my
officers, to whom I gave only general instructions
for their tactical handling.

If the reader wishes to get an idea of the
gigantic gunnery action which the Skagerrak
battle mainly represented, he must be in a posi-
tion to realize how it comes about that it is actually
possible to shoot and score hits from a ship which
is tearing along at top speed through high and
stormy seas, a ship which pitches and rolls,
changes its course, alters its speed, and is thus in
motion in all directions. He must see how it is
possible, at ranges of more than twenty kilo-
metres, not merely to hit enemy ships now and
then, but to destroy them in a moment ! And
he must remember that the enemy, too, is making
the same crazy motions. He, too, is twisting
and turning, pitching and rolling and making
the same effort as ourselves to dodge the fatal
shower of steel by repeated alterations of course.

At this point I must give a short description
of what I consider necessary for a proper under-
standing of an action on the high seas if the reader
is to get a true idea of the Skagerrak battle. In
doing so I will start from the armament with

76

The Principles of Gunnery

which we of the Derfflinger fought in the Skager-
rak battle. The armament to be found on all
great modern battleships is very similar.

Our first object of interest will be the controls
from which we officers directed the guns. The
" fore control " was an armoured chamber which
formed the rear portion of the conning tower,
from which the Captain, supported by the Navi-
gating Officer and the Signal Officer, navigated the
ship and conducted the action. During the action
I was in this " fore control " with my three
gunnery officers who fought the secondary bat-
tery, one sub-lieutenant, two men on the range-
finder, three petty officers on the " director " (a
secret gunnery apparatus of which I shall speak
later), and five men for transmitting orders.
Below us, but only separated from us by the iron
grating on which we stood, were six other mes-
sengers and below these again in the so-called
" pear " (the lower part of the conning tower was
in fact pear-shaped) were one petty officer, two
messengers and one gunnery artificer as a reserve.

There were thus not less than thirty-three
men in my fore control alone ! We were cer-
tainly pretty cramped, but quite satisfied with
our station all the same. It was a splendid cham-
ber, with armour protection of about 350 mm.
of hard nickel steel which stood the test of battle
magnificently. Even a direct hit from a 30.5 cm.

77

Kiel and Jutland

gun at short range did not succeed in quite pierc-
ing the armour belt. The shock threw us all
against each other and struck our shelter as if
it intended to pitch the whole thing bodily over-
board. However, we were all unharmed with the
exception of a few slight wounds.

In action there were two other controls in
addition to the fore control — the " after control, "
where the secondary gunnery officer, my reserve,
had his post, and the " fore-top," usually called
the "crow's nest." The " crow's nest" was in
the foremast, about thirty-five metres above the
water level. It consisted of a circular steel
chamber in which the observer for the main
armament, a lieutenant, and the spotting officer
for the secondary armament, a warrant officer, had
their posts, in addition to two messengers, and
these observed the splashes round the enemy
through splendid glasses and transmitted their
position to us gunnery officers through their head
telephones.

After the fore control, the most important
part of the ship from the gunnery point of view
was the transmitting-stations, two rooms down
at the bottom of the ship. These transmitting-
stations were under the armoured deck and there-
fore considerably below the water line ; they were
thus protected by the armour belt and the bunkers
against hostile fire so far as it was humanly possible.

The Principles of Gunnery

All orders from the gunnery officers went to these
rooms by telephone and speaking tube, and from
there were transmitted by a very complicated
apparatus to the individual guns.

It is necessary to determine the range very
accurately before attempting to shoot at long
ranges at sea. For this purpose we had seven
huge range-finders which gave excellent results
up to distances of 200 hm.* Our range-finding
gear was all manufactured by Carl Zeiss at Jena,
and was based on the stereoscopic principle. We
had the so-called Basis Gerdt (Bg.). Each range-
finder had two " Bg." men. One of them took
the range while the other read off the distance
in hectometres and set the figures on a telegra-
phic indicator. The telegraph transmitted these
figures to the so-called " Bg.-transmitter," an
apparatus which automatically transmitted the
figures given by all the range-finders. This
" Bg.-transmitter " was quite near me in the
fore control, and thus the average of the ranges
given by all the instruments could be read off at
any time. When the action began this range was
given to all the guns by the gunnery officer.

As soon as the gunnery officer has made up his
mind which enemy ship he intends to fire at
he gets his periscope on to that ship. Periscope ?
some of my readers will ask in astonishment. It

* Hm. equals hectometre = 100 m. = 328 ft.
79

Kiel and Jutland

is the fact that the gunnery officers as well as the
captain of the modern battleship no longer
observe the enemy through a telescope or marine
glasses, but use the same periscope as the sub-
marine officer in his U-boat. At the lower end,
i.e., in the conning tower or fore control, is the
eye-piece, while the lenses are above the roof.
The great advantage of this is that during an
action the small observation slits of the con-
ning tower can be completely closed by armoured
caps, so that we fight under a lowered visor, so
to speak. On the periscope of the gunnery
officer there is the director, to which I have
already referred, an extremely ingenious piece
of mechanism which is of the highest importance
in controlling the ship's fire. It has the follow-
ing most astonishing effect. It enables all the
guns of the ship which are connected with the
director to follow every movement of the gunnery
officer's periscope. Indeed, various devices on
the periscopes enable us to train all the guns, some
of which are as much as a hundred metres apart,
on one and the same point, i.e., in the direction
fixed by the periscope, the distance of which has
been established by calculation or registration.
That is the point where the enemy is to be found !
Thus where the director is at work all the guns
are kept dead on the enemy without anyone
working the guns needing to see the target at all !

80

The Principles of Gunnery

The enemy may be near or far away. He may be
right ahead or far astern. The ships may be
travelling side by side or passing one another. As
long as the periscope is on the target, and as long
as the proper distance from the enemy has been
established, every gun is aiming dead at that part
of the hostile ship at which the periscope is point-
ing. Even when our own ship turns sharply the
guns remain on the target so long as the periscope
is kept on it. This is the duty of a special petty
officer who keeps the periscope permanently on
that point of the enemy which the gunnery officer
orders. For obvious reasons I cannot say more
about the construction of the director here. I
can only say that the turrets themselves are not
of course turned directly by the movements of the
periscope. It merely operates an indicator in
every turret which shows all the corrections for
range and deflection. An indicator attached to
the turret is kept permanently connected with the
electric indicators when the turret moves ; the
turret officer follows the slightest movement ex-
tremely closely and it is thus possible to make the
heavy turrets follow every movement of the
periscope.

We now know how the guns are trained on the
enemy. We know further how the first ranges
are taken. The guns must now be raised or
lowered according to the range, i.e., the elevation

81 6

Kiel and Jutland

must be adjusted according to the distance from
the enemy. Owing to the perpetual variations of
the range which changes several hundred metres
every minute when the two opponents are ap-
proaching or going away from each other with the
speed of an express train, it is not enough for the
elevations to be given by the gunnery officer and
then transmitted to the guns by word of mouth.
The following ingenious piece of mechanism is
required :

In the transmitting-station there is a so-called
" elevation telegraph." When the elevation given
is recorded on this telegraph an electrically con-
trolled indicator on each gun moves to the figure
indicated. There is another indicator on the sight
of the gun. When the indicator on the sight
moves in conformity with the electric elevation-
indicator the proper elevation is transmitted to
the gun. Once again the men serving the gun
need not know how many hectometres the enemy
is distant. The proper elevation is given when
the two indicators record the same figure.

On the elevation telegraph there is another very
important piece of mechanism, the so-called range
clock. Let us suppose that the gunnery officer has
established as the result of computations and
calculations, which I will discuss later, that the
distance between our ship and that of the enemy
is diminishing at the rate of 750 metres per second.

82

The Principles of Gunnery

He merely gives the order " rate 750 minus/'
The man at the range clock now puts the indicator
on a speed " minus 7.5." As the clock works the
range given on the elevation telegraph gradually
diminishes by 7.5 hectometres each minute. The
indicator on each gun changes to conform with
it 7.5 hm. every minute and yet there has been
no necessity to give any orders.

Thus we have now a gun for which the desired
elevation has been given and which is also trained
accurately on the enemy. But owing to the heavy
rolling of the ship it is pointing at the water one
minute and up into the sky in the next. Yet it is
obvious that the gun must be in the same position
as if it were accurately emplaced on solid ground.
As this is quite impossible on board, the skill of the
gun-layer has to make up for it. In spite of the
rapid motion of the ship the gun-layer must make
it his business to see that the sight of the gun
is always kept trained on the enemy. Of course
that means years of daily practice ! And indeed
it was astonishing what a high degree of skill our
gun-layers had obtained. Shooting on a rolling
ship was one of the most important features of our
crews' training on the high seas. By the use of
clever expedients it was even made possible for our
gun-layers to practise shooting from a rolling ship
though the ship was anchored in port. Small
targets are moved about in front of the ships. Thus

83 6*

Kiel and Jutland

it is not the ship and her guns which move, but
the target, which comes to much the same thing,
as the targets move on curves which correspond
to the rolling of a ship.

For a whole decade experiments had been made
in our navy to replace the operations of the gun-
layer by a cleverly constructed apparatus. Indeed
we were actually successful ! A complicated piece
of mechanism like a top — an arrangement which
certainly represents one of the triumphs of the
human brain. It enables the loaded gun to fire
automatically at the moment in which the tele-
scopic sight is on the enemy. Further, this piece
of mechanism allows for the amount of roll on the
ship. It fires sooner when the ship is rolling fast
than when she is rolling slowly. This is necessary
because a fairly considerable time elapses between
the moment of firing and that in which the shell
leaves the muzzle. Anyone who knows how the rate
of a ship's different movements varies will be able
to realize with what a difficult problem our tech-
nical experts were faced in this matter.

But this is a digression, as I have been speaking
of an apparatus which we did not have on board
at the time of the Skagerrak battle. We did not
get it until later. I wanted to mention it, how-
ever, because to a certain extent it represents the
zenith of all gunnery developments for shooting
at sea.

34

The Principles of Gunnery

I must now refer briefly to the main armament of
the Derfflinger. I said that the eight 30.5 cm.
quick-firing guns were set in four turrets. Let us
have a closer look at these turrets. The upper
part revolved and consisted of the heavily armoured
revolving turret and the revolving platform on
which the two 30.5 cm. guns stood. The turret was
turned by electricity. Close to the guns were the
ammunition hoists, which also turned when the
turret revolved. Behind the guns was a relay of
ammunition, about six 30.5 cm. rounds for each
gun.

We had two types of ammunition — armour-
piercing shell and high-explosive. The armour-
piercing shell was painted blue and yellow, made
of the best nickel steel and had only a relatively
small charge of high-explosive. The object of
the armour-piercing shell was primarily to pierce
the enemy's thick armour and then burst inside.
Of course, in comparison with the enormous power
of penetration, the explosive effect could only be
small.

On the other hand, the high-explosive shell, which
was yellow all over, had only a comparatively thin
steel case which contained a large amount of high-
explosive. This nature could not penetrate power-
ful armour, but had an enormous explosive effect
on contact with unarmoured or only lightly
armoured targets.

85

Kiel and Jutland

Our powder was contained in brass cases. Thus
a 30.5 cm. cartridge looked exactly like a giant
sporting cartridge except that the whole case was
made of brass. Large cases such as these were
very difficult to manufacture ; they were also
expensive and extremely heavy. Notwithstand-
ing these drawbacks we used these brass cases in
the German navy even for the heaviest calibres,
and in the war this practice preserved us, generally
speaking, from such catastrophes as we saw in the
Battle of the Skagerrak, with the sudden destruc-
tion of the Indefatigable, Queen Mary, Invincible
and older armoured cruisers.

Of course we could not keep all the powder
required for a shot from a large calibre in a
brass case and so, in addition to the so-called main
cartridge (in a brass case), we had a secondary
cartridge the powder of which was contained in
a doubled silk pouch only. These latter naturally
caught fire much more easily than the others.
But our enemy kept all his powder in silk pouches !
Further, we kept all the cartridges which were
not by the gun or on the ammunition hoists in tin
canisters so that they could not easily catch fire,
while the packing of the English ammunition
must have been very defective. The immediate
destruction of the whole ship as the result of a
single explosion occurred only twice in the German
navy — Pommern blew up on June ist, 1916, on

86

The Principles of Gunnery

the morning after the Skagerrak battle, and Prinz
Adalbert had previously blown up in the Baltic.
Both disasters were the result of a torpedo hit.

The storage of powder, particularly cartridges,
was of course a dangerous business for us too.
With a view to avoiding catastrophes orders were
therefore issued that only one secondary and one
main cartridge were to be kept at a time on the
platform by each gun, and the same rule applied
to the lower tiers of the turret.

The revolving turret stood on the fixed gun
turret which reached down through several decks
and had the armoured deck as its base. The
interior was divided into several tiers — the trans-
fer room, the switchroom, the magazine and the
cartridge magazine, i.e., including the gun platform,
five stories, in which the turret complement of 70
or 80 men were distributed. In the magazine and
cartridge magazine the lower ammunition hoists —
which ran up to the transfer room — were loaded.
The function of the transfer room was to send up
the ammunition to the guns. We had no hoists
running right through ; they connected in the
transfer room. The business of transfer delayed
the process (in itself) of sending the shell or cart-
ridge from the magazine to the gun. But on the
other hand two rounds of cartridges for each gun
were simultaneously on their way. The fact that
a small stock of ammunition and cartridges was

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Kiel and Jutland

kept in the transfer room meant that the latter,
and not the magazine and cartridge magazine,
became the reservoir from which the gun was
supplied. The vital factor for the supply of
ammunition to the gun was thus the time taken
by the upper hoists in sending up ammunition
from the transfer room to the gun, a time only
half of the whole period required for the passage
from the magazine to the gun.

We could fire comfortably with each gun every
thirty seconds. Thus each turret, even if only
one of the two guns were used, could fire a round
every fifteen seconds. In the Battle of the Skager-
rak I fired a salvo of four rounds—one from each
turret — every twenty seconds for a considerable
time, a thing which would have been impossible
with the continuous ammunition hoists such as
the older ships possessed.

The transfer room contained in addition to the
apparatus for the ammunition supply the hydraulic
pumps for the elevating gear and much other
machinery. In the switchroom were the switch-
boards for all the electrical machinery in the turret.
In the magazine was all the machinery for sending
up the ammunition, most of it being electrically
driven. A 30.5 shell weighed about 400 kg.* and
a cartridge about 150 kg.*

The complement of a turret comprised i lieu-

* About 8 cwt. and 3 cwt. respectively.
88

The Principles of Gunnery

tenant-commander or lieutenant as turret officer, i
Stuckmeister* to work the turret and 75 petty
officers and men. These were distributed as
follows : On the gun platform there were 4
petty officers and 20 men to serve the gun, as
well as a few messengers and range-takers. In
the transfer room there were i petty officer and 12
men, in the switchroom i warrant officer and 3
men of the gunnery mechanics branch ; in the
magazines i petty officer and about 18 men, and in
the cartridge magazines i petty officer and about

14 men. This turret complement was swelled in
action by about 12 men as a reserve : they usually
took the places of men on leave or on the sick list.
Thus the main armament had a total complement
of about 350, not reckoning 25 messengers.

The serving of the 15 cm. guns was a more simple
matter. Each gun, which was laid by hand, was
served by 10 men in the casemate, while there were
4 or 5 men in each 15 cm. magazine. That meant

15 men for each gun and therefore a complement
of 210 for the secondary armament, not counting
20 messengers.

I am afraid I have already tormented the reader
too long with the detailed description of gunnery
apparatus, so I will stop for the time being. When
I come to deal with the gun duel in the Skagerrak
battle I shall have to refer to a few ingenious

* No English equivalent.

89

Kiel and Jutland

instruments which were invented to facilitate fire
control and, above all, relieve the officer responsible
of some of the business of calculation which fire
control requires (continually) in shooting at high
speed and where both one's own ships and those
of the enemy are continually changing course.

As I have said before, Lowestoft and Great Yar-
mouth left us with a feeling of great dissatisfaction.
After Lowestoft I was possessed by a burning
desire to engage our proud Derfflinger in action
with an English battle-cruiser worthy of her. Day
and night this thought never left me. I pictured
to myself how, on outpost duty or one of our re-
connaissances, we came across an English battle-
cruiser, how the Derfflinger joined action and thus
a gigantic gun duel developed while we both
tore along at a delirious speed. I could see how
every salvo from the enemy was replied to by one
from us, how the fight became ever faster and more
furious, and how we struggled together like two
mighty warriors who both know well enough that
" only one of us will survive/'

In my dreams I saw the English gunnery officer
get his periscope on to my ship : I heard his Eng-
lish orders and my own. This thought of such a
contest between giant ships intoxicated me, and
my imagination painted pictures of monstrous
happenings. Previously I had regarded our
target practice as a kind of sport and done my

90

The Principles of Gunnery

best to get hold of my officers and men through
their sporting ambitions. In peace we had seen
many a strenuous competition between the ships of
a single squadron in trying to secure the largest
possible number of hits on one of the old, obsolete
battleships which lay anchored as a so-called target
in some shallow place off Kiel Bay : or when our
exercise was night-firing at destroyers which were
represented by low targets which were painted
black and towed. Many a time whole squadrons
had fired at a squadron of targets, each ship having
her own target. There had been the fiercest
rivalry between the gunnery officers to score the
most hits. This sporting spirit was less con-
spicuous in war and I missed it sorely.

And now I dreamed of a sporting contest more
gigantic than I could ever have imagined. We
should face our opponent with the same weapons
and the duel would decide which of us knew his
business best and which of us possessed the better
weapons and the stronger nerves. My longing for
such a duel was such that the idea of the danger to
life it involved seemed to me something wholly
secondary. Such a battle would at the same time
mean an awakening from the lethargy in which we
sailors threatened to sink as the result of the in-
action of our fleet in comparison with the glorious
feats of our army.

CHAPTER III

THE TACTICAL PRINCIPLES OF A NAVAL
ACTION ON THE HIGH SEAS

A FEW days ago a regular captain in the army
asked me : " Do fleets really lie at anchor in a
naval battle, or do they steam all the time ? "
Again, other men particularly well informed on
military affairs have often assured me that they
had not the slightest notion of naval tactics.

As I have not written this book for my old
comrades alone, but primarily for the largest
possible number of German boys (who are likely,
alas, to grow up with piteously little notion of
sailoring, particularly such knowledge as can only
be gained on the high seas), may I be allowed to
say something about the way in which ships are
brought into contact with the enemy ?

Of course, there is no such thing as anchoring
the fleets a certain distance apart and then
beginning a gun duel. Quite the reverse. It
may be assumed that during a naval action
every ship is always steaming at the highest
speed she can, by hook or crook, develop. It is

95

Kiel and Jutland

scarcely possible to compare a naval battle with
any form of operation on land. An aerial battle
between squadrons of aeroplanes is the nearest
approach. Perhaps the war of the future will
unfold battle pictures which will not be altogether
unlike a naval action — masses of giant, heavily-
armoured tanks rushing to meet each other, with
the speed of racing cars, trying to get round each
other, to secure the better tactical position by
manoeuvring and finally to force a decision by a
fierce artillery and aerial-torpedo action at long
and close ranges.

With a ship, " action speed " is the same thing
as " maximum speed." This is simply due to
the fact that on a great waste of waters such as
the high seas there are certain tactically favour-
able positions which both the two adversaries
would like to have secured when real contact is
established and the gun duel begins, positions
which both of them desire to reach or maintain
during the action. The determining elements
for the value of a position are the direction of
the wind, sun, the amount of sea and visibility.

It is unfavourable if the smoke from one's own
guns hangs in front of them, i.e., "clings" to the
ship, or drifts towards the enemy's line. It is
bad if the enemy has the sun behind him,
because in that case our gun-layers will be dazzled
and the silhouettes of the hostile ships will be far

96

Tactical Principles of a Naval Action

less sharp. It is also unfavourable if we have to
shoot right towards a high rolling sea, which
means that the spray often comes over the guns
and makes things difficult for the gun-layer at
the telescopic sight, as well as for the gun's crew.
Lastly, visibility and light may be of paramount
importance, as these may vary so greatly in differ-
ent quarters that it may happen that we can
easily see the enemy ship, ourselves being con-
cealed as completely from the enemy as if we were
shrouded in the hood of invisibility.

Apart from these tactical advantages, which
are to a certain extent local, there are tactical
points which have advantages purely as such, and
arise out of the position of the ships. For example,
if a ship has the enemy ship at right-angles to her
bows, the latter can use all the guns of her
broadside, and in a modern ship that means all
the main armament and half the secondary arma-
ment. The former, on the other hand, which has
her opponent across her bows, can only use one
or two turrets against the enemy. Both broad-
sides of the secondary armament and half the
main armament can play no part. Every ship will
thus always move heaven and earth to avoid
this so-called " T position/' in which the ship
steaming along the horizontal limb of the T
enjoys a great advantage. The English call it
" Crossing the T."

97 7

Kiel and Jutland

Even whole squadrons and fleets may find
themselves in this T position. It has always been
the aim of the faster ships to get across the head
of the enemy column in order to " enfilade " it,
i.e., get it under fire from ahead, or, at any rate,
force it back. If the leading ships of a fleet are
well headed off, the line of this whole fleet will
gradually become circular, the circle will get
smaller and smaller and at last the fleet finds
itself in the so-called " caldron."

Of course this can only happen to a fleet which
is very materially inferior in speed or is surprised
by the sudden appearance of new hostile units
on its own course. Exactly what happened to
us at the battle of Skagerrak ! Our fleet ended
up by butting into the very centre of the enemy's
fleet, which was forming a semicircle around us ;
it would thus have been exposed to the murderous
fire of the whole hostile fleet, and soon lost all
power to manoeuvre if — but I will not anticipate.
We must not go through all that until we get to
the turmoil of the action itself.

At the moment I shall only ask to be permitted
to explain a few expressions of naval tactics.
" Line ahead" means a line of ships steaming
behind each other. When the ships steam side
by side they are in " Line abreast." If they steam
diagonally ahead of or behind each other they are
" disposed on a line of bearing." A fleet which

98

Tactical Principles of a Naval Action

is cruising usually steams in line ahead, and as a
rule the strongest squadron is in the van and the
weakest in the rear. On such occasions the battle-
cruisers take station ahead of the battleships and
are generally also in line ahead. Ahead of the
battle-cruisers the light cruisers are disposed as
a scouting force. The rate of steaming is generally
not more than fifteen to seventeen knots, though
the ships have steam up in all the boilers so that
they can put on full steam the moment they get
news of the enemy.

Now how does a fleet, which is deploying
against the enemy whose approximate position has
been reported to it by its light cruisers, but
whose actual position is not known, protect itself
from " crossing the T" ? On this matter there
is one very simple rule. We must bring our
own fleet up on a line at right-angles to the direc-
tion in which we suspect the centre of the hostile
fleet is to be found and thus get the centre of
our own line opposite the enemy 's centre. We
shall thus get the enemy " by his centre/' With
such dispositions we shall close the enemy at
full speed in a broad formation. The squadrons
will steam in line abreast or in short line ahead,
the divisions consisting of not more than four
ships. As soon as we know whether the enemy
is deploying to port or starboard we shall turn
our whole line on approximately the same course

99 7*

Kiel and Jutland

as that of the enemy, and by sending forward our
swift battle-cruisers and steaming in line ahead
at our maximum speed get across the head of
the enemy's line. In this attempt to envelop
or head off the hostile fleet the faster fleet will
always, have a great advantage.

If, in the course of the action, the fleets get
within short range — by which I mean ranges
under 100 hm. — the fleet furthest ahead enjoys
the further advantage that it can use its tor-
pedoes sooner than the fleet further back. The
latter is running to a certain extent into the
torpedoes fired at it while the former is running
away from the torpedoes fired at it from behind.
Thus a ship from the squadron ahead which
possesses torpedoes of 100 hm. range can fire
them when the enemy is still 120 hm. and more
away, while a ship of the squadron further astern
must be within 80 hm. or less in order to be able
to use its torpedoes. Of course there is no ques-
tion of using torpedoes except at short range, and
the English, aware of the torpedo danger and the
high penetrating power of our ammunition, always
tried to avoid such ranges. Thanks to the
higher speed the English ships of every type
possessed in comparison with German ships of
the same type, they were unfortunately always
in a position to keep us at the distance that
suited them.

100

Tactical Principles of a Naval Action

To obtain the best position from the point of
view of wind, sea and sun tedious manoeuvres are
necessary and here again the faster fleet always
has the advantage. Thus even during the
Skagerrak battle the superior speed of the English
enabled them to convert what was for them a
bad position from the point of view of wind
into a good one, which also gave them the pull
from the point of view of light.

I will close this chapter, as I think I have dis-
cussed those principles of naval tactics which are
necessary to a proper understanding of the mighty
conflict which we called the " Battle of the
Skagerrak," and the English the "Battle of
Jutland."

101

CHAPTER IV

THE HISTORICAL VALUE OF PERSONAL ACCOUNTS
OF NAVAL ACTIONS

WHEN a man sits down to recount his war experi-
ences two methods are open to him. In the first,
the narrator takes his own experiences, the details
of which are often uninteresting to many of his
audience or readers, and decorates them roman-
tically with what he has heard from other sources.
He even combines them, and his business is not so
much to give an absolutely truthful picture of the
events in which he actually participated personally
as to paint a thrilling picture in lively colours of
the whole action, which shall be as complete as
possible. The, other method of describing war
experiences is that in which the narrator con-
fines himself strictly to speaking only of what he
himself witnessed, however homely his own
experience may have been or however trivial in
compaiison with the grandeur and immensity of
the whole action. In this case the narrator is con-
scious in everything he says of his historical
responsibility, even in the smallest details. It

105

Kiel and Jutland

will be my endeavour to employ this second
method in describing the Skagerrak battle.

Lowestoft had shown me very plainly that
even immediately after an action it is almost
impossible to reconstruct the course of events in
the fight from the verbal reports of those who
took part in it. It was the custom in our navy
for no gunnery-logs to be kept, as every man had
to devote all his energies to the action itself.
Thus, immediately after the fight off Lowestoft I
was not able to establish beyond dispute at what
ranges and in what direction we had approxi-
mately fired when we bombarded the towns,
and then fired at the cruisers and destroyers.
Opinions as to whether the enemy destroyers
had fled west or east were utterly conflicting
when we came to draw up the report of the action !

I therefore decided that in all future actions a
detailed and careful record of all orders and
occurrences relating to the gunnery side as well
as my own observations should be kept. I com-
missioned a tried senior petty officer in the
transmitting station of the main armament to
record each order given by me.

He heard all my orders through his head tele-
phone, which was connected with the one by means
of which I communicated with the Spotting
Officer in the fore-top and the midshipman at the
elevation clock in the transmitting station. In

106

Historical Value of Personal Accounts

addition to my orders, for every salvo of the main
armament he recorded with what elevation (i.e.,
at what range from the enemy) it was fired and
in what direction the gun was trained. The
direction is given from the bow, beginning at
o°. When the guns are directed from the star-
board beam they are at 90°, at 180° they are
pointed straight aft and at 270° on the port
beam. In the transmitting station was an
electric control apparatus which registered exactly
the direction of each gun-turret in degrees at the
given moment. Against each order and each
shot the exact time within ten seconds was also
recorded. With the help of the battle charts
prepared by the navigating officer during the
action, and plotted with the greatest accuracy
according to the compass and log by a petty
officer in the transmitting station, it was easy to
fix afterwards the exact position of the enemy
at a given time if the direction of fire and the
range at given times were known. This system
of keeping a gunnery-log I introduced at firing and
battle practice after the battle of Lowestoft. I
also had recorded all orders and reports received
at, or issued from, other important action stations,
such as gun-turrets and the transmitting station
for the secondary armament. In addition I
had all important events recorded in the after-
control, which was the action station of the

107

Kiel and Jutland

Second Gunnery Officer, my deputy, and the
Fourth Gunnery Officer, the deputy of the Third
Gunnery Officer. At practice I repeatedly
emphasized the great value I placed on the keep-
ing of these records in action. During the
battle of Skagerrak the records were kept in all
the places ordered and these put me in a position to
give an exact account of almost every single
shot fired. Apart from this, these records make
it easy to plot a mathematically accurate chart
of the action if the position of the enemy ships is
fixed at those points where salvoes are known to
have hit or to have fallen quite close to them.
My report of the battle is based on these records,
which are still in my possession, and on my diary
and letters home. Unfortunately the records
kept by the 30.5-001. turrets " Caesar " and " Dora "
were lost with the total destruction of these
turrets. On the gth June, 1917, an article
appeared in the English journal, The Spectator,
dealing with the value of official and personal
accounts of sea fights and in particular of the
battle of Skagerrak. The author, Bennet Copple-
stone, gives an excellent summing-up of the
value of all such accounts as they must inevitably
appear in war time when they are decisively
influenced by the censor and military interests.
This makes it all the more important that all
those who describe their war experiences after

108

Historical Value of Personal Accounts

the war should endeavour to write only what they
can personally guarantee to be historically
accurate. I believe the author of the article in
the Spectator was even then making a serious
effort to determine the true course of the
battle from the English and German accounts.
Naturally he could not completely avoid looking
at the matter with English eyes. The author
reveals to us some completely new facts about
the battle, particularly the tactics of the leader
of the English battle-cruisers, Admiral Beatty,
who took advantage of the greatly superior speed
of his ships to bring off a splendid out-flanking
manoeuvre. I reproduce here the Spectator article,
the publication of which in German newspapers
in 1917 was prohibited by the German censor.

SEA FIGHT OFF THE SKAGERRAK.' — WHAT
THE GERMANS CLAIM.

" Mit dem Wissen wdchst dev Zweifel (Doubt grows up with Know-
ledge).— GOETHB.

" It is a great mistake to dismiss German official
and personal accounts of naval actions as fiction
composed with intent to deceive. Even if they
contained no word of truth, they would be worth
study as unconscious revelations of the mind of
the enemy. The German communications vary

109

Kiel and Jutland

greatly in quality. Graf von Spec's letters on
Coronel set forth the modest uncoloured story of
a brave and honourable gentleman. Descriptions
furnished by his officers of the Coronel and Falk-
lands actions are in value equal to the contem-
porary stories of English officers seiving in those
sea fights. Very few officers or men in a naval
action see anything at all of what takes place ;
some more favourably placed see a great deal ;
but when one comes to examine individual
accounts, even of those most favourably placed
for observation, the discrepancies are baffling.
The personal equation dominates all stories.
Official communications, whether German or
English, are the concentrated essence of a mass
of individual observations cut and censored for
political or military reasons. We get in the result
an English distortion and a German distortion,
direct conflict of evidence on observed facts, an
obviously English point of view and another
point of view as obviously German.

' The English accounts of Jutland were written
by men who were disappointed ; a chance had
come to them to destroy the High Seas Fleet, to
cut away the base upon which the whole fabric
of German naval plans rested. They were robbed
of their chance by low visibility at the critical
stage, and by the consummate skill with which
the German Admiral Scheer made use of the

no

Historical Value of Personal Accounts

mist and darkness to withdraw his outnumbered
and out-manoeuvred Fleet. On the other hand,
the German accounts are those of men exalted —
de tetes montees — of men who had seen themselves
and their Fleet within a very little of total destruc-
tion and had been saved as by a miracle. Their
stories, both official and personal, glow with
exaltation. But when the Germans call the sea
fight off the Skagerrak a victory they do not mean
that the English Fleet was defeated in the military
sense. They mean that it was baffled of its pur-
pose to destroy themselves. They had been in
the Lion's jaws, but had managed to wriggle out
before those terrible jaws could close. That is
what the Germans mean when they celebrate
Skagerrak (Jutland) as a * victory/ They
declare that the battle of May 3ist, 1916, ' con-
firmed the old truth that the large fighting ship,
the ship which combines the maximum of strength
in attack and defence, rules the seas/ The
relation of strength, they say, between the English
and German Fleets ' was roughly two to one/
They do not claim that the English superiority
in strength was sensibly reduced by the losses in
the battle, nor that the large English fighting
ships — admittedly larger, much more numerous,
and more powerfully gunned than their own —
ceased after Skagerrak to rule the seas. Their
claim, critically examined, is simply that, in the

in

Kiel and Jutland

circumstances, it was a very successful escape for
the German ships. And so indeed it was.

" This sense of exultation, of almost inexpressible
relief, runs through the long official story which
was published in the German papers of July ist
to 5th, 1916. It is not less to be seen and felt
in the glowing description of Captain Scheibe,
who at the time of the action was a First Lieuten-
ant in one of the German battle-cruisers. His
' Die Seeschlacht vor dem Skagerrak ' — of which
an abridged translation was published in the
Journal of the R.U.S.I. of February — weaves his
own experiences into the Marinamt's official nar-
rative. I have examined both these stories line
by line, seeking to winnow out the grains of truth
from the chaff flung about in handfuls to please
the civilians of the Fatherland. In some respects
these stories are quite wonderfully accurate.
There is an outstanding notorious mistake, a
rather curious mistake : Captain Scheibe, who
was with the battle-cruisers, accepts the official
statement that there were five Queen Elizabeths
in our Fifth Battle Squadron, and that one
(War spite) was sunk. We know that there were
but four — the Queen Elizabeth herself was absent —
and that not one was lost. Apart from this
mistake, Captain Scheibe and the official story
identify and place the big ships on our side with-
out apparent difficulty. I have never yet found

112

C5
I

f

Historical Value of Personal Accounts

a list of the five German battle-cruisers which,
under Hipper, were first encountered by Beatty
upon which our authorities are agreed. As against
this English uncertainty — in regard to a squadron
which was under observation from the first when
the light was not bad — the Germans give the names
and classes of our battle-cruisers and battleships
with complete confidence. They are remark-
ably good at identifying ships which they saw ;
but their understanding of what they did not see
is imperfect.

" The Germans divide the battle into four phases
in much the same manner as we do ourselves.
There was, first, the encounter and the running
fight between the English and German battle-
cruisers, six English and five German. Up to
the end of this phase, in which the Queen Mary and
Indefatigable were sunk, there is no great diver-
gence between the English and the German
stories. The lamentable loss of the Indefatigable
and the Queen Mary unhappily did give the
Germans substantial reason for crowing. The
second phase then began. Beatty turned to the
north and raced away to head off the German
line. The Fifth Battle Squadron, which had been
too far off to take much part in the first phase,
remained to engage all the German battleships
and battle-cruisers within range, and, by stalling
off the Germans, to give Beatty's diminished

113 8

Kiel and Jutland

squadrons the opportunity to execute a most
effective manoeuvre. Here we reach a great dis-
crepancy between the English and German
stories. We know that Beatty did in fact com-
plete his tremendous task, did get round the head
of the enemy's line, and did open up the way for
Jellicoe's later deployment. The Germans dismiss
Beatty and his battle-cruisers into space as no
longer in the picture — they ' were gradually
disappearing in the distance, and, so far as was
noticed, took no further part in the battle on
account of the considerable damage they had
already suffered/ This profoundly obtuse sen-
tence occurs both in the official story and in
Captain Scheibe's pamphlet, and illuminates the
mental confusion of the enemy in regard to the
higher tactics of the battle.

"The third phase is described by the Germans
as a ' battle with the whole concentrated force of
the English Grand Fleet/ Visibility was poor, the
mist troubled both sides, and it is difficult to make
out what really happened. The Germans slur
over their spiral turn towards the south — and
their home ports — within the enveloping arc of
the Fifth Battle Squadron, Jellicoe's Main Fleet,
and Hood and Beatty's battle-cruisers ; but the
fact is admitted between the lines. Much is
made of Scheer's decision, when confronted by
greatly superior forces, to ' attack ' and to keep

114

Historical Value of Personal Accounts

on attacking. The claim is that the German
battle-cruisers and destroyers, covering the with-
drawal of the battleships, attacked twice success-
fully, and that when they rushed in to attack a
third time the English Fleet had disappeared !
' In what direction he had fallen back before the
third attack prepared for him it is impossible to
determine/

" We know that Scheer did withdraw his Main
Fleet in a very masterly fashion out of the closing
jaws of Jellicoe. We know that he held Jellicoe
off: with most gallant and spirited torpedo attacks,
so that we could rarely close in to within a visible
range of the German battleships. In this limited
sense Scheer ' attacked ' — he fought an effective
rearguard action — but a retirement, covered by
battle-cruisers and destroyers against superior
forces, is not quite the same thing as a ' battle
with the whole concentrated force of the English
Grand Fleet/

" How the opposing Fleets, with their screens of
light cruisers and destroyers, so completely lost
touch after the night scrimmage — one cannot call
it a battle — that the dawn found them out of
sight of one another, I am unable to explains
Neither the English nor German stories give one
the slightest help. It may be presumed that the
Germans made off, under cover of the darkness,
for the protection of their minefields. Their own

115 8*

Kiel and Jutland

story is far otherwise. ' When the first ray oi
dawn reddened the eastern sky on the historic
" First of June " everyone expected the rising sun
to illuminate the English line drawn up for a new
battle. These hopes were dashed. The horizon,
all round as far as the eye could see, was empty.'
One may, without injustice, dismiss the dashed
' hopes ' as guff. A battle fleet which is, by its own
admission, not half the strength of its opponent does
not welcome the renewal of an action at dawn of a
long summer day. It was very lucky indeed for
the Germans that the dawn found the sea empty.
" I do not propose to discuss the estimates of
losses inflicted upon their respective enemies by
the English and the Germans. Our own losses
have been officially stated ; the Germans have
issued a list of theirs, and however firm one's
belief may be that the German admitted losses
are understated, there is no definite evidence to
compel a further disclosure. Observations of
damage done to an enemy during the confusion
of a naval fight, especially when the light is bad,
are highly untrustworthy. Damaged vessels fall
out of a rapidly moving line, and are often believed
to have sunk when they are making crippled for
ports of safety. We shall probably never know
how much damage was done by us at Jutland to
the German Fleet.

"BENNET COPPLESTONE."
116

Historical Value of Personal Accounts

This article in the Spectator shows the difficulty
of getting a clear idea of a sea-battle. In order
to be able to give a perfectly accurate account
of the Battle of Skagerrak, the historian must have
at his disposal all the official and personal records
of both sides. But the English will have no
interest in giving to posterity an unvarnished
account of the details of this battle, so inglorious
for them. And are we to undertake this after
our naval collapse and with a pacifist govern-
ment at our head ? I hope so ! Meanwhile we
who took part in the action must do our part to
ensure that this duel of the " Two White Nations/'
sea-power against sea-power, is passed on truth-
fully to our posterity.

CHAPTER V

ON BOARD THE " DERFFLINGER," HEADING FOR
SKAGERRAK

ON 3ist May, 1916, the battle-cruisers weighed
anchor at 3 a.m. There were the Lutzow (the
flagship of Officer Commanding the reconnais-
sance squadron, Vice-Admiral Hipper), Derfflinger,
Moltke and Von der Tann. We had spent the
night at anchor in the Schillig Roads, off the
entrance to the Jadebusen. Ahead of us stretched
the small cruisers and some flotillas of destroyers.
It was a beautiful, clear night which soon gave
place to a splendid morning. The sun rose
magnificently, covered the sea with its golden
rays and soon showed us the picture of the whole
High Seas Fleet proceeding to meet the enemy,
always a wonderful sight and one never to be
forgotten. Far ahead of us steamed the small
cruisers in line ahead, surrounded by a cordon
of destroyers steaming ceaselessly round the
cruisers, on the look-out for enemy submarines,
like dogs round a flock of sheep.

121

Kiel and Jutland

Then came the battle-cruisers. Five powerful
ships with imposing names, the pride of the
fleet. The Ltitzow and the Derfflinger of the
same class, both completed during the war, the
Liitzow having only joined the fleet two months
before the battle. One of the first cruises of the
Liitzow had been against Lowestoft. The Derf-
flinger and the rest of the battle-cruisers had been
in action together at Scarborough and the Dogger
Bank (24th January, 1915) and Lowestoft. All
the battle-cruisers had been in action and were
manned by picked officers and excellent ship's
companies, as yet uninfected by harmful in-
fluences. On the 3 ist May the Derfflinger carried
1,398 men, practically her full complement as
none was absent on leave and only quite a small
number were sick. A batch of men were to have
gone on leave the day before, when the order
came to get ready to put to sea, so we kept them
back. The fact that no man happened to be
absent on leave helped greatly towards securing
complete co-operation in action.

The captain of the Derfflinger was Captain
Hartog, the second-in-command, Commander
Fischer (Max), navigating officer, Commander von
Jork. The gunnery officers under me were :
Second Gunnery Officer, Lieutenant-Commander
Lamprecht ; Third Gunnery Officer, Lieutenant-
Commander Hausser ; Fourth Gunnery Officer,

122

On Board the " Derfflinger

Lieutenant-Commander von Mellenthin ; turret-
officers, Lieutenant-Commander Freiherr v. Speth-
Schulzburg, Lieutenants, Hankow and von Bolten-
stern ; the observation officers, Lieutenant von
Stosch and Lieutenant Schulz ; communications
officer, Lieutenant Hoch, and Bg. officer, Lieu-
tenant Friedrich. The torpedo officers were :
Lieutenant-Commander Kossak, Lieutenants Schil-
ling and von der Decken. Adjutant and signal-
officer, Lieutenant Peters. Wireless officer, Lieu-
tenant Thaer. Medical officer, Staff-Surgeon Dr.
Freyer. Chief engineer, Engineer-Commander
Kohn. All officers with the exception of Lieu-
tenant-Commander von Mellenthin, who was
doing a course, were on board.

The battle-cruisers, too, were surrounded by a
cordon of destroyers which circled round us like
a fewarm of excited insects. On our numerous
cruises in the North Sea and the Baltic, we had
often drawn the torpedo fire of English sub-
marines, but so far the only successful shot had
been one that hit the Moltke. During the attack
on Lowestoft the Seidlitz had struck a mine, and
had been forced to turn back damaged after the
Admiral had transferred his flag to the Lutzow.
It was necessary therefore to keep a sharp look-
out if all five of us were to reach the Norwegian
coast, for which we were said to be making.

Far astern the clear weather enabled us to see the

123

Kiel and Jutland

main fleet, our ships of the line. These numbered
twenty-two, a proud armada. They were led
by the 3rd Squadron, our most modern ships,
with the flagship, the Konig, ahead, then the
Fleet-flagship, the Friedrich der Grosse, flying the
flag of the Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Scheer.
Then the ist Squadron, the ships of the Heligoland
and Nassau class, and finally the 2nd Squadron,
the obsolescent battleships of the Deutschland
class, including my old ship the Hessen, on which
I had for five years directed so much firing-
practice as gunnery officer.

The ships of the line were surrounded by a con-
siderable number of light cruisers, which served
as a screen for both flanks of the fleet. In addi-
tion to these there was, of course, the usual swarm
of destroyers scouting for submarines and mines.
We steered west of Heligoland and the Amrum
bank on a northerly course. One half of the
gun-crews were manning the guns, the other half
were sleeping in their hammocks slung near the
guns or near their respective action stations,
such as ammunition chambers, transmitting
stations, etc. I spent the night on the bridge.
While cruising I had no definite duties to perform.
The Second and Third Gunnery Officers shared
the watch. My Commanding Officer laid down the
principle that the first officer, the First Gunnery
Officer and the First Torpedo Officer should get as

124

On Board the " Derfflinger

much sleep and rest as possible, so that they
might be fresh when the ship came into action.
An excellent principle which with us was followed
not only in theory but in practice. For me, there-
fore, every cruise of this kind was a complete rest.
If there was news of the enemy, or if there was
anything unusual to be seen, or in particularly
fine weather, of course I kept to the bridge. For
the rest, however, I slept, read, or played chess
in the ward-room and made a round of all the
guns only about once every two hours, talked
with the officers and gunlayers on watch and
saw that everything was in order. As a rule " The
Goblin " came with me on my rounds through
the ship and we frequently came across some-
thing that had to be put right immediately. " The
Goblin " called his band together, the electrical
artificers, armourers, the transmitting-station
specialists, and in a very short time I received the
message : " Port elevation telegraph third i5-cm.
gun in working order again ! " " Left gun-mounting
in Caesar turret repaired ! " and so on.

Of course I was always on the bridge when we
came to an area where submarines or mines had
been recently reported, and on dark nights when
destroyer attacks might be expected. But I
could make my own arrangements, and so these
days of cruising were generally a very pleasant
time for me.

125 '

;&•

v\ -

Kiel and Jutland

I had a large double cabin on the upper deck,
not too near the ship's side. Consequently I
could keep my scuttle open except in rough
weather. In this way I had from my cabin a
good view of the sea and saw at once if anything
unusual was happening.

After enjoying the sunrise on the 3ist May —
a sight which at sea was a never-failing source of
joy, though at anchor in the brown Jadewasser,
it could not drag me out of my bunk — I lay down
again for another couple of hours' sleep, after which
I appeared, shaved, washed and rested, for break-
fast in the mess. Most of the officers had to
forego the luxury of a careful toilette, as they
couldn't get to their cabins between decks owing
to the fact that all the hatches had been battened
down and watertight doors closed as a precaution
against mines. After breakfast I sat down in
my comfortable cabin, dealt with some writing
work and enjoyed the view over the sea. Before
midday dinner a round of the guns and then dinner,
at which the natural subject of conversation was :
shall we see the enemy ? The goal of our cruise
was further afield than had so far been the case.
On the night of the ist June, the cruisers
and destroyers were to search for enemy and
neutral merchantmen off the Skagerrak. It was
to be supposed that on this night our presence
off the Skagerrak would be made known, that

126

On Board the " Derfflinger

the English fleet would put to sea from England
with all possible speed and that there was even
a chance of encountering the English Grand
Fleet on the ist June. Moreover, strong forces
of English armoured cruisers and light cruisers
had been reported in the neighbourhood of the Nor-
wegian coast, and an encounter with these was
probable for the ist June, and was not out of
the question for the 3 ist May. That the entire
English fleet was already at sea and bearing on
the same point as ourselves, not a man in the
German fleet suspected, not even the Commander-
in-Chief. And in the same way, according to all
published reports, no one in the English fleet
knew that the German fleet had put to sea.
There is no reason to believe that this was not the
case, and yet in the inland parts of the country
the question is always being asked : How did
the English get to know that we were off the
Skagerrak ? Or : How did we learn that the
English intended to enter the Baltic ?

All such talk is mere idle chatter. As has been
stated by both Admiralties, the battle of the
Skagerrak came about by an accidental meeting
of the two fleets on one of their many cruises in
the North Sea. When it is considered that the
North Sea is larger than Germany, and how easy
it is in such a laige area for two cruising fleets
to pass one another unnoticed, there can be

127

Kiel and Jutland

nothing but wonder at the strange chance that
brought the head of their scouting squadron
right on to that of the English. The Battle of
Jutland developed in the early stages like a
carefully prepared instructional manoeuvre, in
which, according to plan, first the light cruisers,
then the battle cruisers, and finally the ships of
the line come into action.

At midday dinner, at which the officers of the
watch were not present, there was great excite-
ment and enthusiasm. Nearly everyone was
agreed that this time there would be an action,
but no one spoke of anything more important
than an action involving the lighter fighting forces
or the older armoured cruisers. No one thought
of the possibility that the whole English Fleet
could be only a few hours away from us. Some
few were pessimistic, and said we should soon
turn about again without having accomplished
anything. The P.M.O. always carried a large
pocket compass about with him, which he used
to place beside him on the table, for, as the ward-
room scuttles were closed, and consequently the
sea could not be seen, we could not tell when
the ship altered course. We used to call him our
between-deck strategist. He now kept a careful
eye on his compass. Altogether there was a
tense atmosphere about the mess, as though we
were on the eve of important happenings. As

128

Line Ahead.

Line of Bearing.

[To face p. 128.

On Board the " Derfflinger

was always the case when we were engaged in
one of our sweeps of the North Sea, no one drank
a drop of alcohol at meals, and that, in spite of
the fact that we were none of us despisers of
wine, woman and song. On all cruises in war-
time we treated ourselves like sportsmen in
training : from the moment of putting to sea until
we came back to our home moorings we were
practically all total abstainers.

We smoked our cigars, and then the junior
officers took the watch while those they had
relieved came down to dinner. I went to my
cabin, lay down for a siesta, watched the blue
rings from my cigar, and dreamed of battle and
victory. If only it came to gunnery action this
time ! My whole career seemed so incomplete,
so much of a failure if I did not have at least
one opportunity of feeling in battle on the high
seas what fighting was really like. Blow for blow,
shot for shot, that was what I wanted. I had
had twelve years' experience of gunnery practice ;
I had learned all about it. It was a sport I
understood. Once I had fixed the target with
the periscope and once the first salvo had crashed
from the guns, nothing could disturb me. It is
true I did not yet know how I should get on in
the dense hail of enemy fire. But that did not
worry me. I should find that out all in good
time.

129 9

Kiel and Jutland

At two o'clock the drums beat through the
ship. A long roll. The signal to clean guns.
Every man except the officers had to go to his
action station. For the gunnery officer this is
the most important hour of the day. At gun-
cleaning all the machinery is set in motion,
cleaned, oiled ; all apparatus carefully adjusted.
I went from gun to gun, accompanied by " The
Goblin/' In the "Bertha" turret the fore-
most rope of the ammunition hoist had given
way, and in replacing this it was discovered that
the wire rope was badly perished in one place.
I decided that it should be replaced by a new
rope. This took about an hour. For an hour
the enemy would, if possible, have to oblige us
by keeping away ! I made sure that the gun
crews were provided with all they needed for
action. On the 2Qth May the fleet had at last,
after prolonged pressure, been provided with a
few thousand gas-masks from the army. The
Commander-in-Chief had given orders that these
should be issued to the battle-cruisers and the
most modern ships of the line. Now we had to
see that every man had his gas-mask at hand
near his action station. In the gun turrets the
ammunition for immediate use lay near the guns,
everywhere in the small quantity stipulated by
regulations. The guns of the secondary arma-
ment were already loaded, so as to be able to

130

On Board the " Derfflinger

open fire at once at any submarine that might
chance to break surface.

For the time between three and four o'clock,
the Commander, who regulates the division of
duty on board, had placed the gun crews at my
disposal, and I had started some gun drill and
turret exercises. My officers and men were not
too pleased with this, but I knew only too well
how great my responsibility was. I could only
answer for the perfect working of the whole
complicated apparatus if each part of it were
set moving once more under battle conditions.
The Third Gunnery Officer, who controlled the
secondary armament, came with me somewhat
reluctantly to the fore-control for the fire-
control practice. We fixed our telephone
receivers over our heads and got to work.
" Normal direction for starboard fire ! " In the
transmitting-stations about forty levers were
moved as directed. All parts of the ship received
the order : " Direction for starboard fire ! " I
had trained my periscope on one of our small
cruisers and gave the order : " Direction in-
dicated ! " All the other gunnery periscopes and
all the guns were trained on the electric indicators,
and so with absolute accuracy on the given
target fixed by my sighting petty officer. I
called : " Question : E-U ? " This meant : The
Gunnery Observation Officer will report at once

131 9*

Kiel and Jutland

to the First Gunnery Officer what is the rate of
change of range per minute, minus or plus,
shown by his E-U range indicator. And the
Bg. Officer will report the change of range per
minute calculated from the difference of the
range-finder readings. " Report from the fore-
top : the new E-U range indicator is missing in
the fore-top ! " " Good God ! the thing must
be fetched at once from the gunnery office.
Gunner's mate X will report to me after duty.
The fore-top meanwhile will carry on with the old
indicator ! "

I should like to say a few words here about
E-U (Entfernungs-Unterschieds) indicator. It
was invented in its newest form by Commander
Paschen, the First Gunnery Officer of the Lutzow.
It served at the same time to determine the
range variation (E-U), and to fix the deflec-
tion. I will not bother the reader here with a
description of the fixing of the deflection ; it is
enough for him to know that to compensate for
all influences which may deviate the shot
laterally from its true course, a lateral correction
is effected by what is called a deflection-corrector.
The influences which may deviate the shot
laterally from its original line are : wind, the
ship's speed and the rifling of the gun. A further
correction must be made to take into account the
enemy's speed. The excellent, highly-perfected

132

On Board the " Derfflinger

apparatus invented by Commander Pas'chen
allowed the deflection to be read off without
any calculation after the estimated speed and
course of the enemy had been determined ; the
gunnery officer himself had only to correct
further for the wind. The principal object of
the E-U indicator was to determine the range
variation per minute or '" rate." The apparatus
was first adjusted to the ship's speed, all varia-
tions of which were reported from the fore-
control. The enemy's speed and course were
then estimated, and a further adjustment made.
The range variation could then be read off the
indicator without any further calculation. This
apparatus had already been fitted all over the
ship, for the most part, it is true, of an older
type, which did not allow of reading off the
deflection. If the fore-top was put out of action,
the gunnery officer could have the range varia-
tion calculated in another part of the ship, even
though the man at the indicator could not see
the enemy. Of course, the gunnery officer would
then have to keep him posted during the action
with all information as to course and speed,
which would make the fire-control very difficult.
In addition to this, the gunnery officers themselves
were supplied with similar apparatus, so that in
action they could check the reports of the observa-
tion officers, and could themselves estimate the

i33

Kiel and Jutland

range variation, in case communication with the
observation officers should be interrupted.

The fire-control practice continued : " 15,000 !
Salvoes fire ! " The orders were passed from
the transmitting-station to the 3 0.5 -cm. turrets
by telephone and fire-gong. On the order,
" Fire ! " — during rapid fire the moment the gun
was fired — the men whose duty it was to announce
the fall of shot, and who were stationed behind
the communications officers in the fore-top, gun-
positions and fire-controls, immediately pressed
back the levers of the hit-indicators. Then
came a tense silence. At the end of the time
corresponding to the trajectory, each hit-indicator
should emit a loud buzz, which can only be
compared to the bleating of a flock of sheep.
With my telephone receiver I ought to have
heard simultaneously the buzz of the hit-in-
dicators of the heavy guns from the fore-
top, the fore-control and the transmitting-
station. But I only heard one, that of the
fore-top. " Question : Why are the hit-
indicators not being used ? " " Report : Hit-
indicators have been used but are not working ! "
More work for " The Goblin." I order : " Fresh
elements to be put at once in all hit-indicators ! "
and so it goes on, until at last I am convinced
that all defects are made good, and that the guns
are completely ready for action. With this

134

On Board the " Derfflinger

pleasant feeling I return to the wardroom to
enjoy an excellent cup of coffee on the comfortable
leather settee.

I could have done with a considerably longer
period in this position, but at 4.28 the alarm
bells rang through the ship, both drums beat for
action, and the boatswains of the watch piped
and shouted : " Clear for action ! "

CHAPTER VI

FIRST PHASE OF THE BATTLE OF SKAGERRAK
(5.48 TO 6.55 P.M.). " QUEEN MARY " EN-
GAGED. DESTROYER ATTACKS AND THEIR
REPULSE.

WHEN I reached the bridge a report had come
through from the Frankfort saying that isolated
enemy forces had been sighted to the westward.
The battle-cruisers were already steaming in line
ahead at full speed towards the reported position.
Ahead of us could be seen the light cruisers, with
their destroyers driving forward amid dense
clouds of smoke. Our own main fleet was no
longer in sight. Our escorting destroyers could
scarcely keep up with us ; they lost much weigh
owing to the heavy swell. Otherwise, however,
the sea was fairly smooth, with only a light
north-westerly wind, wind pressure 3.

I climbed up to the fore-control. I say
climbed, as a considerable climb was necessary
after passing through the armoured door to
reach the platform on which the gunnery peri-
scopes stood. Already reports were coming in :
" Secondary armament clear ! " " Order com-
munication clear ! " " Fore-top, after control,
main-top clear/' and so on. Finally all gun

i39

Kiel and Jutland

positions had reported, and I reported to the
Captain : " Guns clear/'

We officers adjusted our head-telephones and
were ready for the show to begin. I now ask
the reader to study closely the accompanying
sketch. The first time indicated is 4.28 p.m.
Until then the battle-cruisers had been steering
a northerly course. At 4.28 they swung round
on a westerly course, which was maintained
until 5.22. After that the courses steered were
north until 5.33, south until 6.53, north until
7.55, widely varied courses until 9.20, west until
9.45, and then mainly south until the end of the
day's fighting. With the help of this sketch
it will be easy for the reader to follow in my
description of the individual phases of the battle
the course of the Derfflinger, which was at the
same time the course of the rest of the battle-
cruisers and of the enemy's ships which were
engaged by the Derfflinger. The red dotted
lines running from the Derfflinger's course show the
direction and range (in hm.) of the salvoes which
were registered in the gunnery log as hits, or at
any rate as straddling the enemy. In the case
of these salvoes the range given is the true range,
so that the end of the range line is at the same
time the position of the enemy at the moment of
impact.

The course of the enemy engaged is indicated

140

First Phase of the Battle of Skagerrak

by a red line. This course is mathematically
correct in so far as it is established by the range
of our salvoes. The course between these points
cannot claim to be mathematically accurate,
but cannot be far out from the actual course of
the English ships.

We steered, therefore, to begin with, about
half an hour west and then half an hour north-
west.

All our periscopes and telescopes were trained
on the enemy, but the smoke from our light
cruisers hampered our view. About five o' clock
we heard the first shots, and soon saw that the
Elbing was being engaged and was returning the
fire strongly. My log-keeper in the transmitting-
station wrote under the first report I sent to the
guns : "5.5. Our light cruisers report four enemy
light cruisers ! Nothing yet visible from the
Derfflinger ! " And later the following orders :
" 5.30. Our light cruisers have opened fire !
Direction on the second cruiser from the right !
Load with high-explosive shell and fix safety
bolt ! Train on extreme right water-line !
18,000 ! Fire from the right ! Deflection left 20 !
17,000! "

It was already beginning to get hot in the
fore-control, so I took off my overcoat and had
it hung in the chart-room behind. I never saw
it again !

141

Kiel and Jutland

At this time none of us yet realized that we
were engaging enemy ships of our own type.
Then a message from the captain reached me
in the fore-control : " Enemy battle-cruisers have
been reported/' I passed this message on to
the gun crews. It was now clear that within a
short time a life-and-death struggle would develop
For a moment there was a marked hush in the
fore-control. But this only lasted a minute
or so, then humour broke out again, and every-
thing went on in perfect order and calm. I had
the guns trained on what would be approxi-
mately the enemy's position. I adjusted my
periscope to its extreme power — fifteen diameters,
the adjustment for perfect visibility. But still
there was no sign of the enemy. Nevertheless,
we could see a change in the situation : the
light cruisers and destroyers had turned about
and were taking shelter behind the battle-cruisers.
Thus we were at the head of the line. The
horizon ahead of us grew clear of smoke, and
we could now make out some English light
cruisers which had also turned about. Sud-
denly my periscope revealed some big ships.
Black monsters ; six tall, broad-beamed giants
steaming in two columns. They were still a
long way off, but they showed up clearly on the
horizon, and even at this great distance they
looked powerful, massive. We only maintained

142

First Phase of the Battle of Skagerrak

our northerly course a short time longer. At
5.33 our flagship Lutzow, immediately astern of
which we were following as second in the line,
swung round on a southerly course. The enemy
also altered to a southerly converging course,
and so both lines steamed south at full speed,
coming continually nearer together. Admiral
Hipper's intention was clear : he meant to
engage the enemy battle-cruisers and draw them
on to our main fleet.

The log-keeper at this time entered my orders :
" 5-35- Ship turning to starboard ! Normal
direction for starboard fire ! 17,000 ! 16,500 !
Heavy guns armour-piercing shell ! Direction
on second battle-cruiser from the right, 102
degrees ! Ship making 26 knots, course E.S.E. !
17,000 ! Our target has two masts and two
funnels, as well as a narrow funnel close to the
foremast ! Deflection 19 left ! Rate 100 minus !
16,400 ! " Still no permission to open fire from
the flagship !

It became clear that both sides were trying
for a decision at medium range. Meanwhile I
examined the enemy carefully. The six giants
recalled to my mind the day on which I had gone
out to meet the English squadron in the Kiel
Bight to welcome the English admiral. Once
more I saw the proud English squadron approach-
ing, but this time the welcome would be very

Kiel and Jutland

different ! How much bigger and more menacing
the enemy ships appeared this time, magnified
fifteen times ! I could now recognize them as
the six most modern enemy battle-cruisers. Six
battle-cruisers were opposed to our five : we
went into the battle with nearly equal forces.
It was a stimulating, majestic spectacle as
the dark-grey giants approached like fate it-
self.

The six ships, which had at first been proceed-
ing in two columns, formed line ahead. Like a
herd of prehistoric monsters they closed on one
another with slow movements, spectre-like,
irresistible.

But now there were other things to be done
than gaze at the enemy. The measured ranges
were continually decreasing. When we got to
165 hm. I had given the order : " Armour-
piercing shell ! n That was the projectile for
close-range fighting. Now every man in the
ship knew that it was to be a short-range struggle,
for I had often explained how the two types of
projectile were to be used.

Following the reports of the Bg. officer, I
gave the ranges continually to the guns.
Immediately after altering course the signal was
hoisted on the flagship : " Take targets from the
left ! " That meant that each German ship was
to train on a corresponding English ship, reckon-

144

First Phase of the Battle of Skagerrak

ing from the left. Accordingly the first five
English ships were to be engaged by our five Ger-
man battle-cruisers, and to the Derfflinger fell the
second ship in the line, which I identified as of the
Queen Mary class. It was the Princess Royal, a
sister-ship of the Queen Mary. All was ready to
open fire, the tension increased every second, but I
could not yet give the first order to fire. I had to
wait for the signal from the flagship : " Open fire."
Our enemy, too, were still holding their fire and
coming continually closer.

" 15,000 ! " As my last order rang out there was
a dull roar. I looked ahead. The Lutzow is firing
her first salvo and immediately the signal " Open
fire " is hoisted. In the same second I shout :
" Salvoes-fire ! " and like thunder our first salvo
crashes out. The ships astern follow suit at once
and we see all round the enemy jets of fire and
rolling clouds of smoke — the battle has begun !
My log-keeper in the transmitting station wrote
at 5.48 : " 5.48. Ship turning to starboard !
Rate 200 closing ! 15,000! Salvoes-fire ! " Nearly
thirty seconds pass before our hit-recorders — this
time all three together — " bleat." The newly-
adjusted elements have saved the situation ! The
splashes are well together, but " over," i.e., behind
the target and to the right. " Deflection 2 more
left ! down 400 ! continue ! " Those were the
orders for the next salvo. " Down 400 ! " : the

145 10

Kiel and Jutland

midshipman in charge of the elevation telegraph
had to put back the indicator 400 m. And
" continue " meant : as soon as he had made his
adjustments he was himself to give from the trans-
mitting station the order " salvoes-fire ! " This
relieved the gunnery officer ; otherwise it might
happen that the order " Fire " would be given
before the gun was adjusted to the new elevation.
The midshipman in the transmitting station
could, by means of a special electric control-indi-
cator, see that every gun was already correctly
adjusted.

At the elevation telegraph in the transmitting
station sat Midshipman Stachow, a young fellow
of seventeen, who had charge of the elevation
telegraph and the elevation clock, transmitted my
orders to the gun turrets and regulated the fire
orders. He was connected up to me by a head-
telephone so that I could check all orders given by
him. Until the end of the action this young mid-
shipman regulated the fire discipline of the heavy
and secondary armament coolly and efficiently —
he only made one mistake and that at the begin-
ning of the action.

The second salvo crashed out. Again it was
" over." " Down 400," I ordered. The third and
fourth salvoes were also over in spite of the fact
that after the third I had given the order, " Down
800." " Good God, Stachow ! there's something

146

First Phase of the Battle of Skagerrak

wrong/' I cursed. " Down 800 ! " It appeared
later from the gunnery-log that the midshipman
had probably not understood the first " down
800, " or, at any rate, it had not been acted
upon. This time, however, the "down 800 "
was effective. The sixth salvo, fired at 5.52,
straddled, three splashes over the target, one
short ! We had meanwhile reached a range of
11,900, as the elevation clock had shown a rate of
200 closing and then 300 closing per minute, and I
had already gone down 1,600. We had already
been in action four minutes and only now had we
straddled our target. That wasn't a very cheering
result. Our first rounds had been well over. This
was due to inaccurate estimation of the opening
range and a delay in the first reports of the
measured range. I explain the serious error of
calculation as follows : The Bg. men were com-
pletely overwhelmed by the first view of the
enemy monsters. Each one saw the enemy ship
magnified twenty-three times in his instrument !
Their minds were at first concentrated on the ap-
pearance of the enemy. They tried to ascertain who
their enemy was. And so when the order suddenly
came to open fire they had not accurately fixed
the estimated range. It cannot be put down to
incapacity, for throughout the remainder of the
action the range-takers did their work excellently.
Nor can it be put down to the inefficiency of our

147 10*

Kiel and Jutland

instruments ; on the contrary our Zeiss stereo-
scopic finders worked admirably throughout the
action. The Bg. officer reported to me later
that there was seldom a variation of more than
300 m. between any of the range-finders even at
the longest ranges.

Valuable minutes had been lost, but now I had
found the target and at 5h. 52m. 205. p.m. the log-
keeper recorded my order : " Gut schnell Wirkung."
" Gut schnell " meant that Midshipman Stachow
in the transmitting station was to give the order
" Salvoes-fire ! " to the heavy guns once every 20
seconds. And the word " Wirkung " meant that
after each salvo of the heavy guns the secondary
armament was to fire two salvoes in quick succes-
sion and henceforward fire in conjunction with the
heavy guns. Then began an ear-splitting, stupe-
fying din. Including the secondary armament we
were firing on an average one mighty salvo every
seven seconds. Anyone who has had experience
of gun-fire with full charges on board a large
battleship will imagine what that meant. While
the firing was going on any obversation was out of
the question. Dense masses of smoke accumu-
lated round the muzzles of the guns, growing into
clouds as high as houses, which stood for seconds
in front of us like an impenetrable wall and were
then driven by the wind and the weigh over the
ship. In this way we often could see nothing of the

148

First Phase of the Battle of Skagerrak

enemy for seconds at a time as our fore-
control was completely enveloped in thick smoke.
Naturally such furious rapid fire could only be
maintained for a limited time. It made almost
superhuman demands on the gun-crews and
ammunition men. Also it would be easy in time
to confuse the respective splashes of the heavy and
secondary armaments. I gave the order : " Second-
ary armament, cease fire." It was not long before
our shots fell over or short, as a result of the
enemy's altering course, and then the fire slackened
again. Each salvo was then directed afresh and
this continued until the target was again straddled.
And then the devil's concert began again on the
order : " Good, Rapid." Once more a salvo
from the heavy guns crashed out every 20
seconds, with the secondary armament firing in
the intervals. Unfortunately at that time the
secondary armament could only fire at a range
of 13,000 m.

What astonished me was that so far we had ap-
parently not been hit once. Only quite rarely did
a shot stray near us. I observed the gun-turrets
of our target more closely and established that this
ship was not firing at us. She too was firing at our
flagship. I observed the third enemy ship for a
moment ; by some mistake we were being left out.
I laughed grimly and now I began to engage our
enemy with complete calm, as at gun practice, and

149

Kiel and Jutland

with continually increasing accuracy. All thought
of death or sinking vanished. The true sporting
yoy of battle awoke in me and all my thoughts
concentrated on the one desire : to hit, to hit
rapidly and true, to go on hitting and to damage
the proud enemy in any possible way or place.
He should not find it easy to bar my return to my
home and hearth ! I had spoken the words, " They
are not firing at us," quite gently and half to my-
self, but in a second the words flew from mouth
to mouth in the fore-control and filled every
man with unalloyed delight. Apart from us two
gunnery officers, only the two sight-setting petty
officers and the Bg. officer could see anything
of the enemy. It is true we had left the apertures
open — from a not quite justifiable curiosity —
but of course the enemy was hardly visible to
the naked eye. The hands in the fore-control
therefore eagerly absorbed all the information we
let fall.

And now the battle continued. Our shots
raised waterspouts from 80 to 100 metres
high, twice as high as the enemy's masts.
Our joy at being immune from fire was short-
lived. The other side had noticed the mis-
take, and now we were often straddled by
salvoes.

I again fixed the enemy gun-turrets with my
periscope and watched them carefully. I now

150

First Phase of the Battle of Skagerrak

saw that they were directly trained on us. I
made a further discovery which astonished me.
With each salvo fired by the enemy I was able
to see distinctly four or five shells coming through
the air. They looked like elongated black spots.
Gradually they grew bigger, and then — crash !
they were here. They exploded on striking the
water or the ship with a terrific roar. After a
bit I could tell from watching the shells fairly
accurately whether they would fall short or over,
or whether they would do us the honour of a
visit. The shots that hit the water raised colossal
splashes. Some of these columns of water were
of a poisonous yellow-green tinge from the base
to about half their height ; these would be
lyddite shells. The columns stood up for quite
five to ten seconds before they completely
collapsed again. They were giant fountains,
beside which the famous fountains of Versailles
were mere children's toys. In a later stage of
the battle, when the enemy had got our range
better, it frequently occurred that these water-
spouts broke over the ship, swamping everything,
but at .the same time putting out any fires. The
first hit that I observed struck us just over the
casemate. It first pierced a door with a round
glass window, behind which an excellent petty
officer, Boatswain's Mate Lorenzen, had taken
shelter to watch the battle. His curiosity was

Kiel and Jutland

severely punished, the shot severing his head
clean from his body.

Our distance from the enemy decreased to
11,300 m. At 5.55 p.m., however, I was again
firing at an elevation of 11,500, and then the range
increased further. At 5.57 I had an increase of
"plus 600*' recorded on the elevation-clock.
At 6 p.m. the range was 15,200 ; at 6.5, 18,000,
our longest range. I could increase our range a
little by making the gunlayers train, not on the
waterline of the enemy, but on the top of the
funnels, the tops and, finally, the mastheads.
But that only made a difference of a few hundred
metres. Subsequent to the Battle of Skager-
rak, our range was increased considerably, as
the result of all kinds of improvements. Now,
however, we were powerless against the enemy,
and could no longer return his fire. This state
of affairs lasted until 6.17 p.m. At 6.10 p.m. our
flagship had turned several points to starboard;
the enemy had apparently also altered course, and
so we were converging on one another fairly
rapidly. At 6.19 p.m. the range had already been
reduced to 16,000 m. ; 16 km. is indeed a very
respectable range, but actually the good visibility
and spotting conditions made it appear small.
The Zeiss lenses of our periscopes were excellent.
At the longest distances I could make out all
details of the enemy ships, as, for instance, all

152

First Phase of the Battle of Skaggerak

movements of the turrets and individual guns,
which were lowered almost to the horizontal for
loading. Before the war no man in our navy
had thought it possible to fight effectively at a
range of over 150 hm. I can still remember
quite well various war games we used to play at
the Kiel Casino a year or two before the war
under Admiral von Ingenohl's direction, in which
on principle all shooting at more than 100 hm.
was ruled out as ineffective.

What was the enemy's situation now ? At
6 p.m. his rear ship, the Indefatigable, blew up.
I did not see this, as my attention was completely
occupied in directing the shooting against the
second ship. The sound of what must have
been a terrific explosion was completely drowned
by the hellish din in our own ship and the bursting
of the shells round us, though when our own
guns were silent we could hear the dull roar
of the enemy salvoes. In the after fire-control
the blowing up of the Indefatigable was observed
and recorded. The Indefatigable was engaged by
our rearmost ship, the Von der Tann, and was
sunk by excellent shooting. The successful
director of the shooting on the Von der Tann was
that ship's First Gunnery Officer, Commander
Mahrholz.

The north-westerly wind was blowing the
smoke from the English guns between them and

Kiel and Jutland

us. As a result of this, their view was often
hampered and shooting made difficult. As the
visibility facing east was also inferior to that
facing west, the English battle-cruisers had
a decidedly unfavourable tactical position. The
clouds of smoke in front of the enemy hampered
us little, as it sufficed for our stereoscopic range-
finders if the range officer could see the smallest
speck of the mast-heads.

At 6.17 I again engaged the second battle-
cruiser from the left. I was under the impression
that it was the same ship that I had engaged
before, the Princess Royal. Actually, however,
it was the Queen Mary, the third ship of the
enemy line. This was due to the fact that, just
as I was finding my target, Admiral Beatty's
flagship, the Lion, was obliged to fall out of the
enemy line for a time, and, owing to the heavy
smoke covering the enemy line, could not be
seen by us. It appears from subsequent reports
in the English Press that at that time Beatty
transferred his flag from the Lion, whose conning-
tower had been put out of action, to the Princess
Royal.

Later in the battle Admiral Hipper had also
to change his flagship. Our flagship, the Liitzow,
had kept the Lion under continuous, powerful
and effective fire of high-explosive shell. The
Lutzow's gunnery officer had preferred not to

First Phase of the Battle of Skagerrak

change his type of shell, as this is liable to result
in certain unfavourable ballistic influences, and to
fire nothing but high-explosive shell from the
first. By their tremendous explosive and incen-
diary properties he had forced the Lion to leave
the line for a time to extinguish fires that had
broken out on board. From 6.17, therefore, I was
engaging the Queen Mary. Certain difficulties
in the fire-control now occurred, as a result of
the dense smoke from the guns and funnels,
which continually blurred the lenses of the
periscopes over the deck of the fore-control,
making it almost impossible to see anything.
When this occurred I was entirely dependent
on the observations of the spotting officer in the
fore-top, Lieutenant-Commander von Stosch.
This excellent officer observed and reported the
fall of shot with astonishing coolness, and by his
admirable observation, on the correctness of
which I had to rely absolutely, he contributed
very considerably to the success of our gun-fire.
While we could see nothing, Lieutenant-Com-
mander von Stosch, in his draughty observa-
tion post, 35 metres above sea-level, kept his
fore-top periscope trained dead on the enemy.
A control-indicator marked on my periscope
the line of the fore-top periscope. My direc-
tion petty officer covered this with his indicator,
and in this way we kept all our guns trained

Kiel and Jutland

on the enemy without being able to see him.
Of course this was only a makeshift. Mid-
shipman Bartel, who assisted me in the fore-
control during the action, by calling out the
mean ranges, working my rate and deflection
indicator, and observing the enemy through the
aperture, quickly remedied the defect by wiping
the smoke from the lenses with mops kept specially
for this purpose. In the later phases of the battle,
when from time to time the columns of water
raised by the enemy fire broke over the ship
and the smoke continually drove down on to
the lenses, he had to clean them after nearly
every shot. At last, however, the mops became
too dirty, and I was reluctantly forced to send
a man frequently on to the roof of the fore-
control to keep the lenses clean. In this position
he was unprotected from the enemy fire. This
duty was carried out for the most part by my
messenger from the gunnery department, Artificer
Meyer, who, throughout the battle, remained
on the forebridge near the fore-control, until at
last fate overtook him and a splinter smashed his
leg below the knee.

As I have already pointed out, from 6.10 p.m.
the twro lines were steering a sharply converging
southerly course. At 6.15 p.m. we observed that
the enemy was sending his destroyers to the attack.
A little later our destroyers and the light cruiser

156

First Phase of the Battle of Skagerrak

Regensburg passed through our line and pressed
home an attack. Between the lines of fighting
battle-cruisers a small independent action de-
veloped. Here about twenty-five English de-
stroyers and almost as many of ours waged a
stubborn action and successfully prevented each
other respectively from using torpedoes against
the battle-cruisers. About 6.30 p.m. several tor-
pedoes were fired against the lines on both sides,
but no hit was made. This destroyer action was
a magnificent spectacle for us.

During the destroyer action the two lines
were continually converging, and now came
what was, from the point of view of gunnery,
the most interesting struggle of the day. I es-
tablished that the Queen Mary had selected the
Derfflinger as her target. The Queen Mary was
firing less rapidly than we, but usually full
salvoes. As she had an armament of eight 13.5-
inch guns this meant that she was mostly firing
eight of these powerful " coffers/* as the Russians
called the heaviest guns during the Russo-Japan-
ese war, against us at the same time ! I could
see the shells coming and I had to admit that the
enemy were shooting superbly. As a rule all
eight shots fell together. But they were almost
always over or short — only twice did the Derf-
flinger come under this infernal hail, and each
time only one heavy shell hit her.

Kiel and Jutland

We were firing as at gunnery practice. The
head-telephones were working splendidly, and
each of my orders was correctly understood.
Lieutenant-Commander von Stosch reported the
exact fall of each shot with deadly accuracy.
" Straddling ! Two hits ! " " Straddling ! The
whole salvo in the ship ! "

I was trying to get in two salvoes to the enemy's
one. Several times I was unable to attain this,
as for full salvoes the enemy was firing with fabu-
lous rapidity. I observed that the gunnery
officer of the Queen Mary was firing the guns
himself with central fire-control, using the famous
Percy Scott " Firing-director," for all the guns
fired, and the shots fell absolutely simultaneously.
The English gunnery officer was probably sta-
tioned in the fore-top, where he was above the
smoke, and firing the guns electrically from there.
The ability to do this gave the English ships a
great advantage. Unfortunately for us it was
only in the light of our experiences in this battle
that we succeeded in inventing an apparatus
allowing of director firing from the fore-top.
I myself played not a small part in the intro-
duction of the director firing into our navy, and
conducted in the Derfflinger the first director firing
in our fleet by a system invented by me and later
generally known as the " Derfflinger system/'

And so the Queen Mary and the Derfflinger

158

First Phase of the Battle of Skagerrak

fought out a regular gunnery duel over the de-
stroyer action that was raging between us. But
the poor Queen Mary was having a bad time.
In addition to the Derfflinger she was being
engaged by the Seydlitz / and the gunnery officer
of the Seydlitz, Lieutenant-Commander Foerster,
was our crack gunnery expert, tried in all the
previous engagements in which the ship had
taken part, cool-headed and of quick decision.
The Seydlitz only carried 28-cm. guns. These
could not pierce the thickest armour of the
Queen Mary, but every ship has less heavily
armoured places which can be pierced with great
damage even by a 28-cm. shell.

The good functioning of our hit-indicators
prevented any danger of Lieutenant-Commander
von Stosch or myself ever confusing our own
shots with those from the Seydlitz's 28-cm. guns.
As the range was always more than 130 hm.
neither ship could yet bring her i5-cm. guns to
bear. A simultaneous engagement of the same
enemy by two ships was also only possible so
long as both ships were using their heavy guns
only. If the i5-cm. guns had fired in between,
it would have been impossible to distinguish
the fall of the shots.

For the time between 6.22 and 6h. 26m. los
p.m. my log-keeper in the transmitting station
made out the following table :

Kiel and Jutland

GUNNERY LOG DURING THE DESTRUCTION OF THE " QUEEN MARY."

h.

Time,

m. s.

Training
angle.

Range

in m.

Deflection.

Orders for elevation
telegraph, etc.

6

22

_

52°

14,000 left 10

E-U-3 !

6

22

40

5i°

13,900 „ 1 6 2 short !

6

23

45

52° 13,700 ,, 14 i short!

6

24

20

52° 13,500 „ 14 Good, Rapid !

6

24

40

52° 13, 4°° » T4

6

25

-

52° 13,400 » M

6

25

20

52° 13,200 ,, 14

6

25

45

52° 13,100 ,, 14

6

26

10

52° ; 13,200

,, 10 2 short !

!

Heavy explosion

on our enemy !

Change of target

i

left to the second

battle-cruiser from

the left !

It is noticeable in this list that the training
angle of the turrets remained practically un-
changed and that, therefore, during these vital
minutes the ship steered an admirable course.

About 6.26 p.m. was the historic moment
when the Queen Mary, the proudest ship of the
English fleet, met her doom. Since 6.24 p.m.
every one of our salvoes had straddled the enemy.
When the salvo fired at 6h. 26m. los. fell, heavy
explosions had already begun in the Queen Mary.
First of all a vivid red flame shot up from her
forepart. Then came an explosion forward which
was followed by a much heavier explosion amid-

160

Battleship firing.

Splashes made by Heavy Guns.

[To face p. 160.

First Phase of the Battle of Skagerrak

ships, black debris of the ship flew into the air,
and immediately afterwards the whole ship blew
up with a terrific explosion. A gigantic cloud
of smoke rose, the masts collapsed inwards,
the smoke-cloud hid everything and rose higher
and higher. Finally nothing but a thick, black
cloud of smoke remained where the ship had been.
At its base the smoke column only covered a
small area, but it widened towards the summit
and looked like a monstrous black pine. I
estimated the height of the smoke column at from
300 to 400 m.

In The Times of gth June, 1916, a gunlayer
of the Tiger, the next astern of the Queen Mary,
gives the following description of the sinking of
the Queen Mary :

" The German squadron again came ahead,
their guns being concentrated on the Queen Mary.
They had been poking about for the range for
some minutes without effect, when suddenly a
most remarkable thing happened. Every shell
that the Germans threw seemed suddenly to strike
the battle-cruiser at once. It was as if a whirl-
wind was smashing a forest down, and reminded
me very much of the rending that is heard when
a big vessel is launched and the stays are being
smashed.

"The Queen Mary seemed to roll slowly to

161 ii

Kiel and Jutland

starboard, her masts and funnels gone, and with a
huge hole in her side. She listed again, the hole
disappeared beneath the water, which rushed into
her and turned her completely over. A minute
and a half, and all that could be seen of the Queen
Mary was her keel, and then that disappeared/'

In the course of the day our destroyers picked
up two survivors of the Queen Mary, a mid-
shipman and a seaman, and brought them as
prisoners of war to Wilhelmshaven. According
to their account there were more than 1,400 men
on the Queen Mary, among whom was a Japanese
prince, the Naval Attache in London. The
Captain of the Queen Mary was Captain C. J.
Prowse. In their list of officer losses the Admiralty
said, speaking of the Queen Mary : " With the
exception of four midshipmen all officers on board
were lost."

Scarcely had the Queen Mary disappeared in
the cloud of smoke when I began to find a new
target with my periscope. I veered the periscope
to the left and saw to my astonishment that
there were still two battle-cruisers there. It
was not until this moment that I realized that
hitherto I had been engaging the third ship in
the line. The Lion, then, had meanwhile taken
station again at the head of the enemy line. Our
target was once more the Princess Royal.

162

First Phase of the Battle of Skagerrak

After the destruction of the Queen Mary the
following orders were recorded in the fore-control :

Time,
h. m. s.

Training
angle.

Range
in m.

Deflection.

Orders for elevation
telegraphs, etc.

6 27 15

47°

12,200

left 12

Fire ! 2 short 1

6 28 -

60°

12,400

„ M

4 short I

6 28 30

83°

12,600

6 29 20

88°

14,000

„ 14

6 30 20

88°

14,600

„ 10

4 short !

6 31 20

87°

15,000

6 32 10

8?°

15,700

2

4 short !

6 33 10

105°

16,400

One minute five seconds, therefore, after the
last salvo struck the Queen Mary, the first salvo
struck the Princess Royal. I had had the range
of this ship measured by the Bg. man in the
fore-control. The measured range was only
12,200 m. At this range I fired the first salvo,
which fell short. The same thing happened
with the next two salvoes, so that I increased
the range considerably for the fourth. The
Bg. man had apparently not realized that after
the sinking of the Queen Mary the range no
longer decreased but began to increase rapidly.
The continually changing training angle recorded
in the log shows that the ship was steering a very
irregular course and was bearing to port. The
enemy's bearing was now somewhat more abaft
the beam. This put successful rapid shooting
out of the question. As a rule there was a full

163 ii*

Kiel and Jutland

minute between the salvoes. Each time we had
to wait for the splashes. When these were ob-
served new orders had generally to be given for
deflection, rate and elevation.

At 6.36 p.m. the range was 16,800 m.

Meanwhile we saw that the enemy were being
reinforced. Behind the battle-cruiser line ap-
peared four big ships. We soon identified these
as of the Queen Elizabeth class. There had been
much talk in our fleet of these ships. They were
ships of the line with the colossal armament of
eight J-5-in. guns, 28,000 tons displacement and a
speed of twenty-five knots. Their speed, there-
fore, was scarcely inferior to ours (twenty-six
knots), but they fired a shell more than twice as
heavy as ours. They engaged at portentous
ranges. We were now being subjected to heavy
fire and so we steered a zig-zag course. Between
6.36 and 6.45 p.m. I did not fire the heavy
guns at all. The reason for this lay for the most
part with the smoke from the destroyer action
which was still raging between the lines, and our
anti-destroyer fire which was being controlled
by the Third Gunnery Officer, Lieutenant-Com-
mander Hausser. The English destroyers had
by now pressed forward infernally near to us.

As I could see nothing of the big ships I had
ample opportunity of observing the course of this
action. It was a wonderful spectacle, when the

164

First Phase of the Battle of Skagerrak

Regensburg, flying the flag of Commodore Heinrich,
formerly my commanding officer on the Derfflinger,
passed through our line at the head of a flotilla all
firing furiously. Our destroyers and those of the
enemy closed one another to the shortest range. I
saw two of our destroyers fall out. They were
leaking badly and it was obvious that it was all
up with them. Others went alongside under fire
and took off the entire ship's company. One
English destroyer sank and others hauled out, out
of control. Meanwhile our 15-cm. salvoes crashed
out unceasingly, Lieutenant-Commander Hausser
very effectively straddling several destroyers,
which he engaged one after the other. On one
he registered a visible hit ; she stopped suddenly
and then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

What a pity it was that there was no marine
artist on board ! The well-known marine painter
Klaus Bergen had often accompanied us on our
sweeps in the North Sea. This time something
had prevented his coming. He regretted this
very much afterwards, but in spite of his absence
he became the most successful painter of the
Skagerrak battle. Unfortunately photography
on board was strictly forbidden. Cameras were
not allowed in the ships. This was a precaution
against espionage. As a result, not a single
photograph was taken of the Battle of Skagerrak
in the whole German fleet.

165

Kiel and Jutland

The log-keeper in the secondary armament
transmitting station, Midshipman Hauth, who kept
an admirable log throughout the whole action,
recorded as follows for the time of the destroyer
repulse :

" 6.37 p.m. : Secondary armament on de-
stroyers ! As directed ! 6,000 ! On the de-
stroyer to extreme left ! Fire ! — 7,000 ! —
Fire ! — 6,400 ! — Fire ! — 6,000 — Fire — Fire — Good,
Rapid ! — Fire — Fire — Fire !

" 6.42 p.m. : Secondary armament, cease fire

- 6,800 — Fire — 5,500 — Fire — 5,000 — Fire —

Fire — 5,600 — Fire — Fire ! — 7,000 — Fire

— 6,800 — Fire ! — Good, Rapid ! — Fire — Fire —

Fire ! — 7,000 — Fire — Fire !

" 6.45 p.m. : Ship turning to port ! - - Fire ! —
8,000 — Fire ! — 8,400 — Fire — Fire !

" 6.48 p.m. : Secondary armament, cease fire ! "

At 6.48 p.m. the anti-destroyer fire broke off and
at 6.50 p.m. the whole squadron altered course to
N.N.W. With this manoeuvre Admiral Hipper
with the battle-cruisers took a position about
seven sea miles in advance of the head of our main
fleet, who were steering approximately a N.N.W.
course at full speed and whose head soon after-
wards engaged the ships of the Queen Elizabeth
class.

From numerous hits with io.5-cm. shell we

166

First Phase of the Battle of Skagerrak

ascertained later that the English destroyers had
also subjected us to a heavy fire. In the general
uproar of the battle this had escaped my notice.
The io.5-cm. shell were, of course, entirely in-
effective against our armour ; they had only taken
effect in the unprotected parts of the ship, particu-
larly in the rigging, where they had damaged our
wireless aerials and some of the gunnery telephone
wires in the tops. After the action an officer
found an unexploded io.5-cm. shell in his bunk
when he was turning in.

Between 6.45 and 6.50 p.m. I fired eight more
salvoes with the heavy guns at 18,000 m. at the
Princess Royal, but without any particular success .

As we were altering course to N.N.W. we caught
sight of the head of our 3rd Squadron, the proud
ships of the Kdnig class. Everyone now breathed
more freely. While we had been engaged by
the English 5th Battle Squadron with its I5~in.
guns in addition to the Battle Cruiser Squadron
we had felt rather uncomfortable.

At 6.50 p.m. I sent the following message to
the guns : " Ship slowly bearing to starboard.
Our 3rd Squadron has come up."

This closed the first phase of the battle. We
had seen one English giant blown to pieces by
our fire like a barrel of gunpowder. The Derf-
ftinger, however, had come out of the engagement
with her fighting strength unimpaired. What

167

Kiel and Jutland

wonder that we were in high spirits and looked
forward confidently to the next action ! We
were now in close touch with our most powerful
battle squadron and we thought that we were
only opposed to the four remaining battle-cruisers
and the four ships of the Queen Elizabeth class.
We were filled with the proud joy of victory and
hoped to accomplish the destruction of the whole
force opposed to us. We had acquired an absolute
confidence in our ship. It seemed quite out of
the question that our proud ship could be shattered
in a few minutes like the Queen Mary and the
Indefatigable. On the other hand, I had a feeling
that we could blow up any English ship in no time,
given a straight course for a time and not too
long a range — if possible not over 15,000 m.
We were burning to win fresh laurels. One could
feel that a feeling of exaltation reigned throughout
the ship. The gun crews had done their work
with incredible efficiency and even during the
most rapid fire had always had their guns ready
as soon as the fire-gong rang. The gun-barrels
began to get very hot after an hour's firing, the
grey paint began to blister and to turn brown and
yellow. The coolness with which the captain
commanded the ship had been exemplary. He
had frequently helped me with messages, but for
the rest had left me a free hand, particularly
as to choice of targets.

168

CHAPTER VII

THE SECOND PHASE OF THE SKAGERRAK BATTLE
(6.55 TO 7.5 P.M.). THE FIFTH BATTLE
SQUADRON ENGAGED. BEATTY'S OUTFLANK-
ING MANOEUVRE

THE second phase was just as unsatisfactory as
the first was successful and interesting from
the point of view of gunnery. The enemy had
learned a devil of a lesson and acquired a deep
respect for the effectiveness of our gun-fire.
During the wild dash north they kept as much
as possible out of our range, but kept us within
reach of their own long-range guns. It will be
seen from Sketch I. that in this second phase
the ranges are scarcely ever less than 18,000 m.
I only fired to make quite sure that the enemy
were still out of range, and then, to save ammuni-
tion, I contented myself with isolated shots from
one turret. The guns were again trained on the
upper edge of the funnels or the mastheads.

At these long ranges the enemy's shooting was
not good either, though their salvoes, it is true,
fell well together and always over an area of not
more than three hundred to four hundred metres
diameter. The control, however, was not very
efficient, perhaps owing to the poor visibility.
At any rate, the salvoes fell at very irregular

171

Kiel and Jutland

distances from our ship. Nevertheless, we
suffered bad hits, two or three heavy shells
striking us during this phase. When a heavy
shell hit the armour of our ship, the terrific crash
of the explosion was followed by a vibration of
the whole ship, affecting even the conning-tower.
The shells which exploded in the interior of the
ship caused rather a dull roar, which was trans-
mitted all over by the countless voice-pipes and
telephones.

The four English battle-cruisers were travelling
at top speed, and it was not long before they
vanished from our view in mist and smoke.
They were steering north and our inferior speed
made it impossible for us to keep up with them,
though at 7.21 p.m. the Commander-in-Chief of
the fleet signalled : " Follow the battle-cruisers."
Our Battle Cruiser Squadron, however, could not
maintain a speed of more than twenty-five knots
for any length of time, and with their speed of
twenty-eight knots the English ships left us
standing.

At the time we did not grasp the object of the
enemy's manoeuvre. We assumed that they
were merely trying to get into touch quickly with
their main fleet, whose presence we inferred from
the movements of the English battle-cruisers.
Actually Admiral Beatty, by completely out-
flanking us in spite of our highest speed, accom-

172

Second Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

plished an excellent tactical manoeuvre, and his
ships carried out an admirable feat of technique.
He accomplished the famous " crossing the T,"
compelled us to alter course, and finally brought
us into such a position that we were completely
enveloped by the English Battle Fleet and the
English battle-cruisers. In the later phases of
the battle we were, as a rule, no longer able to
tell to which enemy ship we were opposed, and
I cannot therefore say with any certainty when
we engaged Beatty's four battle-cruisers again,
or if we ever did so.

After the gradual disappearance of the four
battle-cruisers we were still faced with the four
powerful ships of the Fifth Battle Squadron,
Malaya, Valiant, Barham and Warspite.

These ships cannot have developed very high
speed in this phase of the battle, for they soon
came within range of our 3rd Squadron, and
were engaged by the ships at the head of the
line, particularly the flagship, the Konig. In this
way the four English battleships at one time
and another came under the fire of at least nine
German ships, five battle-cruisers and from four
to five battleships. According to my gunnery-log,
we were firing after 7.16 p.m. at the second
battleship from the right, the one immediately
astern of the leader. At these great ranges I
fired armour-piercing shell.

Kiel and Jutland

The second phase passed without any important
events as far as we were concerned. In a sense,
this part of the action, fought against a numeric-
ally inferior but more powerfully armed enemy,
who kept us under fire at ranges at which we
were helpless, was highly depressing, nerve-
wracking and exasperating. Our only means of
defence was to leave the line for a short time,
when we saw that the enemy had our range.
As this manoeuvre was imperceptible to the
enemy, we extricated ourselves at regular intervals
from the hail of fire.

I may remark here that these slight alterations
of course to get out of the enemy's fire are
not shown on the sketch, as we always took
station again in the line at top speed immediately
afterwards.

It was not long before the gunnery conditions
underwent a fundamental change.

CHAPTER VIII

THIRD PHASE OF THE SKAGERRAK BATTLE (7.50
TO 9.5 P.M.). HEAVY FIGHTING AGAINST
SHIPS OF THE LINE, CRUISERS AND DE-
STROYERS. DESTRUCTION OF THE " INVIN-
CIBLE/' " DERFFLINGER " FORCED TO STOP
TO CLEAR HER TORPEDO-NET

g5

e

a

Ax 7.40 p.m. enemy light cruisers and destroyers
launched a torpedo attack against us. We there-
fore altered course to N.N.E., i.e., about six
points to starboard.

The visibility was now so bad that it was
difficult for us to distinguish the enemy ships.
We were engaging light cruisers and destroyers.
At 7.55 p.m. we turned on an easterly course, and
at 8 p.m. the whole Battle Cruiser Squadron formed
a line of bearing on a southerly course as the
destroyers pressed home the attack. This
brought us very effectively out of the line of the
torpedoes that had been fired against us. At
8.12 p.m. we again altered course towards the
enemy. During this time we had only fired
intermittently with our heavy and secondary
armament. At 8.15 p.m. we came under heavy
fire. It flashed out on all sides. We could only
make out the ships' hulls indistinctly, but as far
as I was able to see the horizon, enemy ships
were all round us. As I could not distinguish

177 12

Kiel and Jutland

either the end or the beginning of the enemy
line, I was unable to engage the " second ship
from the right," but selected the one I could see
best.

And now a terrific struggle began. Within
a short time the din of the battle reached a
climax. It was now perfectly clear to us that
we were faced with the whole English Fleet. I
could see from her gigantic hull that I had
engaged a giant battleship. Between the two
lines light cruiser and destroyer actions were
still raging. All at once I saw through my peri-
scope a German light cruiser passing us in flames.
I recognized the Wiesbaden. She was almost
hidden in smoke, with only the quarter-deck
clear, and her after-gun firing incessantly at an
English cruiser. Gallant Wiesbaden ! Gallant
crew ! The only survivor was Chief Stoker Zenne,
who was picked up by a Norwegian fishing boat
after drifting about for three days on a raft ; all
the rest, including the poet, Gorch Fock, who
loved the sea above all else, sealed their loyalty
to their Kaiser and Empire by a sailor's death.
The Wiesbaden was subjected to a heavy fire
by an English light cruiser. Again and again
her shells struck the poor Wiesbaden. Seized
with fury, I abandoned my former target, had
the English cruiser's range measured, gave the
range and deflection, and " crash ! " — a salvo

178

Third Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

roared out at the Wiesbaden's tormentor. One
more salvo and I had him. A column of smoke
rose high in the air. Apparently a magazine
had exploded. The cruiser turned away and
hauled out at top speed, while I peppered her
with two or three more salvoes.

At this moment Lieut .-Commander Hausser,
who had been engaging destroyers with his
secondary armament, asked me : "Is this cruiser
with four funnels German or English, sir ? " I
examined the ship through the periscope. In the
misty grey light the colours of the German and
English ships were difficult to distinguish. The
cruiser was not very far away from us. She had
four funnels and two masts, like our Rostock.
11 She is certainly English/' Lieutenant-Comman-
der Hausser shouted. " May I fire ? " " Yes, fire
away." I was now certain she was a big English
ship. The secondary armament was trained on
the new target. Lieutenant-Commander Hausser
gave the order : " 6,000 ! " Then, just as he
was about to give the order : " Fire ! " some-
thing terrific happened : the English ship, which I
had meanwhile identified as an old English
armoured cruiser, broke in half with a tremendous
explosion. Black smoke and debris shot into the
air, a flame enveloped the whole ship, and then she
sank before our eyes. There was nothing but a
gigantic smoke cloud to mark the place where

179 12*

Kiel and Jutland

just before a proud ship had been fighting. I
think she was destroyed by the fire of our next
ahead, Admiral Hipper's flagship, the Lutzow.

This all happened in a much shorter time than
I have taken to tell it. The whole thing was
over in a few seconds, and then we had already
engaged new targets. The destroyed ship was
the Defence, an old armoured cruiser of the same
class as the Black Prince, which was sunk on the
following night by the Thuringen and other
ships of the line. She was a ship of 14,800 tons,
armed with six 23.4-011. and ten 15.2-cm. guns,
and carrying a crew of 700 men. Not one of the
whole ship's company was saved. She was blown
to atoms and all the men were killed by the
explosion. As we saw the ship at a compara-
tively short distance in good visibility, magnified
fifteen times by the periscopes, we could see exactly
what happened. The whole horror of this event
is indelibly fixed on my mind.

I went on to engage other big ships, without
any idea what kind of ships they were. At 8.22
p.m. we turned on a south-easterly course, but
in the general confusion of the battle that was
now raging I had lost all grasp of the tactical
situation. Once the thought flashed across my
mind : " Can we be firing at German ships ? "
At that moment, however, the visibility, which
changed from one minute to the next, but which

180

Third Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

on the whole was gradually growing worse, im-
proved and revealed distinctly the typical English
silhouette and dark grey colour. It is my opinion
that our light grey colour was more favourable
than the dark grey of the English ships. Our
ships were much more quickly concealed by the
thin films of mist which were now driving across
the sea from east to west.

At 8.25 p.m. Lieutenant von der Decken, in
the after-control, recorded : " Lutzow heavily hit
forward. Ship on fire. Much smoke. " At 8.30
p.m. he wrote : " Three heavy hits on the
Derfflinger" Of these one hit the 15-cm. battery
on the port side, went clean through the centre
gun and burst, killing or wounding the whole
of the casemate crew. The explosion also knocked
the first 15-cm. gun off its mounting and killed or
wounded several men. The other hits were aft.

I now selected my target as far ahead as possible,
the leading ship of the enemy line, for I saw that
the Lutzow's fire was now weak. At times the
smoke from her burning forepart made fire-
control on the Liitzow impossible.

At 8.24 p.m. I began to engage large enemy
battleships to the north-east. Even though the
ranges were short, from 6,000 to 7,000 m., the
ships often became invisible in the slowly advanc-
ing mists, mixed with the smoke from the guns
and funnels. It was almost impossible to observe

181

Kiel and Jutland

the splashes. All splashes that fell over could
not be seen at all, and only those that fell very
short could be distinguished clearly, which was
not much help, for as soon as we got nearer the
target again it became impossible to see where
the shots fell. I was shooting by the measure-
ments of the Bg. man in the fore-control, Lead-
ing Seaman Hanel, who had been my loyal
servant for five years. In view of the misty
weather these measurements were very irregular
and inexact, but as no observation was possible
I had no alternative. Meanwhile we were being
subjected to a heavy, accurate and rapid fire
from several ships at the same time. It was
clear that the enemy could now see us much better
than we could see them. This will be difficult
to understand for anyone who does not know the
sea, but it is a fact that in this sort of weather
the differences in visibility are very great in
different directions. A ship clear of the mist
is much more clearly visible from a ship actually
in the mist than vice versa. In determining
visibility an important part is played by the
position of the sun. In misty weather the ships
with their shady side towards the enemy are much
easier to see than those lit by the sun.

In this way a severe, unequal struggle developed.
Several heavy shells pierced our ship with terrific
force and exploded with a tremendous roar,

182

Third Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

which shook every seam and rivet. The Captain
had again frequently to steer the ship out of the
line in order to get out of the hail of fire. It was
pretty heavy shooting.

This went on until 8.29 p.m.

At this moment the veil of mist in front of us
split across like the curtain at a theatre. Clear
and sharply silhouetted against the uncovered
part of the horizon we saw a powerful battleship
with two funnels between the masts and a third
close against the forward tripod mast. She was
steering an almost parallel course with ours at
top speed. Her guns were trained on us and
immediately another salvo crashed out, straddling
us completely. " Range 9,000 ! " roared Leading
Seaman Hanel. " 9,000 — Salvoes-fire ! " I
ordered, and with feverish anxiety I waited for
our splashes. " Over. Two hits ! " called out
Lieutenant-Commander von Stosch. I gave the
order : " 100 down. Good, Rapid ! " and thirty
seconds after the first salvo the second left the
guns. I observed two short splashes and two
hits. Lieutenant-Commander von Stosch called :
" Hits ! " Every twenty seconds came the roar
of another salvo. At 8.31 p.m. the Derfflinger
fired her last salvo at this ship, and then for the
third time we witnessed the dreadful spectacle
that we had already seen in the case of the Queen
Mary and the Defence.

183

Kiel and Jutland

As with the other ships there occurred a rapid
succession of heavy explosions, masts collapsed,
debris was hurled into the air, a gigantic column
of black smoke rose towards the sky, and from
the parting sections of the ship, coal dust spurted
in all directions. Flames enveloped the ship,
fresh explosions followed, and behind this murky
shroud our enemy vanished from our sight. I
shouted into the telephone : " Our enemy has
blown up ! " and above the din of the battle a
great cheer thundered through the ship and was
transmitted to the fore-control by all the gun-
nery telephones and flashed from one gun-position
to another. I sent up a short, fervent prayer
of thanks to the Almighty, shouted to my ser-
vant : " Bravo, Hanel, jolly well measured ! "
and then my order rang out : " Change target to
the left. On the second battle-cruiser from the
right ! " The battle continued.

Who was this enemy ? I had not examined
her carefully nor given much thought to her
identity, but I had taken her to be an English
battle-cruiser. I described her as such in giving
the target, as my gunnery log-keeper recorded.
There had been no time to discuss her class while
we were engaging her, for there had only been a
few minutes in which to recognize her with any
certainty. Only the gunnery officers and gun-
layers and the torpedo-officers had seen her blow

184

Third Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

up, the attention of the Captain and his assistants,
the navigating and signal officers being entirely
taken up with keeping the ship in her station.
It was difficult work navigating astern of the
Lutzow, which was hardly in a condition to keep
her place in the line.

When, after the battle, the reports came to be
drawn up, most of the officers were convinced
that she was a ship of the Queen Elizabeth class.
I was of the opinion that she belonged to the
Invincible class, but I admitted that I was not
at all sure. If you take a naval pocket-book
and compare the silhouettes of the Queen Elizabeth
and Invincible classes, there is at first sight a
perplexing similarity. We therefore entered in
our report that at 8.30 p.m. we had destroyed by
gun-fire a battleship of the Queen Elizabeth class.
Our report ran : " The ship blew up in a similar
way to the Queen Mary at 6.26 p.m. Clearly
observed by the First and Third Gunnery Officers,
and the First Torpedo Officer in the fore-control,
the Second and Fourth Gunnery Officers in the
after control and the Gunnery Observation Officer
in the fore-top. Ship of the Queen Elizabeth
class/'

After the battle, the following statement was
made by English prisoners at Wilhelmshaven :
" One of the Queen Elizabeth ships, the War spite,
left the line, listing heavily, and hauled away to

185

Kiel and Jutland

the north-west. At 8 p.m. the English destroyer
Turbulent received a wireless report that the
War spite had sunk."

On the strength of our battle report and the
statements of the prisoners, our Admiralty au-
thorities were obliged to assume that the ship
destroyed by the Derfflinger was the Warspite,
and, accordingly, the Warspite instead of the
Invincible was reported as an enemy loss. That
the Invincible was sunk we learned from the
report of the English Admiralty, and naturally
her loss was added afterwards to the previous
report. As a matter of fact, it was the Invincible we
had engaged and blown up and not the Warspite.
The English reports soon made this quite clear.

On the 3rd June, the Manchester Guardian
said that the German Admiralty report of the
ist June contained a detailed and frankly exact
report of the English losses, except that it gave
the name of the battleship Warspite instead of
the battle-cruiser Invincible.

The Times of 6th June, 1916, reports on the
evidence of combatants : * The Invincible, flying
the flag of Admiral Hood, Sir David Beatty's
second in command, singled out the Hindenburg,
and after a hot fight, in which some of our men
claim that the Hindenburg received mortal injury,
the Invincible went down."

At this time the Hindenburg was still being

186

Third Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

built. The Derfflinger was her sister-ship and the
English account is correct but for the names :
it was the Derfflinger and not the still uncompleted
Hindenburg that engaged the Invincible.

The account of the engagement between the
Derfflinger and the Invincible given by one of the
two officers saved from the Invincible is perfectly
correct with the exception of the time. The
Times of the I2th June, 1916, reports that the
father of a lieutenant who went down with the
Invincible received from the two surviving officers
a letter, in which they say : " Your son was
with the Admiral and we were engaged with the
Derfflinger. There was a tremendous explosion
aboard at 6.34 p.m. The ship broke in half and
sank in ten or fifteen seconds/'

On the I3th June, 1916, The Times, quoting
a letter from the brother of the late Lieutenant
Charles Fisher says : " We learn from Com-
mander Dannreuther, the sole surviving officer
of H.M.S. Invincible, that a shell fell into the
powder-magazine. There was a great explosion,
and when Dannreuther recovered consciousness he
found himself in the water. Ship and crew had
disappeared."

That they were the ships of Hood's battle-
cruiser squadron that we had been engaging
from 8. 24 p.m. onwards, at ranges varying between
6,000 m. and 7,000 m., is confirmed by Admiral

187

Kiel and Jutland

Beatty's official dispatch. This reports as follows
on the part played by the Invincible, Indomitable
and Inflexible of the 3rd Battle Cruiser Squadron :

" At 6.20 p.m. the 3rd Battle Cruiser Squad-
ron appeared ahead, steaming south towards
the enemy's van. I ordered them to take station
ahead, which was carried out magnificently,
Rear- Admiral Hood bringing his squadron into
action in a most inspiring manner, worthy of his
great naval ancestors. At 6.25 p.m. I altered
course to the E.S.E. in support of the 3rd Battle
Cruiser Squadron, who were at this time only
8,000 yards from the enemy's leading ship. They
were pouring a hot fire into her and caused her
to turn to the westward of south."

A Reuter telegram of the 5th June, 1916, states
that when the action had been in progress some
hours the Indomitable, Invincible and Inflexible
appeared on the scene ; that this phase was
chiefly a duel of heavy guns and that the In-
vincible, after fighting bravely and inflicting
heavy punishment on the enemy, met her doom
and sank.

My reason for supporting my own description
of this event from the English accounts of the
battle is that, hitherto, the German reports have
left it open as to whether the sinking of the
Invincible was due to gun-fire or a torpedo. On
historical grounds I consider it necessary to make

188

SKETCH I.

6° East

Course of the Derfflinger and other German Battle- Cruisers during

the Battle of Skagerrak.
_ Approximate Course of English Battleships engaged by the Derfflinger.

Direction and Range of the Derfflinger's Heavy Guns.

[Tofacfp. 188.

Third Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

clear that the Invincible, like all the other English
ships lost in this battle, was destroyed by gun-fire.

The Officer Commanding the 3rd Battle Cruiser
Squadron, Rear-Admiral Hood, who went down in
the Invincible, was a descendant of the famous
English Admiral Hood, who distinguished himself
brilliantly as a strategist and tactician in the
North American War of Independence under
Graves and Rodney, and later as Commander-in-
Chief at the Battle of St. Christopher (1782).
During the Anglo-French War of 1793-1802 he
was Commander-in-Chief (1793-1794) of the
Mediterranean Fleet and bombarded Toulon.

According to the record of my log-keeper the
heavy guns fired until 8.33 p.m. At 8.38 p.m. I
gave the order : " Heavy guns stand by ! " There
was no longer any enemy to be seen. At 8.35
p.m. we had altered course sharply to the west.
After the loss of their leader the remaining ships of
the 3rd Battle Squadron did not immediately
venture into the zone of our death-dealing fire.
At 8.50 p.m. the whole ship was ordered to cease
fire. Then feverish efforts were made to put out
the fires that had broken out in various parts of
the ship.

At this time we noticed a destroyer slowly going
alongside the Lutzow. The flagship had a list,
that is to say, she was leaning over to one side, and
her bows were very deep in the water. Great

189

Kiel and Jutland

clouds of smoke were rising from her forepart.
Admiral Hipper boarded the destroyer, which then
cast off and steered for the Seydlitz. While pass-
ing the Derfflinger the Admiral signalled : " Captain
of the Derfflinger will take command until I board/ '
Our Captain was therefore in command of the
battle-cruisers until nearly n p.m., for, owing to
the headlong speed of the battle-cruisers, which
were almost continuously under enemy fire, it was
not until then that the Admiral succeeded in
boarding another ship.

The Derfflinger, too, was now a pretty sorry sight.
The masts and rigging had been badly damaged
by countless shells, and the wireless aerials hung
down in an inextricable tangle so that we could only
use our wireless for receiving ; we could not trans-
mit messages. A heavy shell had torn away two
armour plates in the bows, leaving a huge gap
quite 6 by 5 m., just above the water-line. With
the pitching of the ship water streamed con-
tinually through this hole.

While we were steering west the Commander
came on to the bridge and reported to the Captain :
" The ship must stop at once. The after torpedo-
net has been shot away and is hanging over the
port screw. It must be cleared/' The Captain
gave the order : "All engines stop ! "

I surveyed the horizon through the periscope.
There was nothing of the enemy to be seen at this

190

Third Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

moment. The Seydlitz, Moltke and Von der Tann
were not in very close touch with us, but they now
came up quickly and took their prescribed stations
in the line. It was a very serious matter that we
should have to stop like this in the immediate
neighbourhood of the enemy, but if the torpedo-
net were to foul the screw all would be up with us.
How many times we had cursed in the ship at not
having rid ourselves of these heavy steel torpedo-
nets, weighing several hundred tons. As we hardly
ever anchored at sea they were useless and, in any
case, they only protected part of the ship against
torpedo fire. On the other hand, they were a
serious source of danger, as they reduced the ship's
speed considerably and were bound sooner or later
to foul the screws, which meant the loss of the ship.
For these reasons the English had scrapped their
torpedo-nets shortly before the war — we did not
do so until immediately after the battle of Skager-
rak and as a result of our present experience.

The boatswain and the turret-crews of the
" Dora " and " Caesar " turrets, under Lieutenant-
Commander Boltenstern, worked like furies to lift
the net, make it fast with chains and cut with axes
the wire-hawsers and chains that were hanging
loose. It was only a few minutes before the report
came : " Engines can be started." We got under
weigh at once.

The Lutzow had now hauled out of the line and

191

Kiel and Jutland

was steering a southerly course at low speed. The
Captain wanted to signal to the other ships to follow
the leader, but all the signal apparatus was out of
action. The semaphores and heliographs had all
been shot away and the flags all destroyed by fire.
However, our stout ships followed without signal
when the Captain turned on a northerly course
and led the battle-cruisers to a position ahead of
the main fleet.

The lull in the battle lasted until 9.5 p.m. and
then suddenly fresh gun-fire flashed out and once
more the cry, " Clear for action ! " rang through
the ship.

192

CHAPTER IX

THE FOURTH PHASE OF THE SKAGERRAK BATTLE
(9.5 P.M. TO 9.37 P.M.). THE DEATH RIDE OF
THE BATTLE-CRUISERS. ADMIRAL SCHEER
EXTRICATES THE FLEET FROM THE ENEMY
ENVELOPMENT. DESTROYER ATTACKS. THE
ENEMY SHAKEN OFF.

THE previous phases of the battle had been a
glorious progress from one triumph to another.
We had experienced all the wild splendour of a sea
action. Now we were not to be spared its terrors.
During the lull in the fighting I had remained
on the bridge without removing my head-tele-
phone. " Where are the enemy ? >J I shouted,
when I was back at my periscope. " Light
cruisers on the port beam ! " was reported. In
order to spare the heavy guns for more impor-
tant targets, I ordered Lieutenant-Commander
Hausser to engage the light cruisers with the
15-cm. guns. He opened fire at 7,000. Mean-
while I scanned the horizon. As there were
no other ships in sight, I also opened fire with the
heavy guns at one of the ships reported as light
cruisers. The enemy ships were again at the
extreme limit of visibility. Now they opened
a lively fire, and I saw that the ship I had selected
as a target was firing full salvoes from four double
turrets. The light round the enemy cleared for

i95 13*

Kiel and Jutland

a moment and I saw distinctly that they were
battleships of the heaviest class, with 38-cm.
guns ! Fire was now flashing from them.

Meanwhile the Commander-in-Chief had realized
the danger to which our fleet was exposed. The
van of our fleet was shut in by the semicircle
of the enemy. We were in a regular death-trap.
There was only one way of escape from this
unfavourable tactical situation : to turn the line
about and withdraw on the opposite course.
Before everything we must get out of this
dangerous enemy envelopment. But this
manoeuvre had to be carried out unnoticed and
unhindered. The battle-cruisers and the de-
stroyers had to cover the movements of the fleet.
At about 9.12 p.m. the Commander-in-Chief gave
the fleet the signal to turn about on the opposite
course and almost at the same time sent by
wireless to the battle-cruisers and destroyers
the historic order : " Close the enemy/' The
signal man on our bridge read the message aloud,
adding the words, which stood against it in the
signal book : " And ram ! The ships will fight
to the death. " Without moving an eyelid the
Captain gave the order : " Full speed ahead.
Course S.E." Followed by the Seydlitz, Moltke
and Von der Tann, we altered course south at 9.15
p.m. and headed straight for the enemy's van.
The Derfflinger, as leading ship, now came under

196

Fourth Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

a particularly deadly fire. Several ships were
engaging us at the same time. I selected a target
and fired as rapidly as possible. At first the
ranges recorded by my faithful log-keeper in the
transmitting station were 12,000, from which
they sank to 8,000. And all the time we were
steaming at full speed into this inferno, offering
a splendid target to the enemy while they were
still hard to make out. Commander Scheibe,
in his description of the battle, describes this
attack as follows : " The battle-cruisers, tem-
porarily under the command of the Captain of
the Derfflinger, while Admiral Hipper was chang-
ing ship, now hurled themselves recklessly
against the enemy line, followed by the destroyers.
A dense hail of fire swept them all the way."

Salvo after salvo fell round us, hit after hit
struck our ship. They were stirring minutes.
My communication with Lieutenant-Commander
von Stosch was now cut off, the telephones and
speaking-tubes running to the fore-top having
been shot away. I was now left to rely entirely
on my own observation of the splashes to con-
trol the gun-fire. Hitherto I had continued to
fire with all four heavy turrets, but at 9.13 p.m.
a serious catastrophe occurred. A 38-011. shell
pierced the armour of the " Caesar " turret and
exploded inside. The brave turret commander,
Lieutenant-Commander von Boltenstern had both

197

Kiel and Jutland

his legs torn off and with him nearly the whole
gun crew was killed. The shell set on fire two
shell-cases in the turret. The flames from the
burning cases spread to the transfer chamber,
where it set fire to four more cases, and from there
to the case-chamber, where four more were
ignited. The burning cartridge-cases emitted
great tongues of flame which shot up out of the
turrets as high as a house ; but they only blazed,
they did not explode as had been the case with
the enemy. This saved the ship, but the result
of the fire was catastrophic. The huge tapering
flames killed everyone within their reach. Of
the seventy-eight men inside the turret only five
managed to save themselves through the hole
provided for throwing out empty shell-cases,
and of these several were severely injured. The
other seventy-three men died together like heroes
in the fierce fever of battle, loyally obeying the
orders of their turret officer.

A few moments later this catastrophe was
followed by a second. A 38-cm. shell pierced
the roof of the (< Dora " turret, and here too,
exploded inside the turret. The same horrors
ensued. With the exception of one single man,
who was thrown by the concussion through the
turret entrance, the whole turret crew of eighty
men, including all the magazine men, were killed
instantly. The crew of the " Dora " turret, under

198

Fourth Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

the leadership of their brave turret officer, Stuck-
meister Arndt, had fought heroically up to the
last second. Here, too, the flames spread to the
cartridge-chamber and set fire to all the cases
which had been removed from their protective
packing. From both after-turrets great flames
were now spurting, mingled with clouds of yellow
smoke, two ghastly pyres.

At 9.15 p.m. I received a message from the
transmitting station : " Gas danger in the heavy
gun transmitting station. Station must be
abandoned.'* This gave me a shock. Things
must be in a pretty bad way in the ship if the
poison gases had already penetrated the trans-
mitting station, which was so carefully protected.
I gave the order : " Connect with the fore-con-
trol/' and at once received the report that the
gunnery apparatus was actually connected with
the fore-control before the transmitting station
was abandoned. I could now control the guns
by shouting my orders through a speaking tube
to a messenger who sat under a grating. The
latter passed on the orders direct to the gun-
turrets by means of his gunnery telephones and
telegraphs. This, of course, added to the noise
of the shouting in the fore-control, but made
it possible to go on with the fire control.

Now hit after hit shook the ship. The enemy
had got our range excellently. I felt a clutch at

199

Kiel and Jutland

my heart when I thought of what the conditions
must be in the interior of the ship. So far we
in the armoured tower had come off very well . . .
my train of thought was sharply interrupted.
Suddenly, we seemed to hear the crack of doom.
A terrific roar, a tremendous explosion and then
darkness, in which we felt a colossal blow. The
whole conning tower seemed to be hurled into
the air as though by the hands of some portentous
giant, and then to flutter trembling into its
former position. A heavy shell had struck the
fore-control about 50 cm. in front of me. The
shell exploded, but failed to pierce the thick
armour, which it had struck at an unfavourable
angle, though huge pieces had been torn out.
Poisonous greenish-yellow gases poured through
the apertures into our control.

I called out : " Down gas-masks ! " and
immediately every man pulled down his gas-
mask over his face. I went on controlling the
fire with my gas-mask on, which made it very
difficult to make myself understood. But the
gases soon dissipated, and we cautiously took off
the masks. We assured ourselves that the
gunnery apparatus was still in order. Nothing
had been disturbed. Even the delicate mechan-
ism of the sighting apparatus was, strange to
say, still in order. Some splinters had been
flung through the aperture on to the bridge,

200

Fourth Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

where they had wounded several men, including
the navigating officer.

The terrific blow had burst open the heavy
armoured door of the tower, which now stood
wide open. Two men strove in vain to force it
back, but it was jammed too tight. Then came
unexpected assistance. Once more we heard a
colossal roar and crash and with a noise of a
bursting thunderbolt a 38-cm. shell exploded
under the bridge. Whole sheets of the deck were
hurled through the air, a tremendous concussion
threw overboard everything that could be moved.
Amongst other things, the chart house, with all
the charts and other gear, and — " last but not
least " — my good overcoat, which I had left
hanging in the chart house, vanished from the
scene for ever. And one extraordinary thing
happened : the terrific concussion of the bursting
38-cm. shell shut the armoured door of the
fore-control. A polite race, the English ! They
had opened the door for us and it was they who
shut it again. I wonder if they meant to ? In
any case it amused us a good deal.

I looked towards the enemy through my
periscope. Their salvoes were still bursting round
us, but we could scarcely see anything of the
enemy, who were disposed in a great semicircle
round us. All we could see was the great reddish-
gold flames spurting from the guns. The ships'

201

Kiel and Jutland

hulls we saw but rarely. I had the range of the
flames measured. That was the only possible
means of establishing the enemy's range. With-
out much hope of hurting the enemy I ordered
the two forward turrets to fire salvo after salvo.
I could feel that our fire soothed the nerves of
the ship's company. If we had ceased fire at
this time the whole ship's company would have
been overwhelmed by despair, for everyone
would have thought : "A few minutes more and
it will be all up." But so long as we were still
firing, things could not be so bad. The secondary
armament were firing too, but of the six guns on
that side only two could be used. The barrel of
the fourth gun had burst, and the third gun had
been completely shot to pieces. The two 15-cm.
guns still intact kept up a lively fire.

Unfortunately the direction-indicator in the
" Bertha " turret now failed us. I was left with
one single turret that I could train on the enemy
by means of my periscope. The direction of my
periscope as indicated by the control apparatus
had to be continually shouted from the trans-
mitting station to the "Bertha" turret, which
meant a certain amount of delay for the turret
officer, and was, of course, inadequate, while
the ship was under weigh. The turret officer
was not in a position to keep the enemy under
continual observation with his telescope. Nothing

202

Fourth Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

could be seen of the monster facing us but
the flickering fiery eyes it opened alternately —
when it fired a salvo. I was now concentrating
my fire on a ship which was firing alternately
from two double turrets. The flashes from the
muzzles looked like the opening of two wide
blazing eyes and suddenly I realized where I
had seen something of the sort. Sascha Schneider's
picture, " The feeling of dependence/' had created
an impression something similar to that I was now
experiencing. It depicts a black monster of
shadowy outline, turgidly opening and shutting
its smouldering eyes and fixing a chained human
form, which awaits the fatal embrace. Our
present position seemed to me similar. But the
monster had to be fought. The " Anna " turret,
under the brave Stuckmeister — I had sent the
turret officer to the after control to replace the
Fourth Gunnery Officer who was wanted else-
where— went on firing undisturbed, as also the
doughty " Schiilzburg," though it is true, the
latter frequently fired at another target than
that ordered. Without a direction-indicator it
was impossible to keep both turrets firing at the
same enemy flashes.

At 9.18 p.m. we received a wireless message
from the Commander-in-Chief : " Manoeuvre on
the enemy van." That meant we were to break
off our charge against the enemy and carry on

203

Kiel and Jutland

a running engagement with the ships of the
enemy's van. We therefore turned to the south
of westward. Unfortunately the enemy were
now so far abaft the beam that in my forward
position I could no longer see them. Now the
control had to be shifted aft. But the necessary
readjustment of connections could only be
carried out in the transmitting station. At the
time this was not possible. There was no
possibility for the moment of directing the two
forward turrets, which were now the only ones
available. I gave the order : ' Turrets indepen-
dent/* and for a time the two turrets fired
independently, under the control of their turret
officers. I observed that the "Bertha" turret
soon got the range of the target far astern and
maintained a lively fire in which the " Anna "
turret was soon participating. For some time
the enemy was dead astern of us, so that the for-
ward turrets lost sight of him, for their angle of
training was limited to 220°. We were now
helpless ! As we turned, the torpedo officer fired
a torpedo at 8,000 m. At the same time our
destroyers, which until then had been following
in our wake, pressed home their attack, several
flotillas together. A dense smoke rose between
us and the enemy " monsters." Once more we
watched the wild turmoil of battle before us.
It was hard to distinguish friend from foe. More

204

Fourth Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

and more destroyers dashed into the fray, dis-
appeared in the smoke and then for a few moments
were visible again. Others which had already
fired their torpedoes were beginning to return.
After the attack the flotillas reassembled behind
us and then attacked a second time. The enemy
now disappeared from our view and their fire
ceased as far as we were concerned. We breathed
a sigh of relief ! The enemy fire thundered and
roared on all sides, it is true, but we were no longer
the target. As my gunnery log-keeper had to
evacuate the transmitting station at 9.15 p.m.
no log for this phase of the battle was kept
subsequent to this time.

At 9.23 p.m. a report came from the transmit-
ting station : " Transmitting station untenable ! "
I learnt later that this was due to the invasion
of thick yellow streams of gas through the voice-
pipes from the " Caesar " turret. In the heat
of the battle no one had noticed them until
suddenly the whole transmitting station was filled
with poisonous fumes. The Communication
Officer, Lieutenant Hoch, gave the order :
" Connect gunnery apparatus to the forward
control/ ' and then he had the transmitting
station evacuated. Immediately afterwards brave
Artificer Schoning, his gas-mask carefully adjusted
re-entered the transmitting station. Feeling his
way through the poisonous clouds of gas, with

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Kiel and Jutland

which the place was filled, he reached the voice-
pipes and closed them with wooden bungs.
Meanwhile the electric ventilators were set going,
and in a few minutes the transmitting station
began to clear, the gas was drawn off, and the
men returned to their stations.

A lull in the fighting was an urgent necessity.
At 9.37 p.m. cease fire was ordered, as no enemy
ship was now visible. All gun crews were called on
deck to put out the fires. The forward bridge
was completely enveloped in smoke and flames
which the 15-cm. gun crews were set to put
out.

The gun fighting had ceased, but now a stub-
born struggle was waged against fire and water.
Although as far as possible everything inflammable
had been taken out of the ship, the fire continued
to spread, fed principally by linoleum, the wooden
decks, clothing and oil paints. About ten
o'clock we had practically mastered the flames,
the fire now only smouldering in a few isolated
places. The " Caesar " and " Dora " turrets were
still smoking and giving out clouds of thick yellow
gas from time to time, but this gradually ceased
after the ammunition chambers had been flooded.
No one could ever have believed that a ship
could endure so much heavy fire. The powers
of resistance of our ships and the tremendous
effectiveness of their fire were a splendid testimony

206

Fourth Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

to the builders of our fleet, particularly the
brilliant Admiral of the Fleet, von Tirpitz.

The Lutzow was now lost to sight. At 9.20
p.m. the following was recorded in the after
control : " Target covered by thick smoke from
the Lutzow." After this the burning ship had
vanished with the ever decreasing visibility.

But the other ships of our squadron, the
Seydlitz, Moltke and Von der Tann were still with
us. They, too, were in a bad way. The Seydlitz
had been particularly badly knocked about.
On her, too, flames as high as houses leapt out
of one gun turret. There were fires on all the
ships. The Seydlitz was badly down at the bows.
When Admiral Hipper came alongside the
Seydlitz in his destroyer, he was told that all her
wireless was out of action, and that she had shipped
several thousand tons of water. He therefore
tried to board the Moltke, commanded by Captain
von Karpf , the former captain of the Hohenzollern.
As he was about to board, the ship came under
such a desperate fire that the captain could not
reduce speed. Admiral Hipper then inquired
what damage had been sustained by the Derfflinger.
The following was reported : " Only two 30.5-011.
and two 15-011. guns still firing on the port side.
Three thousand four hundred tons of water in the
ship. All signal apparatus destroyed except wire-
less receiver/' whereupon he decided not to

207

Kiel and Jutland

transfer his flag to us. As soon as the situation per-
mitted he boarded the Moltke, but during all four
phases of the battle the battle-cruisers were com-
manded by the captain of the Derfflinger. The name
of Captain Hartog is for all time inseparably bound
up with the death-ride of the battle-cruisers at
Skagerrak.

On all our battle-cruisers large numbers of
men had been killed. Hundreds had met a hero's
death in this proud attack. But our duty of
covering, together with the destroyer flotillas,
the withdrawal of the fleet had been brilliantly
fulfilled. Admiral Scheer was able to withdraw
the fleet from the threatened envelopment com-
pletely intact.

Sketch II. shows how the fleet was withdrawn.
From this it can be seen that the fleet, in a line
of bearing, had steered a north-westerly course
until 7.48, and then, in line ahead, north-east
until 8.35 p.m. At 8.35 p.m. the fleet once more
changed course to the west, but turned again on
an easterly course so as not to leave in the lurch
the Wiesbaden, which was still under heavy fire.
At 9.17 p.m. they completed the westerly course
ordered at 9.12 and then, covered by the battle-
cruisers and destroyer flotillas, withdrew from
the semicircular envelopment. From 7.48 p.m.
the ships in the van, those of the 3rd Squadron,
were engaged by the ships of the Queen Elizabeth

208

SKETCH II

8**Beatty and
Hood's Battle-
Cruisers

Course of German Battleships.

Approximate Course of German Battle-Cruisers.

Course of English Battle-Cruisers and Battleships.

[_To face p. 208.

Fourth Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

class. While steering the easterly courses, which
ended at 8.35 p.m. and 9.17 p.m., they also came
under the fire of the English main fleet, drawn
up in semicircular formation round them. The
ist Squadron in the centre of the line did not
come under fire at all during the day's fighting,
but in the night-fighting bore the brunt of the
battle. The 2nd Squadron, owing to its slow
speed, had been left several miles behind. By
an accident it took part in the last phase, as I
shall describe later. As a result of the correct
tactical disposition and leading of our fleet, only
our most modern and most powerful ships were
engaged by the English ships at the crises of the
battle. Only in this way could it have happened
that during the battle itself not a single ship
was totally lost — the severely damaged Lutzow
was abandoned by her ship's company on the day
after the battle and torpedoed by us — whereas
the English sacrificed three of their best ships.
This fact is brilliant testimony to the perfect
tactical skill of Admiral Scheer and his brilliant
Chief of Staff, Rear- Admiral von Trotha.

209 14

CHAPTER X

THE FIFTH PHASE OF THE SKAGERRAK BATTLE
(9.37 TO 10.35 P-M0 AND THE NIGHT OF JUNE
1ST. LAST ENGAGEMENT. NIGHT FIGHTING.
SINKING OF THE " POMMERN "

THE thrill of our dash straight at the enemy
was followed by a lull lasting until 10.22 p.m.
In the Derfflinger we spent this time making
preparations for the night. Nearly all our search-
lights had been destroyed. We still had one left
on the starboard side and two on the port side.
" The Goblin " and his assistants had their
hands full to meet even a part of the demands
that were made upon them. I remained on
the bridge, ready at any moment to engage the
enemy. At every periscope a man stood
searching the horizon; every telescope was in
action.

About 10 p.m. we sighted our ist Squadron
bearing on a southerly course. Our captain, who
at this time was commanding the battle-cruisers,
led our squadron on the head of our main fleet,
where we were to take station. The rest of the
battle-cruisers followed the Derfflinger without
any signal. As we were carrying out this

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Kiel and Jutland

manoeuvre we and the ist Squadron suddenly
came under heavy fire from the south-east. It
had already grown dusk. The mist had rather
increased than diminished. " Clear for Action ! >:
sounded once more through the ship, and a few
seconds later I had trained the " Anna " turret
on the target and fired. In the thick mist the
" Bertha " turret could not find the target, so I
had to fire as well as I could with the " Anna "
turret alone. Then this, too, was interrupted.
A heavy shell struck the " Anna " turret and bent
one of the rails on which the turret revolves, so
that it stuck. Our last weapon was snatched out
of our hands !

Then Stuckmeister Weber, with great quick-
ness of decision, ran out of the turret and, with
the help of some petty officers and gun hands,
cleared away the bent rails with axes and crow-
bars and put the turret in action again, so that
it was again possible to fire an occasional shot. I
had to shoot almost entirely by estimated range,
for only rarely was the Bg. man able to get
the range of a gun-flash. I fired at ranges of
8,000, 6,000, 1,000, and so on. It was impossible
to observe the splashes. The situation had once
more become very uncomfortable.

Then help came from the quarter from which
it was least expected. After the fleet had turned
about on a southerly course our 2nd Squadron,

214

Derjflinger screened from Submarine Attack by Four Destroyers
(aerial photograph).

Derfflinger firing a Salvo from her Heavy Guns while steaming at
Top Speed (aerial photograph).

[To face p. 214.

Fifth Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

the old ships of the Deutschland class, found
themselves in the van of the fleet. Admiral
Scheer now thought the moment favourable to
dispose the fleet in the best tactical formation
for the withdrawal south. The 2nd Squadron
was therefore ordered to take station astern of
the two modern squadrons. The Officer Com-
manding the 2nd Squadron was carrying out
this manoeuvre at this very moment, bringing
his squadron west of the remainder of the fleet
and of us. In doing so he came between us and
the enemy, who were now pressing us hard.
Suddenly the enemy saw seven big ships heading
for them at top speed. At the same time the
unwearying destroyers again pressed home the
attack. That was too much for them : the enemy
turned about and disappeared in the twilight.
We did not want to see any more of them, but
felt a great relief at this sudden improvement in
our situation. I saw all the good friends of my
old squadron coming up, the good old Hessen,
in which I served for five years, the Pommern,
the Schleswig-Holstein and others. They were
shooting vigorously and themselves came under
a heavy fire. But it was not long before the
enemy had had enough. I wonder if they would
have turned about had they known what kind
of ships these were ! They were the famous
German " five-minute-ships/' to settle which

215

Kiel and Jutland

the Englishman could not spare more than five
minutes, but bravely withdrew !

At 10.31 p.m. my faithful log-keeper recorded
the last shot fired by the Derfflinger's heavy
guns at an angle of bearing of 244° and a range
of 7,500.

The long northern day came to an end. The
short night, which only lasted from n p.m. to
2 a.m., was beginning.

For the night the battle-cruisers received the
order to take station in the rear of the line. We
were thus entrusted with the honourable task of
covering the rear of the fleet during the with-
drawal south. I don't know how the Seydlitz and
the Moltke spent the night. The heavily damaged
Seydlitz was already having a hard struggle to
keep above water. Only by dint of the most
strenuous efforts did the crew of this ship, under
its efficient Commanding Officer, Captain von
Egidy, and his excellent Second in Command,
Commander von Alvensleben, succeed in bringing
their ship to Wilhelmshaven two days after the
battle.

Only the Derfflinger and the Von der Tann took
station in the rear of the line. We certainly did
not feel very well suited to this station. Our
starboard was our best side, for it still had all
six 15-cm. guns intact. But one single search
light was hardly enough. On the port side only

216

Fifth Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

two 15-cm. guns were still in action. We should
therefore have to urge the English destroyers to
confine their attacks as far as possible to the
starboard side. There we were still capable of
administering a cold douche !

As the sky was overcast the night became very
dark. We officers had now left the conning
tower for the bridge. The Captain came out.
He shook me warmly by the hand and said :
" Well done ! " These words were more to me
than any recognition I received later. As it was
beginning to get chilly he had a bottle of port
wine brought out, the glasses were filled and we
drank to the day which was now closing. I sent
my servant below to see how things were down
there, and to fetch me a fresh overcoat. Hanel
came back with the overcoat and reported, beam-
ing : * Your cabin is the only one still ship-
shape, sir. All the other cabins are completely
wrecked/' When I saw his smiling face I couldn't
help thinking of the lines :

" O heiliger Florian,
Beschiitz* mein Haus, ziind' andre an ! "

As we were the last ship but one in the line we
might assume that we should be protected from
destroyer attacks, which are nearly always made
from ahead. As it turned out, only one English
destroyer found her way to us during the whole

217

Kiel and Jutland

night. All the other destroyers had been driven
off by the ships ahead. About the night fighting
I can say little, as we were for the most part well
out of it. Firing went on throughout the night.
It must be admitted that the English destroyers
returned again and again to the attack with amaz-
ing pluck. And yet they achieved practically
nothing. The only German ship sunk during the
night itself was the light cruiser Frauenlob, and
she was not sunk by the destroyers, but by an
English cruiser, which raked her with gun-fire
and also torpedoed her. Not until dawn did the
English destroyers score a success. At very long
range one of them succeeded in torpedoing and
sinking the Pommern.

From our present position we were able to
watch undisturbed the fighting which went on
for the most part at a considerable distance from
us. Searchlights flashed out and lit up the
destroyers rushing to the attack. We saw the gun-
flashes of ships and destroyers, great splashes
were lit by searchlights, thick clouds of smoke
drove past the ships and destroyers. We were
unable to distinguish details, but the result of
the struggle was made clear to us when one
blazing, red-hot vessel after another passed us.
I could not help thinking of the living torches
driven about by the Romans in their orgies of
cruelty. All metal parts were aglow and the

218

Derfflinger firing a Full Salvo from all eight 30.5-cm. Guns
simultaneously-

{To face p. 218.

Fifth Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

destroyers looked like fine filigree work in red and
gold. The reason for the rapid spread of the
fire in the English destroyers lay in the fact that
they used only oil fuel. The oil, once alight,
spread rapidly over all parts of the pitching
vessels. We must have seen quite ten destroyers
and other ships dash past us in this way. We
watched them with mixed feelings, for we were
not quite sure whether any among them were
German. As a matter of fact not a single German
destroyer was sunk that night. Our destroyers had
gone off to scout for the enemy fleet. It is remark-
able, and much to be regretted, that throughout
the whole night our destroyers, searching for the
great English fleet, failed to find them, although
they knew exactly where they were last seen. When
the firing ahead had died down a little I heard,
as I was standing near the captain, the noise of
a turbine destroyer heading for us at full speed on
the starboard side. Soon a black object emerged
about four points to starboard. Should we use our
single searchlight and so betray ourselves, or
would it be better to wait until the destroyer's
searchlight lit us up to ascertain our position
before firing her torpedo ? I quickly suggested
to the captain that the searchlight should not
be lit. He agreed and the destroyer dashed past
us. She was quite near, only 300 to 400 m. away,
but she did not show her searchlight and did not

219

Kiel and Jutland

fire either her guns or torpedo. Our next astern,
the Von der Tann, did exactly as we had done.
They, too, as the Gunnery Officer told me later,
had been afraid that by lighting their searchlights
they might draw on themselves the whole
destroyer pack. Can the English destroyer not
have seen us ? Had she already fired all her
torpedoes ? Had she already been under
such heavy fire that her only idea was to get
away ? I don't know. " Ships that pass in the
night."

This brought the night to a close, and the morn-
ing broke. At 2.15 a.m. a burning ship drove
past us, the English armoured cruiser Black Prince.
The whole ship was red hot. There could not
have been a soul alive on board for some time.
At 3.10 a.m. we heard two heavy explosions to
port, but could not discover what had happened.
We had frequently to stop because the whole line
ahead of us was thrown into disorder as a result
of the numerous destroyer attacks. To avoid
these and to press home counter-attacks, ships
were frequently hauling out of the line and steer-
ing a circular course, and had to take station
again wherever they could. In this way the
Nassau, originally the second ship of the line,
gradually fell into the last place and became our
next ahead. It was no light task for our Navi-
gating Officer and Officer of the Watch to keep

220

Fifth Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

station at the correct distance astern of the line
so that we should not lose touch in the darkness.

When the first signs of dawn appeared we
thought it certain that we should again have to
engage the whole English fleet. All preparations
were made for the day's fighting. The sighting
apparatus of the " Bertha " turret had been put
in order again by " The Goblin " and his faith-
ful band.

We stood on the bridge forward and searched
the darkness and twilight. The destroyer attacks
appeared to have ceased. Suddenly — it was about
3.50 a.m. — we heard a heavy explosion, and a
mighty tower of flame rose into the sky ahead of
us. From the distance it looked like a sheaf of
flame from some gigantic firework. We saw our
two next ahead put down the helm hard to star-
board. What could have happened ? What was
this new tragedy ? Our ship cut her way through
the waves as we held on our course, and passed
the scene of the disaster. We looked out on all
sides for wreckage or men struggling in the water,
but there was nothing to be seen. Even as we
passed over the actual scene of the catastrophe,
we could not realize what had happened. And
yet, only a few minutes before, the Pommern, a
battleship of 13,000 tons, had passed over this
same spot. An English destroyer had crept
up to the limit of visibility and torpedoed the

221

Kiel and Jutland

Pommern. The ship must have been shattered to
atoms, as only a few minutes later not the slightest
trace of her was to be seen. Not a man of the
whole ship's company was saved. My cheery
friend and old shipmate, Commander Elle, died
1 ke a hero in the Pommern. As Gunnery Officer,
he had worked with great enthusiasm, and taken
great trouble to secure the stowing of ammuni-
tion out of danger from torpedoes — now it had
been all to no purpose, for obviously the torpedo
had hit the magazine direct. It was not till the
next day that we learned the name of the ship
that had blown up here.

At 4.10 a.m. the 2nd Squadron immediately
ahead of us opened fire. We had the " Clear
for action " sounded, for we felt sure that now the
great decision was to be fought out. But it
turned out to be merely an English destroyer that
had ventured too near and drawn our fire. It
may have been the one that had torpedoed the
Pommern a short time before. At any rate she
had a bad time now. The destroyer, which was
not far away from us, was shot into flames, and
added one more to the gruesome procession of
living torches.

Meanwhile the sun had risen. Hundreds of
marine-glasses and periscopes from all our ships
scanned the horizon, but no sign of the enemy
could be discovered. The fleet held on its

222

Fifth Phase of the Skagerrak Battle

southerly course, and in the forenoon of June ist
we ran into Wilhelmshaven.

Our ship was badly knocked about, in some
places whole sections were now mere heaps of
ruins. The vital parts, however, had not been
hit. Thanks to the strong armour, the engines,
the boilers, the steering gear, the propeller shafts,
and nearly all the auxiliary engines were unharmed.
The engine rooms had for some time been filled
with poisonous gases, but by using gas-masks
the engine room personnel — though they had suf-
fered some losses — had been able to carry on.
The whole ship was strewn with thousands of
shell-splinters of all sizes. Among these we found
two 38-cm. shell caps, almost intact, formidable
objects shaped like great bowls, which were used
later in the captain's cabin and the wardroom
as champagne coolers — though it is to be
assumed that this is not the purpose for which
the English threw them on board. The armour
belt had been pierced in several places, but the
holes had all been patched up or the water
localized in small compartments.

At Wilhelmshaven we buried our dead, who
now lie there in the cemetery of honour. There
were nearly two hundred from the Derfflinger.

On the 4th June the Kaiser inspected our ship,
and then she went on the slips at Kiel to be
refitted." After numerous gunnery and other

223

v. (

Kiel and Jutland

improvements we were ready for action again in
December, 1916. But the Battle of Skagerrak
was our last encounter with the enemy — at least,
our last encounter with our flag flying at the mast-
head, the flag to which we had sworn our loyalty.
Now this proud ship lies with the others on the
sea bottom at Scapa Flow.

224

CHAPTER XI

REFLECTIONS ON THE BATTLE OF SKAGERRAK

WHEN the sun rose on the ist June the German
fleet lay level with the Horn Reef, on the same
meridian of longitude as the Danish town, Esbjerg.
As we could then discover no signs of the enemy,
far and wide, I confess frankly, a load fell from
my heart, for with our battered ship and especially
with our decimated armament we should not
have been in a position to fight a victorious
engagement against one of their heavy battle-
ships with armament intact. I had already
fired nearly the whole of the ammunition of
" Anna " and " Bertha " turrets and the rest of
the ammunition in the " Caesar " and " Dora "
turrets could not be got at, as these turrets were
still completely filled with poisonous gases and
the ammunition chambers were flooded. For
our fleet and our Fatherland I regret from the
bottom of my heart that the battle was not
fought to a finish. This fact was certainly a
source of great regret and disappointment for
our Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Scheer. It

227 15*

Kiel and Jutland

would have been easy for the English to bring us
to action in the early morning. Throughout the
whole night their cruisers and destroyers had
kept in touch with us. All our movements were
continually reported by wireless to the English
Commander-in-Chief. It would have been the
greatest good fortune for our Fatherland if, at
that time, the battle had been reopened off Horn
Reef, and so not far from Heligoland. Judging
from the experience of the 3ist May, many more
English ships would have been destroyed, and
it would have required an enormous consump-
tion of ammunition to put the German heavy
battleships completely out of action.

Had Jellicoe sought a decision off Horn Reef on
ist June there is no doubt that the English fleet
would have had to cede its place as the strongest
fleet in the world to America.

I admit readily that there was no question of
a complete annihilation of Jellicoe's fleet on ist
June. But as one closely acquainted with our
ships and our naval guns and also well acquainted
with the English ships and their naval guns,
and in the light of my gunnery experiences in
the Skagerrak battle, I think I can state with
certainty that a naval battle fought straight
through to a finish between the English and
German main fleets would have cost the enemy
a very great number of heavy battleships.

228

Reflections on the Battle of Skagerrak

On the 3ist May it was impossible for Admiral
Scheer, after his withdrawal out of the " lion's
claws," to bring the fleet afresh into a tactically
favourable formation before dawn broke. A
night battle between two such powerful fleets
was an impossibility. In spite of all identifica-
tion signals provided for night-fighting a wild
melee, a rending of ship against ship without
distinction of friend or foe would have been
inevitable. But even if we had been reckless
enough to seek a night action, the English fleet
would have had to avoid it. In a night action
they would have had to forgo all the advantages
of their preponderating numerical superiority,
their greater speed, their long-range guns, and
leave everything to blind chance. Jellicoe acted
perfectly rightly in disengaging his fleet at night-
fall and so skilfully leading his squadron away
during the night that our destroyer flotillas,
systematically searching the outlying areas of
the scene of battle, did not find them. And
Jellicoe also acted perfectly rightly from a
strategic point of view in not reopening the battle
on the ist June. The English fleet, by remaining
a " fleet in being," by its mere continued existence,
had so far fully fulfilled its allotted task. The
battle of Skagerrak did not relax the pressure
exerted by the English fleet as a " fleet in being "
for one minute. Had Jellicoe on 3ist May not

229

Kiel and Jutland

accepted the Skagerrak battle, and had he instead,
in order to keep his fleet intact, returned to his
base at Scapa Flow, we should have been able to
carry on our allotted task, war on commerce in
the Skagerrak and Kattegatt, and so have kept
for a time the naval control of the North Sea.
But by the battle of Skagerrak the fulfilment
of our task was frustrated. By not attacking
on ist June our fleet heading for the German
mine-fields and home ports, Jellicoe kept unin-
terrupted the mastery of the seas. Why should
he, in this strategic game of chess, choose a
mutual sacrifice of pieces when his position was
such that the mating of the enemy was bound to
follow ?

Jellicoe returned to Scapa Flow. Later, when
he yielded his position as Commander-in-Chief to
Beatty and his King made him a peer, he assumed
the name of " Viscount Scapa." At the time
there was a good deal of scoffing in Germany,
and, indeed, in England too, that an Admiral
should take the name of a desolate place where
his fleet had remained at anchor almost con-
tinuously for four years. And yet by these four
years at anchor the English fleet exerted that
decisive pressure which ended in our whole
fighting fleet being led to this same Scapa Flow
where it lies on the sea bottom. What a triumph
for the " Viscount of Scapa ! "

230

Reflections on the Battle of Skagerrak

When, after the battle of Skagerrak, English
belief in their victory had been heavily shaken,
Churchill published in the October number of the
London Magazine a series of articles on the war
by land and sea. What he said about the naval
war and the battle of Skagerrak is, in my opinion,
correct. Alas ! it should have taught us the
following lesson : The English fleet will only
accept battle outside our mine-fields and at a
certain respectful distance from our submarine
bases and coast defences. But if we are to make
any attempt to escape from the iron grip with
which England is strangling us we must do all in
our power to bring about a naval battle. We
must therefore seek out the English fleet off their
own coasts and fight them there.

Against this it has been contended that the
submarine war could only be carried through so
long as our High Sea Fleet remained intact, and
that if we had lost our fleet our ports would have
been hopelessly blockaded. This argument may
be met as follows : In the first place, battle with
the enemy fleet was not necessarily synonymous
with the loss of our whole fleet. Skagerrak
ought to have proved this. And, secondly, in
any case we should have been left with enough
cruisers, old battleships and destroyers, as well
as U-boats, mine-layers, mine-sweepers, airships,
aeroplanes and coast defences to carry on the

231

Kiel and Jutland

submarine campaign. Also we should have had
the Kattegatt at our disposal as an exit for our
U-boats. The submarine campaign in Flanders,
where there was no fleet, was carried on in the
face of much greater difficulties than we had to
contend with in the North Sea. Moreover, a
decisive battle on the high seas ought to have
made the submarine campaign unnecessary and
brought the war to a speedy close.

I do not want these reflections to mar our joy
at our partial victory over the English fleet at
Skagerrak. But ultimately this victory went
the way of all our individual victories on land and
sea : it failed to win the final victory for the
German nation. At the time, however, it acted
on the fleet like a bath of steel, gave the German
people new strength and confidence in the future,
and added much to the prestige of the German
nation. It was a black day for England on which
we sent ten thousand English sailors, together
with the proudest ships of the English fleet, to
the bottom of the sea, while only a few more
than two thousand German sailors had to sacrifice
their lives under our victorious flag.

I close my account of the greatest day we
Germans have ever experienced at sea, with the
hope that my little book and Churchill's essay
may be the means of enlightening many Germans
on the enormous influence that sea power has

232

Reflections on the Battle of Skagerrak

had on the world's history and will continue to
have in the future. I also express the hope that
in the years to come many a German, proud of
being a German and a sailor, will feel the sea wind
whistling past his ears.

Indeed we have become a poor nation. It is
true that our national honour has been deeply
humiliated. But we will not on that account
allow ourselves to be robbed of the courage for
fresh deeds. Let us think of the words :

Money lost — Nothing lost !
Honour lost — Much lost !
Courage lost — All lost.

233

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