Source: File: Petty
Officer Stoker Edward Attwood.jpg, 2015. Petty Officer Stoker Edward Attwood
was one of the first men killed at the Battle of Dogger Bank in the North Sea
on 24 January 1915. [online] Available at: <http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/07/readers-favourite-photographs-songs-recipes> [Accessed: 31 January 2015].
From glaciated
debris, a moraine had formed,
In the
Pleistocene ages - with time, a
period
Of glaciations
and the melting of ice, carried
Transported rocks
and silt sized glacial flour -
Within the
undulations of time, to make a low
Landmass above
the sea, to form an open land bank.
That spreading
space between a smaller and
Larger land mass,
where early people roamed,
Until the ice age
ended - with greatest of floods -
To spill across
the moraine, makes an island,
To be named by
mankind as England - as that
Sunken landmass
of Doggerland, became Dogger Bank.
Moving rapidly
through time, over one thousand
Nine hundred and
fifteen years ahead - formed
By the Western
Calendar - opened up another
Human war of
civilized lands - Then in advanced
Stages of machine
led conflict - as their craft
Took to the sea,
to trespass the waters of Dogger Bank.
With the
submarine strategy of German navy,
Having been
suppressed - a further tactic
To hit the
British Isles, came by an attack
Onto three
coastal towns, on 16 December,
Under an attack
of shells left civilians dead.
The Germans
having taken their path by Dogger Bank.
With many navel
battles having taken place,
And acts by
German craft, setting on the Island
Of the British,
brought attacks of coastal areas -
Forced the need
of naval reconnaissance
Off the East
coast of England - keeping watch,
For further enemy
approach of North Sea's Dogger Bank.
Admiral
Eckermann, promoted to Vice Admiral,
Being chief of
staff to German High Seas Fleet,
Desired an
operation to take on the British Fleet.
Yet the man in
command, Admiral Ingenohi -
Disagreed, with
the SMS Von der Tann out
Of action for
dry-dock maintenance - their fastest
A well-armed
turbined warship. On Eckermann's
Continued
Insistence, Admiral Hipper was sent to Dogger Bank.
A capture of a
codebook, gained by Russian forces,
Led to shared
information with their British allies.
The book's
contents opened up an ability to decode
Enemy radio
traffic, to learn how Admiral Hipper
Had begun the
process for a new coastal raid.
Five battle
crafts, light cruisers with destroyers
Moved south ready
for Hipper and his ships.
The British fleet
waited above the submerged Dogger Bank.
A German fleet
Led by Seydlitz, and followed
By Derfflinger,
Moltke and Blücher - along with
Light cruisers Rostock,
Kolberg - while Stralsund
And Graudenz led the forward screen, nineteen
Torpedo boats, formed half-flotilla, to each light
Cruiser - a
fierce German formation moved to Dogger Bank.
Back in Room 40
enemy wireless messages
Were intercepted
- the precise detailed plans
Of Hipper could
not be made, but an operation
Was heading for
the East Coast and North Sea.
English fleet
acted quickly with a rendezvous
of Commodore
Tyrwhitt's Harwich Force, came
Moore's 2nd
Battlecruiser Squadron, second
Light Cruiser
Squadron of Goodenough - and
Beatty's 1st
Battlecruiser Squadron - to meet
8 a.m. 24 January
- 30 miles north of the Dogger Bank.
By 8:15 a.m. the
enemy Kolberg spotted Aurora
Of Harwich Force
- who sent out their searchlight.
A reply of two
hits began retaliation - while Hipper
Turned his
cruisers into the fire - Northwest saw
A signal of smoke
of British warships - Blücher
At the rear,
fired on a light cruiser and destroyers,
Coming from the
stern - to start the battle of Dogger Bank.
Hipper's battle
cruisers were in poor position
To move south to
retreat - limited by their speed.
The British steaming
ability, soon made gains -
As Blücher found
herself under fire from Lion, then
Tiger and Princess
Royal made hits - by 10:09 a.m.
German fire
turned on Lion, to be hit on waterline,
With another on
its forward turret, to stop its gun.
Now sea war raged
in waters, that lay above Dogger Bank.
The New Zealand,
now in range of Blücher, made
Fire. 10:35 and
the German force was all in range
Of British ships
-11:00 and Blücher was battered
By heavy shelling
- Moltke, Derfflinger and Seydlitz
Made hits on Lion. At 11:48 Indomitable had arrived,
With Beatty's orders to destroy Blücher - that was
Now on fire and listing to port, above the waters of
Dogger Bank.
Within Blücher's badly
hit bulk - started the end.
A survivor stated
how the shells took stokehold,
With half empty
bunkers of coal alight - inside
The engine room,
a shell sprayed oil - to make
Flames of green
and blue - an explosion from
Air pressure in
the confined space, sent a great
Explosion; men amid
machines would meet death.
Now it was inevitable
that Blücher would sink in Dogger Bank.
Reports of U-boats ahead forced British evasive
Movements, allowing German ships to make distance.
Beatty, in the damaged Lion, gave cruisers orders
To hit enemy’s rear- but signals confused they still
Set on Blücher - the ship fought to repulse cruisers.
Then Aurora made two hits with torpedoes - all her
Guns silenced, except the rear mount - now at point
Blank, seven more torpedoes bit into the Blücher -
To capsize - like ants the crew scrambled into sea of
Dogger Bank.
With Blücher sinking, British destroyers moved
To rescue survivors - yet a Zeppelin believing
The Blücher to be British, dropped bombs onto
The destroyers who had to withdraw - among
The 1,200 crew, only 234 lived along with their
Captain Erdmann - the Blücher concentration had
Allowed battle cruisers to escape - the Derfflinger
Seydlitz, and Moltke were to assist the Blücher,
But the flagship's severe damage left her to sink in
Dogger Bank.
by Jamie Mann.
Source: File:
Battle of Dogger Bank (1915) Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [online]
Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dogger_Bank_%281915%29> Accessed: 31 January 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 31 January 2015).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dogger_Bank_%281915%29
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone
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