Action of 15 August 1917

Part of World War I

Date	15 August 1917
Location	off Humber estuary, North Sea 52°57′00″N 2°25′00″E / 52.950000°N 2.416670°E / 52.950000; 2.416670
Result	two ships sunk

Belligerents

Royal Navy

Kaiserliche Marine

Commanders and leaders

Thomas Crisp

Strength

2 armed smacks

1 U-boat

Casualties and losses

1 killed,
7 missing
2 ships sunk

unknown

The Action of 15 August 1917 was a naval engagement which occurred during the First World War. The action was fought between a German U-boat and two armed trawlers in the North Sea.

As part of the Imperial German Navy's U-boat campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare German U-boats had started to attack British trawlers (which had previously been protected by the 1907 Naval Convention) in the North Sea. In response to this, fishermen had requested weapons for self-defence, and a number of trawlers been equipped with deck guns, and had gunners assigned to man them. These vessels were generally skippered by men who were members of the Royal Navy Reserve, but were left to continue fishing, and act on their own initiative if attacked, rather than coming under Royal Navy command.

On 15 August 1917, a number of Lowestoft trawlers were fishing in the North Sea, off the Jim Howe bank. Among them were the armed smacks Nelson and "Ethel & Millie". Nelson—skippered by Tom Crisp—was armed with a 3-pounder gun; Ethel & Millie—skippered by William “Johnsey” Manning—carried a 6-pounder.

At around 14:45, Nelson came under fire from a U-boat, which had surfaced some 3–4 mi (2.6–3.5 nmi; 4.8–6.4 km) north-west of her position. Crisp cast off his nets—leaving them buoyed on the surface—and turned Nelson toward the U-boat to close the range. Nelson was hit several times; she returned fire, but the shots fell short of their target. Crisp was also hit, and mortally wounded by one of the U-boats shells, and Nelson began to take on water and sink. At this point, Crisp ordered the crew to abandon ship, which they did, taking to a lifeboat. During this exchange, Ethel & Millie had closed up from the south-east, and, passing Nelson and her lifeboat, moved in to engage the U-boat. Manning proposed to stop and take on the survivors, but they refused, as he was not yet in range of the U-boat. The trawler continued to close, but she too came under fire from the U-boat, and after several hits, she too was left sinking, her crew also abandoning ship. Nelson's crew observed the men being taken from their boat, and lined up on the U-boat's deck, but were unable to see more as the view became obscured by the haze. Nelson's boat pulled away to the southwest, and escaped into the approaching dusk.

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