Action of 19 August 1916

Action of 19 August 1916
Part of World War I
North Sea
Date 18–20 August 1916 Location North Sea 56°N 03°E / 56°N 3°E / 56; 3 (North Sea)Coordinates: 56°N 03°E / 56°N 3°E / 56; 3 (North Sea) Result inconclusive
Belligerents
Royal Navy	Kaiserliche Marine
Commanders and leaders
Sir John Jellicoe Sir David Beatty	Reinhard Scheer Franz von Hipper
Strength
29 battleships 6 battlecruisers armoured cruisers light cruisers destroyers minelayer seaplane carrier 1 Submarine	18 battleships 2 battlecruisers light cruisers torpedo-boats 2 Zeppelins 3 U-Boats
Casualties and losses
2 light cruisers sunk	1 battleship damaged

The Action of 19 August 1916 was one of two attempts made by the German High Seas Fleet in 1916 to engage elements of the British Royal Navy, following the mixed results of the Battle of Jutland in World War I. The lesson of Jutland for Germany had been the vital need for reconnaissance, to avoid the unexpected arrival of the British Grand Fleet during a raid. On this occasion four Zeppelins were deployed to scout the North Sea between Scotland and Norway for signs of British ships and four more scouted immediately ahead of German ships. Twenty-four German submarines participated off the English coast, in the southern North Sea and off the Dogger Bank.

Although Jutland had been officially hailed as a success, the German commander Admiral Reinhard Scheer felt it important that another raid should be mounted as quickly as possible, to maintain morale in his severely battered fleet. It was decided that the raid should follow the pattern of previous ones, with the battlecruisers carrying out a dawn artillery bombardment of an English town, in this case Sunderland. Only two battlecruisers were still serviceable after Jutland, Moltke and Von der Tann, so the force was bolstered by three battleships, Bayern, Markgraf and Grosser Kurfürst. The remainder of the High Seas Fleet, comprising 16 dreadnought battleships, was to carry out close support 20 miles behind. The fleet set sail at 9:00 p.m. on 18 August from the Jade river.

Information about the upcoming raid was obtained by British Intelligence in Room 40 through intercepted and decoded radio messages. Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, commander of the British fleet, was on leave so had to be recalled urgently and boarded the light cruiser Royalist at Dundee to meet his fleet in the early hours of 19 August off the river Tay. In his absence, Admiral Cecil Burney took the fleet to sea on the afternoon of 18 August. Vice-Admiral David Beatty left the Firth of Forth with his squadron of six battlecruisers to meet the main fleet in the Long Forties. The Harwich Force of 20 destroyers and 5 light cruisers commanded by Commodore Tyrwhitt was ordered out, as were 25 British submarines which were stationed in likely areas to intercept German ships. The battlecruisers together with the 5th Battle Squadron of five fast battleships were stationed 30 miles ahead of the main fleet to scout for the enemy. The assembled fleet now moved south seeking the German fleet, but suffered the loss of one of the light cruisers screening the battlecruiser group, HMS Nottingham, which was hit by three torpedoes from submarine U-52 at 6:00 a.m.

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Wikipedia