Battle of Dover Strait

Second Battle of Dover Strait
Part of the First World War
HMS Broke in 1917.
Date 20–21 April 1917 Location Dover Strait Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	German Empire
Commanders and leaders
Edward Evans	Bernd von Arnim †
Strength
2 destroyers	6 torpedo boats
Casualties and losses
2 destroyers damaged	2 torpedo boats sunk

Coordinates: 51°01′N 1°29′E / 51.017°N 1.483°E / 51.017; 1.483

The Second Battle of Dover Strait was a naval battle of the First World War, fought in the Dover Strait in April 1917 and should not be confused with the major Battle of Dover Strait in 1916. Two Royal Navy destroyers defeated a superior force of German Kaiserliche Marine torpedo boats (Two German torpedo boats were sunk; the British suffered damage to both destroyers.)

On 20 April 1917, two groups of torpedo boats of the German Navy raided the Dover Strait to bombard Allied positions on shore and to engage warships patrolling the Dover Barrage— the field of floating mines that prevented German ships from getting into the English Channel. Six torpedo boats bombarded Calais and another six bombarded Dover just before midnight.

Two flotilla leaders of the Royal Navy — HMS Broke and Swift — were on patrol near Dover and engaged six of the German ships early on 21 April near the Goodwin Sands. In a confusing action, Swift torpedoed SMS G85. Broke rammed SMS G42, and the two ships became locked together. For a while, there was close-quarters fighting between the crews, as the German sailors tried to board the British ship, before Broke got free and G42 sank.

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