The British Navy in BattlePollen, Arthur Joseph Hungerford
History
The British Navy in Battle
Pollen, Arthur Joseph Hungerford
Great Britain. Royal Navy; World War, 1914-1918 -- Naval operations
“The enemy then (2:10 P.M.) turned away about ten points to starboard
and a second chase ensued, until, at 2:45 P.M., the battle-cruisers
again opened fire; this caused the enemy, at 2:53 P.M., to turn into
line ahead to port and open fire at 2:55 P.M.
“The _Scharnhorst_ caught fire forward, but not seriously, and her
fire slackened perceptibly; the _Gneisenau_ was badly hit by the
_Inflexible_.”
In the seven minutes of the beginning of Admiral Sturdee’s turn he
reduced the range by considerably over 1,000 yards, and Von Spee
perceiving the change of course of the British ships, turned about
half a right angle to starboard, that is to the right, as if undecided
whether to go right across the bows, and then a few minutes afterwards
turned much more than a right angle to the right again. This brought
the British squadron dead astern of him and showed that his only
anxiety at this moment was to escape our fire as long as possible. It
appears from various accounts that firing had ceased on both sides for
some little time before Admiral Sturdee began his turn at 2 o’clock,
and Von Spee wished to make the lull in the fighting as long as
possible. There were doubtless many wounded to carry off, damages to be
made good, and so forth. The whole of the first phase of the gunnery
engagement, then, beginning just after half-past one on the German
side, may be supposed to have ended round about ten minutes to two.
At ten minutes past two the enemy began his new flight, necessitating
a reproduction by the British squadron of their tactics of two hours
before. It was a chase, not on the direct track of the Germans, but on
a course parallel to them and coming round on their port or left-hand
side. Von Spee’s retreat had naturally increased the range, carried it
out indeed considerably beyond 16,000 yards, but by a quarter to three
it had been reduced once more to 15,000 yards, and when the British
ships reopened fire, after less than ten minutes of it the enemy turned
to bring his broadside into action, just as he had done at 1:25.
“At 3:30 P.M. the _Scharnhorst_ led round about ten points to
starboard; just previously her fire had slackened perceptibly, and one
shell had shot away her third funnel; some guns were not firing, and
it would appear that the turn was dictated by a desire to bring her
starboard guns into action. The effect of the fire on the _Scharnhorst_
became more and more apparent in consequence of smoke from fires, and
also escaping steam; at times a shell would cause a large hole to
appear in her side, through which could be seen a dull red glow of
flame. At 4:4 P.M. the _Scharnhorst_, whose flag remained flying to the
last, suddenly listed heavily to port, and within a minute it became
clear that she was a doomed ship; for the list increased very rapidly
until she lay on her beam ends, and at 4:17 P.M. she disappeared.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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