World War One

[Catfish]

^Thanks for posting those photos, moving idea to symbolize this with red poppies. However .. i think while we should honour veterans, one should never stop asking questions, about whether it was really necessary to "create those veterans", in a way. Because usually it was not worth it, and without a certain government, state of mind and propaganda, it would not have happened.

Very good analysis by Niall Ferguson, about whether WW1 was necessary as it happened.
I am still reading "The pity of war", powerful book.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Catfish

^Thanks for posting those photos, moving idea to symbolize this with red poppies. However .. i think while we should honour veterans, one should never stop asking questions, about whether it was really necessary to "create those veterans", in a way. Because usually it was not worth it, and without a certain government, state of mind and propaganda, it would not have happened.

Very good analysis by Niall Ferguson, about whether WW1 was necessary as it happened.
I am still reading "The pity of war", powerful book.

There is...well, there used to be...a white poppy that you could get that was a commemoration of the dead but a plea that no more war dead be created.

http://www.ppu.org.uk/whitepoppy/

[Oberon]

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

A slightly different version of the above.
http://angusmcleod.deviantart.com/ar...sion-128505446

[Sailor Steve]

In an effort to keep the '100 Years' thread from becoming too cluttered, I'm posting this here. If people think it would serve better there, I can move it.

The Pursuit of Graf Spee - Background:

John Arbuthnot 'Jacky' Fisher was an officer dedicated to progress and the modernization of the Royal Navy. He started to become famous when made Director of Naval Ordinance and Torpedoes in 1886. Fisher became First Sea Lord in 1904, and immediately began planning a complete restructuring of the navy, beginning with building the first all-big-gun battlship, HMS Dreadnought, and the starting of a new class of equivalent all-big-gun armoured cruisers, later to be renamed "battlecruisers".

Fisher made many enemies during the course of this program, mainly due to the cost of the project, plus of course the resistance to change found in any old and large organization. The most vocal of these enemies was Lord Charles Beresford. Beresford and Fisher had worked together in the past, but had also had many disagreementes. The final falling-out came when Fisher was made First Sea Lord in 1904, a job Beresford felt he should have gotten.

In 1907 the Imperial Maritime League was founded with Beresford as its guiding light, and its main purpose being the ousting of Fisher. Its members derisively referred to Fisher's group of followers as "The Fishpond".

The presence of a battleship armed with ten 12-inch guns and capable of steaming three knots faster than any other capital ship startled Germany into a program of building the same, and Fisher's political strategy was to emphasize the building of the new German ships as proof that he was right.

Up to this time Fisher had been asking for six new ships, but it was felt that there was only enough money for four. The differences in opinion led to political hostilities between Fisher's group, who called themselves 'patriots', but referred to by their enemies as 'warmongers'; and Beresford's, called in the same fashion 'pacifists' and 'little Englanders'.

An interesting view of Winston Churchill (at that time one of the leaders of the Board Of Trade) was written by the King's private secretary: "What are Winston's reasons for acting as he does in this matter? Of course it cannot be from conviction or principle. The very idea of his having either is enough to make anyone laugh".

Then in 1909 word came that Austria was also starting to build Dreadnought-type ships, and the fear began to spread that not only would these potential enemies have nearly as many of the new ships as the RN, but combined would actually have more! Almost overnight opinion fell firmly on Fisher's side and the building program was increased. In Churchill's own words: "In the end a curious and characteristic solution was reached. The Admiralty had demanded six ships, the economists offered four, and we finally compromised on eight". Beresford and his followers still opposed the project, but the newspapers and the public sided with Fisher, and the rallying cry became "We want eight and we won't wait!".

But at the same time as he was getting his ships built Fisher was losing ground personally. Within the navy he was perceived as a bully, and as a loner who wanted his own way and damn the consequences. In 1910 Fisher was forced to resign. He was replaced by Sir Arthur Wilson, a believer in Fisher's policies but without his predecessor's will to fight for those beliefs.

In 1911 Winston Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty. Unlike his predecessors, Churchill insisted on a hands-on style, making personal inspections and sailing with the admirals, gathering their advice and opinions. Within the year he had replaced Wilson as First Sea Lord with Sir Francis Bridgeman, an admiral Churchill felt he could mold into his own image.

Popular opinion of Churchill at the time, as expressed in The National Review, was "A self-serving mountebank". Churchill received constant advice from Fisher, and proceeded to improve the new constructions still more, upgrading from 12-inch to 13.5 and then 15-inch guns, and going ahead with oil-fired boilers despite heavy opposition. After all, Britain was home to the best coal in the world, and oil had to be purchased from "Johnny-Arab Land". Fisher also inspired Churchill to expand naval aviation, with the building in 1913 of the world's first true aircraft carrier, HMS Hermes. By this time Churchill had also taken a personal interest in the details of how things worked, such as periscopes and range-finders, and to push the development centralized fire-control and dedicated gun directors, and the sailors of His Majesty's Royal Navy were starting to develop a respect and fondness for him.

During this period Churchill had replaced Bridgeman as First Sea Lord with Prince Louis of Battenberg. Battenberg was a good match for Churchill, and together they develod a navy that was ready for the war to come. When that war did come, however, Battenberg proved too sensitive to his detractors and finally resigned. Jacky Fisher was once again First Sea Lord.




My main source for this story is The Great War at Sea, by Richard Houghton, with some coming from Graf Spee's Raiders, by Keith Yates. The words, however, are all mine.

[Aktungbby]

One of Jacky Fishers first orders as First Sea Lord was the removal of the Chief-Of-Staff, Vice Admiral Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee

Churchill and Fisher may well have had their reservations about actually firing that "pedantic ASS" ADM Sturdee, who had entered the Royal Navy at age twelve (veeery old school!) in 1871 and been around awhile...to say the least "learning the ropes" of high naval politics certainly! For his (upcoming) victory Sturdee was created baronet in January 1916. He later commanded the 4th Battle Squadron at Jutland aboard HMS Benbow, becoming admiral in 1917. On board at Jutland: commanding 4th Squadron at Jutland HMS Benbow (IronDuke class)
After the War he became C'n C' the Nore and was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet in 1921. He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the 1921 New Year Honours, having already been appointed Knight Commander. 1925. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Peter's Church in Frimley. His gravestone incorporates a cross made from the timbers of Nelson's ship, HMS Victory. (My only reason for posting this! ) His grandson William Staveley and grandson-in-law Edward Ashmore were also Admirals of the Fleet. Runs in the family! Whether taking on Adm. Spee on his own-avenging Cradock; Scheer at Jutland; or the combined might of First Sea Lords: Fisher and Churchill...IMHO: the right stuff and worthy of his spurs! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doveton_Sturdee

[Aktungbby]

In 1911 Winston Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty. Unlike his predecessors, Churchill insisted on a hands-on style, making personal inspections and sailing with the admirals, gathering their advice and opinions. Within the year he had replaced Wilson as First Sea Lord with Sir Francis Bridgeman, an admiral Churchill felt he could mold into his own image.

Winston Churchill, having been under fire in India, Omdurman Sudan, South Africa and WWI, Lt. Col. W.S. Churchill: 6th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers 1916> never lost an opportunity to mold his image! On D-Day+ 6, 6/12/44, as is not often recalled, the former first Sea Lord was aboard HMS Kelvin with an impeccable witness; Sir Alan Brooke and Field Marshall Jan Smuts, enroute to GEN Montgomery's headquarters on the beaches. Dissuaded from clambering aboard a monitor, HMS Roberts, (the 12th of June, the bridgehead in Normandy was still only a matter of a few miles deep and still under intermittent shellfire, and occasional air attack. Inland the clashes with the Panzer units were becoming more serious.) actually firing inland with 15" guns; Churchill persuaded the HMS Kelvin destroyer Captain to fire some rounds...Brooke records: "Then we returned to our destroyer and went right back to the east end of the beach where several ships were bombarding the Germans. Winston wanted to take part in the war, and was longing to draw some retaliation. However the Boche refused to take any notice of any of the rounds we fired." Oh well a ' A' for effort!On the beach 6/12/44. HMS Kelvin-truly a 'ship of State' for a day!>http://ww2today.com/12-june-1944-churchill-makes-a-day-trip-to-normandy

[Jimbuna]

The Destruction of the SMS Emden (an alternative viewpoint)

In a three month period since the beginning of World War One, SMS Emden had enjoyed great success in a raiding career spanning 30,000 nautical
miles (56,000 km; 35,000 mi), Emden had destroyed two Entente warships and sank or captured sixteen British steamers and one Russian merchant ship, totaling 70,825 gross register tons (GRT). Another four British ships were captured and released, and one British and one Greek ship were used as colliers.

During this period there were over seventy allied warships tasked with hunting her down, Emden was arguably the most hunted ship in the world and yet Müller managed to elude the combined efforts of highly capable battleships , the Japanese cruisers Yahaghi and Chikuma, the Russian Askold and the British Hampshire and Yarmouth, HMS Gloucester, HMS Weymouth, RMS Empress of Russia and SS Empress of Australia amongst others.

Karl_Von_Muller

In London the first lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, fired off a passionate memo "The escape of the Emden from the Bay of Bengal is most unsatisfactory, I do not understand on what principle the operations of the four cruisers Hampshire, Yarmouth, Dupleix and Chikuma have been concerted….Who is the senior captain of these four ships? Is he a good man? If so, he should be told to hoist a commodore's broad pennant and take command of the squadron which should devote itself exclusively to hunting the Emden."

In November 1914 Captain von Müller took his ship through the Sunda Strait towards the Cocos Islands, where he planned to destroy the Eastern Telegraph Company wireless station at Direction Island, thereby crippling Allied communication in the Indian Ocean. This station was co-ordinating the attack on his ship, using sighting reports.



Emden reached Direction Island on 9 November. Müller decided to send a landing party ashore under First Lieutenant Helmuth von Mücke to destroy the station's radio tower and equipment. Fifty seamen with rifles and machine guns were sent ashore. The British civilians, aware of the gallant conduct of the Emden's captain and crew, did not resist. The Emden's landing party even agreed not to knock the radio tower down over the island's tennis court. But in the extra time spent to facilitate this request , they double crossed the Germans and shot off a ham message.


Emden's landing party going ashore on Direction Island; the three-masted Ayesha is visible in the background.

The Germans attempted to jam those transmissions, but Müller now made the first mistake of a nearly error-free cruise. Instead of assuming the worst and returning to sea he prepared to coal from the nearby Buresk. It was too late and personal retribution was not the Emden style.

The Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney, was dispatched to reach Direction Island at 9th Nov at 0630 hours from an Australian troop convoy en route to Colombo. Being a mere 55 miles north of the Island, she arrived there in about two hours.

John Collings Taswell Glossop

Shortly after 9 a.m., the lookout reported a ship to the north. Initially, crewmen thought the stranger was Buresk, but when they saw it approaching very rapidly and recognized four funnels, the Germans knew they were in trouble. Müller signalled frantically for the shore party to return. When it was slow to respond, the raider raised anchor and steamed out of the harbor at about 9:30.

The stranger proved to be an Australian light cruiser, HMAS Sydney, commanded by Captain John Glossop. The fifty-six-hundred-ton Sydney mounted eight 6-inch guns, and was capable of a flank speed of twenty-five knots. In the three areas that mattered—speed, firepower, and armour—it far outclassed Emden. Absent a storm—and the weather was clear—Emden could neither outfight its opponent nor escape.

Müller's one hope lay in the torpedo. Outside the harbor he turned toward his adversary, who himself turned so that both vessels were heading north.
Müller later wrote, "I had to attempt to inflict such damage…with the guns that he would be slowed down in speed significantly before I could switch to a promising torpedo attack." Captain Glossop would write, "I sighted almost immediately the smoke of a ship, which proved to be Emden, coming out towards me at a great rate….I kept my distance as much as possible to obtain the advantage of my [heavier] guns."

Briefly, Emden demonstrated the superior gunnery that would become a hallmark of the kaiser's fleet. The raider scored repeatedly with its 4.1-inch guns, but the 35-pound projectiles inflicted only superficial damage. Then Sydney began to batter the raider with its 6-inch guns. One of Emden's engineering officers recalled: "After the first enemy shells struck us, the motor for working the fans broke down. The temperature reached 152 F. About fifteen minutes after the action opened, hits were felt near the engines, noticeable by the ship listing to port, by floor-plates starting to move and by objects on the walls being torn from their fixtures."

An Australian correspondent on Sydney wrote: "After the lapse of about three-quarters of an hour, the Emden had lost two funnels and the foremast; she was badly on fire aft and amidships, so that at times nothing more than the top of the mainmast could be seen amid the clouds of steam and smoke. Her guns, now only occasionally firing, gave out a short yellow flash by which they could be distinguished by the dark red flames of the Sydney's bursting lyddite."



The fight went on for nearly an hour and a half, Emden herself suffered serious damage, being struck over 100 times by shells from Sydney. Captain von Muller, unable to bring his torpedoes to bear, his ship a veritable slaughter-house, and his guns impotent, forced himself to order the ship run aground on the closest reef off North Keeling Island so that the wounded might live without drowning. The Emden was now incapable of fighting, and lay a helpless wreck on a coral reef, heavily listed to port , at 1115 AM on 9th Nov.


Emden, beached on North Keeling Island

At this point Müller's collier, appeared at a very inopportune moment and Sydney left the scene to pursue the collier Buresk which had just cast off from Emden while bunkering at anchor. The Germans aboard the Buresk stared in consternation at the charging Sydney, and at the smoking, fireblackened hulk that had once been the silvery Emden but they could still cheat the British out of the pleasure of recovering a war prize. Thus, even as the British ordered them to surrender, they were busy scuttling the Buresk. The small arms were thrown overboard, the secret papers burnt, and the wireless station destroyed.

Meanwhile two boats were cleared and provisioned for the the remaining crew in case the Sydney showed her meanness and refused to take the Buresk's crew aboard her. Thus, Capt Glossep found himself with a few mangy lifeboats in tow instead of a war prize. This took away some of his glow, and it was said that he cursed and swore on the bridge at the Germans for their trick. He could NOT fire as the Buresk communicated that they had British cooks on board.

Returning at 1630 hours to the beached cruiser, Sydney's commander, Captain John Glossop, in a most disgraceful and foul manner , re-opened fire, taking out all his personal pent up frustrations on Capt Muller. Capt Glossop did NOT allow his conscience to overtake his criminal and mean nature as he ordered salvo after salvo on to the totally disabled and listed Emden at 4 PM. 2/3 of Emden was lying on the reef, and there was no way she could shoot back.

As salvo after salvo hit, the firmly grounded Emden was reduced to a blitzed and twisted mass of blazing metal.



Sydney had always shot at Emden from " beyond Emden guns range " -- even if Emden wanted to shoot back there was NO way this could be done. Only a torpedo from Emden meant any danger to Sydney, and this could NOT be done in this grounded position.

Finally, as an Aussie sailor on Sydney noted later "The mutilation of the dead and splattered blood and bone fragments was beyond belief."

It was said Capt Glossop's own men on Sydney were glaring at him accusingly, some young sailors were crying.

Capt Von Muller noted that he did NOT have a flag mast , as the area was burning, and quickly arranged a white hospital bedsheet to flutter. Sydney then instead of attending to the wounded on Emden as per seagoing traditions and code of conduct in war, steamed to Direction Island to check out the wireless equipment. Glossop then decided to lay off and approach Emden the next afternoon at 1300 hrs on 10th.

Captain von Muller tried to organize the survivors into rescue parties so that the wounded could be brought up on deck for transfer to the island. In rough weather the breeched buoy broke. He gave permission to everyone on deck to swim to the island. During that night Surgeon Schwabe, who had swum to land, succumbed to his wounds

After a disgraceful delay of 21 hours, where in wounded men on Emden either bled to death or developed gangrene, the Captain and crew of Sydney after havng partaken in breakfast and lunch came back and sent two boats with an officer to the Emden with the information that the commander of
the Sydney was ready to take aboard the survivors of the Emden's crew.

Glossop later said that he "felt like a murderer" for ordering the last salvoes, but had no choice under the circumstances.

The Emden lost 134 killed and 65 severely wounded. The Sydney lost 4 killed and 12 wounded.The boarding survivor Germans did not moan, nor whimper nor malinger.

Captain von Muller was the last to leave as was proper for the commanding officer of a defeated vessel. Meanwhile he made sure that the guns were made unserviceable by throwing overboard the breech-blocks and destroying the sights, the torpedo-director was thrown overboard and all the secret papers that had not been already burnt were destroyed. He ordered fires to be drawn in all boilers, and all the engine and boiler rooms to be flooded.

Capt von Muller then resigned himself to waiting aboard the wreck until the Sydney returned.


One of Emden '​s 10.5 cm guns in Hyde Park, Sydney.

Historians, Writer and Sellick record the extraordinary scene when von Muller, with a guard of honour, was piped aboard the Sydney:

"Capt John CT Glossop greeted him on the gangway, shook his adversary's hand firmly, he would not meet Capt Muller’s steely eyes. In a gesture of conscience that made every onlooking eye moist, Capt Glossop suddenly put his arm around Capt von Muller's shoulder, and led him to his own cabin.
He proved that he was human and NOT an animal."

The surviving German crew, were transferred to the SS Empress of Russia and taken to Colombo.

Müller had the Iron Cross First Class bestowed upon him by Kaiser Wilhelm II. In fact, every officer serving on the Emden was awarded the Iron Cross First Class and 50 crewmen were given the Iron Cross Second Class.

On October 8, 1916, Müller was separated from the rest of the Emden crew prisoners and taken to England where he was interned at a prisoner of war camp for German officers located at the Midlands Agricultural and Dairy College (now the Sutton Bonington Campus of the University of Nottingham).

In 1917 he led an escape of 21 prisoners through an underground tunnel, but was recaptured. From a corner of a hut inside the POW camp at Sutton Bonington, located in what today is the campus of the University of Nottingham agricultural science college, the prisoners had dug a shaft about
four feet deep and then tunneled more than 120 feet under the electrified barbed wire fences and a private road, to the outside world, under Capt Muller’s leadership.

The tons of earth that had been dug out had been scattered all over the prison grounds quietly. They had fashioned civilian clothes from old blankets and discarded pieces of material. They had squirreled away provisions, made maps, even a home-made compass.

Capt Muller was one of the 22 fugitives who emerged out of a tunnel into a turnip field and scattered in small groups across the nearby farmland, triggering a massive manhunt that involved the military, police and special constables, a contingent of the Royal Naval Air Service from RAF Cranwell,
Boy Scouts, farmers, gamekeepers and even women. It took only one week to round up all the prisoners.

To a man they gave up without a fight, most of them too cold, tired and thirsty to carry on, most of them were disabled due to malnutrition and cramps. The majority were found within a few miles of the camp, hiding out in ditches and woods.

Capt von Muller and his comrades were tried by the British at Derby Assizes. Among the charges was the theft of blankets belonging to King George V.

They were given a variety of short jail sentences, von Muller getting 58 days.

Most of Emden's survivors spent the remainder of the war as prisoners on Malta. Müller was imprisoned first on Malta and then in England. The climate of England disagreed with his malaria, and he was eventually sent to the Netherlands for treatment as part of a humanitarian prisoner exchange.
In October 1918 he was repatriated to Germany.

His executive officer, Mucke (I believe Steve is going to post details of him and his mens exploits/adventures in returning home), made the most of his experiences on Emden and prospered after the war as an author and lecturer. Müller, in contrast, declined most invitations to speak and lived quietly at his home in Blankenburg until his death in 1923. Asked once why he did not write a memoir, Müller replied, "I should not be able to escape the feeling that I was coining money from the blood of my comrades."

Capt Karl Von Muller, the German naval ship Captain of SMS.Emden, renowned for his daring, valor and chivalry to the losers during the First World War...was he the greatest wartime sea captain ever?

Most of the above content was gleaned from a variety of sites such as those listed below and as such all credit and recognition should be duly given:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_von_M%C3%BCller
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Emden_(1908)
http://www.historynet.com/karl-fried...orld-war-i.htm
http://ajitvadakayil.blogspot.co.uk/...-karl-von.html

[Jimbuna]

Battle of the Falkland Islands

On November 11 1914 the battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible under Admiral Sturdee left for the Falkland Islands. HMS Princess Royal was dispatched to the Caribbean to guard the Panama Canal. The shock of the defeat at Coronel had made the Royal Navy take decisive action to destroy Spee and the battlecruisers were the chosen means for retribution.

After his victory Spee coaled and then loitered in the Pacific whilst he decided what to do next, little did he realise that this indecision would prove fatal. Eventually he decided to enter the Atlantic and try to make it home. The squadron had passed Cape Horn by December 1 and on the following day they captured the Drummuir carrying coal. They then rested for three days at Pictou Island. Spee wanted to raid the Falkland Islands but his captains were opposed to the idea, however in the end Spee decided to go ahead anyway, another decision he was to regret.

HMS Canopus was now beached at Port Stanley, the capital of the Falklands, as guard ship. On December 7 Sturdee arrived, bringing the British warships at Port Stanley to the pre-dreadnought Canopus, the battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible, the armoured cruisers Kent, Carnarvon and Cornwall, the light cruisers Bristol and Glasgow and the armed merchant cruiser Macedonia.

On the morning of December 8 1914 Gneisenau and Nürnberg were detached from the main squadron, which followed about fifteen miles behind, to attack the wireless station and port facilities at Port Stanley. At 0830 they sighted the wireless mast and smoke from Macedonia returning from patrol.

They didn't know that at 0750 they had been sighted by a hill top spotter which signalled Canopus which then signalled Invincible, flagship, via Glasgow. The British ships were still coaling and most ships, including the battlecruisers, would take a couple of hours to get up steam. If the Germans attacked the British ships would be stationary targets and any ship which tried to leave harbour would face the concentrated fire of the full German squadron, if they were sunk whilst leaving harbour the rest of the squadron would be trapped in port. Sturdee kept calm, ordered steam to be raised and then went and had breakfast!

0900 the Germans made out the tripod masts of capital ships. They were unsure of what theses ships were but they knew Canopus was in the area and they hoped that these were pre-dreadnoughts, which they could easily outrun.
Canopus was beached out of site of the German ships, behind hills but had set up a system for targeting using land based spotters. At 13,000 yards her forward turret fired but was well short, the massive shell splashes astonished the German ships who could see no enemy warships. The rear turret then fired using practice rounds which were already loaded for an expected practice shoot later. The blank shells ricocheted off the sea, one of them hitting the rearmost funnel of Gneisenau. The two German ships turned away. Canopus didn't fire again but she saved the British from a perilous situation.

By 0945 Bristol had left harbour, followed 15 minutes later by Invincible, Inflexible, Kent, Carnarvon and Cornwall, Bristol and Macedonia stayed behind. The German squadron had a 15-20 mile lead but with over eight hours of daylight left and fine weather the battlecruisers would be in action in a couple of hours.

The German lookouts could now tell that the tripod masts belonged to battlecruisers which at c25 knots were considerably faster than the 20 knots the in need of refit German ships could manage. Spee set course to the South East in the hope of finding bad weather.

At first the British squadron stayed together but the battlecruisers were being slowed down by the other ships and so pulled ahead on their own.

At 1247 at 16,500 yards the battlecruisers opened fire, with little accuracy, taking half an hour to straddle the rear ship, Leipzig. Spee realised he was caught and turned his armoured cruisers to slow the British whilst ordering his light cruisers to try and escape. Sturdee had made contingency plans for this and Invincible, Inflexible and the trailing Carnarvon engaged the armoured cruisers whilst the rest of the force set off after the light cruisers.

The battlecruisers turned onto a parallel course to Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at 14,000 yards. The Germans had the advantage of being in the lee position of the wind, the British gunnery was badly affected by their own smoke. The German shooting was excellent but at this long range their shells did little damage to the battlecruisers. The British also scored a few hits which did more damage but they were unaware of this as the visibility prevented them from seeing these.

In an attempt to gain the lee (smoke free) position Sturdee made a sharp turn to starboard towards Spee's stern. Whilst performing this turn the British were shrouded in their own smoke and Spee took this opportunity to turn south, pulling out of firing range. It took the British another 45 minute stern chase before they could resume firing.

At 1450 the battlecruisers turned to port to bring their broadsides to bear. Spee decided that his only chance was to close the range and use his superior secondary armament but his change of course made the smoke much less of a problem for the British. Their firing became much more accurate and both German ships, but especially Scharnhorst suffered severe damage and casualties. By had received over fifty hits, three funnels were down, she was on fire and listing. The range kept falling and at 1604 Scharnhorst listed suddenly to port and by 1617 she had disappeared. As Gneisenau was still firing no rescue attempts were possible and her entire crew including Spee were lost. Invincible had received 22 hits, over half 8.2 inch, but these caused no serious damage and only one crew member was injured.

Gneisenau kept on alone, zigzagging to the south west. At 1715 she scored her last hit on Invincible before her ammunition ran out. The British stopped firing soon afterwards and the burning German ship ground to a halt, her crew opening the sea-cocks and abandoning ship, 190 crew from a total of 765 were rescued but many of these died from their wounds. Inflexible was only hit 3 times and had 1 killed and 3 injured.

Whilst the big ships were fighting the smaller cruisers were having their own battles. The German light cruisers were in the order Dresden leading followed by Nürnberg and Leipzig whilst the British were led by Glasgow with Cornwall and Kent trying to keep up with her.

At 1445 Glasgow opened fire on Leipzig, Leipzig turning to port to reply, scoring two early ships whilst Glasgow's fell short. Glasgow had to turn away, allowing Leipzig to resume her earlier course. The other German ships had not turned to help Leipzig but had carried on their escape attempt.

Glasgow fired on Leipzig again, but this time the other German cruisers changed course, Dresden to the South West and Nürnberg to the South East. Glasgow's ploy of forcing Leipzig to turn and fire succeeded in slowing her so that at 1617 Cornwall had her in range, Kent setting off after Nürnberg.

Leipzig's firing was good but she didn't hit Glasgow and her shells didn't do much damage to Cornwall. By 1900 Leipzig's mainmast and two funnels were down and she was on fire. When her ammunition was exhausted she made an unsuccessful torpedo attack on Cornwall and then her crew prepared to abandon ship.

Glasgow closed the range to finish her off as her flag was still flying, stopping when two green flares were fired by the crippled German cruiser. At 2120 she rolled over and sank leaving eighteen survivors.

Cornwall had received eighteen hits but no casualties. Glasgow had received no damage after the two early hits which killed one and four wounded. Her boilers were damaged which reduced her speed enough for there to be no chance of catching Dresden which escaped.

Nürnberg had a 10 mile led on Kent and was, on paper, faster, but Nürnberg needed an engine overhaul and Kent's crew worked so hard that the old cruiser exceeded her designed horsepower, reaching 25 knots, being forced to burn all available wood on board and causing the whole ship to vibrate violently.

By 1700 the range was down to 12,000 yards and Nürnberg opened fire with the by now expected superb accuracy. When Kent returned fire ten minutes later her shells fell short. Once the range had fallen to 7,000 yards both sides started to score regular hits and Nürnberg gave up her escape attempt and turned to bring her broadside to action.

By 1730 the range was down to 3,000 yards and Kent's heavier shells and thicker armour gave her the upper hand. An hour later, just as bad weather arrived which may have saved her, two of Nürnberg's boilers exploded, reducing her speed. Kent was now able to easily outmanoeuvre her opponent and within half an hour Nürnberg was dead in the water, at 1926 she rolled over to starboard and sank with only twelve survivors.
Kent had received thirty eight hits but only sixteen casualties.

Whilst these battles had gone on Bristol and Macedonia had sunk Spee's colliers Baden and Santa Isabel, the other collier, Seydlitz escaped, eventually being interned in Argentina.

Sturdee searched for the Dresden before returning to the UK with the battlecruisers. There was some criticism (mainly from the 1st Sea Lord Fisher) of him for letting Dresden escape and for the heavy ammunition expenditure of his battlecruisers (Invincible 513 12 inch rounds, Inflexible 661 12 inch rounds fired) but generally his clear victory was welcomed. He had destroyed Spee's squadron without any serious damage to any of his ships and their shooting (c.6.5%) was considerably better than was managed by British (and German) battlecruisers at Dogger Bank and Jutland.

The hunt for the Dresden took months as she made her way into the Pacific pursued by British cruisers. They eventually caught up with her at Mas a Tierra on March 13 by Glasgow, Kent and the armed merchant cruiser Orama. Glasgow had escaped from Dresden at Coronel, Dresden evaded Glasgow at the Falklands but it was Glasgow and Captain Luce who were to be final victors.

Glasgow infringed Chilean neutrality by opening fire on Dresden whilst she was anchored in Chilean waters. After five minutes Dresden was heavily hit and surrendered. Whilst surrender talks were going on the Germans abandoned ship and scuttling charges detonated her magazine, ending the last of Spee's squadron. Dresden suffered eight killed and sixteen wounded.

The German Warships
SMS Gneisenau - lost

SMS Scharnhorst - lost

SMS Dresden - escaped but later found and sunk

SMS Danzig, sister-ship to SMS Leipzig - lost

SMS Nürnberg - lost


Battlecruisers
HMS Inflexible

HMS Invincible

HMS Carnarvon

HMS Kent

HMS Cornwall

HMS Glasgow

HMS Canopus, battleship

HMS Bristol, light cruiser


http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/falkland.html
http://www.naval-history.net/WW1Battle1412Falklands.htm

[Catfish]

Thanks for the Emden and Dresden texts.
Regarding 'alternative' and Emden, this is more or less what my grandfather told us, about the incident. He did not blame the enemy in any respect.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Catfish

Thanks for the Emden and Dresden texts.
Regarding 'alternative' and Emden, this is more or less what my grandfather told us, about the incident. He did not blame the enemy in any respect.

You are most welcome, it is heartening to know that there are community members out there who take the time and have the interest to read the posts

[Catfish]

Thanks, i had written two pages, but lost the text because was somehow logged out in the meantime . My family has a strong maritime tradition, at least on the mother's side

There also was a recent german film about the Emden and v. Muecke and crew, but emphasis on their long way home. Was better than i thought ..
But the sinking only shown at the beginning, and very short.

[Jimbuna]

Clip looked good and I noticed the Ayesha at the end but one minor criticism, Emden didn't sink in open water, she was run aground.

Ten penalty points against the director

[Aktungbby]

Just came across these recently discoved photos now on display in Ireland. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/11238280/Unseen-WW1-photographs-by-Irish-Rifleman-uncovered.html?frame=3110134 Photograph taken during the Battle of the Somme: One of three photographs taken by George Hackney during the advance of the 36th Ulster Division on 1 July 1916. In the foreground we can see German soldiers surrendering as the 36th Ulster Division advanced upon German lines. A photograph of George Hackney, taken at Poulainville, Picardy, Northern France, October 1915. Hackney was made a Lance Corporal the day before the Battalion left for France, along with his friend John Ewing. Before advancing to the Front, the men were billeted in a barn in the village of Poulainville. Hackney took his camera with him. The photographs were discovered in the Ulster Museum archive after being bequeathed following the death of George Hackney in 1977.

[Sailor Steve]

Some background to the Roland Garros story:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...82#post2302882

Eugène Adrien Roland Georges Garros made a name for himself flying Bleriot monoplanes in several air races in 1911. In September of that year he set a new altitude record of 5,610 meters (19,410 feet). On September 23, 1912 Garros became the first man to fly across the Mediterranean Sea, leaving Frejus at St. Raphael at 0545 and arriving in Bizerte, Tunisia at 13:45, a distance of 453 miles.

When war was declared Garros was giving demonstration flights in Germany. He convinced his mostly German ground crew to help him take off after dark, when the plane was not guarded. One version of the story has him pretending to be drunk.

On July 15, 1913 Swiss-born Franz Schneider, lead designer for the German Luftverkersgesellschaft (LVG) company was issued the first patent for a machine gun interrupter gear, designed to let the gun fire through the propeller. Details of this design were published in the September 1914 issue of Flugsport magazine.

Raymond Saulnier of the Morane-Saulnier company in France took out a similar patent in April 1914.

There are also stories of a pair of brothers in England, named Edwards, but no source seems to supply their first names or a copy of the patent.

In all cases the main failure was the unsuitability of the gun involved.

A Russian Lieutenant named Poplavko came up with a synchronizer that equipped Sikorsky's S.VIX fighter.

In March 1915 Roland Garros and his personal mechanic Jules Hue visited Raymond Saulnier in Paris. There are sources which claim that Garros and Hue were responsible for what followed, but there is some evidence that Saulnier had already given up on the interrupter/synchronizer and was already experimenting with steel deflector plates. Whatever the truth, the three of them worked together to create such a system and by April Garros was ready to try it out.