“The
British guns were ranging. Those deadly waterspouts crept nearer and nearer. The
men on deck watched them in strange fascination. Soon one pitched close to the
ship and a vast watery pillar, a hundred metres high one of them affirmed, fell
lashing on the deck. The range had been found. Damn aber ging’s los!”
(With
the Battle Cruisers,
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis Maryland 1986, by Filson Young, at page 213)
Early
on the morning of November 3, 1914, the first reports of the disaster at the
Battle of Coronel were just filtering in to the British Admiralty. Admiral John
“Jackie” Fisher had just returned as First Sea Lord a mere three days ago.
The two primary warships in the German East Asiatic Squadron were the armored
cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
These were formidable ships but they were not the newest armored cruiser in the
German Fleet. Shortly after dawn the old gunboat HMS
Halcyon, converted to a minesweeper, crept out of the
port
of
Yarmouth
on the
Norfolk
coast and shortly thereafter would meet the newest of the German armored
cruisers, the SMS
Blucher.
The
story of the design of the Blucher
is an interesting one. This design was the German response to a ruse,
perpetrated on the German navy by none other than the same Jackie Fisher newly
returned from retirement to the Admiralty. Admiral Fisher in his first tour as 1st
Sea Lord had been the driving force behind the design and construction of HMS Dreadnought, the first all
big gun battleship to be completed in the world. Although the “Battleship
Committee” tasked with selecting a new battleship design for the Royal Navy
had its primary mission as selection of a battleship design, they had more on
their plates. As soon as the design for Dreadnought
was selected for construction, they launched into the task of selecting a new
armored cruiser design. In the prior seven years the Royal Navy had built seven
classes of armored cruisers. Just as British pre-dreadnought battleships had a
mixed battery, so too did the RN armored cruiser designs. Although the County
class and
Improved
County
class had mounted all 6-inch guns for the Counties
and a combination of 7.5-inch and 6-inch guns for the improved Counties
in an economy measure, the other five classes had the tried and true 9.2-inch
gun as their main guns with 6-inch or 7.5-inch guns as the secondary. The
Imperial German Navy had followed suit but their designs used 8.2-inch guns for
the main battery and 5.9-inch guns for the secondary.
If the Dreadnought
marked a watershed from previous battleship designs, the new armored cruiser
design selected by the committee was an even greater change from prior armored
cruiser designs in that it incorporated all big guns in the design but of
12-inch battleship caliber, far larger than the 9.2-inch guns of previous
designs. The chief constructor Phillip Watts was in favor of a uniform armament
of 9.2-inch guns for the new design, making them an armored cruiser equivalent
to the Dreadnought
design but Jackie Fisher insisted on the 12-inch gun as main armament. By weight
of his personality and position of 1st Sea Lord he got his way and
the HMS Invincible class was
created. At first they were still called armored cruisers but the novelty of
having a uniform 12-inch gun armament on ships faster and larger than previous
cruiser designs actually created a new type of warship, the battle cruiser.
Although details for the new Dreadnought
design were published, Fisher chose to employ a deception operation in regard to
the Invincible design. It was
deliberately leaked that the new armored cruiser design would have 9.2-inch
guns, rather than 12-inch guns. The German navy swallowed the bait and
accordingly designed a new armored cruiser with uniform cruiser armament of
8.2-inch guns. This was SMS
Blucher. When the German navy finally tumbled to the truth, it
was too late. They were committed to a design that was not only significantly
slower than the Invincible
but also far weaker in armament. They had also lost valuable time and as the
Royal Navy added three more battle cruisers of the Indefatigable design, they
finally responded with their first battle cruiser SMS von
der Tann.
SMS
Blucher
was authorized in the 1906-1907 program. In appearance and turret layout, the
ship was miniature of the
Nassau
class battleships in large measure. Built at the Kiel Navy Yard, the cruiser
was laid down on February 21, 1907, launched April 11, 1908 and completed March
24, 1910. However, Blucher received a significant
alteration in her appearance in 1913, when her original pole foremast was
replaced by a substantial tripod, the first such mast mounted on a German
warship. In an odd ammunition supply arrangement, the two forward beam turrets
had to receive their ammunition from the magazines located under the two aft
beam turrets. Each round was placed on an ammunition rail, which provided a
conveyor belt type of arrangement. This placed ammunition in transit outside of
the armored barbettes and turrets protected only by the thinner side belt armor.
This design error was directly involved in the loss of the ship at the Battle of
Dogger Bank. Blucher
went through a lengthy trials period, starting on October 1, 1909 and latter
participated in gunnery experiments.
Disturbing
Fisher Folk
The Blucher
was placed with the 1st Cruiser Squadron, which comprised the main
units of the Scouting Force under Admiral Hipper, which provided the advance
guard and reconnaissance for the battleships of the High Seas Fleet. Prior to
November 3, 1914 the Blucher
and German battle cruisers had not seen any significant action. They were unable
to respond in time at the Battle of Heligoland Bight, in which the British
battle cruisers under Admiral Beatty had sunk several light cruisers and
destroyers. They had put to sea in conjunction with sorties of the High Seas
Fleet but there had been no run-ins with the Royal Navy on these occasions.
Although Kaiser Wilhelm had ordered the German Fleet to act defensively with the
battleships, in late October plans were laid to use the battle cruisers, plus Blucher,
offensively in raids on the English coast. This was to serve as bait to draw out
the British forces and hopefully attrit it with submarines and mines or draw an
isolated component into the guns of the German fleet.
Late
in the afternoon of November 2, Hipper with Seydlitz,
Moltke,
Von der
Tann, Blucher,
light cruisers and destroyers had left the Jade for a high speed run across the
North Sea during the night for a dawn raid on the
port
of
Yarmouth
. It was the aged Halcyon that unwittingly
provided the door greeter for the German Scouting Force. At first Halcyon
spotted two unknown ships in the mist, both of which were German light cruisers.
Halcyon
was totally outclassed by these ships but bad turned to worse as the light
cruiser shell splashes were soon joined by the towering splashes of the 11-inch
and 8.2-inch shells from the main German ships. There were so many shell
splashes around Halcyon that the small target
was obscured from the sight of the German gunners. Fortunately for Halcyon,
none of the shells hit and she scooted into the mist to escape. The only true RN
warships that could respond to the arrival of the Germans were destroyers and
submarines but they valiantly put to sea as puny Davids against the German
Goliaths. Hipper saw that he was just wasting ammunition on his tiny foes and
turned back to
Germany
. As he left a few haphazard shells were fired off towards
Yarmouth
but all they did was to churn up some sand on the beach. The only loss was the
RN submarine D-5,
which struck a mine and sank leaving only four survivors. Three trawlers were
also destroyed. The Admiralty had not responded in a timely manner and had
been caught flat-footed. First Lord Winston Churchill justified the delay in
stating, “The last thing it seemed
possible to believe was that first-class units of the German fleet would have
been sent across the North Sea simply in order to disturb the fisher-folk of
Yarmouth
.” Churchill said that it was believed that this was a feint to hide a
much more significant operation of the German Fleet and that the Admiralty
simply was awaiting developments.
The
Baby Killers of the Assassin Squadron
Hipper was bitterly disappointed and embarrassed by the meager results of the
raid on
Yarmouth
and was eager for another mission. Plans were prepared for another raid on the
British coastline in December with a number of ports selected as targets. The
targets would be further north on the
Yorkshire
coast, closer to the base of the British battle cruisers. This time maybe they
would get a response from British heavy units. As the German force neared the
Yorkshire coast they divided with von
der Tann and light cruisers moving south to Scarborough and Seydlitz,
Moltke
and Blucher
heading for
Hartlepool
. At 08:00 on December 16, 1914 the populace of
Scarborough
were jolted by the explosion of German shells. Von
der Tann was back and this time closed to within a mile and a
half of the town. Shells were pumped into the town and a medieval castle and
resort hotel were also targeted. After half an hour the German ships left,
having killed 17 and wounded 99 civilians. At 09:00 the ships appeared off of
Whitby
, 21 miles south of
Scarborough
. The main target was a coast guard signal station and the German ships came
within a mile of the beach. Civilian losses were 2 dead and 2 wounded. The other
two battle cruisers and Blucher
had a more important target.
Sixty
miles north of Scarborough was the town of
Hartlepool
, which unlike Scarborough and
Whitby
, actually had legitimate military targets. This was in the form of six docks,
various foundries and mills, as well as a defensive force of two light cruisers,
four destroyers and a submarine. It also had a shore battery of three old 6-inch
guns and a battalion of troops. At 07:45 the four British destroyers, Doon,
Test,
Waveny
and Moy
were at sea off
Hartlepool
but the light cruisers Patrol
and Forward
and the submarine were still in port.
Doon
spotted three large ships in the mist to the south and closed to investigate.
Five minutes later the ships open fire on
Doon
. These were Hipper’s heavy ships and
Doon
fired one torpedo at them, which missed, before retiring into the mist with
light damage. At 08:10 the Blucher
and battle cruisers opened fire on
Hartlepool
. “When
the unfamiliar ships first appeared offshore, the waiting British gunners
watched them with admiration; they seemed so large, so close, and so powerful
that they could not possibly be anything but British. A group of men belonging
to the
Durham
Light Infantry was standing together near the Heugh
Battery
, treating the affair as if it were a holiday display, when a shell exploded in
their midst, killing seven men and wounding fourteen. Both guns of the Heugh
Battery
immediately fired at the leading ship. The lighthouse gun engaged the third
ship in line, which was smaller than the first two. The three enemy ships were
firing 11-inch, 8.2-inch, and 5.9-inch shells at the British batteries. That the
batteries were not annihilated was due to a fluke: the ships were firing at such
short – almost point-blank – range that there was insufficient
time to permit the operation of their delayed action fuses. Also many of the
shells were passing over the battery and hitting houses or falling onto the
docks and the town behind. Other shells landing near the guns ricocheted,
bouncing along intact, before exploding.” (Castles
of Steel, Random House, New
York, 2003, by Robert K. Massie, at page 323)
The old light cruiser HMS
Patrol sortied from the harbor and as she cleared the breakwater
was smothered in shell splashes. Her nearest antagonist was Blucher
and the German armored cruiser pumped two 8.2-inch shells into the much smaller
foe. Four men were killed and seven wounded as Patrol
sheered away and ran aground. The light cruiser Forward
was also in
Hartlepool
harbor but fortunately for her, the German ships had left before she raised
steam. Submarine C-9
followed Patrol
out of the harbor but as she reached the harbor exit, she too was straddled. The
submarine dove to avoid the gunfire but it was low tide. Only 18 feet of water
was over the sand bar and C-9
instantly bottomed and was stuck there until after the action. Only the three
old six-inch guns of the shore battery continued to respond against Hipper. As Seydlitz
and Moltke
steamed slowly across the mouth of the harbor, Blucher
glided to a stop to improve her gunnery. Two guns fired at the battle cruisers
and a single gun at Blucher. The gunners managed
to score some hits but the shells bounced off the armor. At 8:52 Hipper ceased
firing and his ships turned back into the
North Sea
. Although none of the three British guns had been put out of action, German
shells had savaged the port with the 1,150 shells expended. Two ships under
construction had collapsed as their building ways had been hit. One gas tank had
exploded and two others were damaged. In all 86 civilians were killed and
another 425 wounded. Blucher
had been hit with four 6-inch shells while stationary, damaging one turret and
knocking two 5.9-inch guns out of action, while killing or wounding nine of her
crew.
Run
Away
By 9:30 the two German forces had joined together and headed back toward
Helgioland. The original plan had called for the High Seas fleet to support the
battle cruisers but Hipper soon discovered that the fleet had returned to
harbor. By the time of this raid the British had deciphered captured German code
books and knew something was afoot. On the 14th Jellicoe was informed
that there was a strong possibility that the German battle cruisers would appear
off of the British coast. Jellicoe wanted to sortie the entire Grand Fleet but
this was vetoed by the Admiralty. He was only allowed to use the Battle Cruiser
Squadron and one division of battleships. It could have been a tremendous
disaster for the Royal Navy if the High Seas Fleet had remained in support of
Hipper as originally envisioned and if contact had been made. As it was, contact
between Hipper’s ships and Beatty’s battle cruisers was missed by a matter
of minutes. The Admiralty did not know where Hipper would strike so Beatty and
the battleships steamed to Dogger Bank with the plan to ambush the German battle
cruisers of their way back to
Germany
. Beatty was down to four ships, Lion,
Queen
Mary, Tiger
and New
Zealand, as three of his ships had been dispatched to hunt Graf
von Spee’s force and others were still in the Mediterranean. The tactical
command was with Vice Admiral George Warrender of the 2nd Battle
Squadron and he ordered Beatty to stay within five miles of his battleships. As
dawn broke on the 16th and Hipper’s ships started shelling the
three towns, the ten British ships approached
Dogger Bank
in ignorance of the fact that the High Seas Fleet was heading straight for them
and only a few hours away. At 05:15 the screening forces of both forces
made contact. Three British destroyers were damaged but when HMS
Hardy fired a torpedo at the light cruiser SMS Hamburg, a decision point
was reached. Fleet commander von Ingenohl was convinced that this was the screen
for the entire Grand Fleet and ordered a turn about for the fleet to skeedaddle
for home. At that point where von Ingenohl lost his nerve, the ten isolated
British capital ships were only ten miles away to the southwest. This was the
greatest opportunity that the High Seas Fleet would ever have to decisively
engage an isolated portion of the Grand Fleet. Later Sir Julian Corbett, the
official RN historian of the First World War, would say of von Ingenohl for this
action, “…fairly turned tail and made
for home, leaving Hipper’s raiding force in the air.”
Now the tables were turned and Hipper was isolated with ten capital ships
between his force and the safety of home port. By 9:30 Hipper had consolidated
all of his forces detached to the two bombardment forces and set course for
home, steaming southeast at 23 knots. Initially Hipper thought he was falling
back onto the High Seas Fleet. He was unaware that von Ingenohl had cut him off
and run. “Where
is the main fleet?’ He could scarcely believe the reply: ‘Running into the
Jade.’ Hipper let out ‘an old-fashioned Bavarian oath,’ said Captain von
Waldeyer-Hartz. Ingenohl had deserted Hipper; he was alone.” (Castles
of Steel, Random House, New
York, 2003, by Robert K. Massie, at page 331)
Equally as troublesome, reports were coming in from light forces that
they were encountering heavy British units in the area of
Dogger Bank
. As Hipper steamed towards home, he had a light screen of light cruisers in
front of his main force. Beatty and his battle cruisers also had a screen of
four light cruisers. Visibility was poor and the two screens made contact and
started trading fire, with Southampton
engaging
Stralsund
. The cruiser squadron commander, Commodore Goodenough, reported that he was
engaged with a light cruiser but failed to report the arrival of Strassbourg
and Graudenz
in support of
Stralsund
. The rest of Goodenough’s squadron,
Birmingham
, Nottingham
and
Falmouth
, turned to steam in support of their flagship. Beatty had to have a cruiser
screen for advance guard against the German battle cruisers or to warn of a
destroyer attack.
Birmingham
had already left to support Goodenough and then his last two screening cruisers
turned to port to go south without a by or leave to Beatty.
Flags
to the Rescue
“Suddenly,
even these two ships began to leave him. With chagrin and dismay, Beatty watched
from the
bridge
of
Lion
as his two remaining light cruisers steered across his bow on their way to join
Southampton
. He did not understand. He believed that Southampton and
Birmingham
were engaging a single German light cruiser.” (Castles
of Steel, Random House, New
York, 2003, by Robert K. Massie, at page 347) If Goodenough had signaled
that he had encountered three light cruisers not just one, Beatty probably would
have realized that this was the screen for Hipper’s force. Because of
Goodenough’s error, Beatty now made his own mistake. Beatty told Flag
Lieutenant Ralph Seymour, “Tell that
light cruiser to resume station.” But he did not specify which light
cruiser and Flags Seymour did not seek clarification. Flags was a congenital
bumbler and here was the chance for his first major gaff and he took advantage
of it in spades. With unerring skill in misadventure Flags simply told the
signal man to flash a message to “light cruiser” without identifying which
light cruiser to return to the battle cruisers. It was aimed towards Nottingham
and
Falmouth
but since there was no identifier, the message was passed on to Goodenough
where Southampton
and now
Birmingham
were in action. Goodenough thought the order was for his entire squadron and
against his better judgment ordered Southampton
and
Birmingham
to break off action and return to the north to join Beatty. This gaff allowed
Hipper to evade Beatty and then in turn Warrender’s battleships and they
safely made it back home. Beatty blamed Goodenough for the German escape, rather
than accept that his order to the light cruisers was ambiguous and was greatly
magnified by his bumbling Flags. Jackie Fisher pronounced Goodenough a fool and
stated that heads would roll. As it was Goodenough had more powerful friends in
his corner in Jellicoe and Churchill and he was not relieved. However, Flags had
now demonstrated his skill at a faux pas and this talent would again come to the
fore in the story of SMS
Blucher.
The British papers went into a rage and the Germans were
branded as baby killers and as an assassin squadron. However, one
London
newspaper, although condemning the shelling of Scarborough and Whidby,
correctly observed that
Hartlepool
was a legitimate target. A jury wanted to indict the German officers of the
ships until it was pointed out to them that it would be rather difficult for the
local police to arrest the culprits. Everyone in the RN was bitterly
disappointed about the failure to bring Hipper’s ships to justice but they
would be even better prepared for the next of Hipper’s raids. Hipper was
disturbed by the fact that heavy British ships always seemed to appear when he
was on a raid. Neither he nor any other admiral of the High Seas Fleet thought
that the reason was through capture of code books and that the German naval code
had been broken, nor that German wireless discipline was extraordinarily lax.
For Hipper he thought that the reason was the British fishing smacks operating
on
Dogger Bank
. They had to be spies, radioing the Admiralty every time his ships passed
nearby. For his next operation Hipper was determined to wipe out this nest of
spies. His goal would be to destroy the multitude of fishing boats operating
around
Dogger Bank
.
Wipe
Out the Nest of Spies
This mission was designed by Hipper to wipe out the British fishing fleet
operating around
Dogger Bank
, as well as any other suspicious vessels. The fleet’s involvement was just to
support the return of the battle cruisers to port. On the evening of January 23,
1915 Hipper sortied with Seydlitz, Derfflinger,
Moltke,
Blucher,
four light cruisers and 19 destroyers. The Royal Navy had been caught by
surprise by the
Yarmouth
raid. They had partial information through code breaking about the Scarborough
raid but by now code-breaking was in fine form and the Grand Fleet was made
aware of the steaming of Hipper’s force without von der Tann, which was in
drydock. After missing the Germans in November, Beatty was spoiling for a fight.
The British battle cruisers left harbor at 6:00 PM January 23 within an hour of
the departure of Hipper. Their mission was to intercept the German force at
Dogger Bank
. Beatty had Lion,
Tiger,
Princess
Royal, Indomitable
and
New Zealand
, as well as supporting light cruisers and destroyers. It was not only
Beatty’s force in motion. The King
Edward VII class battleships and three armored cruisers followed
Beatty at 8:30PM, the Channel force of three light cruisers and 35 destroyers
steamed northeastward and the Grand Fleet left Scapa Flow at 6:30, all to
converge on the
Dogger Bank
on January 24. It was an all out effort to catch and destroy Hipper’s battle
cruiser and possibly the High Seas Fleet if it came out in support. Everything
was working to perfection as dawn broke on the 24th. Beatty called
action stations at 7:00AM even before the Germans were sighted. His battle
cruisers were in position and Harwich force of the channel reported that they
had reached position. The weather was clear and Beatty felt confident of bagging
the entire German force. At 7:20 the light cruiser Aurora of the Harwich force
reported contact and engagement with the German screen. Gun flashes were seen to
the southeast and Beatty ordered his cats to steam to the gun flashes. Shortly
after this Goodnough in
Southampton
, five miles in front of Beatty, sighted the Harwich force to the south and the
German screen to the east. It was not long before the main targets, Hipper’s
battle cruisers, were sighted.
When Kolberg
reported engaging the
Aurora
, Hipper first thought that there were isolated British light forces in the
area, which could easily be mopped up. Then ominous reports started coming in. Kolberg
reported a large mass of smoke to the southwest and shortly thereafter
Stralsund
reported large masses of smoke to the northwest. Then Blucher
reported seven light cruisers and more than 20 destroyers to the northwest.
These were not isolated light units and Hipper quickly realized that he was in
an ambush. At 7:35 Hipper ordered his force to turn towards home at a speed of
20 knots, which was sufficient to outrun battleships but of course the pursuers
were not dawdling battleships, these were the Splendid Cats. Hipper’s maximum squadron speed was 23 to 24 knots,
which was dictated by the speed of his slowest ship, the Blucher.
“7.47
A.M.
Southampton
to Lion: ‘ Enemy sighted are 4 battle cruisers, speed 24 knots.”
Beatty had a significant edge in speed. Even his oldest battle cruisers were
faster than the Blucher and as long as Hipper
kept the Blucher in his formation, the
British could close. By 8:28 some British M class destroyers had closed to
within 7,000 yards of Blucher.
HMS
Meteor opened fire and after ascertaining the exact locations of
the German warships, fell back to clear the line of sight of the onrushing Splendid
Cats and follow at a discreet distance behind the German formation. In large
part the withdrawal of the seven M class destroyers of the Harwich force was due
to the firing of Blucher,
which raised a forest of shell splashes among the British light forces. At 8:34
Beatty ordered speed increased to 27 knots, followed nine minutes later to 28
knots and at 8:54 to 29 knots. A gap appeared in the British formation, as the Splendid
Cats surged forward, the older
New
Zealand
and Indomitable
could not keep up. At 7:50 Hipper finally saw his nemesis. “The
pace at which the enemy was closing in was quite unexpected.’ he said later.
‘The enemy battle cruisers must have been doing twenty-six knots. They were
emitting extraordinarily dense clouds of smoke. ” (Castles of Steel,
Random House, New York, 2003, by Robert K. Massie, at page 385)
It was now a stern
chase, although Beatty was parallel not dead astern of Hipper, in order to avoid
any mines that might be launched from the quarry. As the British gained
distance, Beatty went and had breakfast. At 8:45 the Lion
was in 20,000 yards range of the rear German ship, the Blucher. Lion
opened fire and the poor Blucher
became the punching bag for all of the pent up frustration of the Splendid
Cats. The first shot was short, the next over. Blucher had been marked. At
9:00 AM Tiger joined in the one sided
contest. Princess Royal opened up soon
thereafter but Indomitable and
New
Zealand
were still out of range. Lion
drew blood at 9:09 and soon Blucher
was smothered in shell splashes. The third salvo hit Blucher
below the waterline and reduced her speed and the fourth salvo wrecked the aft
superstructure and disabled two aft turrets. Princess
Royal found the design weakness in Blucher
as one of her 13.5-inch shells exploded amidships. The charges and shells on the
ammunition rails, which ran from the magazines of the aft beam turrets to the
forward beam turrets, exploded and Blucher
instantly had a raging fire amidships.
“Now
the shells came thick and fast with a horrible droning hum. At once they did
terrible execution. The electric plant was soon destroyed, and the ship plunged
in a darkness that could be felt. ‘You could not see your hand before your
nose,’ said one. Down below decks there was horror and confusion, mingled with
gasping shouts and moans as the shells plunged through the decks. It was only
later, when the range shortened, that their trajectory flattened, and they tore
holes in the ship’s sides and raked her decks. At first they came dropping
from the sky. They penetrated the decks. They bored their way even to the
stokehold. The coal in the bunkers was set afire. Since the bunkers were half
empty, the fire burned merrily. In the engine-room a shell licked up the oil and
sprayed it around in flames of blue and green, scarring its victims and blazing
where it fell. Men huddled together in dark compartments, but the shells sought
them out, and there death had a rich harvest.” (With the Battle
Cruisers, Naval Institute
Press, Annapolis Maryland 1986, by Filson Young, at page 213)
As
Tiger
and Princess
Royal pounded Blucher,
Lion
shifted fire to the battle cruisers ahead. Still Blucher was game. At 9:28 one
of her 8.2-inch shells hit Lion’s
A turret. Although it did not penetrate the armor, the crew was concussed and
the left gun put out of action. At 9:35AM
New Zealand
was also within range of Blucher.
Beatty issued an order for each of his ships to fire on its opposite number.
However, Tiger made a mistake. Thinking
that Indomitable was in range of Blucher,
which she was not, Tiger
joined Lion
in firing of the lead German ship, the Seydlitz.
This left the second German ship in column, the Moltke,
free of fire. Even though Blucher
now was the target of
New
Zealand
alone, she was still being savaged. “The
terrific air-pressure resulting
from explosion in a confined space, left a deep impression on the minds of the
men of the Blucher. The air, it would seem, roars through every opening and
tears its way through every weak spot. All loose or insecure fittings are
transformed into moving instruments of destruction. Open doors bang to, and jam
– and closed iron doors bent outward like tinplates, and through it all the
bodies of men are whirled about like dead leaves in a winter blast, to be
battered to death against the iron walls.” (With the Battle
Cruisers, Naval Institute
Press, Annapolis Maryland 1986, by Filson Young, at page 213)
SMS Blucher Vital Statistics |
Dimensions: Length - 530
feet 6 inches oa (161.7m); 498 feet 8 inches pp; Beam -
80 feet 3 inches (24.5m); Draught - 26 feet 3
inches mean, 28 feet 6 inches deep load (8m-8.7m); Displacement
- 15,590 tons normal, 17,250 tons deep load: Armament
- Twelve 8.2-inch SKL/45 (180mm)(6x2); Eight 5.9-inch
SKL/45 (150mm) (8x1); Sixteen 3.45-inch SKL/45 (88mm); Four
17.7-inch (450mm) submerged torpedo tubes:
Armor: Belt - 7-inches to
2.4-inches (180mm-60mm); Turrets - 7-inches to
2.4-inches (180mm-60mm); Barbettes - 7-inches
(180mm); Casemate Battery - 5.5-inches (140mm); Bulkheads
- 6-inches to 3.2-inches (150mm - 80mm); Conning
Tower - 10-inches to 3.2-inches (250mm - 80mm): Machinery:
Three shafts, 4 cyl Vertical Triple Expansion (VTE) engines,
18 Schulz-Thornycroft boilers, 34,000ihpbMaximum Speed -
24.25 knots
|
|
Flags
to the Rescue Again
Blucher
was falling astern. With the damage she sustained her speed had dropped to 17
knots and she started veering away to the northeast because of steering damage.
Goodnough closed with his four light cruisers but accurate fire from Blucher
soon forced him to retreat. Blucher
wasn’t road kill yet. At 10:30
New
Zealand
knocked out the forward turret of Blucher.
One minute later Indomitable opened up on the
crippled German cruiser. However, events came to the aid of the other German
ships. Seydlitz holed Lion
at 10:01 and in-rushing seawater shorted out her electrical system. This started
a cascade of events, which would save all of the German ships, except for the
unlucky Blucher.
At 10:18 Lion was rocked by two
simultaneous hits from either Seydlitz
or Derfflinger.
These hits allowed saltwater to contaminate the fresh water feed to the Lion’s
boilers. By 10:52 Lion had received 14 hits. She
had 3,000 tons of saltwater in her hull and had lost all electrical power.
Shortly thereafter the port engine stopped and she dropped out of line at
15-knots. Beatty knew that he was temporarily out of the fight but he was going
to make sure that Blucher wouldn’t get away.
He ordered the Indomitable to destroy the
enemy breaking away to the north, which was Blucher.
Perfect until now, Beatty now committed two errors. He thought he saw a
periscope and order the squadron to turn 90 degrees to port. With no electricity
for the radio and only two signal halyards intact, Flags Seymour again came to
the rescue of the German battle cruisers. With the signal to
attack the rear of the enemy column still on the halyard, Flags raised
the squadron signal to turn to the north. The officers and crew of the other
battle cruisers were perplexed. Why was Beatty letting the battle cruisers go to
concentrate on the crippled Blucher?
Oh well, he is the Admiral, I guess he
knows what he is doing.
Clubbing
the Baby Seal
At 11:09 Tiger, Princess
Royal and
New
Zealand
shifted fire from the battle cruiser to join Indomitable
in the slaughter of Blucher. Hipper had been
considering going to the aid of Blucher
but when all of the British battle cruisers shifted fire to her, he realized she
was doomed but that he could now extricate his remaining ships and he continued
to run for home, leaving the battered Blucher
to face four battle cruisers. “There
were shuddering horrors, intensified by the darkness or semi-gloom. As one poor
wretch was passing through a trap-door a shell burst near him. He was exactly
half-way through. The trap-door closed with a terrific snap. In one of the
engine-rooms - it was the room where the high velocity for ventilation and
forced draught were at work – men were picked up by that terrible Luftdruck,
like a whirl drift at a street corner, and tossed to a horrible death amidst the
machinery. There were other horrors too fearful to recount. ” (With
the Battle Cruisers,
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis Maryland 1986, by Filson Young, at page 214)
As Tiger
took out after Blucher, all the
others followed. “The eight-point turn to port had enabled the
New Zealand
and Indomitable to cut off a corner and to fall in astern, although a long way
astern, of the Princess Royal. She and the Tiger now proceeded to circle round
the Blucher, firing all the time and the other two ships fell in line astern of
them. The doomed Blucher, already shot to pieces and in act of dissolution,
might well have been left to the squadron of light cruisers and the flotillas of
destroyers which were rapidly closing her; but her actual destruction seems to
have been a kind of obsession with the captains of the two British battle
cruisers. The psychological effects attendant upon ‘blooding of the pack’
must be ignored.” (With
the Battle Cruisers,
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis Maryland 1986, by Filson Young, at pages
201-202)
Blucher
was now an immobile punching bag of four vastly superior ships, which continued
steaming in circles around her, firing at point blank range. “If
it was appalling below deck, it was more than appalling above. The Blucher was
under fire of so many ships. Even the little destroyers peppered her. ‘It was
one continuous explosion’, said a gunner. The ship heeled over as the
broad-sides struck her, then righted herself, rocking like a cradle. Gun crews
were so destroyed that stokers had to be requisitioned to carry ammunition. Men
lay flat for safety. The decks presented a tangled mass of scrap iron. In one
casement, the only one, as they thought, undestroyed, two men continued to serve
their gun. They fired it as the ship listed, adapting the elevation to the new
situation. Yet through it all some never despaired of their lives. Others from
the beginning gave themselves up as lost. The disaster came upon them so
suddenly that few had time to anticipate their plight or to realize it when it
came.” (With
the Battle Cruisers,
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis Maryland 1986, by Filson Young, at page 214)
Finally, mercifully, after receiving between 50 to 200 large caliber hits and
two torpedo strikes, Blucher
rolled over, being filmed as she went at 12:07PM. Only 234 of her 1200 man crew
were rescued. Beatty had transferred to a destroyer but when he boarded the Princess
Royal at 12:33, Hipper was long gone. As for Flags, he went on to
botch two signals at the Battle of Jutland. After the war he killed himself in a
matter of unrequited love. Beatty said of him at that time, “He
lost three battles for me.” In spite of her limitations and design flaws, Blucher
was a fighting ship to the end. The massive amount of punishment she sustained
is tribute to the skills of the German naval designer and maximizing defense at
the expense of offence. In spite of being inferior to any of the battle
cruisers, it took four of them to finally sink her.
The
Combrig Blucher
As with almost all new Combrig
releases, the Combrig Blucher
includes excellently cast resin parts as well as a ship specific photo-etch
fret. As befits the best of all armored cruisers, the Combrig
kit is large and impressive. The hull clearly shows a marked resemblance to a
cruiser version of the
Nassau
class battleships, although longer and leaner for her cruiser role. The primary
reason for the resemblance is the identical turret layout of fore and aft
turrets with two beam turrets on each side. The ship has a cleaver bow with an
interesting assortment of curves and planes for the hull sides. Two anchor hawse
are found on the port and one on the starboard. Portholes are deeply drilled and
the hull tertiary casemate positions have clearly defined armored shutters. The
casemates provide the curving positions, which add relief from the slightly
tumblehome sides. Additionally the embrasures to allow end on fire for the hull
mounted guns add even more interest to the hull sides. The armor belts are
clearly delineated. Starting just in front of the forward turret, the upper deck
continues in a straight line towards the stern, ending amidships, as the lower
hull continues outboard. This creates lower weather decks, which further creates
a further visual focus on the hull.
Amidships on each
side are four secondary casemate positions for the 5.9-inch guns. The rounded
gun shields are sharply differentiated from the angular planes of the hull
sides. The casting is very crisp and all angles are very sharp in
differentiation. This also creates an even lower walkway along the casemate
positions. The hull sides of the gun deck are a series of angles as taper
towards or expand from the gun positions. As the stern gradually tapers to the
stern, two more tertiary gun positions swell outboard from the hull sides,
almost at the very stern. From a top-down view the detail is equally impressive.
Again the assortment of curves and angles is readily apparent. The deck anchor
hawse are very noticeable with metal anchor chain plates running back to the
windlass positions a very good distance to the rear. There are locator holes for
two large windlasses with deck plates running to rounded fittings where the
anchor chain goes through the deck to the chain locker. On the forecastle are
two centerline twin bollard fittings followed by two more abreast of A turret.
Four small open chocks are on the deck edges of the bow. All six turret
positions have prominent barbettes.
Many model companies
cast as much of the superstructure as integral to the hull, but with their Blucher, Combrig follows their standard format with separate superstructure
parts, which fit within wells on the deck. Both approaches have merits and
demerits but probably the greatest merit of this approach is the ability to get
perfect lines in painting the ships sides from the deck. If you paint the parts
before assembly, you’ll have perfect paint lines with no spill-over of the
gray sides onto the deck or wood deck paint onto the superstructure sides.
Another feature of Combrig kits is
the presence of locator outlines on the deck. This very good feature is
sometimes not found in the kits from other manufacturers but is really important
to correctly align separate superstructure parts to the deck/hull casting. There
is a small amount of play in fitting superstructure parts into the wells.
Therefore you should consider using a slower drying adhesive than super glue to
provide some time to correctly align the parts to the deck. Deck detail includes
fittings extending amidships from each beam turret. Also there are square
coamings, two on each side of the aft funnel base. Two rectangular skylights or
coamings are found just forward of the aft superstructure well. Another
excellent Combrig feature found on Combrig
models of coal burning ships are the numerous sharply defined circular
coal-scuttles on the deck planking. Other amidships deck details are bulkheads
running from the aft corners of the forward superstructure to the forward beam
turrets, more open chocks at deck edge and curious circular positions on each
side between the beam turrets. There are also locator holes for the cranes and
ventilator fittings. Of all areas of the ship, the most deck detail is found on
the quarterdeck. It is dominated by a long series of skylights on the
centerline. There are three deck access coamings running in an asymmetrical line
from starboard of the aft barbette to the port side at the stern. Another
asymmetrical feature is the placement of the twin bollard fittings. Four are
symmetrical but a fifth fitting is offset to port. Four other fittings are
clustered around the aft barbette and there are more open chocks at deck edge.
Major
Superstructure Parts
There are a number of major superstructure parts to this kit. The funnels are
very prominent. They are cased halfway up the stacks with a prominent apron at
the top of the casings and with strong funnel bands. Additionally each funnel
has four curious fittings extending upwards from each apron. The forward
superstructure has two casemate positions on each side plus a two level conning
tower with sharply incised vision slits. The forward funnel housing has four
ventilator fittings on the crown. The aft superstructure is another strong
feature. It has solid bulkheads at the edge surrounding four skylight fittings.
Each side also features a large curved ventilator. The lower portion of
superstructure flare outwards. The six main gun turrets come in two patterns.
Two of the turrets are for the fore and aft turrets with large rangefinders
centered at the rear crown of each turret. The four beam turrets have smaller
rangefinders located at the right and overhanging the sides of each turret. Each
turret has an apron along the sides and a combination of curves and angles along
the sides and angles on the crown. A command position is centered between the
guns at the forward edge of each turret. Another design feature of the Blucher
are the two large curved goose-necked cranes placed amidships.
Smaller
Resin Parts
The resin film contains platforms. The largest of these parts is the platform on
top of the aft funnel housing. This part features a catwalk running forward to
the forward funnel housing. There are also two observation catwalks running to
port and starboard. It also has a skylight, ventilator, and ladder well
outlines. A separate long asymmetrical catwalk is also on the sheet. Other parts
on the sheet are a series of searchlight platforms, superstructure platforms and
bridge wings. One of the best features in the entire kit is the resin runner
with five exquisitely cast ventilators. These are top-notch parts with very
finely cast slats. There are a number of resin runners, all of which have no to
a minute amount of flash. The parts are all crisp. Fittings include cable reels,
windlasses, searchlights with horizontal shutter pattern, anchors, main guns,
secondary guns, light deck guns with separate mounts & shielding, small
ventilators, bulkheads, steam pipes, seven styles of ship’s boats, masts,
yards and superstructure rangefinders.
Brass
Photo-Etch Fret
In common with most Combrig kits,
their Blucher
contains a brass photo-etch fret of ship specific parts. The most striking parts
are the inclusion of brass torpedo net shelves. In the part these shelves were
cast as part of the hull. But resin, no matter how fine cannot duplicate the
thinness and strength of brass. You can get very thin resin castings but they
would be very fragile. With brass you get the thinness but also strength. There
are two such shelves on each side, two on the bow and two on the stern. Each
funnel top grating has an unusual design with a circular design in the center.
Many of the ship’s boats were mounted on raised boat skids and these are part
of the fret, as well as individual boat propellers and rudders. Davits and deck
boat chocks are also present. There is a lot of bracing for the numerous
searchlight and other platforms found on this design, as well as top rigging on
the cranes. The fret even includes relief-etched ship’s nameplates. Anchor
chain, inclined ladders and vertical ladders are included but you may wish to
replace the inclined ladders with individual trainable treads.
Instructions
Blucher
instructions are in the common Combrig
format. There are two back-printed sheets. The first sheet has a 1:700 scale
plan and profile and plan, as well as the ship’s history and specifications in
Russian. Use of the included plan and profile as a reference is essential. They
are absolutely necessary in the specific placement of various parts. On the back
of the sheet is a photograph of all of the parts that should be included in the
kit so it easy to see if you are missing something. The second sheet includes
the assembly diagrams. Step one on the front side concentrates on the funnel
housings, catwalks, aft superstructure, aft funnel, boat platforms, torpedo net
shelves and deck ventilators. A detailed inset drawing provides a blown-up view
of the aft funnel assembly. There is a disconnect between the first page and
second page as the first page already shows the aft superstructure in place and
yet shows attaching that part on the second page. The second sheet actually
shows assembly of the major sub-components of the model, excluding the aft
funnel. Detailed inset drawings are found for the forward superstructure,
ship’s boats, searchlight platforms, raised boat platforms and deck guns.
Verdict
Combrig has done another admirable
job in producing a 1:700 scale replica of the best of the armored cruisers.
Although a World War One warship, this Blucher kit is not for the beginner. With its
numerous searchlight platforms and raised boat skids, there are some delicate
subassemblies found here. However, for everybody else the Combrig Blucher is recommended without reservation.
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