It’s almost dawn on the 17 of August, 1919, offshore on the Gulf of Finland.
The silence of the sea is broken by the rumble of speedboats racing across the water,
their bows are bouncing on the calm waves. On their stern, they carry 18 inch torpedoes.
Their mission is simple and daring. Attack a heavily armed Russian port.
They are to use the boat’s small size to speed over the Russian minefields
and attack the Baltic fleet docked at the port of Kronstadt. Small motorboats versus a heavily armed base.
The British are trying to prevent the Bolshevik forces from using their fleet against the Estonians
who are fighting a desperate war for independence against the bolshevik Russians .
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Back on the Gulf of Finland, commanding the second Coastal Motor Boat in the V formation is Lieutenant William Hamilton Bremner.
He is to be the first to jump into the mouth of the harbor.
They arrive before sunrise and already there is a chaotic scene of explosions and gunfire.
6 allied aircraft dive onto the enemy port, strafing the structures and dropping small bombs across the fleet.
They Distracting the enemy in the hope the motorboats can make it through undetected.
But a hurdle remains in their way, in the shape of the Destroyer Gavriil keeping guard outside the port entrance.
The sailors expect this and they had already assigned the boat of Lawrence Napier to sink the Gavriil at the start of the attack.
Bremner waits for Napier to move ahead.
He looks back at his compatriots to see that nobody is moving, Napier is nowhere to be seen!
“Where the hell are they?!”
Little does he know 3 of the boats had veered off-course and were running late. Among them, Napier’s.
With the firefight raging ahead of him
and the knowledge that every second waiting means more risk for themselves and the planes, Bremner decides he’s going in anyway.
His boat springs to life and accelerates swiftly towards the harbor entrance.
The gunners in the Gavriil are busy shooting at the sky and completely fail to see as Bremner sails right past them.
He slows down by the entrance expecting there to be a chain boom that he’d have to clear, but fortunately the entrance is wide open.
They charge into the port as aircraft fly above their heads,
Bremner’s eyes are focused on the vessel straight ahead; the Cruiser Pamiat Azova.
A Russian sailor spots the British vessel and turns his guns towards them,
a volley of gunfire comes crashing down from the enemy deck,
it’s splashing in the sea and striking the wooden craft sending splinters flying through the air.
Bremner and the crew take cover as the cruiser gets ever closer, with the target filling the windshield he shouts “Launch!”
He pulls the trigger in the cockpit and their singular torpedo is released with a loud bang,
it slides backward and plunges into the boat’s wake, its course defined.
The helmsman turns sharp right and away from their collision course.
They’re running away from the cruiser still assaulted by the gunfire when Bremner feels a punch on his lower back,
moments later a massive explosion lifts into the air behind them, and the guns are silenced.
The torpedo has blown a lethal wound in the Pamiat Azova’s hull, and she gradually sinks into the port.
Bremner orders his boat to a corner of the harbor giving room to the other motorboats to maneuver.
While they wait Bremner checks himself, he finds two bad splinter impacts, but even worse he realizes he’s just been shot.
Ahead of them they witness multiple massive explosions rocking other target vessels, the work of their allies.
Meanwhile, outside the harbor two of the three lost motor boats arrive on the scene,
and one of them is none other than Lawrence Napier.
He sees the battle unfolding and the still intact Gavriil firing away,
without a moment of hesitation he orders to charge for the furious giant.
The men of the Gavriil spot the incoming vessel and the guns turn onto the British,
a storm of bullets befalls the little motorboat as they approach at maximum speed.
They drop their torpedo and steer swiftly for safety as they hope the payload to strike home, but no explosion ever comes.
They’ve missed.
Shells and machinegun fire tear the little boat to shreds until it slows to a crawl
and sinks into the sea, with their target untouched.
Inside the harbor, Bremner is feeling the pressure to get out as fast as possible
but he knows the second wave of British boats is incoming.
Suddenly searchlights lock onto the Bremner’s speedboat, blinding the crew with their shine.
They are unable to see properly, and nobody on board the boat notices as they wander across the harbor entrance.
Simultaneously Commander Frank Brade and his men are charging in, struggling with much the same problem.
In a blur Brade’s speeding motorboat slams into the side of Bremner’s,
shattering the plywood hull almost in half, and wedging the machines together.
The men can barely process what’s happened before machinegun emplacements from the harbor walls
open fire on the stationary and brightly illuminated vessels.
In the middle of the bullet storm Bremner and his crew hastily push Brade’s boat free as their own sinks under their feet.
As Brade’s boat breaks free and Bremner’s is sinking the men swiftly board the one remaining speedboat is still afloat
as bullets crack above their heads and slam into the wood.
The last soul is hauled on board and Brade shouts to get them out of there immediately.
The boat roars, turning right around and racing back out to sea.
They exit the port to be met by the onslaught of a still intact Gavriil.
The Gavriil’s 102mm guns fire,
launching 37 and a half pound shells along with a never ending storm of lower caliber rounds straight for the little machine.
With two torpedoes still at their disposal, Brade resolves to use them.
“Charge!”
Incredibly, the small motorboat accelerates towards the Gavriil as their flurry of projectiles splash all around,
impacts appear on the boat’s bow and some strike the unfortunate crew, including Bremner for a second time.
The men push on through the deadly hail as they await Brade’s orders to launch, but it wouldn’t come.
A bullet strikes Brade square in the chest and he collapses on the side of the motorboat, lifeless.
Bremner curses, immediately rushing to take the unfortunate commander’s place despite his own wounds.
“Almost there, keep going!”
“Stay on target!”
The crew valiantly presses on, their boat bounces in the waves, the sounds of cracking bullets, splashes, and shattering wood filling the air.
the sounds of cracking bullets, splashes, and shattering wood filling the air.
They’re so close, they can almost see the enemy sailors manning Gavriil’s guns when Bremner finally exclaims “Launch!”
The two torpedoes drop into the water simultaneously and the helmsman pulls a sharp 180.
The men hold on as they power away in haste,
leaving behind two trails of bubbles moving closer and closer towards the enemy destroyer.
The enemy fire doesn’t subside, sailors are struck and the craft is suffering constant damage.
Bremner looks back, waiting, praying for the explosions to end the barrage,
but the torpedoes were badly calibrated and they pass harmlessly underneath the enemy ship.
Bremner’s heart sinks as he witnesses the torpedoes explode behind the Gavriil against the harbor wall,
and suddenly, safety feels miles away.
A shell slams into the boat from the rear sending shrapnel and splinters flying across the deck,
fuel tanks burst filling the interior of the craft with flaming gasoline,
and the chilling sounds of failing machinery reverberate through its wooden frame.
A glimmer of hope remains as despite the odds the boat continues to trundle onward…
but is violently snuff downed with a second direct impact happens.
The small ship slows into a heart-wrenching stop.
The barrage of low caliber bullets resumes in force, the enemy gunners are finding their aim on the now stationary target.
Two brave sailors man the two double-Lewis gun turrets and fire back with all they have, but it’s pointless against a Destroyer.
Other sailors abandon ship, choosing the frigid waters over the rain of steel,
Bremner takes cover on board, holding on inside the storm of bullets, splinters, and shrapnel.
The little craft is torn to pieces by the savage barrage, water’s pouring in through the rapidly growing number of strikes.
Yet Still, they fight on, until they are all taken by the Gulf of Finland’s cold embrace.
After the dust settled 3 out of the 8 boats that took part in the attack would never return,
8 British sailors would be killed and 9 taken prisoners.
Nevertheless, the raid was a success, the British sunk a depot cruiser, and critically damaged the battleship
which couldn’t be repaired.
These losses kept the one surviving battleship in port for the rest of the Estonian War of the Independence.
Miraculously William Bremner would survive the encounter.
A Russian paddle boat picked him up from the sea just 10 minutes after the battle, he was struck 11 times,
most of which being hits from wooden fragments.
He was tended to in the port’s Naval Hospital alongside other survivors and was taken as a prisoner of war,
he was kept in Kresty Prison for 6 months before being released in a prisoner exchange on the 4th of February 1920.
Upon his return to London, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his valiant actions during the raid.
He continued to serve in the Royal Navy and MI6 throughout WW2 before retiring.
William Hamilton Bremner passed away peacefully in 1970, aged 75.
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