"Four German battlecruisers, six light cruisers, and 22 destroyers
are ordered to conduct reconnaissance at Dogger Bank tonight.
All available battlecruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers
should proceed to the rendezvous point—latitude 55°13' N,
longitude 3°12'0"—
with the estimated time of arrival being 7 o'clock in the morning.
If you spot the enemy, attack them."
What If The Battle of Dogger Bank
Dogger Bank is a large sandbank in the North Sea
about 100 kilometers off the coast of England.
The sea depth here ranges from 15 to 36 meters.
This area, rich in fish, became a battleground between the British
and German Navies on January 24, 1915.
The Germans assumed that British fishing trawlers
were transmitting data about the movements of their fleet.
The German High Seas Fleet conducted a raid on Dogger Bank to put a stop to it.
It was initially planned for early January,
but heavy storms prevented it from taking place.
Thus, battlecruiser Von der Tann was sent for scheduled short repairs,
and the third squadron of the latest Kaiser- and König-class battleships
departed for combat training in the Baltic Sea.
But January 23, 1915, brought good weather.
The same evening, the first reconnaissance group,
consisting of Seydlitz (the flagship of Rear Admiral Hipper)
battlecruisers Moltke and Derflinger,
and armored cruiser Blücher headed out to sea
together with the second reconnaissance group—
light cruisers Stralsund, Graudenz, Rostock, and Kolberg.
They were accompanied by destroyers of the Fifth and Eighth Flotillas.
Room 40—a special cryptanalysis section—
was established in the British Admiralty in late 1914.
With its help, the British managed to decipher German radio messages
and learned about the imminent raid.
Significant forces of the Grand Fleet were engaged in the operation.
The first (Lion, Princess Royal, and Tiger)
and second (New Zealand and Indomitable) battlecruiser squadrons
left Rosyth for Dogger Bank.
They were accompanied by the first light cruiser squadron
(Southampton, Birmingham, Nottingham, and Lowestoft).
Three light cruisers—Aurora, Arethusa, and Undaunted—
and three destroyer flotillas— the first, third, and tenth—
sailed out from Harwich. A total of 35 ships.
If the Germans had sent battleships to support the cruisers,
the British would certainly have found out and prepared a response,
and the battle (if it had happened)
would have followed a completely different scenario.
At 7:05 on January 24,
British light cruiser Aurora spotted a three-funnel cruiser and four destroyers.
The cruiser responded to the light signal to identify itself at first,
then suddenly opened fire. It was Kolberg.
During the short duel that ensued,
she hit the British cruiser with three shells and took a couple of hits as well.
A few minutes later, cruiser Blucher
reported that she had spotted several British light cruisers and destroyers.
An hour later, Blucher, which was at the rear of the formation,
used her main battery guns to drive off the British destroyers
that had approached within close range.
The Germans soon saw numerous clouds of billowing smoke on the horizon.
At 07:35, Hipper gave an order to turn to the southeast
and send a radio message requesting support
from the main forces of the High Seas Fleet.
The British battlecruisers have started to give chase.
The British had an advantage in speed,
since the Germans couldn't sail faster than Blucher.
Blucher's top speed was only 23 knots.
Soon, she was within firing range of Beatty's battlecruisers.
Hipper ordered his ships to change their formation
so as to meet the enemy with fire from all guns.
The battle commenced at 08:52.
If German battlecruiser Von der Tann hadn't gone for her planned repairs,
she would certainly have taken Blucher's place.
The Germans would have been able to break away
from their pursuers and safely flee.
Three British battlecruisers shelled Blucher from 09:05 to 09:24,
then Lion switched focus to Derflinger.
At 09:35, British Admiral Beatty ordered each of his ships
to shoot at the opposite enemy ship in line.
A 343 mm British shell pierced Seydlitz's deck—Hipper's flagship—
and exploded, hitting the armor of the aft turret barbette.
As a result of the explosion,
powder bags in the handling cordite compartment were set ablaze.
The powder blaze burned the compartment, the aft turret,
the next compartment, and the second aft turret.
159 people died; both turrets were incapacitated.
If it hadn't been for the decisive actions of three sailors
led by Сorvette Captain Hagedorn— the executive officer of the ship—
who opened the emergency flooding valves of the magazines,
Seydlitz might have sunk.
At 10:45, Blucher had to slow down and started to fall behind the battlecruisers.
After a few minutes, the ship lost control
and began turning to her left in a circle.
Meanwhile, the Germans focused their fire on Lion.
The ship got hit 15–17 times.
By 10:55, she had left the head of the formation and started turning north.
The British battlecruiser took on 3,000 tons of water
and was listing 10 degrees to her port side.
Soon, the port-side turbine failed, and her speed dropped to 15 knots.
The ship was left without electricity.
Blucher received one hit after another.
The armored cruiser started losing speed,
and a strong fire raged in her middle section.
In an attempt to provide assistance,
Admiral Hipper ordered the destroyers to attack the British battlecruisers.
At that moment, however,
the British thought they saw the periscope of a German submarine,
and they turned north to avoid a possible torpedo attack.
Hipper considered this maneuver a trap,
and he decided to return to base at 11:10.
If Hipper had kept on trying to save Blucher,
the British would most likely have destroyed his entire squadron.
The German cruisers shelled the British until 11:14.
Over the last 10 minutes of the battle, Lion took seven more hits.
Owing to a false report of a fire in the powder magazines,
the artillery magazine was partially flooded.
Nevertheless, the British commander gave an order to pursue and attack
the retreating enemy battlecruisers.
But other ships misunderstood the signal from the flagship,
and the remaining battlecruisers focused their fire on Blucher.
If they had continued the chase,
the outcome of the battle would have been even less predictable.
Four British battlecruisers would have been in pursuit of three German ones.
And given that the Germans scored a higher number of hits
compared to the British (22 vs. 6),
victory could well have turned into a defeat.
Left alone, Blucher managed to damage one destroyer.
At 11:38, after taking two torpedo hits from cruiser Arethusa,
the ship ceased fire and, at 11:45, hauled down her colors.
Control of the ship had already been lost, and she was on fire.
Her gun fire-control systems were destroyed,
and most of her artillery wasn't functioning.
At 12:13, the German cruiser rolled over and sank.
The British rescued 281 German sailors.
This battle ended in a decisive victory for the Grand Fleet.
The Germans lost armored cruiser Blucher,
and battlecruiser Seydlitz was heavily damaged.
The battle claimed the lives of around 1,000 German sailors.
The British suffered far fewer losses:
battlecruisers Lion and Tiger,
as well as one of the destroyers, were seriously damaged;
14 people were killed; and 29 people were injured.
Let's try to recreate this battle with Von der Tann—
imagining that she wasn't sent for repairs
and substitutes Blucher in the formation.
Thus, the Germans have four battlecruisers in the echelon left formation
against four British battlecruisers in the same formation.
How might the battle have turned out under these circumstances?
The German concept of "more armor and collision protection structure
but lower speed and smaller gun caliber"
versus the English one of "higher speed and larger guns but less armor."
The British fire "one to one"
(each ship fires at the enemy in front of her in the enemy formation).
The Germans fire "focusing on the leading ship"
(until she sinks, stops, or is unable to continue the battle).
Then, they switch to the next target.
The firepower of the British is 15,784 kg.
That of the Germans is 11,485 kg.
The German squadron noticeably loses in this parameter.
In addition, the diamond-shaped arrangement of the main battery turrets
on most of the German light cruisers
will affect the number of guns per salvo at certain course angles.
Will the German skill, accuracy, and armor
top the English speed and firepower?
Whose tactics will prevail?
Focused fire can seem to bring results at first glance.
Let's arrange the ships according to the battle scheme,
replace those that are unavailable in the game
with their sister ships or close analogs,
and slightly decrease the distance between the opponents—
not all participants of the reconstruction in World of Warships
are capable of firing over the 16–17 km range
at which the battle was largely fought.
Of course, we can't take all the real parameters into account,
but we'll compare the advantages and disadvantages of the tactics
of the British and German squadrons.
So, everything is ready for the test.
The ships are lined up opposite each other.
The players have all the same instructions given by the admirals in this battle.
The players can't use consumables or change course.
Armor vs. firepower. Off we go!
The German focused fire bears its first fruits 42 seconds after the first salvo—
an English battleship goes under.
The second one follows her a minute later.
And then the third.
The British substantially battered the two leading German battleships.
They even managed to sink one of them,
but it took them more than four minutes.
The last British ship stood no chance.
What conclusion can we arrive at?
Focusing fire on one target at time,
as long as you can handle it, brings victory.
Of course, history doesn't have a conditional tense,
but it's still interesting to wonder “What if...?”!
Stay tuned for new episodes!