SMS Blücher
Encyclopedia
SMS Blücher ("His Majesty's Ship Blücher") was the last armored cruiser
to be built by the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). She was designed to match what German intelligence incorrectly believed to be the specifications of the British s. Blücher was larger than preceding armored cruisers and carried more heavy guns, but was unable to match the size and armament of the battlecruiser
s which replaced armored cruisers in the British and German navies. The ship was named for the Prussian Field Marshal
Gebhard von Blücher
, the commander of Prussian forces at the Battle of Waterloo
in 1815.
Blücher was built at the Kaiserliche Werft
shipyard in Kiel
between 1907 and 1909, and commissioned on 1 October 1909. The ship served in the I Scouting Group
for most of her career, including the early portion of World War I
. She took part in the operation to bombard Yarmouth
and the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby
in 1914.
At the Battle of Dogger Bank
on 24 January 1915, Blücher was slowed significantly after being hit by gunfire from the British battlecruiser squadron under the command of Vice Admiral David Beatty
. Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper
, the commander of the German squadron, decided to abandon Blücher to the pursuing enemy ships in order to save his more valuable battlecruisers. Under heavy fire from the British ships, she was sunk, and British destroyers began recovering the survivors. However, the destroyers were forced to withdraw when a German zeppelin
began bombing them, mistaking the sinking Blücher for a British battlecruiser. The number of casualties is unknown, with figures ranging from 747 to around 1,000.
. The earliest armored cruiser
——was rushed through production specifically to be deployed to China to assist in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion
in 1900. Subsequent armored cruisers—with the exception of the two ships—served with the fleet in the reconnaissance force.
On 26 May 1906, the Reichstag authorized funds for Blücher, along with the first two s. Though the ship would be much larger and more powerful than previous armored cruisers, Blücher retained that designation in an attempt to conceal its more powerful nature. The ship was ordered under the provisional name "E". Her design was influenced by the need to match the armored cruisers which Britain was known to be building at the time. The Germans expected these new British ships to be armed with six or eight 9.2 in (23.4 cm) guns. In response, the German navy approved a design with twelve 21 cm (8.3 in) guns in six twin turret
s. This was significantly more firepower than that of the previous of German armored cruisers, which only carried eight 21 cm guns.
One week after the final decision was made to authorize construction of Blücher, the German naval attache obtained the actual details of the new British ships, called the . In fact, HMS Invincible carried eight 30.5 cm (12 in) guns of the same type mounted on battleship
s. It was soon recognized that these ships were a new type of warship, which eventually came to be classified as the battlecruiser
. When the details of the Invincible class came to light, it was too late to redesign Blücher, and there were no funds for a redesign, so work proceeded as scheduled. Blücher was therefore arguably obsolete even before her construction started, and was rapidly surpassed by the German Navy′s battlecruisers, of which the first was ordered in 1907. Despite this, Blücher was typically deployed with the German battlecruiser squadron. The ship ultimately cost the German government 28,532,000 Goldmarks
.
of 24.5 metre, and with the anti-torpedo nets mounted along the sides of the ship, the beam increased to 25.62 metre. Blücher had a draft
of 8.84 metre forward, but slightly less aft, at 8.56 metre. The ship displaced
15842 t (15,591.8 LT) at her designed weight, and up to 17500 t (17,223.6 LT) at maximum displacement. Her hull was constructed with both transverse and longitudinal steel frames, and she had 13 watertight compartments and a double bottom
that ran for approximately 65% of the length of the hull.
Documents from the German naval archives generally indicate satisfaction with Blücher′s minor pitch
and gentle motion at sea. However, she suffered from severe roll
, and with the rudder hard over, she heeled over up to 10°
from the vertical and lost up to 55% of her speed. Blücher′s metacentric height
was 1.63 metre. The ship had a standard crew of 41 officers and 812 enlisted men, with an additional 14 officers and 62 sailors when she served as a squadron flagship
. She carried a number of smaller vessels, including two picket boats, three barges, two launches
, two yawl
s, and one dinghy
.
s. The highest power ever achieved by a reciprocating engine warship was the 43886 ihp produced by Blücher on her trials in 1909.
s, one pair fore and one pair aft, and two pairs in wing turrets on either side of the superstructure
. The guns were supplied with a total of 1,020 shells, or 85 rounds per gun. Each shell weighed 108 kg (238.1 lb), and was 61 cm (24 in) in length. The guns could be depressed to -5° and elevated to 30°, providing a maximum range of 19100 m (20,888 yd). Their rate of fire was 4-5 rounds per minute.
The ship had a secondary battery of eight 15 cm SK L/45 quick-firing guns mounted in MPL C/06 casemate
s, four centered amidships on either side of the vessel. These guns could engage targets out to 13500 m (14,763.8 yd). They were supplied with 1320 rounds, for 165 shells per gun, and had a sustained rate of fire
of 5-7 rounds per minute. The shells were 45.3 kg (99.9 lb), and were loaded with a 13.7 kg (30.2 lb) RPC/12 propellant
charge in a brass cartridge. The guns fired at a muzzle velocity
of 835 m (2,739.5 ft) per second, and were expected to fire around 1,400 shells before they needed to be replaced.
Blücher was also armed with sixteen 8.8 cm (3.46 in) SK L/45 quick-firing guns, placed in both casemates and pivot mounts. Four of these guns were mounted in casemates near the bridge, four in casemates in the bow, another four in casemates at the stern, and the remaining four were mounted in pivot mounts in the rear superstructure. They were supplied with a total of 3,200 rounds, or 200 shells per gun, and could fire at a rate of 15 shells per minute. Their high explosive shells weighed 10 kg (22 lb), and were loaded with a 3 kg (6.6 lb) RPC/12 propellant charge. These guns had a life expectancy of around 7,000 rounds. The guns had a maximum range of 10700 m (11,701.7 yd).
Blücher was also equipped with four 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes. One was placed in the bow, one in the stern, and the other two were placed on the broadside, all below the waterline. The ship carried a total of 11 torpedoes. The torpedoes carried a 110 kg (242.5 lb) warhead and had two speed settings, which affected the range. At 32 kn (62.7 km/h; 39 mph), the weapon had a range of 2000 m (2,187.2 yd) and at 36 kn (70.6 km/h; 43.8 mph), the range was reduced to 1500 m (1,640.4 yd).
. The armored belt was supplemented by a 3.5 cm (1.4 in) torpedo bulkhead
, though this only ran between the forward and rear centerline gun turrets.
The forward conning tower
was the most heavily armored part of the ship. Its sides were 25 cm (9.8 in) thick and it had a roof that was 8 cm thick. The rear conning tower was significantly less well armored, with a roof that was 3 cm thick and sides that were only 14 cm (5.5 in) thick. The central citadel of the ship was protected by 16 cm (6.3 in) armor. The main battery turrets were 8 cm thick in their roofs, and had 18 cm sides. The 15 cm turret casemates were protected by 14c cm of armor.
Blücher was launched on 11 April 1908 and commissioned into the fleet on 1 October 1909. She served as a training ship for naval gunners starting in 1911. In 1914, she was transferred to the I Scouting Group
along with the newer battlecruisers , , and the flagship .
) island. The German cruiser attempted to lure the Russian ships back towards Blücher so that she could destroy them, but the Russians refused to take the bait and instead withdrew to the Gulf of Finland
. On 9 September, the operation was terminated without any major engagements between the two fleets.
s, left the Jade Estuary and steamed towards the English coast. The flotilla arrived off Great Yarmouth
at daybreak the following morning and bombarded the port, while the light cruiser laid a minefield. The British submarine responded to the bombardment, but struck one of the mines laid by Stralsund and sank. Shortly thereafter, Hipper ordered his ships to turn back to German waters. On the way, a heavy fog covered the Heligoland Bight
, so the ships were ordered to halt until visibility improved and they could safely navigate the defensive minefields. The armored cruiser made a navigational error that led her into one of the German minefields. She struck two mines and quickly sank; only 127 men out of the crew of 629 were rescued.
, commander of the German High Seas Fleet
, decided that another raid on the English coast should be carried out in the hopes of luring a portion of the Grand Fleet into combat where it could be destroyed. At 03:20, CET
on 15 December 1914, Blücher, Moltke, Von der Tann, the new battlecruiser , and Seydlitz, along with the light cruisers Kolberg, Strassburg, Stralsund, Graudenz, and two squadrons of torpedo boats left the Jade estuary. The ships sailed north past the island of Heligoland, until they reached the Horns Reef lighthouse, at which point the ships turned west towards Scarborough. Twelve hours after Hipper left the Jade, the High Seas Fleet, consisting of 14 dreadnought
s and eight pre-dreadnought
s and a screening force of two armored cruisers, seven light cruisers, and 54 torpedo boats, departed to provide distant cover for the bombardment force.
On 26 August 1914, the German light cruiser had run aground in the Gulf of Finland
; the wreck was captured by the Russian navy, which found code books used by the German navy, along with navigational charts for the North Sea. These documents were then passed on to the Royal Navy. Room 40
began decrypting German signals, and on 14 December, intercepted messages relating to the plan to bombard Scarborough. The exact details of the plan were unknown, and it was assumed that the High Seas Fleet would remain safely in port, as in the previous bombardment. Vice Admiral Beatty′s four battlecruisers, supported by the 3rd Cruiser Squadron and the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron, along with the 2nd Battle Squadron
′s six dreadnoughts, were to ambush Hipper′s battlecruisers.
On the night of 15/16 December, the main body of the High Seas Fleet encountered British destroyers. Fearing the prospect of a nighttime torpedo attack, Admiral Ingenohl ordered the ships to retreat. Hipper was unaware of Ingenohl′s reversal, and so he continued with the bombardment. Upon reaching the British coast, Hipper′s battlecruisers split into two groups. Seydlitz, Moltke, and Blücher went north to shell Hartlepool, while Von der Tann and Derfflinger went south to shell Scarborough and Whitby. Of the three towns, only Hartlepool was defended by coastal artillery batteries. During the bombardment of Hartlepool, Seydlitz was hit three times and Blücher was hit six times by the coastal battery. Blücher suffered minimal damage, but nine men were killed and another three were wounded. By 09:45 on the 16th, the two groups had reassembled, and they began to retreat eastward.
By this time, Beatty′s battlecruisers were in position to block Hipper′s chosen egress route, while other forces were en route to complete the encirclement. At 12:25, the light cruisers of the II Scouting Group began to pass through the British forces searching for Hipper. One of the cruisers in the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron spotted Stralsund and signaled a report to Beatty. At 12:30, Beatty turned his battlecruisers towards the German ships. Beatty presumed that the German cruisers were the advance screen for Hipper′s ships, but the battlecruisers were some 50 km (27 nmi; 31.1 mi) ahead. The 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron, which had been screening for Beatty′s ships, detached to pursue the German cruisers, but a misinterpreted signal from the British battlecruisers sent them back to their screening positions.Beatty had intended to retain only the two rearmost light cruisers from Goodenough
′s squadron, but Nottingham
′s signalman misinterpreted the signal, thinking that it was intended for the whole squadron, and thus transmitted it to Goodenough, who ordered his ships back into their screening positions ahead of Beatty's battlecruisers. This confusion allowed the German light cruisers to escape and alerted Hipper to the location of the British battlecruisers. The German battlecruisers wheeled to the northeast of the British forces and made good their escape.
Both the British and the Germans were disappointed that they failed to effectively engage their opponents. Admiral Ingenohl′s reputation suffered greatly as a result of his timidity. The captain of Moltke was furious; he stated that Ingenohl had turned back "because he was afraid of eleven British destroyers which could have been eliminated ... Under the present leadership we will accomplish nothing." The official German history criticized Ingenohl for failing to use his light forces to determine the size of the British fleet, stating: "He decided on a measure which not only seriously jeopardized his advance forces off the English coast but also deprived the German Fleet of a signal and certain victory."
In early January 1915, it became known to the German naval command that British ships were conducting reconnaissance in the Dogger Bank
area. Admiral Ingenohl was initially reluctant to attempt to destroy these forces, because the I Scouting Group was temporarily weakened while Von der Tann was in drydock for periodic maintenance. Rear Admiral Richard Eckermann—the Chief of Staff of the High Seas Fleet—insisted on the operation, and so Ingenohl relented and ordered Hipper to take his battlecruisers to the Dogger Bank.
On 23 January, Hipper sortied, with Seydlitz in the lead, followed by Moltke, Derfflinger, and Blücher, along with the light cruisers Graudenz, Rostock, Stralsund, and Kolberg and 19 torpedo boats from V Flotilla and II and XVIII Half-Flotillas. Graudenz and Stralsund were assigned to the forward screen, while Kolberg and Rostock were assigned to the starboard and port, respectively. Each light cruiser had a half-flotilla of torpedo boats attached.
Again, interception and decryption of German wireless signals played an important role. Although they were unaware of the exact plans, the cryptographers of Room 40 were able to deduce that Hipper would be conducting an operation in the Dogger Bank area. To counter it, Beatty′s 1st Battlecruiser Squadron
, Rear Admiral Gordon Moore
′s 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron
and Commodore William Goodenough
′s 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron were to rendezvous with Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt
′s Harwich Force
at 08:00 on 24 January, approximately 30 nmi (55.6 km; 34.5 mi) north of the Dogger Bank.
At 08:14, Kolberg spotted the light cruiser and several destroyers from the Harwich Force. Aurora challenged Kolberg with a searchlight, at which point Kolberg attacked Aurora and scored two hits. Aurora returned fire and scored two hits on Kolberg in retaliation. Hipper immediately turned his battlecruisers towards the gunfire, when, almost simultaneously, Stralsund spotted a large amount of smoke to the northwest of her position. This was identified as a number of large British warships steaming toward Hipper′s ships. Hipper later remarked:
Hipper turned south to flee, but was limited to 23 kn (45.1 km/h; 28 mph), which was Blücher′s maximum speed at the time.Throughout the war, the German Navy suffered from a chronic shortage of high-quality coal. As a result, the ships′ engines could not operate at maximum performance. For example, at the Battle of Jutland
, the battlecruiser , which had a maximum speed of 27.5 kn (53.9 km/h; 33.5 mph), was limited to 18 kn (9.8 m/s) for a significant length of time due to this problem. See: Philbin, pp. 56-57 The pursuing British battlecruisers were steaming at 27 kn (52.9 km/h; 32.9 mph), and quickly caught up to the German ships. At 09:52, opened fire on Blücher from a range of approximately 20,000 yards (18,000 m); shortly after, and began firing as well. At 10:09, the British guns made their first hit on Blücher. Two minutes later, the German ships began returning fire, primarily concentrating on Lion, from a range of 18000 yd (16,459.2 m). At 10:28, Lion was struck on the waterline, which tore a hole in the side of the ship and flooded a coal bunker. At around this time, Blücher scored a hit with a 21 cm shell on Lion′s forward turret. The shell failed to penetrate the armor, but had concussion effect and temporarily disabled the left gun. At 10:30, —the fourth ship in Beatty′s line—came within range of Blücher and opened fire. By 10:35, the range had closed to 17500 yd (16,002 m), at which point the entire German line was within the effective range of the British ships. Beatty ordered his battlecruisers to engage their German counterparts.Thus, Lion on Seydlitz, Tiger on Moltke, Princess Royal on Derfflinger, and New Zealand on Blücher.
By 11:00, Blücher had been severely damaged after having been pounded by numerous heavy shells from the British battlecruisers. However, the three leading German battlecruisers, Seydlitz, Derfflinger, and Moltke, had concentrated their fire on Lion and scored several hits; two of her three dynamos were disabled and the port side engine room had been flooded. At 11:48, arrived on the scene, and was directed by Beatty to destroy the battered Blücher. She was already on fire and listing heavily to port; one of the ship′s survivors recounted the destruction that was being wrought:
However, this was interrupted due to reports of U-boats ahead of the British ships; Beatty quickly ordered evasive maneuvers, which allowed the German ships to increase the distance from their pursuers. At this time, Lion′s last operational dynamo failed, which reduced her speed to 15 kn (29.4 km/h; 18.3 mph). Beatty, in the stricken Lion, ordered the remaining battlecruisers to "Engage the enemy's rear", but signal confusion caused the ships to target Blücher alone. She continued to resist stubbornly; Blücher repulsed attacks by the four cruisers of the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron and four destroyers. However, the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron flagship, Aurora, hit Blücher twice with torpedoes. By this time, every main battery gun turret except the rear mount had been silenced. A volley of seven more torpedoes were launched at point-blank range; these hits caused the ship to capsize at 13:13. In the course of the engagement, Blücher had been hit by 70-100 large-caliber shells and several torpedoes.
As the ship was sinking, British destroyers steamed towards her in an attempt to rescue survivors from the water. However, the German zeppelin
L5 mistook the sinking Blücher for a British battlecruiser, and tried to bomb the destroyers. The destroyers were forced to withdraw. Figures vary on the number of casualties. Paul Schmalenbach reported 6 officers of a total of 29 and 275 enlisted men of a complement of 999 were pulled from the water, for a total of 747 men killed. The official German sources examined by Erich Gröner stated that 792 men died when Blücher sank, while James Goldrick referred to British documents, which reported only 234 men survived from a crew of at least 1,200. Among those who had been rescued was Captain at Sea
(Kapitan zur See) Erdmann, the commanding officer of Blücher. He later died of pneumonia while in British captivity. A further twenty men would also die as prisoners of war.
The concentration on Blücher allowed Moltke, Seydlitz, and Derfflinger to escape. Admiral Hipper had originally intended to use his three battlecruisers to turn about and flank the British ships, in order to relieve the battered Blücher, but when he learned of the severe damage to his flagship, he decided to abandon the armored cruiser. Hipper later recounted his decision:
By the time Beatty regained control over his ships, after having boarded Princess Royal, the German ships had too great a lead for the British to catch them; at 13:50, he broke off the chase. Kaiser Wilhelm II was enraged by the destruction of Blücher and the near sinking of Seydlitz, and ordered the High Seas Fleet to remain in harbor. Rear Admiral Eckermann was removed from his post and Admiral Ingenohl was forced to resign. He was replaced by Admiral Hugo von Pohl
.
Armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
to be built by the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). She was designed to match what German intelligence incorrectly believed to be the specifications of the British s. Blücher was larger than preceding armored cruisers and carried more heavy guns, but was unable to match the size and armament of the battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
s which replaced armored cruisers in the British and German navies. The ship was named for the Prussian Field Marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Gebhard von Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt , Graf , later elevated to Fürst von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall who led his army against Napoleon I at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1813 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with the Duke of Wellington.He is...
, the commander of Prussian forces at the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
in 1815.
Blücher was built at the Kaiserliche Werft
Kaiserliche Werft Kiel
Kaiserliche Werft Kiel was a German shipbuilding company founded in 1867, first as Königliche Werft Kiel but renamed in 1871 with the proclamation of the German Empire...
shipyard in Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
between 1907 and 1909, and commissioned on 1 October 1909. The ship served in the I Scouting Group
I Scouting Group
The I Scouting Group was a special reconnaissance unit within the German Kaiserliche Marine. The unit was famously commanded by Admiral Franz von Hipper during World War I. The I Scouting Group was one of the most active formations in the High Seas Fleet during the war; the unit took part in every...
for most of her career, including the early portion of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. She took part in the operation to bombard Yarmouth
Raid on Yarmouth
The Raid on Yarmouth, which took place on 3 November 1914, was an attack by the German Navy on the British North Sea port and town of Great Yarmouth. Little damage was done to the town since shells only landed on the beach after German ships laying mines offshore were interrupted by British...
and the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby
Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby
The raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, which took place on 16 December 1914, was an attack by the Imperial German Navy on the British seaport towns of Scarborough, Hartlepool, West Hartlepool, and Whitby. The attack resulted in 137 fatalities and 592 casualties, many of which were civilians...
in 1914.
At the Battle of Dogger Bank
Battle of Dogger Bank (1915)
The Battle of Dogger Bank was a naval battle fought near the Dogger Bank in the North Sea on 24 January 1915, during the First World War, between squadrons of the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet....
on 24 January 1915, Blücher was slowed significantly after being hit by gunfire from the British battlecruiser squadron under the command of Vice Admiral David Beatty
David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty
Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO was an admiral in the Royal Navy...
. Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper
Franz von Hipper
Franz Ritter von Hipper was an admiral in the German Imperial Navy . Franz von Hipper joined the German Navy in 1881 as an officer cadet. He commanded several torpedo boat units and served as watch officer aboard several warships, as well as Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht Hohenzollern...
, the commander of the German squadron, decided to abandon Blücher to the pursuing enemy ships in order to save his more valuable battlecruisers. Under heavy fire from the British ships, she was sunk, and British destroyers began recovering the survivors. However, the destroyers were forced to withdraw when a German zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
began bombing them, mistaking the sinking Blücher for a British battlecruiser. The number of casualties is unknown, with figures ranging from 747 to around 1,000.
Design
German armored cruisers—referred to as Große Kreuzer (large cruisers)—were designed for several tasks. The ships were designed to engage the reconnaissance forces of rival navies, as well as fight in the line of battleLine of battle
In naval warfare, the line of battle is a tactic in which the ships of the fleet form a line end to end. A primitive form had been used by the Portuguese under Vasco Da Gama in 1502 near Malabar against a Muslim fleet.,Maarten Tromp used it in the Action of 18 September 1639 while its first use in...
. The earliest armored cruiser
Armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...
——was rushed through production specifically to be deployed to China to assist in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
in 1900. Subsequent armored cruisers—with the exception of the two ships—served with the fleet in the reconnaissance force.
On 26 May 1906, the Reichstag authorized funds for Blücher, along with the first two s. Though the ship would be much larger and more powerful than previous armored cruisers, Blücher retained that designation in an attempt to conceal its more powerful nature. The ship was ordered under the provisional name "E". Her design was influenced by the need to match the armored cruisers which Britain was known to be building at the time. The Germans expected these new British ships to be armed with six or eight 9.2 in (23.4 cm) guns. In response, the German navy approved a design with twelve 21 cm (8.3 in) guns in six twin turret
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
s. This was significantly more firepower than that of the previous of German armored cruisers, which only carried eight 21 cm guns.
One week after the final decision was made to authorize construction of Blücher, the German naval attache obtained the actual details of the new British ships, called the . In fact, HMS Invincible carried eight 30.5 cm (12 in) guns of the same type mounted on battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s. It was soon recognized that these ships were a new type of warship, which eventually came to be classified as the battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
. When the details of the Invincible class came to light, it was too late to redesign Blücher, and there were no funds for a redesign, so work proceeded as scheduled. Blücher was therefore arguably obsolete even before her construction started, and was rapidly surpassed by the German Navy′s battlecruisers, of which the first was ordered in 1907. Despite this, Blücher was typically deployed with the German battlecruiser squadron. The ship ultimately cost the German government 28,532,000 Goldmarks
German gold mark
The Goldmark was the currency used in the German Empire from 1873 to 1914.-History:Before unification, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16⅔ grams of pure silver...
.
General characteristics
Blücher was 161.1 metre long at the waterline and 161.8 metre long overall. The ship had a beamBeam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 24.5 metre, and with the anti-torpedo nets mounted along the sides of the ship, the beam increased to 25.62 metre. Blücher had a draft
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
of 8.84 metre forward, but slightly less aft, at 8.56 metre. The ship displaced
Displacement (ship)
A ship's displacement is its weight at any given time, generally expressed in metric tons or long tons. The term is often used to mean the ship's weight when it is loaded to its maximum capacity. A number of synonymous terms exist for this maximum weight, such as loaded displacement, full load...
15842 t (15,591.8 LT) at her designed weight, and up to 17500 t (17,223.6 LT) at maximum displacement. Her hull was constructed with both transverse and longitudinal steel frames, and she had 13 watertight compartments and a double bottom
Double bottom
A double bottom is a ship hull design and construction method where the bottom of the ship has two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is somewhat higher in the ship, perhaps a few feet, which forms a...
that ran for approximately 65% of the length of the hull.
Documents from the German naval archives generally indicate satisfaction with Blücher′s minor pitch
Ship motions
Ship motions are defined by the six degrees of freedom that a ship, boat or any other craft can experience.- Translation :HeaveSwaySurge-Vertical axis:Vertical axis, or yaw axis — an axis drawn from top to bottom, and perpendicular to the other two axes...
and gentle motion at sea. However, she suffered from severe roll
Ship motions
Ship motions are defined by the six degrees of freedom that a ship, boat or any other craft can experience.- Translation :HeaveSwaySurge-Vertical axis:Vertical axis, or yaw axis — an axis drawn from top to bottom, and perpendicular to the other two axes...
, and with the rudder hard over, she heeled over up to 10°
Degree (angle)
A degree , usually denoted by ° , is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1⁄360 of a full rotation; one degree is equivalent to π/180 radians...
from the vertical and lost up to 55% of her speed. Blücher′s metacentric height
Metacentric height
The metacentric height is a measurement of the static stability of a floating body. It is calculated as the distance between the centre of gravity of a ship and its metacentre . A larger metacentric height implies greater stability against overturning...
was 1.63 metre. The ship had a standard crew of 41 officers and 812 enlisted men, with an additional 14 officers and 62 sailors when she served as a squadron flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
. She carried a number of smaller vessels, including two picket boats, three barges, two launches
Launch (boat)
A launch in contemporary usage refers to a large motorboat. The name originally referred to the largest boat carried by a warship. The etymology of the word is given as Portuguese lancha "barge", from Malay lancha, lancharan, "boat," from lanchar "velocity without effort," "action of gliding...
, two yawl
Yawl
A yawl is a two-masted sailing craft similar to a sloop or cutter but with an additional mast located well aft of the main mast, often right on the transom, specifically aft of the rudder post. A yawl (from Dutch Jol) is a two-masted sailing craft similar to a sloop or cutter but with an...
s, and one dinghy
Dinghy
A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed for use as a ship's boat by a larger vessel. It is a loanword from either Bengali or Urdu. The term can also refer to small racing yachts or recreational open sailing boats. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor,...
.
Propulsion
Blücher was equipped with three vertical 4-cylinder triple expansion engines. Each engine drove a propeller, the center screw being 5.3 metre in diameter, while the outer two screws were slightly larger, at 5.6 metre in diameter. The ship had a single rudder with which to steer. The three engines were segregated in individual engine rooms. With six marine-type double boilers per room, the ship contained a total of 18 coal-fired boilers. The ship had a designed maximum speed of 24.5 kn (48 km/h; 29.8 mph), but during her trials, she achieved 25.4 kn (49.8 km/h; 30.9 mph). At a cruising speed of 12 kn (23.5 km/h; 14.6 mph), Blücher could steam for 6600 nmi (12,223.2 km; 7,595.2 mi). At a speed of 18 kn (35.3 km/h; 21.9 mph), her range was cut down to 3250 nmi (6,019 km; 3,740 mi). The ship was designed to carry 900 t (885.8 LT) of coal, though voids in the hull could be used to expand the fuel supply to up to 2510 t (2,470.4 LT) of coal. Electrical power for the ship was supplied by six turbo-generators that provided up to 1,000 kilowatts, rated at 225 voltVolt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
s. The highest power ever achieved by a reciprocating engine warship was the 43886 ihp produced by Blücher on her trials in 1909.
Armament
Blücher was equipped with twelve 21 cm SK L/45In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnellfeuerkanone) denotes that the gun is quick firing, while the L/45 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/45 gun is 45 calibers, meaning that the gun is 45 times as long as the diameter of its bore. quick-firing guns in six twin turretGun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
s, one pair fore and one pair aft, and two pairs in wing turrets on either side of the superstructure
Superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships...
. The guns were supplied with a total of 1,020 shells, or 85 rounds per gun. Each shell weighed 108 kg (238.1 lb), and was 61 cm (24 in) in length. The guns could be depressed to -5° and elevated to 30°, providing a maximum range of 19100 m (20,888 yd). Their rate of fire was 4-5 rounds per minute.
The ship had a secondary battery of eight 15 cm SK L/45 quick-firing guns mounted in MPL C/06 casemate
Casemate
A casemate, sometimes rendered casement, is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired. originally a vaulted chamber in a fortress.-Origin of the term:...
s, four centered amidships on either side of the vessel. These guns could engage targets out to 13500 m (14,763.8 yd). They were supplied with 1320 rounds, for 165 shells per gun, and had a sustained rate of fire
Rate of fire
Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. It is usually measured in rounds per minute , or per second .-Overview:...
of 5-7 rounds per minute. The shells were 45.3 kg (99.9 lb), and were loaded with a 13.7 kg (30.2 lb) RPC/12 propellant
Propellant
A propellant is a material that produces pressurized gas that:* can be directed through a nozzle, thereby producing thrust ;...
charge in a brass cartridge. The guns fired at a muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
of 835 m (2,739.5 ft) per second, and were expected to fire around 1,400 shells before they needed to be replaced.
Blücher was also armed with sixteen 8.8 cm (3.46 in) SK L/45 quick-firing guns, placed in both casemates and pivot mounts. Four of these guns were mounted in casemates near the bridge, four in casemates in the bow, another four in casemates at the stern, and the remaining four were mounted in pivot mounts in the rear superstructure. They were supplied with a total of 3,200 rounds, or 200 shells per gun, and could fire at a rate of 15 shells per minute. Their high explosive shells weighed 10 kg (22 lb), and were loaded with a 3 kg (6.6 lb) RPC/12 propellant charge. These guns had a life expectancy of around 7,000 rounds. The guns had a maximum range of 10700 m (11,701.7 yd).
Blücher was also equipped with four 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes. One was placed in the bow, one in the stern, and the other two were placed on the broadside, all below the waterline. The ship carried a total of 11 torpedoes. The torpedoes carried a 110 kg (242.5 lb) warhead and had two speed settings, which affected the range. At 32 kn (62.7 km/h; 39 mph), the weapon had a range of 2000 m (2,187.2 yd) and at 36 kn (70.6 km/h; 43.8 mph), the range was reduced to 1500 m (1,640.4 yd).
Armor
As with other German capital ships of the period, Blücher was equipped with Krupp cemented armor. The armored deck was between 5–7 cm (2–2.8 in) in thickness; more important areas of the ship were protected with thicker armor, while less critical portions of the deck used the thinner armor. The armored belt was 18 cm (7.1 in) thick in the central portion of the ship where machinery, ammunition magazines, and other vitals were located, and tapered to 8 cm (3.1 in) in less important areas of the hull. The belt tapered down to zero at either end of the ship. Behind the entire length of the belt armor was an additional 3 cm (1.2 in) of teakTeak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...
. The armored belt was supplemented by a 3.5 cm (1.4 in) torpedo bulkhead
Torpedo bulkhead
A torpedo bulkhead is a type of armor common on the more heavily armored warships, especially battleships and battlecruisers of the early 20th century. It is designed to keep the ship afloat even if the hull was struck underneath the belt armor by a shell or by a torpedo...
, though this only ran between the forward and rear centerline gun turrets.
The forward conning tower
Conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....
was the most heavily armored part of the ship. Its sides were 25 cm (9.8 in) thick and it had a roof that was 8 cm thick. The rear conning tower was significantly less well armored, with a roof that was 3 cm thick and sides that were only 14 cm (5.5 in) thick. The central citadel of the ship was protected by 16 cm (6.3 in) armor. The main battery turrets were 8 cm thick in their roofs, and had 18 cm sides. The 15 cm turret casemates were protected by 14c cm of armor.
Service history
I Scouting Group
The I Scouting Group was a special reconnaissance unit within the German Kaiserliche Marine. The unit was famously commanded by Admiral Franz von Hipper during World War I. The I Scouting Group was one of the most active formations in the High Seas Fleet during the war; the unit took part in every...
along with the newer battlecruisers , , and the flagship .
Sweep in the Baltic
The first operation in which Blücher took part was an inconclusive sweep into the Baltic Sea against Russian forces. On 3 September 1914, Blücher, along with seven pre-dreadnought battleships of the IV Squadron, five cruisers, and 24 destroyers sailed into the Baltic in an attempt to draw out a portion of the Russian fleet and destroy it. The light cruiser encountered the armored cruisers and north of Dagö (now HiiumaaHiiumaa
Hiiumaa is the second largest island belonging to Estonia. It is located in the Baltic Sea, north of the island of Saaremaa, a part of the West Estonian archipelago. Its largest town is Kärdla.-Name:...
) island. The German cruiser attempted to lure the Russian ships back towards Blücher so that she could destroy them, but the Russians refused to take the bait and instead withdrew to the Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland
The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn...
. On 9 September, the operation was terminated without any major engagements between the two fleets.
Bombardment of Yarmouth
On 2 November 1914, Blücher—along with the battlecruisers Moltke, Von der Tann, and Seydlitz, and accompanied by four light cruiserLight cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
s, left the Jade Estuary and steamed towards the English coast. The flotilla arrived off Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
at daybreak the following morning and bombarded the port, while the light cruiser laid a minefield. The British submarine responded to the bombardment, but struck one of the mines laid by Stralsund and sank. Shortly thereafter, Hipper ordered his ships to turn back to German waters. On the way, a heavy fog covered the Heligoland Bight
Heligoland Bight
The Heligoland Bight, also known as Helgoland Bight, is a bay which forms the southern part of the German Bight, itself a bay of the North Sea, located at the mouth of the Elbe river...
, so the ships were ordered to halt until visibility improved and they could safely navigate the defensive minefields. The armored cruiser made a navigational error that led her into one of the German minefields. She struck two mines and quickly sank; only 127 men out of the crew of 629 were rescued.
Bombardment of Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby
Admiral Friedrich von IngenohlFriedrich von Ingenohl
Gustav Heinrich Ernst Friedrich von Ingenohl was a German admiral from Neuwied best known for his command of the German High Seas Fleet at the beginning of World War I....
, commander of the German High Seas Fleet
High Seas Fleet
The High Seas Fleet was the battle fleet of the German Empire and saw action during World War I. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to...
, decided that another raid on the English coast should be carried out in the hopes of luring a portion of the Grand Fleet into combat where it could be destroyed. At 03:20, CET
Central European Time
Central European Time , used in most parts of the European Union, is a standard time that is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time . The time offset from UTC can be written as +01:00...
on 15 December 1914, Blücher, Moltke, Von der Tann, the new battlecruiser , and Seydlitz, along with the light cruisers Kolberg, Strassburg, Stralsund, Graudenz, and two squadrons of torpedo boats left the Jade estuary. The ships sailed north past the island of Heligoland, until they reached the Horns Reef lighthouse, at which point the ships turned west towards Scarborough. Twelve hours after Hipper left the Jade, the High Seas Fleet, consisting of 14 dreadnought
Dreadnought
The dreadnought was the predominant type of 20th-century battleship. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts...
s and eight pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought battleship is the general term for all of the types of sea-going battleships built between the mid-1890s and 1905. Pre-dreadnoughts replaced the ironclad warships of the 1870s and 1880s...
s and a screening force of two armored cruisers, seven light cruisers, and 54 torpedo boats, departed to provide distant cover for the bombardment force.
On 26 August 1914, the German light cruiser had run aground in the Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland
The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn...
; the wreck was captured by the Russian navy, which found code books used by the German navy, along with navigational charts for the North Sea. These documents were then passed on to the Royal Navy. Room 40
Room 40
In the history of Cryptanalysis, Room 40 was the section in the Admiralty most identified with the British cryptoanalysis effort during the First World War.Room 40 was formed in October 1914, shortly after the start of the war...
began decrypting German signals, and on 14 December, intercepted messages relating to the plan to bombard Scarborough. The exact details of the plan were unknown, and it was assumed that the High Seas Fleet would remain safely in port, as in the previous bombardment. Vice Admiral Beatty′s four battlecruisers, supported by the 3rd Cruiser Squadron and the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron, along with the 2nd Battle Squadron
2nd Battle Squadron (United Kingdom)
The British Royal Navy 2nd Battle Squadron was a naval squadron consisting of battleships. The 2nd Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet. After World War I the Grand Fleet was reverted back to its original name, the Atlantic Fleet...
′s six dreadnoughts, were to ambush Hipper′s battlecruisers.
On the night of 15/16 December, the main body of the High Seas Fleet encountered British destroyers. Fearing the prospect of a nighttime torpedo attack, Admiral Ingenohl ordered the ships to retreat. Hipper was unaware of Ingenohl′s reversal, and so he continued with the bombardment. Upon reaching the British coast, Hipper′s battlecruisers split into two groups. Seydlitz, Moltke, and Blücher went north to shell Hartlepool, while Von der Tann and Derfflinger went south to shell Scarborough and Whitby. Of the three towns, only Hartlepool was defended by coastal artillery batteries. During the bombardment of Hartlepool, Seydlitz was hit three times and Blücher was hit six times by the coastal battery. Blücher suffered minimal damage, but nine men were killed and another three were wounded. By 09:45 on the 16th, the two groups had reassembled, and they began to retreat eastward.
William Goodenough
Admiral Sir William Edmund Goodenough GCB, MVO was a senior Royal Navy officer of World War I.-Naval career:Goodenough joined the Royal Navy in 1882. He was appointed Commander of the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth in 1905...
′s squadron, but Nottingham
HMS Nottingham (1913)
The fifth HMS Nottingham was launched in 1913 and commissioned in 1914. A light Town class light cruiser of , in length and a complement of 401 men, she had thick armour plating and was armed with nine guns, one 13-pounder anti-aircraft gun and two torpedo tubes...
′s signalman misinterpreted the signal, thinking that it was intended for the whole squadron, and thus transmitted it to Goodenough, who ordered his ships back into their screening positions ahead of Beatty's battlecruisers. This confusion allowed the German light cruisers to escape and alerted Hipper to the location of the British battlecruisers. The German battlecruisers wheeled to the northeast of the British forces and made good their escape.
Both the British and the Germans were disappointed that they failed to effectively engage their opponents. Admiral Ingenohl′s reputation suffered greatly as a result of his timidity. The captain of Moltke was furious; he stated that Ingenohl had turned back "because he was afraid of eleven British destroyers which could have been eliminated ... Under the present leadership we will accomplish nothing." The official German history criticized Ingenohl for failing to use his light forces to determine the size of the British fleet, stating: "He decided on a measure which not only seriously jeopardized his advance forces off the English coast but also deprived the German Fleet of a signal and certain victory."
Battle of Dogger Bank
Dogger Bank
Dogger Bank is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England. It extends over approximately , with its dimensions being about long and up to broad. The water depth ranges from 15 to 36 metres , about shallower than the surrounding sea. It is a...
area. Admiral Ingenohl was initially reluctant to attempt to destroy these forces, because the I Scouting Group was temporarily weakened while Von der Tann was in drydock for periodic maintenance. Rear Admiral Richard Eckermann—the Chief of Staff of the High Seas Fleet—insisted on the operation, and so Ingenohl relented and ordered Hipper to take his battlecruisers to the Dogger Bank.
On 23 January, Hipper sortied, with Seydlitz in the lead, followed by Moltke, Derfflinger, and Blücher, along with the light cruisers Graudenz, Rostock, Stralsund, and Kolberg and 19 torpedo boats from V Flotilla and II and XVIII Half-Flotillas. Graudenz and Stralsund were assigned to the forward screen, while Kolberg and Rostock were assigned to the starboard and port, respectively. Each light cruiser had a half-flotilla of torpedo boats attached.
Again, interception and decryption of German wireless signals played an important role. Although they were unaware of the exact plans, the cryptographers of Room 40 were able to deduce that Hipper would be conducting an operation in the Dogger Bank area. To counter it, Beatty′s 1st Battlecruiser Squadron
1st Battlecruiser Squadron (United Kingdom)
The First Battlecruiser Squadron was a Royal Navy squadron of battlecruisers that saw service as part of the Grand Fleet during the First World War. It was created in 1909 as the First Cruiser Squadron and was renamed in 1913 to First Battle Cruiser Squadron. It participated in the battles of...
, Rear Admiral Gordon Moore
Gordon Moore (Royal Navy officer)
Admiral Sir Gordon Moore KCB CVO was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Third Sea Lord.-Naval career:...
′s 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron
2nd Battlecruiser Squadron (United Kingdom)
The 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron was a Royal Navy squadron of battlecruisers that saw service as part of the Grand Fleet during the First World War.-August 1914:In August 1914, the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron was in the Mediterranean, and consisted of:-1915:...
and Commodore William Goodenough
William Goodenough
Admiral Sir William Edmund Goodenough GCB, MVO was a senior Royal Navy officer of World War I.-Naval career:Goodenough joined the Royal Navy in 1882. He was appointed Commander of the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth in 1905...
′s 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron were to rendezvous with Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt
Reginald Tyrwhitt
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt, 1st Baronet, GCB, DSO was a senior officer of the Royal Navy in World War I who commanded light forces stationed at Harwich on the east coast of England during the first part of the war.-Naval career:Tyrwhitt entered the Navy as a cadet in July, 1885...
′s Harwich Force
Harwich Force
The Harwich Force was a squadron of the Royal Navy, formed during the First World War, that went on to play a significant role in the war.-History:...
at 08:00 on 24 January, approximately 30 nmi (55.6 km; 34.5 mi) north of the Dogger Bank.
At 08:14, Kolberg spotted the light cruiser and several destroyers from the Harwich Force. Aurora challenged Kolberg with a searchlight, at which point Kolberg attacked Aurora and scored two hits. Aurora returned fire and scored two hits on Kolberg in retaliation. Hipper immediately turned his battlecruisers towards the gunfire, when, almost simultaneously, Stralsund spotted a large amount of smoke to the northwest of her position. This was identified as a number of large British warships steaming toward Hipper′s ships. Hipper later remarked:
The presence of such a large force indicated the proximity of further sections of the British Fleet, especially as wireless intercepts revealed the approach of 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron ... They were also reported by Blücher at the rear of the German line, which had opened fire on a light cruiser and several destroyers coming up from astern ... The battlecruisers under my command found themselves, in view of the prevailing [East-North-East] wind, in the windward position and so in an unfavourable situation from the outset ...
Hipper turned south to flee, but was limited to 23 kn (45.1 km/h; 28 mph), which was Blücher′s maximum speed at the time.Throughout the war, the German Navy suffered from a chronic shortage of high-quality coal. As a result, the ships′ engines could not operate at maximum performance. For example, at the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
, the battlecruiser , which had a maximum speed of 27.5 kn (53.9 km/h; 33.5 mph), was limited to 18 kn (9.8 m/s) for a significant length of time due to this problem. See: Philbin, pp. 56-57 The pursuing British battlecruisers were steaming at 27 kn (52.9 km/h; 32.9 mph), and quickly caught up to the German ships. At 09:52, opened fire on Blücher from a range of approximately 20,000 yards (18,000 m); shortly after, and began firing as well. At 10:09, the British guns made their first hit on Blücher. Two minutes later, the German ships began returning fire, primarily concentrating on Lion, from a range of 18000 yd (16,459.2 m). At 10:28, Lion was struck on the waterline, which tore a hole in the side of the ship and flooded a coal bunker. At around this time, Blücher scored a hit with a 21 cm shell on Lion′s forward turret. The shell failed to penetrate the armor, but had concussion effect and temporarily disabled the left gun. At 10:30, —the fourth ship in Beatty′s line—came within range of Blücher and opened fire. By 10:35, the range had closed to 17500 yd (16,002 m), at which point the entire German line was within the effective range of the British ships. Beatty ordered his battlecruisers to engage their German counterparts.Thus, Lion on Seydlitz, Tiger on Moltke, Princess Royal on Derfflinger, and New Zealand on Blücher.
By 11:00, Blücher had been severely damaged after having been pounded by numerous heavy shells from the British battlecruisers. However, the three leading German battlecruisers, Seydlitz, Derfflinger, and Moltke, had concentrated their fire on Lion and scored several hits; two of her three dynamos were disabled and the port side engine room had been flooded. At 11:48, arrived on the scene, and was directed by Beatty to destroy the battered Blücher. She was already on fire and listing heavily to port; one of the ship′s survivors recounted the destruction that was being wrought:
The shells ... bore their way even to the stokehold. The coal in the bunkers was set on fire. 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 ... The terrific air pressure resulting from [an] explosion in a confined space ... roar[ed] through every opening and [tore] its way through every weak spot ... Men were picked up by that terrific air pressure and tossed to a horrible death among the machinery.
As the ship was sinking, British destroyers steamed towards her in an attempt to rescue survivors from the water. However, the German zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
L5 mistook the sinking Blücher for a British battlecruiser, and tried to bomb the destroyers. The destroyers were forced to withdraw. Figures vary on the number of casualties. Paul Schmalenbach reported 6 officers of a total of 29 and 275 enlisted men of a complement of 999 were pulled from the water, for a total of 747 men killed. The official German sources examined by Erich Gröner stated that 792 men died when Blücher sank, while James Goldrick referred to British documents, which reported only 234 men survived from a crew of at least 1,200. Among those who had been rescued was Captain at Sea
Captain at Sea
Captain at Sea, is a naval rank corresponding to command of a ship-of-the-line or capital ship....
(Kapitan zur See) Erdmann, the commanding officer of Blücher. He later died of pneumonia while in British captivity. A further twenty men would also die as prisoners of war.
The concentration on Blücher allowed Moltke, Seydlitz, and Derfflinger to escape. Admiral Hipper had originally intended to use his three battlecruisers to turn about and flank the British ships, in order to relieve the battered Blücher, but when he learned of the severe damage to his flagship, he decided to abandon the armored cruiser. Hipper later recounted his decision:
In order to help the Blücher it was decided to try for a flanking move ... But as I was informed that in my flagship turrets C and D were out of action, we were full of water aft, and that she had only 200 rounds of heavy shell left, I dismissed any further thought of supporting the Blücher. Any such course, now that no intervention from our Main Fleet was to be counted on, was likely to lead to further heavy losses. The support of the Blücher by the flanking move would have brought my formation between the British battlecruisers and the battle squadrons which were probably behind.
By the time Beatty regained control over his ships, after having boarded Princess Royal, the German ships had too great a lead for the British to catch them; at 13:50, he broke off the chase. Kaiser Wilhelm II was enraged by the destruction of Blücher and the near sinking of Seydlitz, and ordered the High Seas Fleet to remain in harbor. Rear Admiral Eckermann was removed from his post and Admiral Ingenohl was forced to resign. He was replaced by Admiral Hugo von Pohl
Hugo von Pohl
Hugo von Pohl was a German admiral who during the First World War commanded the German High Seas Fleet from 1915 until shortly before his death from illness in 1916....
.