The Battle of Dogger Bank was a naval battle in the North Sea that took place on 24 January 1915, during the First World War, involving units of the Royal Navy and the German Fleet. The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... The Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial Navy was the German Navy created by the formation of the German Empire and existed between 1871 and 1919; it grew out of the Prussian Navy and the Norddeutsche Bundesmarine. ...

With the German home fleet effectively bottled up by Admiral Beatty's success at Heligoland Bight, German Admiral Franz von Hipper decided to launch a raid upon three British North Sea coastal towns using the German Battlecruiser Squadron, comprising five battlecruisers supported by light cruisers and destroyers. The raid took place on 16 December 1914 at 9am, and resulted in the death of 18 civilians at Scarborough, causing further damage at Whitby and Hartlepool. David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (1871-1936), born in County Wexford, Ireland, was an admiral in the Royal Navy. ... Battle of Heligoland Bight - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... Franz Ritter von Hipper (September 13, 1863- May 25, 1932) was a German admiral. ... HMS Hood (left) and HMS Barham (right), in Malta, 1937. ... A light cruiser is a warship that is not so large and powerful as a regular (or heavy) cruiser, but still larger than ships like destroyers. ... USS Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and manouverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range attackers (originally torpedo boats, later submarines and aircraft). ... December 16 is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The South Bay at Scarborough Scarborough lies on the North Sea coast of North Yorkshire, England. ... Map sources for Whitby at grid reference NZ8910 Whitby is a historic town in North Yorkshire on the north-east coast of England. ... Hartlepool (pronounced HART-lee-pool) is a North Sea port in North East England. ...

British public and political reaction was outraged that the German Fleet could sail so close to the British coast and proceed to shell coastal towns.

Buoyed by the success of the raid, Admiral Hipper resolved to repeat the exercise the following month. He was however intercepted by the British on 24 January 1915 at Dogger Bank, midway between Germany and Britain. January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Dogger Bank is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about 100km off the coast of the United Kingdom. ...

Through intercepted German radio traffic the British had learnt of Hipper's proposed sortie on 23 January. Consequently Admiral Beatty set sail with five battle cruisers to meet Hipper's three, aided by a further six light cruisers. Joined by additional cruisers and destroyers at Harwich, Beatty proceeded south before encountering Hipper's outlying vessels at 7.20am on the morning of 24 January. January 23 is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

Realising he was overpowered, Hipper attempted to escape, believing the British battle cruisers to be slower than his. Beatty's cruisers, however, were notably faster than their German counterparts, and succeeded in reaching their extreme firing range by 9am. Battle started half an hour later.

The sinking SMS Blücher rolls over onto her side

The British managed to first halt and then sink the slower armored cruiser SMS Blücher, killing 782 men, and damaged Hipper's flagship, battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz (killing 192), although the Germans in turn succeeding in effectively hammering Beatty's own flagship, HMS Lion, to a standstill. Lion took no further part in the battle after 11:00. Description: Sinking of the SMS Blücher Size: 662 &times 411 pixels Source: International News Service photo, 1915. ... Description: Sinking of the SMS Blücher Size: 662 &times 411 pixels Source: International News Service photo, 1915. ... SMS Blücher was an armoured cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine, and was the last vessel of its class built by Germany. ... The armored cruiser was a naval cruiser protected by armor on its sides as well as on the decks and gun positions. ... SMS Blücher was an armoured cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine, and was the last vessel of its class built by Germany. ... SMS Seydlitz was a 25,000 ton battlecruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at Hamburg, Germany, and commissioned in May 1913. ... HMS Lion was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy launched in 1910, the lead ship of her class. ...

Nevertheless, a major British success appeared likely until Beatty, believed he saw a submarine (It seems, he saw a surfacing torpedo launched by a German destroyer), and ordered a sharp turn to avoid it. Beatty sent out an order, which thanks to the destruction of Lion's electrics and the damage done to her flag hoists, was seriously vague. In following this order his remaining active battlecruisers broke off the pursuit of the German battle cruiser squadron, and rounded on the crippled Blücher, sinking her.

In the intervening time the heavily damaged main German battle cruiser squadron was able to escape.

A German zeppelin appeared over the sinking Blucher and dropped bombs on the sailors. Apparently this was the source of a German claim that a British battlecruiser had sunk.

15 British sailors had been killed in the encounter.

Although the battle was not greatly consequential of itself, it boosted British morale and concerned the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, enough to issue an order stating that all further risks to surface vessels were to be avoided. Kaiser Wilhelm II Emperor Wilhelm II of Prussia and Germany, ( 27 January , 1859–4 June , 1941) was the last German Emperor ( Kaiser ) and the last King ( König ) of Prussia, ruling from 1888 to 1918. ...

External link

• Battle of Dogger Bank