But that’s another story. Thinking she had struck a mine, and sinking fast, the order was given to abandon ship. The impact on neutral opinion was equally powerful. Only one boat got away, the others either wrecked by the explosion or impossible to launch. She eventually l… Weddingen managed to get his craft under again and as he did heard two explosions. [5], As a result of the losses, the Admiralty ordered all capital ships to remove themselves from danger in the future, and leave rescue attempts to smaller ships. At 6:55, Hogue was struck by two torpedoes. Reuterdahl - HMS Cressy Sinking.jpg 1,200 × 756; 108 KB HMS Cressy.jpg 890 × 666; 308 KB Steam launch of the HMS Cressy at the Port of Scheveningen in The Hague, 1914.jpg 3,858 × 2,708; 3.74 MB Kapitaenleutnant Weddigen was by now back at sea and on the morning of October 15th – three weeks after his previous exploit – he found Hawke and her sister Endymion stationary and transferring mail. The steamer Titan rescued another 147 men, and later eight of Tyrwhitt's destroyers arrived. HMS Cressy was launched in December 1899, and after finishing her trials was passed into the fleet reserve at Portsmouth on 24 May 1901. Attempts to counter Aboukir’s list by counter flooding proved unsuccessful and when it was obvious that she was going to roll over “abandon ship” was ordered. The impact on British public-consciousness was massive – comparable to the loss HMS Courageous and HMS Royal Oak in 1939 – and all the more so since it was recognised not only as avoidable, but the result of poor professional decision-making. Weddigen was appointed to command of the new submarine U-29 but his tenure was to be tragically short – U-29 was rammed by HMS Dreadnought in the Pentland Firth on 18 March 18th 1915.There were no survivors. Assuming that he had hit a mine – even after the loss of the Pathfinder the submarine threat was still underestimated – Captain Drummond ordered Cressy and Hogue to come closer so that Aboukir’s wounded could be transferred.  Even had a mine indeed been responsible the order would have been an unwise one, but with the U-9’s presence still unsuspected it was to prove fatal. The Secretary of the Admiralty on September 25 authorized the following statement with reference to the sinking of HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue in the North Sea on September 22:- The facts of this affair cannot be better conveyed to the public than by the attached reports of the Senior Officers who have survived and Landed back in England. She was armed with four torpedo tubes, two forward, two aft, and carried reloads for the forward tubes only. Cressy, named after the 1346 Battle of Crécy, was laid down by Fairfield Shipbuilding at their shipyard in Govan, Scotland on 12 October 1898 and launched on 4 December 1899. A further step in the path leading to disaster was made when Christian did not make it clear that Drummond had the authority to order supporting destroyers to sea if the weather improved, as it indeed did later the following day. Fevered development during the First World War was to change such views but in September 1914 many commanders who had grown up in purely surface navies still held to such opinions. Weddigen attempted to navigate by soundings – a doubtful technique even in the best of circumstances. Aboukir sinking – by the famous British maritime painter Norman Wilkinson Two British trawlers arrived and joined in the rescue effort and eight British destroyers arrived from Harwich two hours later. Of these 34, a total of 13 were to be lost in the next four years. His orders were  to attack British transports landing troops at Ostend, on the Belgian coast. At 6:20 AM on 22 September, HMS Aboukir was torpedoed by SM U-9 and sank in 35 minutes. In addition, nine naval cadets, some as young as 15, were allocated to each ship, being taken directly from the Royal Naval College.  The general view of Cruiser Force C’s fighting potential was summed up in the nickname it quickly acquired – the “Live Bait Squadron”. In 1914, the best speed they could manage was 15 knots. The Dawlish Chronicles Blog. After finishing her sea trials she passed into the fleet reserve at Portsmouthon 24 May 1901. Hit amidships on the port side, the engine and boiler rooms were flooded and the ship listed to port. Of these, at least 31 men had connections to Ulster, most of them Stokers and three quarters of them part time reservists. At 7:30, a third torpedo hit Cressy on the port beam, rupturing tanks in the boiler room and scalding the men. The squadron was composed of four obsolete Cressy Class Armored Cruisers, the HMS Cressy, HMS, Aboukir, HMS Hogue, and HMS Euryalus. The Hogue’s end was almost identical to her sister’s and the “abandon ship” order meant leaping into the water as her boats were already busy with saving Aboukir’s survivors. The force pa… As this was still running Weddigen took his craft down to 50 feet, then heard “a dull thud, followed by a shrill-toned crash”. The crew were immediately national heroes and Weddigen was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class, as well as other decorations. Length: 472 feet Tuesday, 22 September 1914 sinking of the 3 cruisers HMS Aboukir, Hogue, and Cressy off the Dutch coast by U.9 being sunk one by one as each ship went in turn to the assistance of their sisters. A drawing of the Cressy’s end by the American artist Henry Reuterdahl (1870-1925) Cressy was sunk on 22 September 1914 along with two of her sisterships, by the German U-boat U-9. Though the three ships lost in the Broad Fourteens were of little fighting value the impact on British public opinion was massive, not least because of the heavy loss of life. On September 22, 1914, the sister ships HMS Aboukir, HMS Hogue, and HMS Cressy were patrolling off the Dutch coast, tasked with supporting the naval blockade against Germany. She eventually left home waters in early October 1901, arriving at Colombo 7 November,[3] Singapore and Hong Kong in November. In 1907 she was transferred to the North America and West Indies Station before being placed in reserve in 1909. The numerous “artists’ impressions” of the sinkings which were published in illustrated magazines did nothing to understate the horror involved. Cressy was hit forward on the starboard side, and lurched high enough out of the water that a second torpedo passed under her stern. Smoke was seen on the horizon and the U-9’s engines were immediately shut down to get rid of their exhaust plume. On September 20th 1914 Cruiser Force C’s patrol consisted of HMS Euryalus, HMS Aboukir, HMS Hogue and HMS Cressy, with a fifth vessel, HMS Bacchante in remaining in port. At dawn on September 22nd U-9 surfaced to find the storm over, the sea calm but for a slow swell. Now only the Cressy remained and she was transmitting distress signals by wireless. Self-propelled torpedoes dramatically increased effectiveness of submarine warships. Engines: Triple Expansion, 21,000 hp Note the heavy exhaust. At the outbreak of war in 1914 all major navies had small numbers of submarines. The ship was sufficiently close inshore for her loss to be witnessed by many on the coast, including the future novelist Aldous Huxley. As Hawke got under way again – without zigzagging – Weddigen sank her with a single torpedo. After weeks of daily patrols, their old engines could no longer even maintain 15 knots and speed dropped to 12 knots, and often as low as 9. She was commissioned by Captain Henry Tudor for service on the China Station on 28 May 1901, but her departure was delayed for several months when her steering gear broke down shortly after leaving the base and she had to return. He was the son of Mr and Mrs H. Wickenden, of 9 Dolphin Lane, Dover, and the husband of Mary Ann, nee Colyer, whom he … Their average age was only 27 years old. I have the honour to submit the following report in connection with the sinking of H.M.S. The reality cannot have been much different to this, horrible as it was. Her heavy-oil engines, of 1040 hp, gave her a surface speed of 13.5 knots. HMS Cressy was launched 4 December 1899, and along with her sister ships HMS Aboukir and HMS Hogue, was torpedoed by a single submarine, the U9, off the Dutch coast early on 22 September 1914. Britain’s armoured cruisers can be fairly described as the most unsuccessful and unfortunate type of warship ever employed by the Royal Navy. Sketch of the Cressy sinking, by Henry Reuterdahl. A second Dutch ship, the Titan, rescued 147 more. 22nd Sep 1914 HMS Aboukir HMS Cressy and HMS Hogue sunk HMS Aboukir was a, armoured cruiser of the Cressy-class.She has been launched in 1900 and was sunk by a torpedo along with HMS Cressy and HMS Hogue on the 22nd of September 1914 by U.9 in the North Sea. He delegated command to Captain Drummond in Aboukir . U-9 dived and remained submerged. The solution was to deploy old armoured cruisers which had at least got the necessary station-keeping capability. U-9’s batteries were almost depleted but Weddigen was determined to continue his attack. With Christian unable to transfer his flag, command devolved to Captain John Drummond of the Aboukir. HMS Cressy was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 7 March 1810 at Frindsbury. [7], Coordinates: 52°15′01″N 3°40′08″E / 52.25028°N 3.66889°E / 52.25028; 3.66889. The survivors were almost all naked, and so exhausted they had to be hauled aboard with tackle. Weddigen still had three torpedoes left, two aft, one forward. At 6:20 AM on 22 September, HMS Aboukir was torpedoed by SM U-9 and sank in 35 minutes. The supremacy of British naval power had been assumed ever since Trafalgar and was now suspect.  The First World War had opened badly at sea for Britain, and yet more disasters were imminent. The first indication of the submarine’s potential came on September 5th 1914, when the British cruiser HMS Pathfinder was sunk in the North Sea off the Scottish coast. The U-9 was very primitive by later standards, her surface displacement 505 tons, her length 188 ft. Undetected, U-9 came within 600 yards of Aboukir’s port bow before firing a torpedo. Hogue and Cressy were now creeping towards Aboukir’s survivors and lowering boats. The sinking of the Battleship Cressy, together with the Battleships Aboukir and Hogue on the 22 September 1914 was a disaster in itself, but was made all the more significant because it ushered in the dawn of a terrible new weapon, the submarine. As the three Royal Navy cruisers sunk into the cold waters a few miles off the coast of the Netherlands. September 22nd 2014 saw the hundredth anniversary of the first massive loss by the Royal Navy in the First World War. Though destroyers and light cruisers would have been more suited to the task it was believed that destroyers would be unable to maintain the patrol in bad weather and insufficient modern light cruisers were available. In all 1,459 men were lost off the Dutch Coast, on the three ships HMS Aboukir, HMS Cressy and HMS Hogue. A magazine exploded within minutes after the ship was hit and she went down with a loss of 259 men from her crew of some 270. She capsized almost immediately and 524 of her crew died. Aboukir and Hogue, on the morning of the 22nd of September, while on patrol duty. He took his vessel down to 50 ft for the night, stopping his batteries, and resting his crew. Thinking she had struck a mine, and sinking fast, the order was given to abandon ship. This action altered U-9’s balance and her bow broke surface, drawing fire from Hogue. Cheering erupted on U-9. And because they never sighted periscopes, they no longer zigzagged. 2 × BL 9.2-inch (233.7 mm) Mk X guns HMS Hogue – the 6″ weapons in the lower casemates were unworkable in rough seas. On the day of her destruction her bunkers were so depleted that she was restricted to 5 knots, making her an easy target for the U-Boat. HMS Cressy was a Cressy -class armoured cruiser in the Royal Navy. The earlier classes – the six ships of the Cressy class being the oldest – had very limited offensive capability, especially in rough weather. The logic of maintaining a patrol in the area was unassailable as a fast German raiding force of destroyers could wreak havoc on British maritime supply lines between the English Coast and Northern France should they enter the Channel. Loss of HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue The German submarine U9. Originally capable of 21 knots they now found it hard to make 15. On 15 October the protected cruiser HMS Hawke was lost to the same submarine, U-9, off Aberdeen, when she was steaming at 13 knots and not zigzagging. SINKING OF CRUISERS ABOUKIR, HOGUE, CRESSY OF DUTCH COAST by U.9 . Chatham-based cruisers HMS Cressy, HMS Aboukir and HMS Hogue were sent to the bottom of the sea about 20 miles off Holland in September 1914, leaving 1,459 sailors dead. HMS Cressy was a Cressy-class armoured cruiser in the Royal Navy. Kapitaenleutnant Otto Weddigen, in command of the German submarine U-9 – the low number indicting just how early a unit this vessel was in the Imperial Navy’s submarine force – had left Wilhelmshaven on September 20th. A total of 837 men were rescued, but 1,397 men were lost. On 17 September, in rough seas, the destroyers were sent back to Harwich. 12 × BL 6-inch (152.4 mm) Mk VII guns. They were torpedoed by a single German U-boat and the day could be called the beginning of an era, an important wake-up call, and a major lesson to both Germany and Britain on … No money was to be spent repairing them, but they were to be used until they were completely worn out. 30 Ulstermen are buried at sea, with only 1 Ulsterman with a known grave. The other main actor in the drama was also moving towards the Broad Fourteens. At 10:30 a single torpedo from the German submarine hit HMS Hawke. The cruisers were part of the Southern Force (Rear-Admiral Arthur Christian) composed of the flagship Euryalus, the light cruiser Amethyst and the 7th Cruiser Squadron (7th CS, also known as Cruiser Squadron C, Rear-Admiral H. H. Campbell, nicknamed the live-bait squadron), comprising the Cressy-class armoured cruisers HMS Bacchante, Aboukir, Hogue, Cressy and Euryalus, the 1st and 3rd Destroyer flotillas, ten submarines of the 8th Oversea Flotilla and the attached Active-class scout cruiser, Fearless. The bulk of the blame was directed at the Admiralty for persisting with a patrol that was dangerous and of limited value against the advice of senior sea-going officers. From that point on, the Royal Navy took submarine attacks on the fleet much more seriously and radically improved its anti-submarine practices. (Note that the Netherlands was neutral throughout World War 1). Upon completion she was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet and spent most of her career there. She had an active career, also sinking HMS Hawke and serving in the Baltic, being the only one of her class to survive the war. The single torpedo was to prove enough to destroy Aboukir. The same weather that plagued Cruiser Force C battered the U-9 unmercifully – her limited underwater endurance meant that she had to remain on the surface – and her gyrocompass became inoperable. Hogue and Cressy approached to pick up survivors, throwing anything that would float into the water for the survivors to cling to. At 7:20, Cressy sighted a torpedo track, and the order was given "full speed ahead both", too late. Cressy was hit forwar… Hit by a torpedo fired by the German submarine U-21, she was to gain the unfortunate title of being the first British warship to … Limited range and armament, low speed and, above all, short underwater endurance led many to believe that the offensive threat they posed, especially to warships, would not be great. Lord Charles Beresford never again referred to submarines as "playthings" or "toys". U-9’s periscope was spotted and the cruiser opened fire, the surged forward in an unsuccessful attempt to ram.  Then, unaccountably, she stopped again. A contemporary German drawing of the U-9 on patrol. Less than a month later, U-9 sank the even more elderly cruiser, HMS Hawke. Armament: 2 X 9.2”, 12 X 6” and many smaller. Shortly afterwards, a second torpedo hit her and she sank within 15 minutes. Every member of the crew received the Iron Cross, Second Class. Cressy was sunk on 22 September 1914 along with two of her sisterships, by the German U-boat U-9. This disaster in question was to cost 1459 men their lives and destroy three ships. Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, World War I cruisers of the United Kingdom, Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I, Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd, Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy, Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany and the Winning of the Great War at Sea, https://military.wikia.org/wiki/HMS_Cressy_(1899)?oldid=2641757, Pages using duplicate arguments in template calls. Her commander, Otto Weddigen, was not so fortunate. [6], In 1954 the British government sold the salvage rights to the ship and salvage is ongoing. At 7:20, Cressy sighted a torpedo track, and the order was given "full speed ahead both", too late. ABOUKIR (survivor list included) ABBS, Tom W R, Sick Berth Attendant, M 4398 (Ch) ABRATHAT, William, Private, RMLI (RFR B 1999), 12609 (Ch) Crews were in short supply, leading the ships to be manned by reservists, many middle-aged, many of them pensioners, who had not previously served or exercised together as teams. "Booty Trawl". The Bacchante class had been placed in the Reserve Fleet. This group was known as “Cruiser Force C” and the patrol area they were assigned to was in the shallow waters off the Dutch coast known as the “Broad Fourteens”. Dutch fishing trawlers were in the area, but remained at a distance until 8:30 when the steamship Flora from Rotterdam arrived and rescued 286 men. The U-9, having spotted British destroyers, but managing to escape detection, signalled news of her success when she reached the Ems Estuary. HMS Aboukir at Malta – note 6″ weapons in casemates along sides. Six even-older old cruisers, the 10th Cruiser Squadron, were left patrolling off Aberdeen, on the North-East Scottish coast. Only then did the Admiralty finally remove the old armoured cruisers from patrol duties. – the Hogue is seen dropping boats to pick up survivors,  A contemporary illustration of the Aboukir’s end There was little over a decade’s experience of their employment and designs were largely experimental. He was sixteen years of age. The most devastating criticism was of Rear Admiral Campbell, who had been Christian’s superior, and for whom the latter had been acting – at the inquiry he made the remarkable statement that he did not know what the purpose of his command was. Upon completion she was assigned to the China Station. Poor weather made it impossible for the protecting destroyer force to remain in company and Euryalus had to drop out due to lack of coal and weather damage to her wireless.  Christian had to remain with his ship as the weather was too bad to transfer. Three vessels were approaching – the Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue – and Weddingen steered on his electric motors towards the central vessel, Aboukir. Once again - as with the 'live bait squadron' - Submarine U-9 had struck. HMS Aboukir was a Cressy-class armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy around 1900. Cressy rolled to her starboard side, paused, then went bottom up with her starboard propeller out of the water. At 6:55, Hogue was struck by two torpedoes. All hands were on deck, and it was a terrible explosion. As many as five men clung to a single life vest, and a dozen men to a single plank. She remained in this position for 20 minutes, then sank at 7:55. Each ship had over 700 officers and men from the Royal Navy reserves, many being middle aged family men from local towns and villages. The first indication of the submarine’s potential came on September 5th 1914, when the British cruiser HMS Pathfinder was sunk in the North Sea off the Scottish coast. Cressy was stationary and her boats had been lowered. About a half hour after Cressy went down a small Dutch steamer, the Flora, approached and managed to pluck 286 men from the water. HMS Cressy was a Cressy-class armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy around 1900. The original plan was to support the destroyers of Reginald Tyrwhitt's Harwich Force, but frequent bad weather caused the plan to change and the cruisers became the front line as they could handle the rough seas. Primary Documents - Sinking of the Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue by the U-9, 22 September 1914 Reproduced below is a memoir of the sinking of three British cruisers - the Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue - by a single German U-boat, U-9, on 22 September 1914. Maximum Speed: 21 Knots on completion, probably 15 in 1914 They continued to patrol as the weather improved until sunrise on 22 September.[4]. Hogue and Cressy approached to pick up survivors, throwing anything that would float into the water for the survivors to cling to. All three cruisers sank within ninety minutes, with the total loss of 1,459 lives. U-9 dived and remained submerged. Then she too sunk, her crew’s plight all the worse since the boats she had sent off were already crowded with Aboukir’s and Hogue’s survivors. Twenty-five minutes after the torpedo strike Aboukir capsized, remained on the surface, bottom-up, for a few minutes with a few wretches clinging to her, then disappeared. Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Cressy and her sister ships Bacchante, Euryalus, Hogue and Aboukir were assigned to the 7th Cruiser Squadron, patrolling the Broad Fourteens of the North Sea, in support of a force of destroyers and submarines based at Harwich which blocked the eastern end of the English Channel from German warships attempting to attack the supply route between England and France. Despite this “wake up call” regarding vulnerability of warships at low speed the Royal Navy initiated a patrol of the northern entrance of the English Channel with five obsolete Cressy class armoured cruisers. Now hit on the port side the already stricken Cressy rolled over and remained on the surface, bottom up, for a further twenty minutes. Through his periscope he could see the surface strewn it wreckage, bodies, swimmers and overcrowded boats. A quick appraisal led Weddigen to order diving but he continues to observe through his periscope. In a family letter he recounted in appalling detail what he had heard from members of the local lifeboat about the state of the human remains found when the area was searched. The magazines of the time left little to the imagination. My Great Grandfather Walter Charles Wood was on the HMS Hogue during the engagement, he survived not only the sinking of the Hogue, but also the HMS Cressy too after he got aboard following the Hogue going down, i have his Medals, a PDF of his Service Record (1895 – 1919) and his “Diddy Box” too, i am trying to gain as much information as i can on his service, and especially … Each ship also carried nine cadets from the Royal Navy College at Dartmouth, most of whom were under 15. each displacing 12,000 tons and mounting two 9.2” and 12 6” guns. Three quarters of them part time reservists September 21st he identified his position as some miles! 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