Diagram showing the torpedo attack at the Battle of Jutland

TORPEDO ATTACK: BATTLE OF JUTLAND, 1915–1925HRS


At a critical moment in the battle, when the German battle fleet found itself outmanoeuvred by their British opponents, Vizeadmiral Scheer sacrificed his battlecruisers and torpedo boats in order to save his dreadnoughts.

After the first encounter between the two battle fleets at Jutland Vizeadmiral Scheer broke contact, turning away from his opponent. He then led his fleet back towards the east, hoping to engage the British on more favourable terms. Instead, at 1900hrs, for the second time that day, he found himself crossing the ‘T’ of the British battle line – his dreadnoughts heading at right angles towards Admiral Jellicoe’s British dreadnoughts, whose massed guns threatened to overwhelm the head of the German line. Scheer ordered another Gefechtskehrtwendung (‘Battle turn-away’) to avoid the enemy’s guns.

This time, though, with the range down to a few miles, he was still in grave danger. Therefore, he ordered Kapitän Hartog of Derfflinger, who was temporarily commanding the German battlecruisers, to distract the enemy. Surprisingly the battlecruisers, though battered, all survived what became known as ‘Von Hartog’s Death Ride’. To drive the British off, Scheer ordered in his torpedo boats. A massed torpedo attack might force the British dreadnoughts to break contact, and so give the German battle fleet a better chance to escape.

 

It was only when I first stepped aboard one of the Kaiser’s battleships that I realised just how enormous they were. Alright, to be honest I didn’t exactly step - I was underwater at the time, and wearing fins. Also, it wasn’t the deck of the Imperial German dreadnought SMS Markgraf, but her upturned hull.  Still, the impression remains with me some three decades later. Her hull, coated in marine growth, stretched away as far as I could sea. In fact, when I floated over her, for a few moments I thought I’d missed the wreck entirely, and had reached the seabead of Scapa Flow, 45 metres below the surface. It was only when I checked my depth gague, and figured out I was still about twenty metres above the sandy bottom that I finally understood what I was looking at. Frankly, I’d never seen anything like it. The sheer image of power that upturned hull still presented was mindblowing. Later, I explored other wrecks from the sunken German fleet, but that moment when I first saw the König class dreadnought Markgraf is a memory I’ll never forget.

She was scuttled in the Royal Navy’s wartime anchorage of Scapa Flow in Orkney on 21 June 1919. At the same time, much of the rest of the German High Seas Fleet also went to the bottom of this vast natural harbour. At the end of World War One this great fleet had steamed out of Wilhelmshaven for the last time, and surrendered to the waiting Allied fleet off the Scottish coast. These ships, from great dreadnoughts like the Markgraf to tiny destroyers were all interned in “the Flow”, while the peace talks dragged on, and the Allies decided what to do with them. In the end, their fate was decided not by the war’s victors, but by their skeleton crews, who simply wanted to end their floating incarceration and return home to their families in Germany. For four years though, from August 1914 until November 1918, these German warships were ranged against the British Grand Fleet, in a fight for naval supremacy, and for national survival.

Critics have called the High Seas Fleet the Kaiser’s “Luxury Fleet”, as it didn’t really have any strategic purpose. That had to be invented when Germany was plunged into war with Britain. The fleet never really had a clear mission, or a clear purpose. Instead it became a diplomatic pawn - an extremely expensive one - which was used to deter the British from ever going to war with Germany. The idea was, although Britain’s fleet was larger, a fight with its German counterparts would prove so costly that Britain would lose her mastery of the seas- something she’d enjoyed since Nelson’s great victory at Trafalgar over a century before. This “risk theory” centred on making any attack on the German fleet an unacceptable risk. The British though, simply outbuilt the Germans, and so what became known as the dreadnought race. So, when war came, Germany needed another stratagem.

The one they opted for was called “Force Balancing”. In this, the High Seas Fleet could nibble away at British naval strength, and wear it down until there was rough parity between the two fleets. Then, there would be “Der Tag” - the day - when the High Seas FLeet would steam out and do battle with Britain’s Grand Fleet on equal terms. Then, when Germany emerged victorious, Britain would be forced to surrender. It was a lovely idea, and so for much of the war the fleet tried this nibbling away. It never really worked though, and to make things worse the British kept building more dreadnought battleships. When the long-awaited decisive clash finally came - The Battle of Jutland (31 May 1916) - Markgraff and the other German dreadnoughts finally got the chance to prove their worth.

That day things could have gone disastrously wrong for the High Seas Fleet. When the two battlefleets did meet, the Germans were outnumbered and outmanoeuvred by their British opponents. At around 18.20hrs that evening, the German fleet sailed into a trap. Waiting for them were Admiral Jellicoe’s dreadnoughts to ambush their German counterparts. The German fleet commander, Vizeadmiral Reinhard von Scheer was steaming in line ahead, straight into the trap. Jellicoe was “crossing his T” - a position where all his broadside guns could fire at the enemy, but only the leading German ship could fire back. The High Seas Fleet faced annihilation. Scheer though, had an ace up his sleeve. He ordered a Gefechtskehrtwendung - a “Battle Turn Away”, which saw every German battleship turn simultaneously to starboard, then keep going until the whole line was facing away from the enemy.

It was a uniquely German tactic, and it saved the fleet, including the Markgraf. She was hit by a British shell, while another wrecked one of her propellers. Still, Kapitān Seiferling managed to juggle the speed of his remaining three engines, and kept his position in the line as the fleet turned about. The whole manoeuvre took just seven minutes. Then, amazingly, less than an hour later, it happened again. Both battle fleets lost contact, but when Scheer tried to head east he again found his way blocked by Jellicoe’s battle fleet. Once more the British were in position to cross the German “T”. This time though, they were just five miles apart. So, at 19.15hrs, when Scheer ordered another Gefechtskehrtwendung he knew the British would be expecting it. So, to throw off their aim he gave two more orders. The first saw his already shot-up battlecruisers turn towards the enemy dreadnoughts, in what was dubbed a “Death Ride”. Then, he ordered his torpedo boats to launch a massed torpedo attack.

The German dreadnoughts began their turn as shells fell all around them. Then, amazingly, the British fire slackened. On seeing the torpedo boats gathering, he turned away, to reduce the risk of his dreadnoughts being hit. This saved the day for the Germans. The Markgraf was the fourth dreadnought from the front of the German battle line, and although British shells fell all around her, one of them - a 12-inch shell fired by the Agincourt - struck her, but failed to explode. Once again, Scheer had pulled off a miracle. This time however, thanks to her wrecked propeller shaft, Markgraf’s turn away wasn’t as neat as before, and she disrupted the ruler-straight German formation. At leras though, she was safe. During the night the German battle fleet managed to work its way around the British fleet in the dark, and despite a running battle with British destroyers and some cruisers it escaped relatively unscathed.

So, Kapitān Seiferling and his crew of the Markgraf lived to fight another day. She would sortie again - for instance, the Germans tried to bring the British to battle again that August - but there wouldn’t be a decisive clash, and the maritime blockade on the German coast would remain. As a result, Germany was starved into defeat, largely because the High Seas Fleet couldn’t defeat its British opponents. Then, in November, came the final surrender of the High Seas Fleet, and its internment on Scapa Flow. After its crews scuttled their ships, many of them were salvaged between the wars, and towed away as scrap. Today, only a few remain, lying on the seabed of Scapa Flow, gradually eroding away. One of them is the mighty Markgraf.

As I explored her, I came across her masted spotting top, lying on the seabed, 45 metres below the surface. I can still imagine the sailors there, with their rangefinders, staring at the line of enemy dreadnoughts ahead, as the giant British shells came whistling towards them. Everyone who fought at Jutland, or who saw these magnificent ships in action is long gone. However, thanks to some diving gear, it’s still possible to put yourself in their shoes, and imagine what it was like, when the Markgraf and her fellow dreadnoughts steamed into battle, over a century ago. That first dive on her also kindled a life-long interest in these magnificent warships, and the sailors who crewed them.

http://www.scapaflowwrecks.com/wrecks/markgraf/3d/ shows the shipwreck as it appears today.