The Harwich Striking Force

The Royal Navy's Front Line in the North Sea 1914–1918

Steve Dunn

• Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
• Year: 2022
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781399015998
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

The Harwich Force has made its name and will not be forgotten during the future annals of history'; so said Rear Admiral Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt on Armistice Day 1918. But that fame has not endured. Yet for the whole duration of the First World War, the Harwich Striking Force was the front line of the Royal Navy, a force of cruisers and destroyers defending the seas for the Allies. Under a charismatic and aggressive leader, Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt, U-boats, German cruisers, destroyers and light craft all met their ends at the hands of the Force, as did enemy seaplanes and Zeppelin airships. The Harwich ships were at sea almost daily throughout the war, haunting the German coast and the Friesian Islands, pioneering aerial attack from the sea, developing naval carrier aviation and combined air/sea operations, and hunting for enemy submarines and minelayers in the North Sea. The Harwich Force also took part in major naval battles alongside the Grand Fleet's battlecruisers, and protected merchant ships operating in the dangerous waters around Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Britain. The author also assesses the role played by the other Royal Navy formations at Harwich: submarines, auxiliary minesweeping and patrol vessels, the Felixstowe seaplane base and the town itself. And when the war was finally won, the Force gained further fame when the German U-boat fleet was surrendered there. Lavishly illustrated, this book is an enthralling account of the men of the Harwich Force, of their grit and brave sacrifice and the key part that they played in the final Allied victory against Germany.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Booktitle
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• 1 Harwich and an Emerging Threat
• 2 The Harwich Force Forms, July and August 1914
• 3 Into Battle, August–October 1914
• 4 Yarmouth, Scarborough and Cuxhaven,O ctober–December 1914
• 5 The Battle of Dogger Bank and Beyond, January–July 1915
• 6 Raiders, Prizes and Mines, August–December 1915
• 7 The Loss of the Arethusa, January and February 1916
• 8 Zeppelins and Tragedy, March 1916
• 9 Eastertide Raids and the Battle of Jutland, April and May 1916
• 10 The Beef Trip, June–August 1916
• 11 Frustrated Plans, September–December 1916
• 12 Under Pressure, January–April 1917
• 13 Action and Awards, May–July 1917
• 14 Destroyer Losses, August–December 1917
• 15 A Royal Visitor and the Everyday War, January–June 1918
• 16 Not With A Bang But A Whimper, July–November 1918
• 17 Life in the Harwich Force
• 18 The Auxiliary Force
• 19 Felixstowe and the Air War
• 20 ‘The Harwich Force has made its name’
• 21 Endings
• Envoi
• Appendix 1 Grand Fleet Memorandum, 24 August 1916
• Appendix 2 Auxiliary Vessels in the ‘Harwich Local Area’
• Appendix 3 Article XXIII of the Armistice
• Appendix 4 Tyrwhitt’s Orders for the Condition of the Surrendered U-boats
• Appendix 5 Harwich Force Losses
• Author’s Notes
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover