Night of Chaos: August 8/9
7:00 PM: UX-33 encounters the
Grand Fleet at 58.31N 1.9E, at a range of 10 miles. UX-33 radios a contact report, and after hearing another U-boat relay the message, he begins his approach from the rear of the fleet. The Grand fleet is traveling at 14 knots giving the UX-33 a 3 knot advantage on the surface and a 4 knot disadvantage submerged. Within three hours, 15 of the remaining 19 U-boats are heading to the contact at full speed.
10:00: UX-44 begins the penetration of Scapa Flow.
August 9, 2:00 AM: UX-44 fires at the HMS Russell. Before he leaves the port at 5:00 am, he will have also sunk two colliers which burn brightly in the harbor. It will be 11 am before he is safe of the harbor defenses.
3:00: On board the Iron Duke, Admiral Jellicoe is awakened with a message about the Scapa Flow attack.
03:15: Orders Grand Fleet to head to 60.8N, 3.3W.
03:45: Fleet begins the turn.
04:00: UX-33 fires two torpedoes at the HMS Hercules which loses power and begins to take on water.
04:10: UX-33 fires two badly-aimed torpedoes at the HMS Neptune. Luckily, one hits the ship damaging the rudder. The ship begins to sail in a wide circle.
04:30: UX-33 fires a long range shot at the HMS Iron Duke. Both miss.
04:35: Adm. Jellicoe issue an order to proceed to Belfast.
04:50: UX-47 fires two torpedoes at the HMS Iron Duke. One hits near the engine room starting a petroleum fire and slowing the ship to 11 knots.
5:00: UX-40 fires two torpedoes at the HMS Natal. Both hit and the Natal sinks within 10 minutes.
05:05: Jellicoe realized that the fleet is under a coordinated U-boat attack, and has no defense but speed. He orders all ships to increase to maximum speed and for the destroyers of the 2nd and 4th Flotillas to escort the wounded and slower ships to safety. In the next few weeks, this order will be widely criticized by many in the British Admiralty.
05:09: UX-47 fires two more torpedoes at the Iron Duke. Both hit and the Iron Duke begins to list port.
05:11: UX-40 fires two torpedoes at the HMS Shannon, both miss as the ship is accelerating to flank speed.
05:15: Last ship in Grand Fleet reaches flank speed. In the morning twilight, five additional U-boats are close enough to see the Grand Fleet race away. These commanders proceed to finish off the wounded ships, and the proceed to travel in the direction of the fleeing Grand Fleet. The Iron Duke takes 4 additional torpedoes before sinking. Admiral Jellicoe and most of his command staff perish.
06:00: While patrolling the waters between Scapa Flow and Scotland, the UX-42 see the approaching HMS Vanguard. One of the torpedoes hits near the forward most main turrent, resulting in a main magazine explosion, and a few second later a second magazine explodes. The Vanguard is split into 3 pieces and sinks within 4 minutes. Only three sailors survive the sinking.
06:50: Ten miles north of Scapa flow, UX-49 sinks the King Edward VII.
Over the remainder of the day, the U-boats with remaining torpedos will pursue the fleet, but none will catch up to the faster surface ships. Then one by one, they will proceed to attack ships in and around Scapa Flow. Fifteen additional non-combat ships are sunk without warning, including one neutral freighter from Norway who happens to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
The British Admiralty sides into a state of shock and near panic. A series of conflicting, changing orders are issued. Reports of airplanes over British cities, Zeppelin raids on Scapa Flow, the High Seas Fleet leaving port, and a German Naval base being established in Norway are received. It will be several weeks before the Admiralty understands what really happened.
01:00 PM: Schultze receives word that the Grand Fleet is at 58.3N and 1.9E. The message is 18 hours old, and he realize not placing fleet code books in the submarines was a serious mistake.
02:00: The High Seas Fleet begins preparation to sail.
05:00: Enough messages have been relayed to U-boat command that Schultze realizes the Grand Fleet has fled, and the battle is over. The High Seas Fleet stands down as the German Navy tries to figure out what happened.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Russell_(1901)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hercules_(1910)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Neptune_(1909)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Iron_Duke_(1912)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Natal_(1905)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Vanguard_(1909)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_King_Edward_VII