“The Harwich Striking Force – The Royal Navy’s Front Line in the North Sea 1914-1918”. By Steve R. Dunne. Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley, Yorkshire 2022.
Reviewed by John Mortimer
Steve Dunn has authored several works on the Royal Navy, notably “Southern Thunder: The Royal Navy and the Scandinavian Trade in World War One”, “Bayly’s War: The Battle for the Western Approaches in World War One” and “Securing the Narrow Sea: The Dover Patrol 1914-1918”. These works complement his current volume on “The Harwich Striking Force”, to provide an overview of Royal Navy operations in the vicinity of the British Isles during the First World War.
The author’s approach is narrative in style and describes the formation and evolution of the naval forces in Harwich and its local area, the operations of ships in the command as well as activities of locally based submarines, aircraft and the auxiliary force. The latter comprised commercial craft employed on patrol, minesweeping, training and support activities. The author also tells the story of the actions, men, ships and leaders, as well as covering strategic and political developments to provide context for the various operations.
The core of the Harwich Force comprised its commander, Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt, the ship’s companies and supporting personnel, and its force of cruisers and destroyers. Discussion of ship operations help the reader to understand what life was like in these ships and the limits imposed by relatively new technologies in destroyers, submarines, aircraft and wireless communications. Operations were regularly cancelled, curtailed or thwarted by the challenging environmental conditions experienced in the North Sea, especially the prevalence of fog, strong winds, high sea states, and cold and wet conditions. This was further exacerbated by the limited range, endurance and seakeeping performance of the early destroyers, and to a lesser extent early cruisers. Conditions in the early destroyers are described as follows:
“Destroyers were small, wet ships. The bridge was reached by steep iron ladders, leading to a high perched, circular canvas-screened structure in which were crowded several ratings, a gun, a chart table, wheel, helmsman and navigating officer. In any sort of sea, the ship rocked giddily to and fro such that descending the bridge ladders became fraught with danger. Progress along the decks was risky and hanging on to the lifelines was essential. Spray and waves regularly soaked everybody on deck…. Whilst on patrol, the destroyer crews remained at action stations. They slept in their duffle coats alongside the guns or torpedo tubes…. For seamen’s food, cooking was done by messes. Two men from each mess were deputed to prepare the food each day, none of whom had any training.”
Conditions in early submarines were even more primitive and are described as follows:
“The submarines endured very poor conditions. Because of the limitations of the range of their electric batteries, they left port on the surface, often in the early morning or at night and only submerged when spotted by the enemy or after conducting an attack. The vessels might stay out on patrol for four or five days, with no contact from anyone. There was a complete inability to fulfil basic hygiene requirements so both the submarine crews and the vessels stank…. Submerged, the electric batteries could pose a real threat to the crew. The storage battery cells, located under the living spaces, generated gas and a ventilation failure risked explosion…. If sea water got into the battery cells, poisonous chlorine gas was generated which choked, incapacitated and sometimes killed the crew…. The often shallow seas in which the submarines had to work also caused discomfort …. There was no rest to be obtained and even when cruising at sixty feet, the Submarines were rolling considerably and pumping- i.e. vertically moving- about twenty feet.”
While the above comments relate to early destroyers and submarines, there was considerable growth in their size, weapons carried and seakeeping during the war, they nevertheless remained relatively basic vessels. Realisation of their full potential would take several decades to mature. This also proved to be the case with aircraft and communications development.
In addition to cruiser and destroyer operations, the author covers the development of aviation at Felixstowe, including the evolution of the flying boat, employment of aircraft in surveillance and anti submarine operations, the embarkation of aircraft in ships, including cruisers, destroyers (the later towed barges with fighter aircraft aboard), converted passenger ships, and the development of joint naval air operations. Minelaying and minesweeping both by the British and German forces, and the development of the Coastal Motor Boat as an offensive weapon is also discussed.
A major achievement of the Harwich Force was the conduct of what became known as the Beef Trip. This involved the conduct of convoys from mid-1916 to protect the Anglo-Dutch shipping trade, and thus ensure the safe arrival of food and other products from the Netherlands and Scandinavia. From July 1916 until the conclusion of war some 1,816 ships were escorted and only seven ships were sunk, one before the declaration of unrestricted submarine war in February 1917 and six afterwards.
Whilst essentially descriptive in nature the discussion does foster thoughts about the core themes of naval operations in the North Sea, particularly the:
Importance of the work of Room 40 and the German equivalent in gathering and disseminating signals intelligence to cue operations;
Difficulty in detecting and responding to enemy shipping within the relatively confined areas of the North Sea;
Challenging environmental conditions frequently thwarted operations of ships, submarines and aircraft;
Many of the emerging technologies, especially in relation to destroyers, submarines, aircraft and communications were in their infancy and their full potential had not been realised by, or during the war;
Difficulties were initially encountered in effectively dealing with the Zeppelin threat;
Day to day operations in relation to protection of shipping, patrol and offensive activities were undertaken mainly by cruisers, destroyers, submarines and mining, and occasionally supported by major fleet units;
Employment of aircraft in offensive operations and support of surface shipping was recognised as was the need to provide vessels for their carriage in numbers;
Employment of small high speed strike craft was identified and developed;
Potential threats posed by mining and submarines impacted operations significantly at times;
Limited endurance and seakeeping qualities of destroyers and submarines impacted their utility in operations even in the geographically confined areas of the North Sea; and
Measures to counter the submarine threat did not materialise in effect until well after the war.
Although the First World War witnessed some growth in naval related technologies, it appears to have largely been a period of modest transitional development, which would be progressed further during the inter war period and would see more rapid development immediately before the Second World War and during that war. It was during the Second World War that the development of aircraft carriers, destroyers, submarines, aircraft in their various forms, mines, intelligence/communications, radar, sonar and precision guided weapons would cement their place in naval warfare.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book – it is more than a narrative of operations of the Harwich Striking Force. It invites the reader to look beyond the discussion of operations and to consider the nature of activities undertaken, how they evolved initially and into the future. It also provides insights into the challenges of naval operations and the conditions under which naval people have to exist in time of conflict. While living conditions aboard ships, submarines and aircraft have improved significantly, involvement in conflict places considerable stresses on the individual. We are only just starting to understand these issues and to look for measures to alleviate conditions and stresses caused by those who have experienced severe trauma.
