British submarine flotilla in the Baltic

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Baltic Sea 1914-1918

A British submarine flotilla operated in the Baltic Sea for three years during World War I.[1] The squadron of nine submarines was attached to the Russian Baltic Fleet. The main task of the flotilla was to prevent the import of iron ore from Sweden to Imperial Germany. The success of the flotilla also forced the German Navy in the Baltic to their bases and denied the German High Seas Fleet a training ground. The flotilla was based in Reval (Tallinn), and for most of its career commanded by Captain Francis Cromie.[2]

HMS E18 after passing through the Oresund in September 1915
HMS E18 after passing through the Oresund in September 1915

The flotilla originally consisted of six E class and five C class submarines. The smaller C class submarines reached the Baltic Sea through canals in Russia[citation needed]; the long-range E class submarines managed to enter the German backwaters by passing undetected through the narrow and shallow Danish Straits. Two of the subs were lost to stranding and one went mysteriously missing.

In 1918, the German occupation of Tallinn and the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty forced the flotilla to move to Helsinki. The German intervention in the Finnish Civil War and the landing of the 10,000-strong German Baltic Sea Division in Hanko forced the crew to scuttle the eight remaining submarines and the three support ships, Cicero, Emilie and Obsidian, outside Helsinki harbour.

A similar fate awaited the flotilla's Russian counterpart. The Ice Cruise of the Baltic Fleet had left four Russian Holland type submarines without support in Hanko. The arrival of German troops under Rüdiger von der Goltz on April 3, forced the Russians to hastily scuttle the submarines, including AG 12 and AG 16, in Hanko harbour.

Contents

[edit] Submarines

The British submarine E 13 aground at Saltholm in The Sound in 1915 before being attacked by German submarines
The British submarine E 13 aground at Saltholm in The Sound in 1915 before being attacked by German submarines

[edit] E class

The E class submarines entered the Baltic Sea through the Danish Straits through waters only 10 meters (35 feet) deep. On August 19, 1915 the submarine E13 was stranded in The Sound near Saltholm. In a breach of Danish neutrality, she was destroyed by German torpedo boat G132, with a loss of 15 of her crew.[3] The other subs managed to enter the Baltic without being intercepted by the Germans. E18 and E19 made the passage to Reval safely in September 1915.[4]

  • HMS E9, commanded by Max Horton, intercepted four German steamers during 18 and 19 October 1915.[5]
  • HMS E18 was lost in the Baltic Sea in May 1916 while operating out of Reval. The exact circumstances surrounding the sinking remain a mystery to this day. In addition the wreck of the submarine has never been found.
  • HMS E19, commanded by Francis Cromie, intercepted four German steamers during October 10 - 11, 1915.[6] She also sunk the German Gazelle Class warship SMS Undine.

The last four E class submarines, the E1 E8, E9, E19, were scuttled outside Helsinki, south of the Harmaja Light, in 1918 to prevent capture by German troops who had landed nearby.[7]

The route of the White Sea-Baltic Canal after expansions in 1933
The route of the White Sea-Baltic Canal after expansions in 1933

[edit] C class

Four C class submarines were sent there in September 1915 by a tortuous route—towed around the North Cape to Archangel and taken by barge to Krondstadt via the White Sea Canal. 'HMS C26', 'HMS C27', 'HMS C32' and 'HMS C35' reached the Gulf of Finland in January 1917.[8]

Three of these boats ( C26, C27, and C35) were also destroyed outside Helsinki in 1918.

[edit] Aftermath

The crews of the scuttled submarines were evacuated by Soviet ships to Petrograd and by rail to Murmansk, to join with the Allied intervention forces in North Russia, only weeks before hostilities cut railway lines to Murmansk.

Among the officers were future Admirals and commanders of the British Submarine Service, Sir Noel Laurence and Sir Max Horton and Vice Admiral Leslie Ashmore.

In 1935, the Anglo-German Naval Agreement (AGNA) concluded between Britain and Germany, allowed Germany to increase the size of its navy to one-third the size of the Royal navy. At the same time, Britain agreed to withdraw its navy from the Baltic Sea completely, making Germany the dominant power in the Baltic.

Finnish divers have not been able to locate the wrecks, sunk only a few kilometers outside the capital, Helsinki. It is believed that the remains were raised in 1953 by a German company Beckedorf Gebryder and used as scrap metal.[7] Only the badly damaged wreck of Cicero has been located.[9]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ British Submarines and the Baltic Sea
  2. ^ Forgotten Flotilla - British submarines in Russia 1914-1919
  3. ^ A deadly morning off Copenhagen in August, 1915
  4. ^ War in the Baltic - 1915
  5. ^ The sinkings of E-9
  6. ^ The Submarine Massacre of 1915
  7. ^ a b C 26 - contains information on the wrecks (Finnish)
  8. ^ a b War in the Baltic - 1917
  9. ^ Cicero at hylyt.net (Finnish)

[edit] Literature

  • Roy Bainton Honoured by strangers
  • Michael Wilson, Baltic Assignment, British submarines in Russia 1914-1919, Butler & Tanner ltd, London 1985