The First Clash or Arms - Battle of Westerland
The British strategy on outbreak of war with Germany was one of close patrol and engagement. The German fleet needed to be taught a lesson - and quickly. If German ships were allowed to break out of the Norht Sea, it could take months before they were defeated - month in which dozens of merchant ships could be sent to the bottom.
The Home Fleet would patrol the German seaboard, conducting aggressive raids, and daring the smaller German navy to come to battle. RAF Bomber Command would make life difficult for the German ports of Kiel and Wilhelmshafen. If the Germans attempted to come to combat, they would be sunk; if they did not, they would be bottled up in the Baltic.
So it was that on 30 August 1936 the Home Fleet sortied. The Air Squadron had orders to conduct raids on German shipping, and, if undefended, ports. At the first sign of enemy attack, the Battle Squadron would sail and engage, hoping to seal the fate of the two German battleships
Bismarck and
Tirpitz.
On the morning of September 1st, the Admiralty received reports from the previous night's Bomber Command attack on Wilhelmshaven that the port was packed with transport ships - exactly the craft needed for the Germans to invade Norway, Sweden or even England.
The Air Squadron was ordered to attack the port the next day, and took up station a hundred miles north of the target, off the Danish peninsula of Westerland. It was a bold move by anyone's standards - except perhaps those of the First Sea Lord, Winston Churchill.
As soon as the last Swordfish had cleared the decks, however, a Skua on reconaissance duty radioed news that made every sailor's stomach churn. The German fleet had sortied and was heading directly for the fleet!
Pausing only to launch the handful of 'bombed-up'
Blackburn Skuas that had been intended for the second wave of the attack, the carriers made steam westward. Planning for a forced move, and to protect the Swordfish from ambush by German fighters on their return leg, the rendezvous between carriers and the Swordfish squadrons lay fifty miles west.
The Skuas had been intended as the second wave on the attack on Wilhelmshaven - a hybrid fighter/bomber design, each carried a 500lb bomb, and it was twenty of these together with the
Sea Gladiators of no. 806 squadron from Ark Royal that were the first British units to enter combat against the German navy.
This first wave succeeded in its most important goal - slowing the Germans down. Unwilling to risk dive-bomber attacks on its battleships, the German admiral ordered evasive action, and the air attack held up their advance for almost an hour.
By early evening the Air Squadron had stopped to recover the Swordfish, whose attack had inflicted few casualties. The cruisers
Surrey,
Glasgow and
Achilles, though massively outgunned, made a running battle with the German fleet, firing salvos at maximum range and then heading away at flank speed to evade the massive guns of the Bismarck and Tirpitz. The results were inevitable: the cruisers were caught by a salvo. Glasgow was engulfed in flame within minutes, while Achilles' engines and rudder were wrecked, making her a sitting duck target. Only Surrey, with two turrets out of action, managed to limp away.
The battle continued through the night, with the re-armed Fleet Air Arm bombers sent off immediately to engage the enemy fleet at dusk. The confusion of the night worked mainly to the advantage of the British, as German gunners were less willing to engage a half-sighted target than the British pilots.
Torpedos found the German cruiser
Deutschland and the ancient battleship
Schleisen. A bomb from a lucky Skua hit the bridge of the Tirpitz, killing the captain and rendering her useless for several hours.
In the small hours of the morning, the fleets disengaged; but, with the Tirpitz's damage under control, the Germans made a run for the carriers, desperate to score a kill before the arrival of the british battlefleet.
The Air Squadron's exhausted pilots hurled their planes at the enemy ships once more, scoring noticeable success. A Swordfish from
Furious finished off the
Deutschland. And for the first time Swordfish were able to make a run on Bismark herself. A torpedo struck the bows, disabling the forward turret, and another amidships, causing a slow, but significant, leak.
One salvo of fire was exchanged as the German battleships came over the horizon. Shells from the Surrey's remaining turret struck the crippled Schleisen, sinking her. But the weight of fire was on the side of the Kriegsmarine. The carrier
Illustrious miscalculated her turn, and was straddled by a salvo from the six functioning guns of the Bismarck. A 16" shell penetrated her deck and struck an aviation fuel bowser, causing her immediate immolation.