The Great War: The War at Sea March-July 1909
Clash of the Titans
The War at Sea: March-July 1909
The Battle of Dogger Bank
Since the start of the war the Imperial French Navy had maintained an effective blockade in the North Sea, strictly limiting Prussia and Russia’s access to the world’s oceans. However, with Great Britain joining the war in March of 1909 breaking the French blockade became a top priority in order to ship much need troops and supplies to the beleaguered Prussians. As such on March 14, 1909 the British Home and Channel Fleets meet the French Atlantic and Channel Fleets at Dogger Bank in the North Sea. The Battle of Dogger Bank would wage back and forth for three days as the British and French poured more and more ships into the fray. Despite British numerical superiority in ships, French submarines inflicted serious damage on the Royal Navy. Unusually poor weather further complicated the matter as the battle descended into a series of ferocious small scale engagements amidst the thick fog and smoke. On March 17 with both sides running low on ammunition, the battle swung decisively in favor of the Alliance as the weather cleared allowing the British to bring their superior numbers to bear. By the end of the day the French under Fleet Admiral Maurice Aucoin began to withdraw. The French retreat however was further hampered by the arrival of Prussian forces which picked off a number of damaged French vessels. The historic allusions to Waterloo with the Prussians arriving at the end of the battle did not fail to register with the British commander, Fleet Admiral Sir John Fisher, who is reported to have remarked “leave it to the bloody Germans to take their time getting to a fight.”
The French defeat at the Battle of Dogger Bank allowed the Alliance to start sending desperately needed men and materiel to the Prussian Front, with the first British units landing by the end of March. Victory however came at a high cost for the Royal Navy who lost 6 battleships, 19 cruisers, 37 destroyers, and a number of smaller vessels. French loses were roughly the same, but due to the Imperial French Navy’s smaller size were much more hardly felt.
Battle of the North Atlantic
A victim of French Submarine Warfare
1909
After their costly defeat at Dogger Bank, the French set about a policy of trying to starve Britain into submission. Known as the Battle of the North Atlantic, French submarines began sinking any vessel bound for British ports. This proved to be very successful in the spring of 1909, with hundred of merchant ships being sunk. In return the Alliance navies began their strategy of blockading France’s Atlantic coastline. The effects of this blockade were soon felt on the French economy as nearly all access to resources and goods from Latin America were cut off.
The Mediterranean
Although the Alliance dominated much of the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean remained in essence a French lake. The United Kingdom maintained only three outposts in the Entente dominated sea at Gibraltar, Malta, and Cyprus. Deemed “a thorn in the Empire’s side” by Napoleon IV, the French attempted a landing at Malta on July 1, 1909. The attempt failed due in equal part to the spirited fighting of the defenders and numerous French blunders in the amphibious assault. Despite the successful defense of Malta however, these three heavily fortified redoubts could in reality do little but try and hold on till the arrival of reinforcements.
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