USN Naval Attache Reports from April 1915

[Byron Angel]

I came across some interesting entries in the below-referenced publication, which I pass along for possible interest –

https://archive.org/details/navalattach ... f+bismarck

NAVAL ATTACHE’S REPORTS
O. N. I.
April 1915
NWC ARCHIVES – ARCHIVE OF THE U.S. NAVAL WAR COLLEGE, Newport, Rhode Island

Pagination of this document is confusing, so I am providing the references of the individual documents themselves. They will all be found toward the end of the book, starting with pages 473/561 (as per archive.org page count).


NOTES FALKLAND BATTLE – (O. N. I. 4755)

By Executive – Gneisenau.
Remembers practically nothing of fight. Too busy with his details. Surprised and shocked when ammunition ran out. Full supply not aboard due to expenditure at Coronel fight. Gneisenau therefore under fire long time without being able to reply before she sank.
Note: Some method of counting shells and reporting expenditures to Commanding Officer should be adopted. In long fight as January 24th – (3 ½ hours of firing) conservation much be practiced and commanding officer and commander-in-chief kept constantly advised of amount ammunition on hand.

by Boatswain’s Mate – Leipzig.
Leipzig making 21 knots. Slowest in German Fleet. Action with Glasgow began between 2 and 3 p.m. Hit by Glasgow’s 6” before Leipzig’s 4.1” were in range. Last ammunition expended 5:20 p.m. Ordered by Glasgow to haul down flag. Refused 3 times. Firing by Glasgow and Kent continued intermittently until 7:15 p.m. Leipzig sank 9 p.m. 200 to 220 out of crew of 321 dead. Majority remainder wounded, between 10 and 15 finally rescued. Not hit below water line. Boilers and engines intact, until she sank. Flooded magazines and engine rooms to sink her. Fires broke out fore and aft at beginning. Fire main broken. Linoleum and paint burned. One funnel shot down. Two funnels collapsed due to heat of fires on deck. Similarly masts collapsed. Conning tower hit by 6” shell which exploded. No harm to tower. Gun shields effectively shielded crew.


DAMAGE TO LION - (O. N. I. 4755)

Hit twice below armor belt. One of these hits in wake of engine room, causing her to fall out of formation. Weather smooth, no rolling to expose armor shelf. Possibility Germans used a form of torpedo shell. One shell struck outside armor plate. Loosened plate. Did not drop off.


DAMAGE TO BLUECHER – (O. N. I. 4755)

Armor not pierced at long ranges. When resistance practically ceased and British closed into short range, armor pierced several times. Up to end, neither engine disabled. Early in action, shell penetrated decks, exploded, placed 4 boilers out of commission. Emphasis on heat inside ship due exploding shell.


SECONDARY BATTERY GUNS – ENGLAND – (O. N. I. 5149)

At least one modern ship had torpedo defense guns on main deck removed and gun ports plated over. Guns useless in North Sea weather. Some of these guns now remounted in open in higher positions. Some left off entirely.


<<<<< snip >>>>> (various items of lesser interest not reproduced here)


DAMAGE LION AND TIGER– (O. N. I. 4910)
Three shells caused most serious injuries to Lion.
( a ) Penetrated engine room below armor.
( b ) Exploded in or near forward torpedo room, caused flooding several compartments – ship then drew 40 feet forward. Not certain if this shell came down through decks or through armor.
( c ) Struck lower corner of plate in wake of engine room. Did not pierce – exploded outside. Plate did not break up but corner (which was struck) driven into ship – upper part of plate torn loose from bolts. Lower corner driven through wood backing, the structure behind armor, the lower edge of sloping protective deck and final broke feed water tank in or just outboard of engine room.

Tiger suffered more general, but less serious damage than Lion.

Both vessels side armor pierced by long range firing.

One plate Lion pierced by projectile of a calibre (judged 8” from Bluecher) which according to range tables should not have pierced plate. Subsequently found this plate to be very poor one

Protective decks both ships pierced.
(Note) – This information (in O. N. I. – 4910) later and more reliable than in O. N. I. 4755 quoted above.


<<<<< snip >>>>> (various items of lesser interest not reproduced here)


ENGLISH TACTICS – January 24th - (O. N. I. 4910)
Battle instructions provide when 5 ships engage 4, the two leading ships concentrate on enemy leader, third ship fires on enemy No. 2, fourth ship on enemy No. 3, fifth ship on enemy No. 4.

During pursuit of German squadron, Indomitable (no. 5) fell behind. Lion (No. 1) fired on Derfflinger (No. 1). Tiger (No. 2), according to above instruction, also fired on Derfflinger. Princess Royal (No. 3) however, considered Indomitable out of formation, and fired at Seydlitz (No. 3). New Zealand (No. 4) fired at Bluecher (No. 4). As a result, the Moltke (No. 2) escaped almost untouched and probably inflicted most of damage on Lion and Tiger.


Sinking of the French Armored Cruiser Leon Gambetta by the Austro-Hungarian Submarine U-5
From …..V….. No. …..13….. Date ….. April 29, 1915.

On the 27th instant the Vienna press published the following terse report of the commander in chief of the fleet: “Submarine U-5, under the command of Lieutenant Georg Ritter von Trapp, has torpedoed and sunk the French armored cruiser Leon Gambetta in the Ionian Sea.”

Newspaper despatches from Italy give the following additional details:
The sinking occurred in the middle of the night about 20 miles from Santa Maria di Leuca.

One dispatch purporting to be an account by surviving officers of the Gambetta is as follows:

“Rome 28 April. Shortly before midnight the cruiser had held up a three-master and examined her papers. Hardly had the ship been permitted to proceed when the cruiser received a heavy blow from starboard, the meaning of which was at once clear to everyone, for at the same moment the electrical lights went out and the engine-rooms filled with water. The ship had a hole a meter in diameter just below the waterline. The dynamos and engines were destroyed or rendered unserviceable and the radio apparatus refused to function. The watertight doors still held the entirely helpless ship above water, but her fate was sealed. The crew, the greater part of which had been surprised while asleep, took to the boats almost unclothed. Two of the boats capsized and the others drifted to the southwestward with the strong current; with the assistance of the Italian torpedoboats which had rushed to the scene four of them reached Cape Leuca. In the course of the forenoon 3 officers and 20 men were rescued 12 miles from the cape . . . . . . . . . . In all 10 officers and 149 men have been rescued. There is no news of the remainder of the complement.”

Another despatch states that the Gambetta, which was steaming at about seven knots, was struck by two torpedoes, the second of which exploded in the engine-room. The cruiser attempted to strand herself but was unable to do so. She sank in ten minutes.

This event is the cause of much rejoicing in Vienna and is gladly seized upon by the authorities and the press to raise the sprits of the greatly depressed public. It is given an importance vastly in excess of its actual significance.



Byron