"The loss of HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue, " Topic

September 22nd 1914

"The Royal Navy suffered its first major loss in almost a century in September 1914, a disaster that cost 1459 men their lives and destroyed three ships. The impact on British public-consciousness was massive – comparable to the loss HMS Courageous and HMS Royal Oak in 1939 – and all the more so since it was recognised not only as avoidable, but the result of poor professional decision-making.

At the outbreak of war in 1914 all major navies had small numbers of submarines. There was little over a decade's experience of their employment and designs were largely experimental. Limited range and armament, low speed and, above all, short underwater endurance led many to believe that the offensive threat they posed, especially to warships, would not be great. Fevered development during the First World War was to change such views but in September 1914 many commanders who had grown up in purely surface navies still held to such opinions…"
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Amicalement
Armand

I have read that very article before, but still much enjoyed reading it again!

Thanks, Armand

No mention my friend!.

Amicalement
Armand

Interesting.

Considering his record, I don't know that I would have described Weddingen's final command to have been 'tragically short.'

There's a very good book on the subject called Three Before Breakfast which I read many years ago.

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As an aside I love these old RN cruisers; they have a sort of cluttered, rugged beauty.

Nick

Thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand

I believe that one of cadets from HMS Aboukir's crew became the only man ever to have been torpedoed on three different ships in the same day, having been rescued early on by a boat from HMS Hogue before she was sunk, and then by one from HMS Cressy in similar fashion.