The Last Century of Sea Power, Volume 1: From Port Arthur to Chanak, 1894–1922

Chronology of the First World War at Sea

This chronology has been compiled primarily on the basis of major operations—but with battles cited separately as appendices noted but not afforded detail herein—and of losses of major warships, that is, fleet units and submarines, but generally not minesweepers and auxiliaries, though in secondary theaters sweeper losses have been noted; riverine operations have not been included. JULY 1914 general events 1: The Royal Naval Air Service separated from the Royal Flying Corps. 18: Naval review at Portsmouth. 23: Austria-Hungary delivered ultimatum to Serbia. 27: Dispersal of British fleet after review countermanded because of situation in Europe. 28: Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Serbia. 29: British Admiralty order for activation of cruiser formation that would implement economic blockade. north sea 29: Grand Fleet sailed from Portland for Scapa Flow. baltic 31: Start of Russian defensive mining of the Gulf of Finland: between this date and 31 August 1914 a total of 3,285 mines laid. chronology of the first world war at sea 370 chronology of the first world war at sea indian ocean 31: German cruiser Königsberg sailed from Dar-es-Salaam. AUGUST 1914 general events 1: German declaration of war on Russia. British merchantmen seized at Hamburg. 2: British requisition of warships being built for Turkey. 3: German declaration of war on France. German ultimatum to Belgium. 4: British declaration of war on Germany. 4, 5, British orders-in-council set out the legal basis of British blockade of Gerand 20: many and Austria-Hungary. 6: Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Russia. German naval intention defined primarily in defensive terms for the fleet with limited offensive role for submarines and torpedo-boats. Anglo-French naval agreement whereby control of operations in the Mediterranean was vested in France. 10: French declaration of war on Austria-Hungary. 12: British declaration of war on Austria-Hungary. 16: Japanese ultimatum to Germany. 23: Japanese declaration of war on Germany. north atlantic, approaches, and english channel 6–7: Failure of first the British armored cruiser Suffolk and then the light cruiser Bristol to capture or sink either the German light cruiser Karlsruhe or auxiliary merchant cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm off the eastern seaboard of the United States. 7: First British troops landed in France: this initial deployment of British Expeditionary Force completed 16 August with maximum of forty-four transports used. 26: German auxiliary cruiser Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, having sailed from Germany on 4 August and having accounted for two steamers and a trawler, was scuttled after being badly damaged by British light cruiser Highflyer off the Rio de Oro, west Africa. north sea and northern waters 3: First British merchantman to be sunk, the 6,458-ton San Wilfrido mined off Cuxhaven. 4: German armed merchant cruiser Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse sailed from Bremen. 5: German auxiliary minelayer Königin Luise sunk by British destroyers Lance and Landrail off Orford Ness, Suffolk. 6: Four of the eight armored cruisers that were to constitute the cruiser formation that would implement economic blockade on station in Scapa Flow and first patrol mounted with ships sailing that night. British light cruiser Amphion sunk by mine laid by the Königin Luise off the Southwold Bank. 9: German submarine U. 15 rammed and sunk by British light cruiser Bir- chronology of the first world war at sea 371 mingham between Fair Isle and North Ronaldsay in 58°35’ North 01°56’ West. 11: British raising of Harwich Force of destroyers for operations in southern North Sea. 12: German submarine U. 13 missing, cause and date of loss unknown, but possibly sunk in the German minefield in the Heligoland Bight. 27: British marines landed at Ostend. 28: Battle of Heligoland Bight. baltic 2: In the first action at sea, German light cruiser Magdeburg shelled and the protected cruiser Augsburg mined Libau: Russian naval units had already evacuated the port with five German steamers being sunk as blockships. 3: German destroyer/coastal defense ship S.143 sunk by boiler explosion north of Rostock in 54°30’ North 12°06’ East: salved and returned to service. 26: German light cruiser Magdeburg lost to fire from Russian cruisers Bogatyr and Pallada after running aground in fog near the Odensholm light house near the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. Scuttled by crew and escorts but the Russians recovered three copies of Signalbuch der Kaiserlichen Marine, plus the current key. One copy of the...