the story of hms thetis at zeebrugge during the first world war?

Question

thetis was used as a block ship during the raid on zeebrugge on 23rd april 1918

Answer 1

Twelve ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Thetis, named after the sea-nymph in Greek mythology:

x The first Thetis was a 22-gun storeship launched in 1717.
x The second Thetis was a 44-gun fifth-rate launched in 1747 and sold in 1767.
x The third Thetis was a 32-gun fifth-gun launched in 1773 and wrecked off St Lucia in 1781.
x The fourth Thetis was a 38-gun fifth-rate launched in 1782 and sold in 1814.
x The fifth Thetis was a 24-gun sixth-rate launched in 1796.
x The sixth Thetis was an 8-gun schooner purchased in 1796.
x The seventh Thetis was a 10-gun gun-brig launched in 1810.
x The eighth Thetis was a 46-gun fifth-rate launched in 1817 and wrecked off Cape Frio in 1830.
x The ninth Thetis was a 36-gun fifth-rate launched in 1846 and transferred to Prussia in 1855.
x The tenth Thetis was a Briton-class wooden screw corvette, launched in 1871 and sold in 1887.
x The eleventh Thetis, launched in 1890, was an Apollo-class second class protected cruiser. She was sunk in 1918 as a blockship at Zeebrugge.
x The twelfth Thetis (N25), launched in 1938, was a T-class submarine. She sank during trials but was salvaged and recommissioned as Thunderbolt. She was sunk on 14 March 1943 north of Sicily by the Italian corvette Cicogna.

HMS Thetis was an Apollo-class 2nd class protected cruiser of the Royal Navy, launched on December 13, 1890. The latter half of her career was spent as a mine-layer. She was deliberately sunk in attempt to block the canal at Zeebrugge during the First World War, on April 23, 1918.
\ Displacement: 3400 tons
\ Length: 314 ft (96 m)
\ Beam: 43 ft (13.1 m)
\ Draft: 17.5 ft 7 in (5.5 m)
\ Complement: 273 men
\ Armament: 2 x 6 in (152 mm) guns, 6 (later 4) x 4.7 in (119 mm) guns, 8 x 6 pounder (3 kg) Hotchkiss, 1 x 3 pounder (1.4 kg
\ Vickers, 4 Maxim machine guns, 4 x 14 in (356 mm) torpedo tubes, 100 mines
\ Propulsion: twin triple-expansion coal-fired steam engines, 7000 indicated hp (5 MW)
\ Speed: 18.5 knots (34 km/h) maximum, twin screws
\ Armour: 1.3 to 2 in (33 to 51 mm) deck, no belt

Zeebrugge

Zeebrugge stands at the end of an eight mile long canal connecting Bruges with the North Sea. The canal was completed in 1908 with a large set of lock gates at the Zeebrugge end, maintaining the water level in the canal at low tide. A smaller shallower canal connects Bruges with the sea at Ostende.

There are no natural harbours on the coastline near Zeebrugge and so to protect the lock gates and the entrance to the canal from the storms of the North Sea, Belgian engineers built a harbour wall forty feet high and eighty yards wide stretching one and half miles out into the sea in a curving arc. At the time, this harbour wall (or Mole) created the world's largest man made harbour

THE PLAN OF ATTACK

An assault on Zeebrugge harbour had been discussed for some years, but until Keyes arrived the idea had been dismissed as too risky. Soon after his appointment Keyes resurrected and modified the plan and the Admiralty, keen for some action, gave him the go-ahead.

Keyes realised that trying to capture the port of Zeebrugge was far too ambitious, but a lightning attack with the aim of blocking the Bruges canal although dangerous was possible and would greatly reduce German submarine traffic in the Channel. The plan was developed under great secrecy under the code name 'Operation ZO' standing for Zeebrugge/Ostende.

Three old coal-burning cruisers - Thetis, Intrepid and Iphigenia - were to be filled with concrete and sailed across the Channel with the minimum crew, to be scuttled across the entrance to the canal

A DIVERIONARY ATTACK

Because these ships would be sailing into the heavily defended Zeebrugge harbour within 100 yards of the German guns, a diversionary attack was to be launched to draw the enemy fire. Under cover of darkness and behind an immense smoke screen, a large raiding party would be landed on the Mole to engage the German troops stationed there and to destroy the heavy guns which covered the harbour and its approaches. This raiding party would be landed by a fourth redundant cruiser HMS Vindictive and withdrawn as soon as the blockships had manoeuvred into position and been scuttled.

ATTACK THE VIADUCT

To prevent the Germans reinforcing their troops on the Mole during the attack, the viaduct which connected the Mole to the mainland was to be destroyed. An old submarine filled with explosives was to sail under the viaduct and be blown up.

If all went to plan the crews from the blockships and from the destroyed submarine would be rescued by fast motor boats and ferried back to destroyers waiting outside the harbour

VOLUNTEERS FROM THE GRAND FLEET

The British Grand Fleet had spent two years waiting in Scapa Flow for the German High Seas Fleet to venture out to sea again after the Battle of Jutland. Life for the sailors of the Grand Fleet had become boring and repetitive and the Navy was attracting much criticism from the British Press for sitting at anchor doing nothing, whilst the Army did all the fighting in France.

During this period sporting competitions were organised between all the ships of the Fleet. These included rowing, football and boxing. One of the sailors who showed particular skill and determination in the boxing matches was Able Seaman Albert McKenzie.

VOLUNTEERS COME FORWARD

Early in 1918 news reached Admiral David Beatty, commander of the Grand Fleet, that Admiral Keyes was planning a secret operation. Beatty offered to provide Keyes with 200 sailors and sent a signal to all ships asking for volunteers. Keyes' requirements were for fit young sailors, preferably good sportsmen who were single with no family dependants; requirements which Albert McKenzie matched perfectly

Lieutenant Commander Chamberlain, a young officer from the Neptune was given the task of selecting fifty men from his ship, and he immediately found a willing volunteer in Albert McKenzie, who had just been released from a seven day spell in the ship's cells after some minor brush with navy discipline, the details of which are not recorded.

THE PREPARATION

Capt Halahan and his 200 sailors arrived at Chatham in Kent to start their training and were joined by a detachment of Royal Marines under Colonel John Elliot. To maintain secrecy they were all housed aboard HMS Hindustan, an old battleship moored inside Chatham Docks. Their training took place during February and March of 1918 near the village of Wouldham just outside Chatham. To make the training realistic, a model of the Zeebrugge Mole was built in a disused chalk pit and soldiers from the Middlesex Regiment acted as the German opposition.

At no time during their training were the sailors told where or when the attack might take place. Secrecy was paramount and it was not until a few days before the attack, when they were all safely aboard the Hindustan that full details of the plan were explained to them by Admiral Keyes himself. Even at this late stage they were given the chance to withdrawn from the operation, but none did.

THE SHIP ARE PREPARED

Iris and Daffodil sailed to Chatham dockyard where they joined the Vindictive and the other old cruisers which were all being stripped of their furniture, fittings and any useful pieces of equipment which would not be required on their final voyage. All these vessels then had extra protection fitted to their superstructure to help shield them from the German guns on the Mole, which were expected to be firing at them from point blank range.

On HMS Vindictive barricades were constructed on the main deck and the assault troops were to shelter behind these until the ship came alongside the Mole. The troops would then run up ramps onto a specially constructed false deck and charge onto the Mole across twelve gang planks which would be lowered from her port side. The false deck was designed to be high enough for the gang planks to reach the parapet wall which ran alongside a pathway, sixteen feet above the main deck of the Mole.

THE ATTACK BEGINS

Having assembled in the Swin, south of Clacton, the fleet sailed for the Belgian coast at 5pm on the afternoon of the 22nd April 1918. Seventy six vessels carrying over one thousand seven hundred men, formed up in three lines with Vindictive commanded by Capt Alfred Carpenter as the lead ship, towing the ferries Iris and Daffodil. These were followed by the blockships Thetis, Intrepid and Iphigenia.

On either side of the cruisers were scores of other vessels including submarines, rescue launches, smoke laying motor boats and the new destroyer HMS Warwick carrying Admiral Keyes.

As the fleet approached the Belgian coast, fast motor launches began laying a huge smoke screen in front of the Mole. Initially the wind blew in the right direction and the smoke completely hid the British ships. But at the last moment the wind changed and the smoke cleared. The Germans sent up a series of star shells which lit up the whole area. Heavy guns immediately opened fire on the Vindictive which by this time was less than 100 yards from the Mole. The Vindictive opened fire, but the German guns on the Mole had an easy target and their shell fire was devastating.

SMOKE SCREENS

Large dense smoke screens were to play a crucial role in the plan. A new method of producing smoke had recently been developed by Commander Brock, son of the founder of the Brocks Firework Company. It involved injecting chemical into the exhaust fumes of the motor boats, but this chemical contained saxin which was used in the manufacture of artificial sweetener and was in very short supply. However the Government agreed that all supplies of saxin should be diverted to this project and many diabetics in England went without sweetener in their tea for several weeks, unaware that they were helping in the preparations for the Raid.

The fast motor boats which were to lay the smoke screens were the glamorous so called 'speed merchants' of the Dover Patrol. Of sleek wooden construction they were capable of 27 knots and were to be used in great numbers during the Raid, weaving in and out of the large ships in the assault fleet, laying smoke screens and standing by to pick up survivors.

Answer 2

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