British ships shell the Belgian coast

A British chronicle of the war records under 18 October 1914 the first bombardment of Ostend by British ships. On that day the flotilla of Rear-Admiral Horace Hood appeared off the Belgian coast, and for the next two weeks it supported with its fire the Belgian army fighting on the Yser. Hood’s own report, however, shows that on 18 October the ships shelled German troops and batteries on the coast between Nieuport and Middelkerke, several to a dozen or so kilometres from Ostend. We have not been able to confirm that the town itself came under fire that day.

Hood’s flotilla

On 12 October Hood took command of the Dover Patrol, the force of ships guarding the Strait of Dover. A few days later he was ordered to support the Belgians, who after the fall of Antwerp were defending their last line on the river Yser. Their left flank rested on the sea at Nieuport, and the coastal roads along which the Germans were advancing lay within range of naval guns.

On the morning of 18 October Hood, flying his flag in the scout cruiser Attentive, arrived off Nieuport with the cruiser Foresight, several destroyers and three monitors: Severn, Humber and Mersey. The monitors had been built by the British firm of Vickers for the Brazilian navy as river gunboats for the Amazon. On the outbreak of war the Royal Navy took them over. Drawing less than two metres and armed with 152 mm guns, they coped poorly on the open sea, but could come close to the shallow Belgian shore. They were ordered out of Dover on the night of 16–17 October, but managed to leave port only towards the end of the day.

Fire from the sea

On arrival Hood learned that German infantry was attacking Westende and that a German battery was firing near the resort of Westende-Bains. The flotilla sailed along the coast past Westende and Middelkerke to draw fire on itself and silence the guns. The shore replied with shrapnel. The ships shelled German columns and positions, and according to the British official history their fire meant that the German 4th Ersatz Division did not attempt to force the river at Nieuport itself. Soon Hood was also given five French destroyers under his command.

Further fighting

The shelling continued over the following days. The Germans brought ever heavier artillery to the coast and the ships suffered losses. On 28 October the destroyer Falcon was hit and lost her commanding officer and several sailors, and other vessels were also damaged. Hood brought in more ships, including the old battleship Venerable with her heavy 305 mm guns. At the beginning of November, when French reinforcements arrived and the Belgians had flooded the plain around Nieuport, the flotilla sailed away. Ostend itself, which became a German naval base, was shelled by British ships many times in the later years of the war.