Raid on Ramsgate and Broadstairs

On the night of 17/18 March 1917 German torpedo boats from Zeebrugge, in practice modern destroyers, once again struck at the British forces in the Strait of Dover. They sank the destroyer Paragon, torpedoed a second, Llewellyn, and shortly after midnight shelled the coast of Kent around Ramsgate and Broadstairs. It was the third bombardment of the English coast by ships from Flanders since the beginning of the year, after the shelling of Southwold in January and the raid on Margate and Broadstairs on 25 February.

Three zones of attack

According to the British official naval history, this time the Germans concentrated their forces on the strait and its northern approaches, because only there could they find a target. The operation was commanded by Commander Tillessen. The area of attack was divided into three zones. Tillessen himself, with seven boats of the 6th Flotilla, was to strike at the western part of the mine and net barrage, Commander Konrad Albrecht with five boats of the Flanders half-flotilla at its eastern part, and Kapitänleutnant Zander with four older torpedo boats at the Downs anchorage off the Kent coast. To avoid firing on their own ships, each group had a strictly defined zone and line of approach. This allowed the Germans to fire at once on anything they met, whereas the British had first to make sure they were not facing their own ships.

The Admiralty knew that something was afoot. On 17 March it warned the commanders on the coast that movements of German ships were likely in the southern North Sea. The commander of the forces at Dover, Vice-Admiral Reginald Bacon, did not, however, change his night dispositions. The barrage was patrolled singly by four destroyers, Laertes, Laforey, Llewellyn and Paragon, each on its own sector. In the Downs lay the light cruiser Canterbury with a group of destroyers, at the entrance to the anchorage near Ramsgate two monitors, and a reserve waited at Dover.

The sinking of Paragon

The German ships left harbour between six and eight in the evening. At about 10.35 p.m. Tillessen’s group crossed the barrage much further east than the plan had envisaged, and ran into Paragon, which was patrolling the easternmost sector, nearer Calais. At 10.50 p.m. Paragon’s lookouts sighted destroyers crossing her course. Her captain challenged them with the recognition signal. Before the signallers had finished sending, a torpedo struck the ship and the Germans opened fire with their guns. Paragon still managed to return fire and launch a torpedo which, according to later accounts, hit one of the German boats but did not explode. After a few minutes the depth charges on her stern exploded, the ship broke in two and sank. The British official history states that only ten men survived. The roll of Royal Navy dead compiled by the naval-history.net website lists about 75 names from Paragon.

The explosion was seen from other destroyers, but each interpreted it differently. Llewellyn reported to Dover “heavy firing in the direction of Calais”. Laforey concluded that one of the British ships had struck a mine, steamed towards the flash and at about 11 p.m. found herself among the wreckage. She switched on her searchlight and called Llewellyn to help rescue the survivors. Tillessen meanwhile had turned back. At about 11.15 p.m. he saw the searchlight and in its beam a second destroyer. The Germans did not fire a single shot, but launched two torpedoes. One hit Llewellyn in the bow. Since no one had seen any enemy ships, Laforey’s captain concluded that both destroyers had been torpedoed by a submarine. Llewellyn did not sink, and towards morning, steaming stern first, she reached Dover.

The report of a submarine changed Bacon’s decisions. The reserve, which was already leaving Dover, was turned back to harbour, and the remaining destroyers were ordered to move a few miles west. Only at about one in the morning did the admiral learn from the men rescued from Paragon that they had seen German destroyers. By then it was too late. The two German groups from the barrage had joined up and at about 11.30 p.m. passed back eastwards. More survivors were picked up from the water, after a long delay.

The bombardment of the coast

The weakest group, Kapitänleutnant Zander’s, reached the vicinity of the North Foreland as early as about 11 p.m., too early, so for an hour and a half it cruised slowly back and forth. At about 12.30 a.m. on 18 March it approached the northern entrance to the Downs anchorage, guarded by a line of armed drifters. The drifter Paramount sighted three ships and fired a green rocket. The Germans replied by firing on all the drifters nearby, and torpedoed the steamer Greypoint, which a few days earlier had anchored off Broadstairs because of engine trouble. Then they turned back and for a few minutes shelled Ramsgate and Broadstairs. By the time the cruiser Canterbury and the destroyers in the Downs had weighed anchor, the bombardment was over. Torpedo Boat No. 4 tried to keep behind the Germans but lost them in the darkness, and the ships from the Downs, which reached the northern end of the anchorage at about 1.15 a.m., found no one there.

According to Bacon’s report the damage ashore was slight: three houses were hit, and no one on shore was killed. The skipper and two men of the drifter Paramount were seriously wounded. Greypoint, which according to Bacon should never have been lying in that spot, sank.

Lessons

Bacon explained to the Admiralty that the Germans could choose the night and the hour, and needed only an hour of careful observation, a torpedo fired at anything they saw and a quick withdrawal, while his ships had to keep watch every night across the whole width of the strait. A few days after the raid he discussed the matter at the Admiralty and changed his dispositions. The barrage was divided into two sectors, each to be guarded by a flotilla leader with a group of destroyers. According to later accounts it was the Admiralty that ordered destroyers to act together rather than singly when a raid was expected. During the next sortie, in April 1917, the Germans met two British ships sailing together in the strait.