Sinking of the cruiser Yorck

In the early hours of 4 November 1914 the German armoured cruiser Yorck struck two mines on the approach to Wilhelmshaven and sank. They were German mines, from the barrier protecting the mouth of the Jade against British ships.

Yorck belonged to the Roon class and entered service in 1905. Before the war she had been placed in reserve, but on the outbreak of war she returned to active service in the Kaiserliche Marine. On 3 November she did not take part in the battlecruiser raid on Yarmouth, but together with other ships covered their return. In the evening, when thick fog settled over the mouth of the Jade, she anchored in the Schillig Roads, outside the minefields.

The cruiser’s captain, Kapitän zur See Waldemar Pieper, decided not to wait until morning and to take advantage of a brief improvement in visibility to enter port. The pilot refused to take responsibility for navigating the ship through the minefield area in fog, but Pieper gave the order to weigh anchor on his own responsibility. At about 4.10 a.m. Yorck, having drifted off the fairway, struck the first mine. Trying to get back on course, she hit a second. The ship capsized and sank in shallow water between Horumersiel and Hooksiel. Some of the sailors survived by sheltering on the wreck where it stood out of the water.

The number of victims varies with the source. German sources most often give 336 killed and 381 rescued, mainly by the coastal defence ship Hagen. Some studies give the figure of 235 killed, and some authors give even higher losses.

In December 1914 a court martial in Wilhelmshaven sentenced Pieper to two years’ imprisonment for disobeying orders and for negligence resulting in loss of life. He did not serve the whole sentence. As a gunnery expert he was sent to Turkey, where Admiral Wilhelm Souchon needed him, and in December 1915 Emperor Wilhelm II pardoned him. For decades the wreck of Yorck was a danger to shipping in the mouth of the Jade. Its last remains were removed only in 1983.