Background
The cruisers were part of the Royal Navy’s 7th Cruiser Squadron, which was assigned patrol duties in the North Sea, supporting destroyers and submarines of the Harwich Force to guard against incursions by the German Navy into the Channel. Although concerns had been expressed about the vulnerability of these ships, particularly to attack by more modern German cruisers, no changes had been made before the events of 22 September. There was less concern about submarine attack at this point in the war than later, as the U-boat threat was not taken seriously by many in the Royal Navy.
The U-boat was treated equally lightly by the Imperial German Navy; in the first six weeks of the war, the U-boat Arm had lost two boats and seen little result for their effort. The morning of 22 September found a single U-boat — U-9 (under the command of Kapitänleutnant Otto Weddigen) — passing through the Broad Fourteens on her way back to base. On patrol on 22 September were three cruisers of 7th CS, Aboukir, commanded by Captain J Drummond (senior officer present), Hogue, and Cressy. A fourth cruiser — Euryalus, flagship of squadron commander Rear-Admiral Arthur Christian — had returned to port for re-fuelling on the 20th, while the squadron's accompanying destroyers had been forced to depart by heavy weather on 17th.
Read more about this topic: Action Of 22 September 1914
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