Raid
On Christmas Day, 1914, the first combined sea and air strike was executed by the Royal Navy, aimed at locating and if possible bombing the dirigible sheds housing German Zeppelins, in a pre-emptive strike to prevent the airships from attacking the United Kingdom. The air temperature was just above 0°C and of the nine seaplanes lowered to the water, only seven (three 100 hp (75 kW) Mono-Gnome Short Improved Type 74 "Folders", two 160 hp (120 kW) Short Type 81 Folders and two further "Folders", the 135 hp (101 kW) Short Type 135 and the 135 hp (101 kW) Short Type 135, all carrying three 20 lb (9.1 kg) bombs) were able to start their engines and take off. Those unable to take part, a Short Type 81 (serial no. 122) and a Short "Improved Type 74" (serial no. 812), were winched back on board.
Fog, low cloud and anti-aircraft fire prevented the raid from being a complete success, although several sites were attacked. Nevertheless, the raid demonstrated the feasibility of attack by ship-borne aircraft and showed the strategic importance of this new weapon. According to a telegram dated 7 January 1915, held in the "Churchill Archives Centre", at Churchill College, Cambridge, the "Admiralty Chief Censor intercepted message from Hartvig, Kjobenhaven to the Daily Mail, reporting that the British aerial raid on Cuxhaven had forced the German Admiralty to remove the greater part of the High Seas Fleet from Cuxhaven to various places on the Kiel Canal."
It is worth noting that the crews of all seven aircraft survived the raid, having been airborne for over three hours. Three aircraft, a 100 hp Short 'Improved Type 74' (RNAS serial no. 811, flown by Flt. Lt. C. H. K. Edmonds), a 160 hp Short Admiralty Type 81 (RNAS serial no. 119, Flt. Cdr. R. P. Ross), and a Short Admiralty Type 135 (RNAS serial no. 136, Flt. Cdr. C. F. Kilner with Lt. Erskine Childers as his observer), regained their tenders and were recovered; three others (one "Admiralty Type 81", RNAS serial no. 120, Flt. Lt. A. J. Miley, and two 100 hp Short 'Improved Type 74' folders, RNAS serial nos. 814 (Flt. Sub-Lt. V. Gaskell-Blackburn) and 815 (Flt. Cdr. D. A. Oliver)) landed off the East Friesian island of Norderney and their crews were taken on board the submarine E11, under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Martin Nasmith (the aircraft being scuttled to prevent them from falling into enemy hands); the seventh aircraft, a Short Admiralty Type 135 (RNAS serial no. 135) piloted by Flt. Lt. Francis E.T. Hewlett, suffered engine problems and was seen to ditch into the sea some 8 mi (7.0 nmi; 13 km) off Helgoland. Hewlett was posted as missing, but he was found by the Dutch trawler Marta van Hattem, which took him on board and returned him to the port of Ymuiden in Holland, where he disembarked on 2 January 1915 whence he made his way back to England.
Read more about this topic: Cuxhaven Raid
Famous quotes containing the word raid:
“John Brown and Giuseppe Garibaldi were contemporaries not solely in the matter of time; their endeavors as liberators link their names where other likeness is absent; and the peaks of their careers were reached almost simultaneously: the Harper’s Ferry Raid occurred in 1859, the raid on Sicily in the following year. Both events, however differing in character, were equally quixotic.”
—John Cournos (1881–1956)
“Each venture
Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate
With shabby equipment always deteriorating
In the general mess of imprecision of feeling.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)