The Raid on Zeebrugge - 23rd April 1918

e-mail Colin McKenzie

Commander Brock developed the smoke screens used on the Raid. He died in the fighting on the Mole

'Speed Merchants' - wooden hulled high speed motor boats, which laid a smoke screen in front of the attacking fleet (IWM)

THE ATTACK BEGINS

Having assembled in the Swin, south of Clacton, the fleet sailed for the Belgian coast at 5pm on the afternoon of the 22nd April 1918.  Seventy six vessels carrying over one thousand seven hundred men, formed up in three lines with Vindictive commanded by Capt Alfred Carpenter as the lead ship, towing the ferries Iris and Daffodil. These were followed by the blockships Thetis, Intrepid and Iphigenia.

On either side of the cruisers were scores of other vessels including submarines, rescue launches, smoke laying motor boats and the new destroyer HMS Warwick carrying Admiral Keyes.

As the fleet approached the Belgian coast, fast motor launches began laying a huge smoke screen in front of the Mole. Initially the wind blew in the right direction and the smoke completely hid the British ships. But at the last moment the wind changed and the smoke cleared. The Germans sent up a series of star shells which lit up the whole area. Heavy guns immediately opened fire on the Vindictive which by this time was less than 100 yards from the Mole. The Vindictive opened fire, but the German guns on the Mole had an easy target and their shell fire was devastating.

The Mole from the seaward side. Today the area in front of the Mole has been reclaimed to extend the dockyard (1998)

...Preparation

SMOKE SCREENS

Large dense smoke screens were to play a crucial role in the plan. A new method of producing smoke had recently been developed by Commander Brock, son of the founder of the Brocks Firework Company. It involved injecting chemical into the exhaust fumes of the motor boats, but this chemical contained saxin which was used in the manufacture of artificial sweetener and was in very short supply. However the Government agreed that all supplies of saxin should be diverted to this project and many diabetics in England went without sweetener in their tea for several weeks, unaware that they were helping in the preparations for the Raid.

The fast motor boats which were to lay the smoke screens were the glamorous so called 'speed merchants' of the Dover Patrol. Of sleek wooden construction they were capable of 27 knots and were to be used in great numbers during the Raid, weaving in and out of the large ships in the assault fleet, laying smoke screens and standing by to pick up survivors.

A WW1 high speed motorboat awaiting restoration at Chatham Historic Dockyard (Summer 1999)

The assault fleet steams towards Zeebrugge, led by Admiral Keyes in HMS Warwick on the left with Vindictive on the right

THE FIRST SHOTS

The officers on board Vindictive had ordered their men to shelter behind the specially constructed barricades. But they did not follow their own advice and stood unprotected on the open deck of the ship watching her approach to the Mole.

As a result Captain Halahan, commanding the 200 volunteers from the Grand Fleet, was killed immediately by the opening rounds of the German defenders. Lt Cmdr Chamberlain of the Neptune, commanding the men of 'B' Company, was also killed outright and Lt-Cmdr Harrison was knocked unconscious with a broken jaw. The Marine commander Colonel Elliot was also killed.

Vindictive arrived alongside the Mole at one minute past midnight on the 23rd April - St George's Day.

Having come alongside, Capt Carpenter in the Vindictive had difficulty in holding the ship's position and the cruiser started to drift away from the Mole before she could be secured. The Captain of the ferry boat Daffodil - Lt-Cmdr Harold Campbell - quickly realised the situation and manoeuvred his vessel into a position from which he could push the cruiser back against the Mole with the nose of his own ship.

On the Mole ...