HMS Cressy (1899)

HMS "Cressy" was a "Cressy"-class armoured cruiser in the Royal Navy. "Cressy" was sunk by the German U-boat U-9 in September 1914.

Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, "Aboukir" and her sister ships "Bacchante", "Euryalus", "Hogue" and "Cressy" were assigned to patrol the Broad Fourteens of the North Sea, in support of a force of destroyers and submarines based at Harwich which blocked the Eastern end of the English Channel from German warships attempting to attack the supply route between England and France. Because the smaller vessels were unable to operate in rough seas, the cruisers often formed the front line.cite book|title = Castles of Steel | author = Robert K. Massie | pages = 128-131 | id = ISBN 0-224-04092-8 | publisher = Jonathan Cape | year = 2004] As the cruisers were obsolescent, this was referred to as the "Live Bait Squadron".

At around 6 am on 22 September the three cruisers were steaming at convert|10|kn|km/h in line ahead and they were spotted by the U-9, commanded by Lt. Otto Weddigen. Although they were not zigzagging, all of the ships had lookouts posted to search for periscopes and one gun on each side of each ship was manned.

Weddigen ordered his submarine to submerge and closed the range to the unsuspecting British ships. At close range, he fired a single torpedo at the "Aboukir". The torpedo broke the back of the "Aboukir" and she sank within 20 minutes with the loss of 527 men.

The captains of the "Cressy" and "Hogue" thought the "Aboukir" had struck a floating mine and came forward to assist her. They stood by and began to pick up survivors. At this point, Weddigen fired two torpedoes into the "Hogue", mortally wounding that ship. As the "Hogue" sank, the captain of the "Cressy" realised that the squadron was being attacked by a submarine, and tried to flee. However, Weddigen fired two more torpedoes into the "Cressy", and sank her as well.

References

*Colledge

See also

* More Ships Built in Govan