HMS Firedrake (1912)

From August 1914 the British and French Navies attempted to seal the English Channel against German naval attack; Firedrake and 12 submarines formed the north-eastern line. No transports carrying the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) were sunk, although the German Navy made little or no use of submarines against non-military ships at this stage of the war.[7]

According to the despatches of Commodore Keyes,

During the transportation of the Expeditionary Force the Lurcher and Firedrake and all Submarines of the Eighth Submarine Flotilla occupied positions from which they could have attacked the High Seas Fleet, had it emerged to dispute the passage of our transports. This patrol was maintained day and night without relief, until the personnel of our Army had been transported and all chance of effective interference had disappeared.[8]

On 26 August 1914 Commodore Keyes hoisted his broad pennant in Lurcher, leading Firedrake, two D-class and six E-class submarines eastwards into the North Sea. Also at sea were the destroyers of Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt. The plan was to place elements of the High Seas Fleet between Royal Navy surface ships and bottomed Royal Navy submarines. Unknown to Keyes and Tyrwhitt, the Admiralty had added significant reinforcements at the last minute.

Keyes' despatch reads:

At midnight on the 26th August, I embarked in the Lurcher, and, in company with Firedrake and Submarines D2, D8, E4, E5, E6, E7, E8 and E9 of the Eighth Submarine Flotilla, proceeded to take part in the operations in the Heligoland bight arranged for the 28th August. The Destroyers scouted for submarines until nightfall on the 27th, when the latter proceeded independently to take up various positions from which they could co-operate with the Destroyer Flotillas on the following morning. At Daylight on the 28th August, the Lurcher and Firedrake searched the area through which the Battle Cruisers were to advance for hostile Submarines, and then proceeded towards Heligoland in the wake of Submarines E6, E7 and E8, which were exposing themselves with the object of inducing the enemy to chase them to the westward.[8]

Battle was joined at 7:00 on 28 August in misty conditions. Due to lack of information about reinforcements sent by the Admiralty, great potential existed for fratricidal attacks; at 8:15 am Firedrake and Lurcher came close to attacking the cruisers Lowestoft and Nottingham.[9]

SMS Mainz sinking, with Lurcher and boats of Liverpool to the left of the picture

After the German cruiser Mainz was heavily damaged and disabled, Commodore Goodenough ordered his ships to cease firing on her at 12:55 pm and a rescue operation was undertaken. Liverpool, accompanied by Firedrake and Lurcher, manoeuvred close to Mainz in an effort to recover the surviving crew. Boats from Liverpool were deployed to retrieve those who had abandoned ship while Lurcher positioned alongside Mainz to transfer the crew who remained on board.[10] By 1:10pm the Royal Navy ships withdrew as the height of tide was high enough to allow larger Imperial German Navy units to enter the area. Although the operation had been something of a shambles in the mist, the results were clear: Three German light cruisers and a destroyer sunk against no Royal Navy losses.

On 22 September 1914 Firedrake and Lurcher towed the submarines E1 and E5 towards the Skagerrak.[9] This was the first act in a long saga that culminated in a British submarine flotilla in the Baltic.

By 14 December 1914 the Admiralty had advance warning of the intended raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby through signals intelligence. Commodore Keyes was ordered to send eight submarines and his two command destroyers, Lurcher and Firedrake, to take stations off the island of Terschelling to catch the German ships should they turn west into the English Channel. On 16 December, as the situation developed, the submarines were ordered to move to the Heligoland Bight in order to intercept returning German ships. They failed, although one torpedo was fired at SMS Posen by HMS E11, which missed. As a last-ditch attempt to catch Hipper, the Admiralty ordered Keyes to take his two destroyers and attempt to torpedo Hipper as he returned home around 2 am. on 17 December. Keyes himself had considered this and wanted to try, but the message was delayed and failed to reach him until too late.[11]

On 7 January 1915 both Firedrake and Lurcher carried out a search for the missing British submarine C31, to little avail; it transpired later that she had been mined off the Belgian coast on 4 January.

UC-5 displayed in Central Park

Sketch of the German submarine UC-5

On 27 April 1916, the German submarine UC-5, under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Ulrich Mohrbutter, ran aground on Shipwash Shoal in position 52°03′N 01°46′E.[12] Firedrake captured the U-boat at 1:00pm relatively intact; apart from some damage incurred in the grounding, the crew had taken measures to damage instruments and equipment, including firing small arms at them,[13] and seven destruction charges had caused several holes in the pressure hull. UC-5 was towed to Harwich and placed in a dry dock, where she was examined and reconditioned. She was displayed at Temple Pier on the Thames in London, and later moved to New York, where she was displayed in Central Park.[14] Firedrake's captain, Commander Aubrey Thomas Tillard was mentioned in despatches for his part in the capture.

Some sources[15][16][17] state that UC-51 commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Hans Galster was sunk by Firedrake on 13 November or 17 November 1917, either off Harwich or Start Point. It seems most likely that UC-51 was mined in the English Channel and lies in position 50°08′N 03°42′W off Start Point.[18]