The Zeebrugge Raid was a heroic failure '˜spun' as a daring success

Historian GORDON LUCY explores the Zeebrugge Raid, which took place on April 23 in 1918. The high-risk operation was ultimately a failure but news of the daring raid, which involved a naval commander with an interesting link to this newspaper would provide a key morale boost for the Allies
The Zeebrugge Raid only managed to stop German U-boats sailing for a few daysThe Zeebrugge Raid only managed to stop German U-boats sailing for a few days
The Zeebrugge Raid only managed to stop German U-boats sailing for a few days

German U-boat activity was a pressing concern throughout 1917. In the last four months of 1916 U-boats had doubled the average monthly losses of Allied and neutral merchant shipping from 75,000 tons to 158,000 tons. During 1916 the number of U-boats in service rose from 58 to 140.

By early 1917 the situation became even more serious because in January 1917 the German High Command decided to resume unrestricted submarine warfare.

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By sinking enough merchant shipping, the Germans hoped to bring the United Kingdom to her knees and starve the country out of the war.

Although unrestricted submarine warfare carried with it a high risk of provoking United States entry into the war, the Germans calculated that meaningful United States intervention in the conflict would come too late.

Unrestricted submarine warfare began on February 1 1917.

The introduction of the convoy system by Sir Edward Carson, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and Sir John Jellicoe, the First Sea Lord, blunted the impact of German U-boat activity but did not eradicate it.

In his plans for the Third Battle of Ypres Sir Douglas Haig indicated his intention to recover the Belgian coastline further north which was in German hands and thereby deprive the Germans of their U-boat bases at Zeebrugge and Ostend which were a permanent menace to the movement of men and supplies across the English Channel.

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Of course Third Ypres came nowhere close to realising this objective. Towards the end of 1917 Jellicoe surprised the War Cabinet by claiming that the United Kingdom’s ability to wage the war depended on the either the capture or neutralisation of German U-boat bases.

A high-risk operation to block both harbours was prepared by Rear Admiral Roger Keyes. Keyes was a man who polarised opinion: some regarded him as ‘dashingly inventive’ but others dismissed him as ‘recklessly aggressive’.

Keyes not only prepared the plans but led the raid.

The operation, in which 75 ships and over 1,700 men took part, was intended to block the access of German shipping and submarines in and out of both ports.

The state of the tide, calm weather, favourable wind for the smoke screen and an absence of fog were crucial to the plan and its timing.

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The first attempt on Zeebrugge was made on April 2 1918 but cancelled at the last moment because the wind direction changed, rendering it impossible to lay a smokescreen.

Another attempt was made on April 23 with a concurrent attack on Ostend. Two of the three blockships were scuttled in the narrowest part of the Bruges Canal and one of two submarines rammed the viaduct, which linked the shore and the mole, to isolate the German garrison. The blockships were sunk in the wrong place and after a few days the canal was open to submarines at high tide.

The operation at Ostend was a total failure but the Zeebrugge raid was presented to the world as a stunning success and a major triumph. This is what we today would call ‘spin’.

In 1931, Henry Newbolt, the official historian, explained that before the raid two submarines entered or left the Flanders bases each day and continued at that rate during the week after the raid. The block ships only managed to obstruct the canal for a few days.

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The Germans removed two piers in the western bank of the canal near the block ships and dredged a channel through the silt near the sterns of the block ships. The Germans were then able to move submarines along the channel past the block ships at high tide. Nevertheless the raid was skilfully ‘spun’ to bolster Allied morale which was very necessary in the immediate aftermath of the initially stunningly successful German offensive of March 1918.

A machine gunner serving with the Ulster Division at the time of the Zeebrugge raid recalled: “We had been heavily involved in the German offensive … and were holding on desperately in the Ypres Salient.

“We knew nothing about the raid … but I came to learn of this splendid operation some time afterwards when I became a casualty, and found myself in a military hospital in France. The Zeebrugge raid was hailed as a great naval feat, and one that could shorten the war, but above all, more or less put a stop to the sinking of our supply ships, carrying food and vital war supplies.

“The effect of the raid, ‘bottled-up’ the U-boats already in the harbour, and prevented U-boats which were at sea from getting in, this action virtually put an end to the U-boat peril operating against this country.”

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Although the raid did not enjoy the success claimed for it, this cannot be allowed to detract from the courage and heroism of the participants. No less than eight VCs were awarded.

A large number of other gallantry awards were made.

British casualties were not insignificant: 176 officers and men killed, 412 wounded, and 49 missing.

The Germans sustained 24 casualties.

Able Seaman Thomas McShane, aged 24, was killed while serving on HMS Vindictive.

He was the only son of Hugh and Margaret McShane, River Road, Lambeg, Lisburn.

He was one of 10 or so Ulstermen who took part in the raid.

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Lieutenant Kenneth Kirkpatrick RN of Kincraig, Antrim Road, Belfast, was awarded the DSC for his role at Zeebrugge and survived.

Commander Oscar Henderson (1891-1969), a son of James Henderson, the proprietor of the News Letter, was second-in-command of HMS Isis at Zeebrugge.

He assumed command when the ship’s captain was killed, and was awarded the DSO.

He became comptroller and private secretary to the 3rd Duke of Abercorn, first governor of Northern Ireland, and was awarded a CVO and CBE for his services.

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His son Captain William Henderson served with the Irish Guards during the Second World War and was chairman of the News Letter until 1989. Another son Brumwell (‘Brum’) was a News Letter journalist who became general manager, managing director and chairman of UTV.