THE ORANGE NAVY – PART 4

Coronel and The Falklands

Imperial Germany was a latecomer to the scramble for empire which occupied european countries in the nineteenth century and, as a result, its colonial possessions were less than those of Britain, France and Russia, and even Portugal and Belgium seemed to have greater possessions.

The Far East and the Pacific Ocean was one area where Germany was able to acquire territory and subject peoples. By the outbreak of war in 1914 Germany had the Kia Chou area of China, the north-eastern part of New Guinea and the adjacent archipelago, and islands across the Pacific, including Bougainville, Nauru, the Marshalls, the Marianas, the Carolines, and Samoa. Only Kia Chou was heavily fortified, with a port and fortress being built at Tsing Tao. The islands were lightly held, mostly by local gendarmerie with German officers.

Germany had an East Asia Squadron composed of powerful and modern warships which was intended to provide the main defence for Germany’s Pacific empire. Its main base was at Tsingtao and, on the outbreak of war the main units in the Squadron were the Armoured Cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the Light Cruisers Dresden, Emden, Leipzig and Nürnberg. The Scharnhorst had a speed of 22.5 knots while the Gneisenau was a little quicker at 23.6 knots. Armament was identical for both ships, with eight 21cm guns, six 15cm guns, eighteen 8.8cm guns, and four 45cm torpedo tubes. The light cruisers were capable of a speed around 23 knots and they each had as armament ten 10.5cm guns. Emden and Dresden each had two 50cm torpedo tubes while those on the Leipzig and Nürnberg were 45cm.

This was certainly a mighty naval force but its effectiveness was greatly reduced by the alliance between the United Kingdom and Japan which had been in existence since 1902. The Japanese had built a large, modern, and highly effective fleet, as had been demonstrated as recently as the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5, in which the Japanese had annihilated the Russian fleets.

War in the Pacific

When war broke out in August 1914, Japan declared war on Germany on 23rd August. Germany’s East Asia Squadron was under the command of Vice-Admiral Maximilian Reichsgraf von Spee who declined to allow his fleet to be bottled up in Tsingtao by the Japanese Navy and instead set out across the Pacific determined to do as much damage as he could to Allied territory and naval units. Japan captured the German islands north of the equator, the Marianas, the Marshalls and the Carolines, with no opposition. A largely Japanese force, though assisted by the 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers and the 36th Sikhs, captured the base at Tsingtao on 7th November 1914 after the only major land engagement of the Far East and Pacific campaign. Whilst in possession of Tsingtao the Germans introduced their superior beer-making skills to the area and today it may be that the most visible reminder that there ever was a German Far East Empire is the excellent Tsingtao beer which comes from that region.

On 29th August 1914 the Germans on Samoa surrendered without a fight to a force of New Zealanders approximately 1,500 strong. Several days later, on 14th September, Von Spee turned up with his ships. The Franco-British Naval force had, fortunately for them,

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withdrawn and Von Spee saw no point in retaking islands he probably could not hold in the long run, and so he departed.

The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, approximately 1,500 strong, landed on German New Guinea on 11th September, at Rabaul. The landing was unopposed but, when the Australians moved inland to capture the German wireless station, they encountered opposition from Melanesian police commanded by German officers. This action is known as the Battle of Bita Paka. The Australians suffered seven killed and five wounded, but by nightfall they had captured the wireless station and found that the Germans had destroyed it. The Germans had withdrawn to Toma but the Australians followed-up and laid down such a bombardment from land and naval guns that the Germans surrendered without further resistance. The first Australian battle fatality of the War was Able Seaman William George Vincent Williams, who fell in this action. He was a member of Loyal Orange Lodge 92 which met in Melbourne, and his grave is in the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Rabaul.

The above picture of Brother Williams is taken from the Australian War Memorial web site, http://www.awm.gov.au/ .

Brother Williams’s parents had emigrated to Australia soon after marrying in Brighton, England, in 1884. His father later died and his mother remarried. He had a sister Martha. He lived in the Northcote area of Melbourne and worked as an Engine Room Attendant at the Melbourne Electricity Supply Company. He was single. Besides being a “prominent” Orangeman he was also a member of the Richmond Rifle Club and had been in the Naval Reserve for five years when war broke out. He enlisted on 9th August 1914.

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Brother Williams sustained a fatal wound when scouting ahead during the Australian advance on Rabaul on 11th September. He was hit in the stomach by rifle fire from Germans in a concealed position. He was taken back to HMAS Berrima where he died of his wounds. He was 28 years old.

During the capture of the German Pacific islands the Australian and New Zealand forces were defended by the battlecruiser HMAS Australia, the cruiser HMAS Melbourne and the French cruiser Montcalm. In the Grand Lodge Report of 1916 HMAS Australia is shown as having an Orange lodge on board. This is Loyal Orange Lodge 875, which is shown as “moveable”. The Worshipful Master is shown as Clarence C Crane, Yeoman of Signals, and the Secretary of the Lodge is shown as E Muldowney, PO Telegraphist, both on the Australia. In his Report that year the Grand Secretary, Rev Louis Ewart, wrote that “Great progress has already been made in numbers on the Warspite, Australia, Virginia and King Alfred.

The Emden

Von Spee having gathered his squadron together decided to attempt to make his way into the Atlantic by rounding Cape Horn. One of the light cruisers, the SMS Emden, was sent in the opposite direction, into the Indian Ocean to attack Allied shipping and generally to cause mayhem. As it happened KorvettenkapitänKarl von Müller, commanding the Emden, proved extremely able in doing exactly that. Early on the crew rigged a dummy extra funnel to make their ship look like a British cruiser.

Emden entered the Bay of Bengal on 5th September 1914 and had a very successful cruise, capturing and sinking many Allied merchantmen. On 22nd September he bombarded Madras, setting several large oil tanks ablaze and sinking another merchant ship. Before dawn on 28th October the Emden entered Penang harbour and sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug and the French destroyer Mousquet. Müller then headed for the Cocos Islands to destroy a British wireless station and coaling facilities, reaching the islands on 9th November. The wireless station was able to send out a signal saying, “unidentified ship off entrance”, and HMAS Sydney, which was escorting an ANZAC troop convoy, set off towards the islands. The Emden put up a tremendous resistance but the Sydney had much more powerful guns and eventually pounded the German ship into submission. During her cruise Emden had sunk or captured seventeen Allied merchant ships, besides the two warships sunk at Penang, totalling 70,825 tons.

The Orange contribution in this episode was the presence of a sizeable number of brethren serving on the cruiser HMS Hampshire, which was one of the ships searching for the Emden. Emden was able to evade the Hampshire because, unknown to the British, Hampshire’s radio signals were being picked up by the Emden, giving away the British cruiser’s position.

Battle of Coronel, 1st November 1914

While Müller was causing havoc in the Indian Ocean von Spee was trying to do the same as he led his squadron across the Pacific. On 22nd September they bombarded the port of Papeete on the French island of Tahiti, sinking a gunboat. (This was the same day that the Emden had bombarded Madras and the Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy had been sunk by U-Boat

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attack in the North Sea, so it was an inauspicious day for the Allied navies). Von Spee’s objective was to try to fight his way back home, causing as much damage as possible to Allied shipping along the way. He next headed towards the coast of Chile, where he hoped to disrupt trade routes. The British learned of his intentions through intercepted radio traffic, and Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher “Kit” Cradock was ordered to engage him.

Cradock was in command of the North America and West Indies Station. His flagship was the armoured cruiser HMS Good Hope which had a crew of 900 officers and men, a speed of 23 knots and a main armament of two 9.2-inch guns in single turrets, supplemented by sixteen 6-inch guns. He also had the armoured cruiser HMS Monmouth which had a crew of 678 officers and men, a top speed of 23 knots, and main armament of fourteen 6-inch guns. Four of these were in two twin gun turrets fore and aft with the rest in casemates amidships. HMS Otranto was also in Cradock’s squadron. Otranto was originally a liner that had been requisitioned on the outbreak of war and fitted with eight 4.7-inch guns. It had a speed of 18 knots. Cradock also had the light cruiser HMS Glasgow which had a crew of 411, a top speed of 25 knots, and a main armament of two 6-inch guns supplemented by ten 4-inch guns. The British had a good idea of the strength of Von Spee’s force and so HMS Canopus was sent to reinforce Cradock. Canopus was a pre-Dreadnought battleship which, being armed with four 12-inch guns, was a considerable addition to Cradock’s hitting power. It was an old ship, however, and had been about to be scrapped until the outbreak of war earned it a reprieve. It could manage a speed of no more than 12 knots.

Cradock felt it his duty to seek out Von Spee and left the Falklands on 22nd October, giving Canopus orders to follow on with as much speed as it could make. Glasgow had been sent forward to scout ahead of the squadron and Von Spee had assigned the same role to the Leipzig. Von Spee thought Glasgow was separated from the rest of Cradock’s squadron and moved to attack. At the same time Cradock seemed to think he had an opportunity of attacking Leipzig while it was separated from Von Spee. This brought the two squadrons into an encounter battle.

The Germans sighted the British at 16.17 while the British spotted the Germans at 16.20. Cradock turned his ships about to head south so that the two squadrons were moving roughly parallel to each other. Initially German gunnery would be affected by having to fire into the glare of the setting sun. This was an advantage Cradock sought to take. He knew the German guns had a much greater range than his, so he changed course to the south east to bring the Germans into range of his guns. Every time Cradock tried to close the range Von Spee turned away, frustrating the British attempt to get their enemy into range.

As the sun set the British ships were silhouetted against the sky, while the German ships were obscured in the darkness to the east. At 18.50 the Germans opened fire. Only the Good Hope’s two 9.2-inch guns could match the Germans for range and one of these was hit in the first five minutes. The Otranto was a large target but had only 4.7-inch guns, so it was sent away from the battle. Cradock headed straight for the enemy, desperately trying to close the range. German gunnery was remorseless and as fires started on the Good Hope and Monmouth this made them easier targets in the darkness. The Monmouth’s guns fell silent and Cradock carried on alone in the Good Hope but German fire was now concentrated on Cradock’s flagship and Good Hope’s guns fell silent at 19.50. Shortly after, the forward section blew up and the ship split apart and sank.

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Monmouth, meanwhile, was trying to make way slowly towards the coast so that it could be beached. The German ships were searching the area for any remaining British ships, and the Nürnberg found the Monmouth. The British ship was given an opportunity to strike its colours, which it refused to do, and the Nürnberg opened fire and Monmouth sank. Both the Good Hope and the Monmouth sank with all hands. Cradock died with his men.

HMS Glasgow had been engaging the German light cruisers, and acquitting itself well, but there was no chance of it escaping destruction if it also fought the two German armoured cruisers. Glasgow ceased fire, so that it would not reveal its position by its gun flashes, and escaped south in the darkness. The British had lost two ships and 1,570 men. The Germans had suffered only three wounded.

The Germans were elated at their success and sought to make maximum propaganda capital from it. Von Spee, however, was surprisingly subdued. When presented with a bouquet of flowers he said, “These will do nicely for my grave.” He knew that his victory would spur the Royal Navy to send much stronger ships to hunt him down. He knew that the German gunnery at Coronel, which had poured streams of accurate fire onto the British ships, had consumed much of their ammunition. Scharnhorst had only 350 8.2-inch shells left, while Gneisenau had only 528.

Among those who went down with Good Hope were at least two Orange brethren, Brother A Taplin of Prince of Wales Loyal Orange Lodge 329, which was based at Portsmouth, and Brother T Hopton of Sons of William Loyal Orange Lodge 652 which, as we have seen, was based at Gillingham. Brother S W Airey, of Garston True Blues Loyal Orange Lodge 64, went down with HMS Monmouth.