Raid on Yarmouth
Part of theFirst World War
North Sea
Date 3–4 November 1914 Location Great Yarmouth,Norfolk,England. 52°34′N1°45′E / 52.57°N 1.75°E /52.57; 1.75 Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
United Kingdom	German Empire
Commanders and leaders
David Beatty	Franz von Hipper
Strength
3 destroyers 1 minesweeper 3 submarines	3 battlecruisers 2 armoured cruisers 4 light cruisers
Casualties and losses
21 killed 3 wounded 1 submarine sunk	235 killed
Three British fishing trawlers were sunk during the raid
class=notpageimage| Location of Great Yarmouth

TheRaid on Yarmouth, on 3 November 1914, was an attack by theImperial German Navy on the BritishNorth Sea port and town ofGreat Yarmouth. German shells landed on the beach causing little damage to the town, after German ships layingmines offshore were interrupted by British destroyers. The British submarineHMS D5 was sunk on a mine as it was leaving harbour to attack the German ships. By coincidence, a Germanarmoured cruiser was sunk after striking two German mines outside its home port.

In October 1914, the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) sought ways to reduce the numerical superiority of theRoyal Navy. A fleet engagement was too risky when the German fleet was so badly outnumbered. The Germans planned to attack British ships individually or in small groups, gradually reducing the British superiority in numbers. TheKaiser had ordered that no fleet action was to take place but small groups of ships might still take part in raids. The German raids were to mine British waters, to pick off solitary ships or to entice larger groups into pursuing and being ambushed by the GermanHigh Seas Fleet, in relatively safe waters near Germany.^[1]

Raiding British coastal towns might force the Royal Navy to alter the disposition of its ships to protect them. The British kept the greater part of theGrand Fleet together, so it would have superiority if it engaged the German Navy. The Germans hoped to encourage the British to detach more ships from the Grand Fleet for coastal defence, increasing the likelihood that the German Navy could attack isolated ships before the Grand Fleet could intervene.^[2]

The Yarmouth raid was carried out by the Germanbattlecruiser squadron (AdmiralFranz von Hipper) with the battlecruisersSMS Seydlitz,Von der Tann andMoltke, the slightly smallerarmoured cruiserBlücher and thelight cruisersSMS Strassburg,Graudenz,Kolberg andStralsund. Mines were to be laid off Yarmouth andLowestoft and the ships were to bombard Yarmouth with their guns.^[3]

At 16:30 on 2 November 1914, the battlecruiser squadron left its base on theJade River. Two squadrons of German battleships followed slightly later, to lie in wait for ships that the battlecruisers might have lured. By midnight, the squadron was sufficiently north to be passing fishing trawlers from various countries. By 06:30 on 3 November, the patrol sighted a marker buoy at "Smith's Knoll Watch", allowing them to determine their exact position and close in to Yarmouth.^[4] The Yarmouth coast was patrolled by the minesweeperHMS Halcyon and the old destroyersHMS Lively andLeopard.Halcyon spotted two cruisers, which she challenged. The response came in the form of shellfire from small and then larger guns.Arthur Pollen wrote that

Private letters speak of salvoes falling short and over in the most disconcerting manner, and of the ship being so drenched with water as to be in danger of foundering. One man was lost through a fragment of a shell.

Lively—some 2 mi (1.7 nmi; 3.2 km) behind—started to make smoke to hide the ships. German shooting was less accurate than it might have been because all the battlecruisers fired upon her at once, making it harder for each ship to see theirfall of shot and correct their aim. At 07:40, Hipper ceased firing atLively and directed some shells toward Yarmouth, which hit the beach. OnceStralsund had finished laying mines, the ships departed.^[6]

Halcyon—out of immediate danger—radioed a warning of the presence of German ships. The destroyerHMS Success moved to join them, while three more destroyers in harbour began raising steam. The submarinesHMS E10,D5 andD3—inside the harbour—moved out to join the chase, butD5 struck a mine and sank. At 08:30,Halcyon returned to harbour and provided a report of what had happened.^[7]

At 09:55, AdmiralDavid Beatty was ordered south with a battlecruiser squadron and squadrons of the Grand Fleet following from Ireland. By then, Hipper was 50 mi (43 nmi; 80 km) away, heading home. German ships waited overnight inSchillig Roads for fog to clear before returning to harbour.^[8][a]

Admiral Hipper was awarded anIron Cross but refused to wear it, feeling little had been accomplished. Although the results were not spectacular, German commanders were heartened by the ease with which Hipper had arrived and departed and were encouraged to try again. The lack of reaction from the British had been due partly to news that morning of a much more serious loss at theBattle of Coronel and because AdmiralJohn Jellicoe, commander of the Grand Fleet, was on a train returning to his ships at the time of the raid.^[10] According toWinston Churchill, theFirst Lord of the Admiralty, the British could not believe there was nothing more to the raid than briefly shelling Yarmouth and were waiting for something else to happen.^[11]

German ships^[12]

Name	Flag	Type	Notes
SMS Seydlitz	Imperial German Navy	Battlecruiser	Flagship
SMS Moltke	Imperial German Navy	Moltke-classbattlecruiser
SMS Von der Tann	Imperial German Navy	Battlecruiser
SMS Blücher	Imperial German Navy	Armoured cruiser
SMS Graudenz	Imperial German Navy	Graudenz-classcruiser
SMS Kolberg	Imperial German Navy	Kolberg-classcruiser
SMS Strassburg	Imperial German Navy	Magdeburg-classcruiser	Laid mines
SMS Stralsund	Imperial German Navy	Magdeburg-classcruiser

British ships^[13]

Name	Flag	Type	Notes
HMS Halcyon	Royal Navy	Dryad-classtorpedo gunboat	Flagship, minesweeper conversion
HMS Lively	Royal Navy	B-classdestroyer
HMS Success	Royal Navy	B-classdestroyer
HMS Leopard	Royal Navy	C-classdestroyer
HMS D3	Royal Navy	British D-classsubmarine
HMS D5	Royal Navy	British D-classsubmarine	Hit mine and sank
HMS E10	Royal Navy	British E-classsubmarine

• Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby (1914)
• Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft (1916)

• Marder, Arthur J. (1965).From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, The Royal Navy in the Fisher Era, 1904–1919: The War Years to the Eve of Jutland: 1914–1916. Vol. II. London:Oxford University Press.OCLC 865180297.
• Ward, J. M. (1992) [1989].Dawn Raid. The Bombardment of The Hartlepools, Wednesday, December 16th, 1914 (2nd ed.). Bishop Auckland: Printability.ISBN 1-872239-01-3.

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