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By that time the Blücher was afire and one of her gun turrets, with its crew and gun, had been swept off bodily by a British shell. Meanwhile the Lion, Tiger, and Princess Royal kept straight ahead till they were able to "straddle" even the leading ship of the enemy's line. The Tiger and Lion poured shells into the Seydlitz, but were unable to do much damage to the Moltke.
One of the most important naval battles of the war took place on January 24 in the North Sea between a British battle cruiser squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty, comprising the battle cruisers Tiger, Lion, Princess Royal, New Zealand and Indomitable, assisted by a few light cruisers and destroyers, on the one hand, and on the other a German squadron, consisting of the battle cruisers Derflinger, Seydlitz and Moltke, the armored cruiser Bluecher, one of the finest in the Kaiser's navy, and several light cruisers.
According to a German report, the first salvo that hit the Seydlitz knocked out both after-turrets and annihilated their crews; and the ship was saved only by flooding the magazines. The Dardanelles Campaign
Besides these, the battle-cruiser Lutzow, of 26,600 tons, was reported badly damaged, and the battle-cruiser Seydlitz, of equal size, suffered heavily in the battle and was hotly pursued to the mine fields of Helgoland. The total loss of life in the battle amounted to approximately 4, British, including 333 officers; and probably 4,000 or more Germans.
It is possible that Jellicoe assumed an inferiority of the British armor piercing shell because of this power of the German ships to stay afloat. But photographs published after the armistice showed that British shells penetrated the 11-inch turret armor of the Seydlitz and the 13-inch of the Derfflinger with frightful effect.
He had with him three of the best German battle-cruisers, the Derfflinger, Seydlitz, and Moltke, with speeds ranging from 27 to 25 knots, tonnage from 26,000 to 22,000, and 12 or 11-inch guns; the Blücher of 15,550 tons, 24 knots, and 8.2-inch guns; six light cruisers and a torpedo flotilla.
The forces opposed were as follows: | Dis- | | | Best | |Dis- | | | Best British |place-|Armor| Guns |recent|German |place-|Armor| Guns |recent | ment | | |speed*| |ment | | |speed | | | | | | | | | Lion |26,350| 9" |8 13.5"| 31.7 |Derfflinger|26,180| 13" | 8 12" | 30 Tiger |28,500| 9" |8 13.5"| 32 |Seydlitz |24,610| 11" |10 11" | 29 Princess |28,350| 9" |8 13.5"| 31.7 |Moltke |22,640| 11" |10 11" | 28.4 Royal | | | | | | | | | New Zealand|18,800| 8" |8 12" | 29 |Blücher |15,550| 6" |12 8.2"| 25.3 Indomitable|17,250| 7" |8 12" | 28.7 | | | | |
There was a distance of fourteen miles between the two fleets when the Lion got her heavy guns into action. At the head of that line was the Moltke, and following her came the Seydlitz, Derfflinger, Blücher, and the destroyers in the order given. At the head of the British line was the Lion, followed by the Tiger, Princess Royal, New Zealand, and Indomitable in the order named.
The battle of Cunersdorf was by far the most bloody action which happened since the commencement of hostilities. The carnage was truly horrible: above twenty thousand Prussians lay dead on the field; and among these general Putkammer. The generals Seydlitz, Itzenplitz, Hulsen, Finck, and Wedel, the prince of Wirtemberg, and five major-generals, were wounded.
Enemy light cruisers were sighted and shortly afterward the head of the German battle cruiser squadron, consisting of the new cruiser Hindenburg, the Seydlitz, Derfflinger, Lützow, Moltke, and possibly the Salamis. The Germans could see the British distinctly outlined against the light yellow sky. The Germans, covered by a haze, could be very indistinctly made out by the British gunners.
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