The Zeebrugge Raid 1918

As the final year of the First World War was just starting, the U-boat attacks on allied shipping seemed to have no let up with thousands of tons of cargo vessels being sent to the bottom on a daily basis. America had just joined the war the year before but Germany was still persistent with its subsurface raiding. A plan had to be brought into effect to not just sink the subs, but to prevent them sailing in the first place.

A bold and risky plan was devised behind closed doors to take a fleet of old redundant ships and purposefully sink them at the entrance to Zeebrugge harbour in occupied Belgium to block the submarines in and prevent them from putting to sea. As the plans were given approval, the Royal Navy and Royal Marines got to work in making it happen.

The marines went into intense training in total secrecy for a raid that was designed to take out the German guns as well as sink the block ships. By April 1918 everything was ready and the go ahead was given to attack Zeebrugge.

On 23rd April a fleet of ships arrived at the scene just after midnight and the cruiser HMS Vindictive was pushed into place on the mole by the old Mersey ferries Iris II and Daffodil. The marines stormed ashore under heavy fire, the cruiser taking hit after hit but the submarine C3 managed to blow up the viaduct and rendered the mole out of action, but not before they had all taken heavy casualties. 

But the Vindictive attack was more of a diversion for the blockships which were now being put in place, although one was sunk away from where it should have been prematurely and two others were scuttled at the entrance to the canal. The wrecks of HMS Intrepid, HMS Iphigenia and HMS Thetis were now lined up blocking any attempt at being able to transit the canal, although it has been said that it was not 100% effective upon analysis. 

Motor launches went around the block ships and C3 and picked up the survivors who had evacuated before they had blown their vessels up. The destroyer HMS North Star had also been sunk in the raid. With the British claiming victory and a mission success, the fleet withdrew.

       

The attack on Zeebrugge achieved its aim but at a cost of 227 dead and 356 wounded on the British side, eight dead and 16 wounded on the German side. With what amounted to extreme acts of bravery, eight Victoria Cross medals were awarded along with many other gallantry awards. 

The Zeebrugge raid was a massive operation involving 1700 people and 75 ships, it was brave and calculating operation that anybody attempting must have had nerves of steel. Many of them may have been unaware of what was going on until they got there, others will have gone over the plans a hundred times to make sure that casualties were kept low and mission objectives achieved. 

Today there is a plaque in Zeebrugge itself as well as a memorial in Dover town centre in the form of the Zeebrugge Bell at the Town Hall (above with plaque), given to the town by the Belgian King in 1918. Another memorial at St James’s Cemetery has annual memorial ceremonies to commemorate the raid. The grave of the unknown stoker lays in St Ann's Church in Portsmouth Dockyard and is a scene of annual commemoration along with the other lost warships that sailed from here and never returned. With everybody now passed on that remembers and took part in the First World War, all we have today are the plaques and the memories of these individuals to help us remember one of the most daring raids in history.