Chapter 112: Dominoes

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It was not until January 4 that Jellicoe learned that the Berlin had entered the North Atlantic.

By the time Jellicoe received the news, von Chengqian was dealing with his first prize: the freighter Poseidon, captured roughly three hundred kilometers north of Ireland.

The Poseidon was an eight-thousand-ton ocean-going freighter. When she was captured by the Berlin, her holds were packed with Canadian wheat, corn, and other agricultural produce. When the two ships encountered one another, the Poseidon offered no resistance and made no attempt to flee. Her captain had made the eminently sensible decision to surrender. Given the circumstances, he had certainly believed the Berlin to be a battlecruiser. Thus, without firing a single shot, the Berlin secured her first victory, taking more than forty crewmen prisoner and obtaining a sumptuous feast for her officers and men.

There was no doubt that the Poseidon would be sunk. The question was what to do with her crew.

“Give them two lifeboats, enough food and fresh water for ten days, and two signal pistols.” Von Chengqian had no intention of taking the Poseidon’s crew with them. “This is one of the principal routes between Britain and North America. There are plenty of ships passing through, and they’ll be rescued soon enough.”

“You’re simply going to let them go?” Strang asked.

“Would you rather take along more than forty mouths that do nothing but eat, while assigning men to keep watch over them?”

Strang sighed and said nothing more.

“Remember to send men aboard the Poseidon for a thorough search. Remove her radio, and gather as much food, fresh water, and medicine as possible. Don’t waste anything that can still be used.”

Two hours later, the Poseidon broke in half amid a tremendous explosion and sank to the seabed.

The more than forty crewmen were then placed aboard two lifeboats removed from the Poseidon and abandoned to the open sea.

The Berlin did not linger. She resumed her voyage.

The news that the British Berlin had intercepted the Poseidon had barely arrived when Asquith ordered Jellicoe to return to London at once.

Although the Berlin was only a single warship, the threat she posed to Britain already exceeded that of an entire fleet.

That afternoon, the British Admiralty ordered all ships preparing to return to Britain or sail for foreign ports to remain in harbor. Those already at sea were instructed to make for the nearest port. Naturally, this was merely an expedient measure. The urgent task was still to eliminate the Berlin, which was rampaging unchecked across the North Atlantic.

On January 6, Jellicoe returned to London.

Although Asquith did not ask him to explain how the Berlin had broken through the Royal Navy’s blockade and entered the North Atlantic without the British authorities’ knowledge, Jellicoe did have to answer another question: how to destroy the damned commerce raider.

Could Jellicoe provide a satisfactory answer?

Before leaving the Bay of Biscay, he had received word that the High Seas Fleet had repaired the three battlecruisers that had suffered relatively light damage. The Moltke and the Von der Tann had also rejoined the fleet, bringing the number of available battlecruisers to five. All five warships were ready to put to sea.

In other words, if the Grand Fleet dispatched warships to intercept the Berlin, the High Seas Fleet would sortie once again.

Nor should it be forgotten that Jellicoe had only one battlecruiser at his disposal: the Invincible.¹

The Australia and the New Zealand would not return to Britain until the end of the month. If Jellicoe sent the Invincible after the Berlin, he would have no battlecruisers left.

In Jellicoe’s view, that was precisely why the Berlin had entered the North Atlantic.

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Jellicoe also had another concern. Once the Grand Fleet sent the Invincible in pursuit of the Berlin, the High Seas Fleet might dispatch its battlecruiser squadron to blockade the English Channel and cut the route from Britain to France, leaving the British Expeditionary Force without adequate reinforcements and supplies.

The reason was simple: the German army had already occupied Antwerp and was sweeping through the Belgian coastal region.

If the High Seas Fleet entered the English Channel, even for only a few days, it could deal a devastating blow to the Anglo-French forces locked in bitter combat with the Germans on the Western Front. At the time, roughly forty percent of France’s war materiel came from Britain, and most of it had to be transported through the English Channel to French ports on the Atlantic.

Clearly, this was not Jellicoe’s concern alone.

Upon his return to London, Jellicoe was immediately challenged by Kitchener, French, Haig, and other army commanders. This was precisely the issue they feared most. The difference was that French and Haig believed it would not be the High Seas Fleet, but the Berlin, that would enter the English Channel.

Whatever the case, stopping the Berlin from continuing her rampage across the Atlantic became Britain’s foremost priority.

When Asquith met with Jellicoe, he first suggested that the Grand Fleet should adopt a more aggressive posture and actively seek an opportunity to bring the High Seas Fleet to a decisive battle.

The suggestion was bold, but wholly impractical.

At the time, Jellicoe nominally had twenty-three battleships under his command, but only twenty were truly fit for operations at sea. The High Seas Fleet possessed seventeen battleships. More importantly, it had a large number of battlecruisers, meaning that the Grand Fleet did not enjoy an overwhelming advantage in strength.

The Battle of Dogger Bank had already demonstrated that, when properly employed, battlecruisers could play an active role in a fleet engagement.

Jellicoe knew perfectly well that the time for a decisive battle had not yet come. Even if the Grand Fleet defeated the High Seas Fleet, it would suffer catastrophic losses of its own.

Without the Grand Fleet, how could the Royal Navy maintain Britain’s global supremacy?

Confronting Asquith directly, Jellicoe stated that if he were forced to take the Grand Fleet to sea for a decisive battle, he would resign as fleet commander at once and let someone else lead the Grand Fleet to its destruction.

Asquith did not force Jellicoe to resign, because he had no better candidate.

Once Asquith’s attitude softened, Jellicoe proposed a compromise.

The Grand Fleet would leave Scapa Flow—an earlier reference to the Bay of Biscay was an error—and return to Portsmouth, with its primary task being the defense of the English Channel.

On the surface, this appeared to be an excellent tactical choice.

The problem was that Jellicoe had overlooked the most crucial issue. Strategically, if the Grand Fleet withdrew to Portsmouth, it would be handing control of the North Sea to the High Seas Fleet and exposing Britain’s eastern coastline, including the mouth of the Thames, to German naval guns.

The Grand Fleet had originally transferred from Portsmouth to Scapa Flow precisely to deal with the High Seas Fleet.

Clearly, Asquith could not accept Jellicoe’s compromise for political reasons, since doing so would amount to admitting that the Royal Navy had lost control of the North Sea.

The question was, was there any better choice?

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On January 8, after repeated consultations with the army and navy, Asquith finally decided that the Australia and the New Zealand, which were racing toward Britain at full speed, should be sent after the Berlin. The Princess Royal, operating in the Mediterranean, would withdraw to the Strait of Gibraltar. The Grand Fleet would put to sea in mid-January and head for the North Sea in search of an opportunity to engage the enemy, but Jellicoe would not be compelled to seek a decisive battle with the High Seas Fleet.

As for maritime shipping, Fisher, serving as First Lord of the Admiralty, proposed the formation of escort squadrons.

It had to be admitted that Fisher’s proposal was constructive and highly effective. Although the Berlin was more powerful than an armored cruiser and faster than a light cruiser, she was absolutely no match for two armored cruisers in combat. In other words, two armored cruisers in each escort squadron would be enough to ensure that the merchant ships remained safe from attack.

The problem was that this solution was not feasible at the time.

The reason was simple: there were far too many merchant ships requiring protection, and the Royal Navy did not possess enough armored cruisers.

More importantly, because the fleet lacked sufficient capital ships, many armored cruisers had been incorporated into the Grand Fleet to perform duties that ought to have been carried out by capital ships. Diverting armored cruisers to escort duty would therefore weaken the Grand Fleet.

Nor could escort squadrons be formed overnight.

Throughout January, British merchant ships sailing across the North Atlantic, along with foreign vessels carrying goods to or from Britain, traveled in constant fear. Some captains even refused outright to put to sea.

In fact, the Berlin intercepted only a dozen or so merchant ships, and the total cargo lost amounted to less than fifty thousand tons. Compared with the total volume of shipping in the North Atlantic, this was little more than a drop in the ocean.

Yet the very existence of the Berlin dealt a severe blow to British shipping. The volume of shipping in January fell by forty percent compared with December 1914.

For Britain, this was an outright disaster.

One must remember that sixty percent of the supplies required by Britain came from imports. A forty-percent decline in shipping meant a twenty-four-percent shortfall in supplies. Naturally, the psychological impact of the Berlin’s attacks on the British public was far greater than their actual material effect.

For example, at the beginning of January, the price of flour in Britain rose by one hundred and fifty percent, setting a new record since the outbreak of the war. In reality, there was no shortage of flour in Britain at the time; the country had a six-month reserve. It was the public’s expectation of shortages that drove prices upward. Indeed, virtually every British household had stored more than a month’s supply of flour.

The rise in prices directly triggered domestic unrest in Britain.

In January, Britain witnessed more than a hundred strikes, fourteen of them involving over ten thousand workers. The principal cause was the rise in prices: workers’ wages could no longer meet even the most basic costs of living, while business owners suffering losses refused to raise pay.

Describing Britain’s predicament at the time as beset by troubles at home and abroad would be no exaggeration.

Naturally, the turmoil could not fail to affect British politics. Although Asquith had not yet resigned, his political career was essentially nearing its end.

At the end of January, Bonar Law and Lloyd George jointly launched a campaign to bring down the government.

Asquith did not resign because he still had one last gamble: the Anglo-French forces were about to launch a large-scale offensive in early February.

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