On the night of 31st August-1st September 1940, a sortie by Royal Navy destroyers to lay mines off the Dutch coast went disastrously wrong. Shortly before 11pm, a large group of German ships was reported off Terschelling, leading to fears that they may be part of an invasion force #NavalHistory 🧵1/8
In fact, it was later discovered to be a German minelaying flotilla switching bases, but this wasn’t clear at the time. The British destroyers were ordered to ditch their mines and intercept, but almost immediately afterwards sailed straight into an uncharted German minefield off Texel. 🧵2/8
The first casualty was HMS Express, which struck a mine just after 11pm. This blew off her bow as far as the bridge, killing 58 of her crew and wounding many more. HMS Esk closed to assist, but was herself immobilised after hitting a mine. 🧵3/8
Another explosion around 15 minutes later detonated Esk’s magazines. She broke her in half and sank almost immediately, with the loss of 135 crew. In the meantime, HMS Ivanhoe triggered a mine as she came alongside Express to rescue survivors. 11 of her crew were killed and she was immobilised. 🧵4/8
At this point, the escorting destroyers HMS Jupiter and HMS Kelvin (pictured) arrived, with HMS Vortigern marking the entrance to the minefield. They were later followed by a group of MTBs to help rescue survivors. 🧵5/8
At around 8am, most of Ivanhoe’s crew abandoned ship, with 30 men remaining aboard to attempt to save her. It was soon apparent that her back was broken and she was sinking, but although finally abandoned at 2pm, she later withstood a German air attack and had to be torpedoed by Kelvin at 5pm. 🧵6/8
Express was taken in tow and arrived at Hull on 2nd September, though she would be out of action for almost a year while her bow was reconstructed. She would later be on hand to rescue hundreds of survivors from HMS Prince of Wales when the battleship was sunk off Malaya. 🧵7/8
In total, the entire episode had cost the Royal Navy over 200 killed and 100 more wounded or taken prisoner by the Germans. Two destroyers had been lost and another put out of action, at a time when every warship was a vital asset. An inquiry later declared the incident ‘unavoidable’. 🧵8/8
A great if grim thread that highlights just how dangerous minefields were - thanks Jamie.
Cheers Dave!
See also HMS Neptune at Sirte, December 1941 - 764 dead, 1 survivor. Plus destroyer Kandahar sunk and cruisers Aurora & Penelope damaged. Catastrophe.
It really was, Force K was causing all sorts of trouble for Italian convoys, and that minefield in-effect removed them as a factor in the war in the Med.