Dogger Bank Incident
21 OCTOBER 1904
DOGGER BANK INCIDENT
In 1904, frictions between Japan and Russia erupted into war when the Japanese attacked and destroyed the Russian Navy’s 1st Pacific Squadron at its base in Port Arthur (modern China). Tsar Nicholas II reacted by dispatching his more powerful Baltic Sea fleet on a long and trying voyage around Africa. VADM Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky led the Tsar’s armada, but he found himself plagued with outdated, poorly maintained warships, and inexperienced crews. To make matters worse, Japanese agents in Europe spread rumors that the Japanese Navy had purchased torpedo boats from England that were lying in wait for the Russian fleet as it set out from the narrow confines of Baltic and North Seas. Rozhestvensky knew his warships were vulnerable to torpedo attack, but despite an atmosphere of suspicion and apprehension he sailed from Russia on October 2nd.
By the evening of 21-22 October the Russians had reached the Dogger Bank, a shoal in the English Channel frequented by the fishing fleets of many European nations. Fresh reports of Japanese torpedo boat sightings had the Russian crews nervously at the ready. So, when out of the darkness of this night two shadowy forms running without lights approached the Russians, the reaction was immediate. Searchlights from the battleship SUVAROV pierced the darkness, reflecting off a blackened boat nearby. Without waiting for the admiral’s order jittery gunners opened fire. Muzzles flashed, more searchlights sparkled, and Rozhestvensky caught the familiar silhouette of a steam trawler off SUVAROV’s bow. “Cease Fire” was passed, Rozhestvensky now aware that innocent fishing boats were also in the area. But just as suddenly, muzzle flashes appeared off the beam, apparently directed at SUVAROV. Again the gunners opened fire. Again the VADM had to restrain his crews, for their targets turned out to be their own cruisers AURORA and DONSKOI. Convinced his flotilla had sunk one and damaged another torpedo boat, Rozhestvensky steamed onward.
In truth, the anxious Russians had sunk the British fishing trawler Crane and damaged two more, Moulmein and Mino. The British, who were allied to the Japanese in these years, immediately dispatched their Channel Fleet to intercept the Russians. German Kaiser Wilhelm II exploited the incident to incite a Russo-German alliance against England. France and Spain were drawn in, and Europe stood poised on the brink of war.
Rozhestvensky stuck to his torpedo boat story, and it was Tsar Nicholas who ultimately averted war by issuing an apology and an indemnity. England stood down, and the Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron sailed on to a rendezvous with destiny.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 28 OCT 22
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
British Broadcasting Company. “Beyond the Broadcast, Making History, The Dogger Bank Incident, 1904.” www.bbc.co.uk/ education/beyond/factsheets/makhist2_prog2b.shtml, 28 October 2002.
Pleshakov, Constantine. The Tsar’s Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2002, pp. 91-113.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: The anxiety of the Russian crews had been piqued by reports the previous day from the Russian freighter Bakan that Japanese torpedo boats “barely distinguishable from fishing vessels,” had been sighted off Norway. It is now suspected that such rumors were at least supported, if not initiated, by Japanese agents then working in Europe to delay the Russian armada. AURORA and DONSKOI were both damaged in the fighting, and ironically the first Russian sailor to die on this ill-fated mission was a Chaplain named Anastasy from AURORA.
The Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron, as Rozhestvensky’s armada was designated, did ultimately reach Japan. Unfortunately, they arrived in no semblance of fighting trim, and were summarily defeated in one of the most one-sided naval defeats of history, at the Tsushima Straits.
Russian History records this event on October 8th, as the Russian calendar was 13 days behind the Western calendar at that time.
