Commemorating The Zeebrugge Raid
The Zeebrugge Raid
The raid on Zeebrugge took place in the last year of the First World War. It was an operation designed to block the port and was carried out on St. George’s Day, 23 April 1918.
Zeebrugge was where Germany U-boats and destroyers came up the river from Bruges and went into the sea. The British plan was to go in, neutralise the defences under the cover of a smokescreen, and sink three old cruisers – Intrepid, Iphegenia and Thetis – in the channel in front of the port. This it was hoped would effectively block the waterway. The cruisers would have to go along the heavily guarded harbour mole and, when they were in, the plugs would be pulled and the ships scuttled.
The mole was to be stormed by the another old cruiser, HMS Vindictive, with two Mersey ferries, Daffodil and Iris II, as assault vessels, while two old British submarines were filled with explosives to blow up the viaduct connecting the mole to the shore. Unfortunately, the weather changed – the wind got up and the smokescreen was ineffective. The Germans caught sight of the Vindictive and opened fire on her, causing many casualties. The captain had manoeuvred her into the mole very quickly and got out of position, making it difficult for the landing parties to get to their targets.
In the end, one of the two submarines managed to blow up the viaduct and two of the three cruisers were scuttled in place. HMS Vindictive was badly hit and eventually withdrew. When the ship got back to Dover, Admiral Keyes ordered Captain Carpenter to organise a ballot for Victoria Crosses. He thought that there was so much bravery that there should be many on the various ships. He invoked Clause 13 of the statute which put the VC in place. This allowed for a group or a company to nominate a number of ten men for the VC and then to hold a ballot among them. This is what happened and eight VCs were awarded to seamen and Royal Marines. Admiral Keyes was knighted. Seventy vessels carrying 1,700 men were involved in the operation. More than 240 were killed.
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