Action of 16 March 1917

Achilles

Date	16 March 1917
Location	200 miles (320 km) north-east of the Faroe Islands, North Sea 62°00′N 07°00′W / 62.000°N 7.000°W / 62.000; -7.000Coordinates: 62°00′N 07°00′W / 62.000°N 7.000°W / 62.000; -7.000
Result	British victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom

Germany

Commanders and leaders

Selwyn Day

Hans von Laffert

Strength

1 armoured cruiser
1 AB steamer

1 auxiliary cruiser

Casualties and losses

6 killed

1 auxiliary cruiser sunk
319 killed

North Sea 1914–1918

U-Boat Campaign 1st Heligoland Bight 22 September 1914 Texel 1st Yarmouth Scarborough Cuxhaven Dogger Bank Noordhinder Bank 2nd Dogger Bank 29 February 1916 2nd Yarmouth Jutland 19 August 1916 1st Dover Strait 16 March 1917 4 May 1917 2nd Dover Strait Lerwick 2nd Heligoland Bight Zeebrugge 1st Ostend 2nd Ostend Mine Barrage Tondern 24 October 1918

The Action of 16 March 1917 was a naval engagement in which the British armed boarding steamer Dundee and the Warrior-class armoured cruiser HMS Achilles fought and sank the German auxiliary cruiser Leopard, which sank with all 319 hands and the six men of a British boarding party.

Action

Right elevation and plan view from Brassey's Naval Annual of the Warrior class; the shaded areas show armour.

After leaving port in March disguised as the Norwegian freighter Rena Norge, Leopard (Captain Hans von Laffert) set sail on its mission to disrupt Allied commerce. On 17 March, the cruiser HMS Achilles stopped Leopard in the Atlantic, about midway between Iceland and Norway and ordered her to proceed to the boarding vessel Dundee (Captain Selwyn Day) for inspection. Out-gunned, Laffert had no option but to proceed to the boarding vessel.^[1]

Day dispatched a launch containing a boarding party of an officer and five men to investigate the apparent merchant vessel. Laffert realised that he was about to be discovered, detained the party, and after about an hour fired two torpedoes at Dundee. Dundee manoeuvred out of the way just in time and the torpedoes missed by 20 yards (18 m). Day ordered his gun crews to open fire and shells hit Leopard from the stern at such close range that every shot was a hit, smoke and steam rising from Leopard. Leopard turned to starboard but Dundee turned to port to avoid a broadside. By this time Leopard had been hit forty times.^[2]

Achilles was 4 nautical miles (4.6 mi) to the east-north-east and opened fire on the raider about five minutes after Dundee had commenced firing. As Dundee avoided another broadside, Leopard's gunners fired wild as she sailed straight for Achilles to avoid the fall of shot. Leopard continued to return fire for about an hour more, while shells from Achilles's heavy guns caused explosions and jets of flame and smoke. Leopard began to sink but the crew continued to fire; at 4:30 p.m. Leopard sank with all 319 hands. Damage to the British vessels was light and the only casualties were the six members of the boarding party members on Leopard when it sank.^[3]

Footnotes

↑ Newbolt 2003, pp. 192–193.
↑ Newbolt 2003, pp. 193–194.
↑ Newbolt 2003, pp. 194–195.

References

Cranwell, J. P. (1970). Spoilers of the Sea: Wartime Raiders in the Age of Steam. Books for Libraries Press. p. 302. ISBN 9780836915631.
Enright, P. J. "Yarrowdale - Ships - Count Dohna and His SeaGull". smsmoewe.com. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
Newbolt, H. (2003) [1928]. Naval Operations (PDF). History of the Great War Based on Official Documents. IV (Naval & Military Press ed.). London: Longmans. ISBN 1-84342-492-4. Retrieved 18 January 2016.

Naval ships and warships in the Late Modern period

Naval ship classes in service submarine auxiliary Operational zones Blue-water navy Brown-water navy Green-water navy Gun placement Broadside Central battery/casemate Turretes

Aircraft carriers	Aircraft cruiser Amphibious assault ship Anti-submarine warfare carrier Balloon carrier CAM ship Escort carrier Fighter catapult ship Fleet carrier Helicopter carrier Light aircraft carrier Merchant aircraft carrier Seaplane tender Submarine aircraft carrier Supercarrier

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Transport	Amphibious transport dock Amphibious warfare ship Attack transport Dock landing ship Landing craft Landing craft carrier Landing Craft Support Landing Ship Heavy Landing ship, infantry Landing Ship Medium Landing Ship, Tank Landing Ship Vehicle Troopship

Patrol craft	Armed boarding steamer Armed yacht Coastal Motor Boat Corvette Gunboat Harbour Defence Motor Launch Motor Launch Naval drifter Naval trawler Ocean boarding vessel Patrol boat Q-ship Steam Gun Boat Submarine chaser Torpedo boat

Fast attack craft	E-boat MAS MGB Missile boat MTB MTM MTSM PT boat Shin'yō

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Command and support	Amenities ship Ammunition ship Auxiliary repair dock Auxiliary ship Collier Combat stores ship Command ship Crane vessel Depot ship Destroyer tender Dispatch boat Fast combat support ship General stores issue ship Hospital ship Naval tugboat Net laying ship Repair ship Replenishment oiler Submarine tender

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Miscellaneous	Arsenal ship Barracks ship Breastwork monitor Capital ship Flagship Guard ship Littoral combat ship Monitor River monitor Training ship

World War I

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Middle Eastern	Gallipoli Sinai and Palestine Caucasus Persia Mesopotamia South Arabia

African	South-West East Kamerun Togoland North

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participants
(people)

Entente powers	China French Empire Belgium British Empire Greece Italy Japan Montenegro Portugal Romania Russia Russian Empire Russian Republic Serbia United States

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Timeline

Pre-War conflicts	Scramble for Africa (1880–1914) Russo-Japanese War (1905) First Moroccan (Tangier) Crisis (1905–06) Agadir Crisis (1911) Italo-Turkish War (1911–12) French conquest of Morocco (1911–12) First Balkan War (1912–13) Second Balkan War (1913)

Prelude	Origins Sarajevo assassination Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo July Crisis

Autumn 1914	Battle of the Frontiers Battle of Cer First Battle of the Marne Siege of Tsingtao Battle of Tannenberg Battle of Galicia Battle of the Masurian Lakes Battle of Kolubara Battle of Sarikamish Race to the Sea First Battle of Ypres

1915	Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes Second Battle of Ypres Battle of Gallipoli Second Battle of Artois Battles of the Isonzo Great Retreat Second Battle of Champagne Kosovo Offensive Siege of Kut Battle of Loos

1916	Erzurum Offensive Battle of Verdun Lake Naroch Offensive Battle of Asiago Battle of Jutland Battle of the Somme Brusilov Offensive Baranovichi Offensive Battle of Romani Monastir Offensive Battle of Transylvania

1917	Capture of Baghdad First Battle of Gaza Zimmermann Telegram Second Battle of Arras Second Battle of the Aisne Kerensky Offensive Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) Battle of Mărășești Battle of Caporetto Southern Palestine Offensive Battle of Cambrai Armistice of Erzincan

1918	Operation Faustschlag Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Spring Offensive Second Battle of the Marne Battle of Baku Hundred Days Offensive Vardar Offensive Battle of Megiddo Third Transjordan attack Meuse-Argonne Offensive Battle of Vittorio Veneto Battle of Aleppo Armistice of Salonica Armistice of Mudros Armistice of Villa Giusti Armistice with Germany

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Post-War conflicts	Russian Civil War (1917–21) Ukrainian–Soviet War (1917–21) Armenian–Azerbaijani War (1918–20) Georgian–Armenian War (1918) German Revolution (1918–19) Revolutions and interventions in Hungary (1918–20) Hungarian–Romanian War (1918–19) Greater Poland Uprising (1918–19) Estonian War of Independence (1918–20) Latvian War of Independence (1918–20) Lithuanian Wars of Independence (1918–20) Third Anglo-Afghan War (1919) Egyptian Revolution (1919) Polish–Ukrainian War (1918–19) Polish–Soviet War (1919–21) Irish War of Independence (1919–21) Turkish War of Independence Greco-Turkish War (1919–23) Turkish–Armenian War (1920) Iraqi revolt (1920) Polish–Lithuanian War (1920) Vlora War (1920) Franco-Syrian War (1920) Soviet–Georgian War (1921) Irish Civil War (1922–23)

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