Action off Noordhinder Bank

Action off Noordhinder Bank
Part of the First World War
North Sea map
Date 1 May 1915 Location off Noordhinder Bank, the Netherlands, North Sea 51°39′N 02°41′E / 51.650°N 2.683°E / 51.650; 2.683 (North Sea) Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	German Empire
Commanders and leaders
Sir James Domville	Hermann Schoemann †
Strength
4 naval trawlers 4 destroyers	2 torpedo boats
Casualties and losses
1 naval trawler sunk 1 naval trawler damaged 16 dead	2 torpedo boats sunk 13 dead 46 captured
Noordhinder Bank class=notpageimage| North Sea

The Action off Noordhinder Bank on 1 May 1915 was a naval engagement between four British naval trawlers, supported by a flotilla of four destroyers and a pair of German torpedo boats from the Flanders Flotilla. The action began when the two torpedo boats were sent to rescue the crew of a reconnaissance seaplane that had been forced to alight by engine trouble and to attack the trawlers. The Germans engaged the trawlers; British destroyers from the Harwich Force appeared; the German ships tried to escape but were sunk.

The loss of the two torpedo boats greatly demoralised the German flotilla at Flanders, as they were new. The loss of the two A-class torpedo boats showed the commanders of the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) that the Flanders Flotilla was inadequately armed to protect the coast, let alone harass British shipping in the English Channel. After similar defeats, the A-class torpedo boats were relegated to coastal patrol and heavier V25-class torpedo boats were transferred to the flotilla.