World War I - Naval Casualties 1914
NB. The list below is not exhaustive
H.M.S. Cressy
(Torpedoed 22 September 1914)
Frank Setterfield, Leading Seaman Gunner, aged 34 years; he had 15 years service in the Royal Navy. He was the son of William Setterfield of Ham who lived in a thatched cottage in the chalk-pit, Hay Lane which belonged to Hay Farm, Ham. He left a widow and four children under six years of age; unfortunately one of the children died on the 4th October. His name is recorded on the war memorial in Ham church (now redundant).
In the North Sea, about forty miles of the Hook of Holland, in the early hours of 22 September 1914, the cruisers H.M.S. Aboukir, H.M.S. Hogue and H.M.S. Cressy were torpedoed and sunk by German Submarine U9, which was under the command of Kapitanleutnant Otto Weddigen. A total of 837 men survived from the three ships and 1459 drowned many were cadets and reservists, a disaster of epic proportions.
H.M.S. Cressy H.M.S Aboukir and H.M.S. Hogue patrolled and area of the North Sea known as the Broad Fourteens. This area was vulnerable to attack and the patrol became known as the "live bait squadron". The Admiralty maintained the patrol on the grounds that destroyers were not able to maintain the patrol in the frequent bad weather and that there were insufficient modern light cruisers available. The patrols were supposed to maintain 12-13 knots and zigzag but the old cruisers were unable to maintain that speed and the zigzagging order was widely ignored because there had been no submarines sighted in the area during the war.
U9 manoeuvred to attack and at about 6.25a.m and fired a single torpedo
at Aboukir, which struck her on her port side. Captain Drummond ordered
her to be abandoned; she sank in half an hour. U9 fired two torpedoes
at H.M.S. Hogue that hit her amidships and rapidly flooded her engine room.
Captain Nicholson of Hogue had stopped the ship to lower boats to rescue
the crew of Aboukir, thinking that he was on the other side of Aboukir from
U9. Unfortunately U9 had manoeuvred around Aboukir and attacked Hogue from
a range of only 300 yards. The firing of two torpedoes affected the trim of
U9 which broke the surface briefly and was fired on by Hogue, but to no effect.
It only took Hogue ten minutes to sink as U9 headed for H.M.S. Cressy. Cressy,
under Captain Johnson, had also stopped to lower boats but got underway
on sighting a periscope. At about 7.20a.m. however U9 fired two torpedoes,
one of which just missed but the other hit Cressy on her starboard side,
Cressy briefly fired on U9's periscope but with no effect. The damage to Cressy
was not fatal but U9 turned round and fired her last torpedo which hit Cressy
sinking her within a quarter of an hour. The whole affair had taken less
than one hour from the time of shooting off the first torpedo until the Cressy
went to the bottom. Survivors were picked up by several nearby merchant ships.
The bulk of the blame was directed at the Admiralty for persisting
with a patrol that was dangerous and of limited value against the advice
of senior sea going officers.
S.M.Unterseeboot 9
(German Uboat U9, from Photos of the Great War)
U9 had a crew of 29 and was the most famous German submarine of the First World War. Otto Weddingen joined the German Navy in 1901 and became commander of a U-boat in 1911. A month after sinking the Cressy he also destroyed the Cruiser H.M.S. Hawke on 15 October 1914.
Otto Weddingen transferred to the U29, he sunk four merchant ships in February 1915 and attacked the British Battle Fleet near the Orkneys in March. Returning to Germany following this attack, H.M.S. Dreadnought detected the U-boat in the Pentland Firth (North Sea) and rammed and sank U29 with its whole crew on March 18 1915. This was the only action H.M.S. Dreadnought saw and she remains the only battleship to have sunk a submarine.
In contrast U9 survived the war and surrendered to the Royal Navy. In March 1919 it was moved from Harwich to Morecambe on the west coast. During the tow, a towrope broke and the submarine ran aground near Dover. After about a month the U9 was freed from the sand and reached its last harbour - Morecambe - where it was broken up.
The death of Frank Setterfield was reported in the 'Deal Walmer and Sandwich Mercury', 24 October 1914:
PRO PATRIA
Another Loss from the Cressy
An Eastry Case
We still hear of the losses which the destruction of the Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy on 22 September has inflicted on the local families. A further instance is that of Leading Seaman-Gunner Frank Setterfield, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. [William] Setterfield of Ham, near Eastry, and nephew of Mr. and Mrs. George. Setterfield, of Butts Hole, Eastry. He is reported missing from H.M.S. Cressy. His wife [Alice] who lives in Church Street, Eastry, is left with three children under six years of age and on the 4th October she had the sorrow to lose a fourth child, little Jack, aged 1 year and 11 months, which adds to the grief and now all too probable loss of her husband has occasioned her. Her only consolation is that his life, if lost, was given bravely in the cause of King and country. He was 34 years of age, and had served for 15 years in the Navy afterwards in the R.F.A., [Royal Field Artillery] five years service in which would have been completed next May. He had been on three commissions on foreign stations. He was very fond of his life at sea and was very popular with his shipmates. He was a kind husband and father and it is pathetic for the mother to have to hear here little ones asking for "Daddy". Very great sympathy is felt with Mrs. Setterfield in all too probable loss of her husband, and with the other members of their family in the neighbourhood.
H.M.S. Hawke
(Torpedoed 15th October 1914)
John Pain was a stoker aboard H.M.S. Hawke.
H.M.S. Hawke was a cruiser of 7,735 tons built at Chatham Dockyard in 1893. She had two 9.2 inch and ten 6 inch guns. She was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U 9 under the command of Kapitanleutnant Otto Weddigen who the previous month sank the cruisers H.M.S. Aboukir, H.M.S. Hogue and H.M.S. Cressy. H.M.S. Hawke, under the command of Captain Hugh P. E. Williams, R.N., had met in the North Sea with H.M.S. Endymion to collect mail. The torpedo struck near to a magazine so despite having 192 compartments and 98 watertight doors she sank in eight minutes with the loss of 524 men and only 70 survivors. As was the case with H.M.S. Cressy the chief use of the ships was for training and many of the men were cadets and reservists. Opinion at the time questioned whether they should have been at sea at all.
The Hawke was previously well known for colliding with the White Star liner Olympic in the Solent on September 20, 1911, when undergoing steam trials after refitting; both vessels were damaged, the cruiser requiring a new stern.