NORTH SEAS

 1914 to 1918

Dogger Bank

January 24th 1915

 "SEMI" Historical Battle (Historical with Minor changes for the campaign)

After the German success of the Scarborough raid in December, Hipper intended to follow up his victory with an operation to clear.

Dogger Bank of British fishing vessels and dubious neutrals and to attack any small British warships in the area, with the HSF covering

 the withdrawal of the battlecruisers.^[13] The limited nature of the operation conformed to the ban by the Kaiser on operations by the

 High Seas Fleet, that had been reiterated on 10 January. A slightly more aggressive strategy was permitted, within the policy of keeping

 the HSF in being, in which the fleet could sortie to attempt to isolate and destroy advanced British forces or to attack the Grand Fleet if

 in greater strength. On 19 January, Beatty had reconnoitered the area west of the German Bight and been seen by a German aircraft.

 The reconnaissance and British activity at the Dogger Bank led Ingenohl to order Hipper and the I Scouting Group to survey the area

 and surprise and destroy any light forces found there.

Meanwhile the British decided to hold back the Harwich Force: three light cruisers (HMS Aurora, Arethusa, Undaunted) and

15  destroyers and assigned them to cover the mouth of the Thames.

Morning January 24th 1915

Sighting the smoke from a large approaching force, Hipper headed south-east by 07:35 to escape but Beatty's ships were faster than the German squadron, which was held back by the slower armoured cruiser Blücher and the coal-fuelled torpedo boats. By 08:00, the German battlecruisers had been sighted from Beatty's flagship Lion but the older battlecruisers of the British 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron were lagging behind the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron. Chasing the Germans from a position astern and to starboard, the British ships gradually caught up—some reaching a speed of 27 kn (50 km/h; 31 mph)—and closed to gun range.^[1]

Beatty chose to approach from this direction so that the prevailing wind blew the British ships' smoke clear, allowing them a good view of the German ships, while German gunners were partially blinded by their funnel and gun smoke blowing towards the British ships. Lion opened fire at 08:52, at a range of 20,000 yd (18,000 m) and the other British ships commenced firing as they came within range, while the Germans were unable to reply until 09:11, because of the shorter range of their guns.^[16] No warships had engaged at such long ranges or at such high speeds before and accurate gunnery for both sides was an unprecedented challenge but after a few salvos, British shells straddled Blücher.^[17]

WEATHER : FORCE 4 : Windy and Rough Seas.

VISIBILITY: Day Battle (08:49 ) : 104"

SETUP: Day Battle (Turn One Starts at 08:49 ) : As Above , No Enemy ships closer than 90" .

Setup is considered 1st turn movement and starts on Firing phase.

SPECIAL RULES: The Germans are not penalized for disengaging and will receive 10% of teh VPs for each ship that can open the distance from the closest British ship to 105" (effectively escaping the British Grande Fleet).