Page 30 - History of War - Issue 29-16

HEROES OF THE VICTORIA CROSS

Joining HMS Lion
Lion, under the command of Admiral David The HMS Queen Mary’s
Beatty, was armed with eight 13.5 inch guns magazines detonate, causing the
and Harvey’s of ce was positioned under ‘Q’ ship to be ripped apart
turret where he directed the guns operation
and re. As well as his duties here, however,
he continued to serve as the senior marine
of cer on board right through his rst military
campaign, World War I.
It was not long before Harvey saw action.
At the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August
1914, HMS Lion, HMS Queen Mary and HMS
Princess Royal sped into the Heligoland Bight,
joining the British and German forces already
engaged in an embittered ght. Luckily, due to
the poor weather, Beatty’s battle cruisers were
able to surprise and destroy SMS Cölin and
SMS Ariadne, with Harvey’s guns scoring many
of the hits.
On 24 January 1915, Harvey once again saw
action when he faced Rear Admiral Franz von
Hipper and his German battle cruiser squadron
who had crossed the North Sea and repeatedly
bombarded British coastal towns including
Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby. The
British and German squadrons came to blows
at the Battle of Dogger Bank.
During the ght one of HMS Lion’s shots hit
one of SMS Seydlitz’s turrets. A huge explosion
ensued, destroying the adjacent turret and
killing 160 men. The German agship only ‘Der Tag’ arrives In January 1916, Vice Admiral Reinhard
survived due to the actions of sailor Wilhelm In the event of war, Britain had long-standing Scheer took command of the German High
Heidkamp, who ooded the magazines. This plans to blockade Germany economically, Seas Fleet and swiftly devised a plan to
action would later be mirrored by Harvey on the cutting off vital imports from the Americas. provoke the British into making a mistake.
HMS Lion. A ‘distant blockade’ was planned, keeping Hipper’s battle cruisers were to attack
After the battle, he continued to serve aboard the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow in the Orkney British convoys of merchant ships en route
HMS Lion at Rosyth into May 1916, resuming Islands. This gave Germany access to the North to neutral Norway. Scheer expected Beatty
his gunnery training and preparing for major Sea, but Britain could still capture or sink her to engage Hipper with his Battle Cruiser Fleet
eet action. merchant ships. from Rosyth, to be joined later by Commander-
in-Chief, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe from Scapa
Flow. German submarines would ambush the
emerging eets, and Hipper would engage
Major Harvey’s Victoria Cross citation Beatty and lure him towards the main High
praising his heroic actions Seas Fleet. Destroying Beatty’s force rst
would give the Germans equality in numbers.
Only after this would the German eet steam
from its base at Wilhelmshaven and break the
British blockade in a great confrontation that
the German navy called ‘Der Tag’ (The Day).
A civilian code-breaking team known as
‘Room 40’ got wind of the German raid and
the Grand Fleet put to sea. Unfortunately, the
report was later amended to indicate that the
Germans were still in harbour, so although
Jellicoe and Beatty were already at sea on 30
May 1916, before Scheer left Germany, neither
expected a battle. Scheer and Hipper were
unclear if the British were at sea, but the whole
plan was supposed to bring about a battle.
First contact was at 2.28pm when HMS
Galatea, a British scouting cruiser in Beatty’s
force, spotted some of Hipper’s ships.
The battle had begun. Beatty’s six battle
cruisers had been strengthened with the
5th Battle Squadron’s four fast, powerful
‘superdreadnought’ battleships, but they were
ve miles away and did not see Beatty’s signals
to join him. Hipper turned away, drawing Beatty
south towards the High Seas Fleet.
Hipper had time to prepare and was ready
for Beatty. By 3.48pm the Germans were within
range and red rst, with the shells ruthlessly
hammering the British ships. At 4pm SMS

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