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Where does the Scuttling of the SMS Magdeburg fall in great military blunders?
Posted on 2/9/20 at 11:49 am
Posted on 2/9/20 at 11:49 am
The Magdeburg was a state of the art German light cruiser that launched in 1911.
At the start of WWI, it was assigned to the Baltic fleet and she was credited with firing the first shots of the war (maybe first shots of the war on the eastern front?) on August 2nd, 1914.
On August 26th, the Magdeburg ran aground near Odin’s grave. And despite some effort, she could not be ungrounded with the help of other ships in the German Navy.
At the time, in the middle of the night, they decided to scuttle the ship and destroy all signal codebooks to keep them out of the hands of the Russians.
Things started off badly when a man fell overboard and drowned. Also, some people in life rafts got shot by Russian cruisers. Then, when laying the charges to scuttle the ship, 15 men accidentally blew themselves up too early and the ship didn’t sink.
The captain of the ship though believed all codebooks had been destroyed. In fact, only one was destroyed. One the Russians found at the bottom of the ocean and I believe the other two codebooks were on board.
The Russians gave one of the codebooks to the British and the British began Room 40 which was a British intelligence initiative to capture all German communications.
This allowed the British to have an intelligence advantage on almost every naval engagement in WWI with over 15,000 wires intercepted, including the Zimmerman telegram.
—-
Also, I read last night that the Russians knew the Germans had cracked their codes and didn’t care. Maybe if they did, their asses wouldn’t have been handed to them so bad and no Russian Revolution?
—-
SMS Magdeburg
SMS Magdeburg grounded
At the start of WWI, it was assigned to the Baltic fleet and she was credited with firing the first shots of the war (maybe first shots of the war on the eastern front?) on August 2nd, 1914.
On August 26th, the Magdeburg ran aground near Odin’s grave. And despite some effort, she could not be ungrounded with the help of other ships in the German Navy.
At the time, in the middle of the night, they decided to scuttle the ship and destroy all signal codebooks to keep them out of the hands of the Russians.
Things started off badly when a man fell overboard and drowned. Also, some people in life rafts got shot by Russian cruisers. Then, when laying the charges to scuttle the ship, 15 men accidentally blew themselves up too early and the ship didn’t sink.
The captain of the ship though believed all codebooks had been destroyed. In fact, only one was destroyed. One the Russians found at the bottom of the ocean and I believe the other two codebooks were on board.
The Russians gave one of the codebooks to the British and the British began Room 40 which was a British intelligence initiative to capture all German communications.
This allowed the British to have an intelligence advantage on almost every naval engagement in WWI with over 15,000 wires intercepted, including the Zimmerman telegram.
—-
Also, I read last night that the Russians knew the Germans had cracked their codes and didn’t care. Maybe if they did, their asses wouldn’t have been handed to them so bad and no Russian Revolution?
—-
SMS Magdeburg
SMS Magdeburg grounded
This post was edited on 2/9/20 at 11:54 am
4
Posted on 2/9/20 at 12:31 pm to athenslife101
Does Leo live or die in this one?
Posted on 2/9/20 at 1:44 pm to MSUDawg98
I don’t know fro sure if there was anyone named Leopoldo aboard or died, but this was 1914 Germany so let’s just say yes.
Posted on 2/9/20 at 1:51 pm to MSUDawg98
quote:
Does Leo live or die in this one?
probably let Rose steer
Posted on 2/9/20 at 1:56 pm to athenslife101
The Zimmerman Telegram is an overrated bit of history that really did nothing in the long run but justify further our entry into World War I.
The German's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare at the beginning of 1917 is what ultimately brought us into the conflict. We told them to stop doing it after they sank the Lusitania in 1915. They listened to us for more than a year, then decided to gamble by starting it back up again. As soon as they started it back up, we immediately cut off diplomatic relations with them. Once they started sinking our ships in the Atlantic, that's when we declared war on them.
The Germans knew that resuming USW would bring us into the conflict, which is why they sent the infamous Zimmerman telegram in the first place. Their hope was Mexico invading Texas would bog us down long enough for them to finish off the Entente on the Western Front.
The German's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare at the beginning of 1917 is what ultimately brought us into the conflict. We told them to stop doing it after they sank the Lusitania in 1915. They listened to us for more than a year, then decided to gamble by starting it back up again. As soon as they started it back up, we immediately cut off diplomatic relations with them. Once they started sinking our ships in the Atlantic, that's when we declared war on them.
The Germans knew that resuming USW would bring us into the conflict, which is why they sent the infamous Zimmerman telegram in the first place. Their hope was Mexico invading Texas would bog us down long enough for them to finish off the Entente on the Western Front.
Posted on 2/9/20 at 2:03 pm to athenslife101
(no message)
This post was edited on 1/5/21 at 8:04 pm
Posted on 2/9/20 at 4:43 pm to RollTide1987
I was just using that as an example. The British had a tower on top of one of the Giza pyramids even, and they learned a ton of top secret stuff from it.
Posted on 2/9/20 at 10:20 pm to RollTide1987
Germany said they’d help Mexico reclaim their territory lost to the US in the Mexican-American War. Mexico said no thanks we’ve got a plan for the second half of the 20th century that won’t have to fire a shot.
Posted on 2/9/20 at 11:19 pm to athenslife101
quote:
Habenicht sought to get his ship off. He reversed engines. The ship stayed stuck. He rocked her with various engine speeds. He assembled the entire 337-man crew on the quarterdeck to push the Magdeburg‘s stern down and her bow up and then went full speed astern. He had the crew carry munitions aft. The ship didn’t budge. Soundings showed that at the bow, where the Magdeburg normally drew 16 and 1/2 feet, the water to starboard was only nine feet deep; at the stern, with normal draft just under 20 feet, the depth was 13 feet. The vessel needed to rise seven feet.
Habenicht jettisoned the anchors and their chains. He had the drinking and washing water pumped out. Ash ejectors flung coal into the sea. All but 60 boxes of munitions were dumped over the side. All movable steel parts the mine–laying rails, bulkhead doors, doors on the forward turrets, steel cables, coaling equipment–were pushed overboard. Habenicht then ran the engines forward and backward at various speeds. The Magdeburg moved not an inch.
Any explanation for why the Magdaburg grounded has one less smoke stack than the postcard? I found the above which implies that they may have tossed the 4th smokestack to lighten the weight
This post was edited on 2/9/20 at 11:39 pm
Posted on 2/10/20 at 5:47 am to real turf fan
quote:
Any explanation for why the Magdaburg grounded has one less smoke stack than the postcard? I found the above which implies that they may have tossed the 4th smokestack to lighten the weight
As I was questioning how one scuttles a ship that is grounded, it isn't going to sink, I did a quick search. Apparently they were trying to blow up the ship before the Russians arrived. One of the sets of charges went off early which blew up the front of the ship. With the smoke visible in the photo I'm guessing the pic showing three funnels was probably taken after this explosion.
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