The Zeebrugge Raid
Posted on Tuesday 23rd April 2013
On 28th December 1917 Rear-Admiral Roger Keyes, aged 45, had been appointed to the Dover Command, with the rank of Vice-Admiral. Keyes was the sort of man who inspires others to give of their best under all conditions. Eleven days after a German destroyer penetrated the protected zone covering the Channel and sank shipping, on 24th February 1918, Keyes was proposing to the Admiralty a scheme for blocking Zeebrugge and Ostend; it was approved. The task which the Navy had set itself might well have thought to be verging on the impossible. It was envisaged that Zeebrugge could be blocked simultaneously with Ostend at a date early in April. In the event the first plan was postponed, happily perhaps, because eventually it took place on St George’s Day, 23rd April. It would be difficult enough to sail into an enemy-occupied and well fortified port but it was infinitely more so at Zeebrugge which had the advantage of being screened by a long mole.







(Admiral Keyes)

























Further Reading
The Zeebrugge Raid
(Hardback - 238 pages)
ISBN: 9781844156771
by Philip Warner
Only £19.99
On 23 April 1918 a force drawn from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines launched one of the most daring raids in history. The aim was to block the Zeebrugge Canal, thereby denying U-boat access, although this meant assaulting a powerfully fortified German naval base. The raid has long been recognised for its audacity and ingenuity but, owing to the fact that the official history took overmuch notice of the German version of events, has been considered only a partial success. The error of that view is now exposed, for…
Read more at Pen & Sword Books...
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