Talk:SMS Yorck

The loss of the SMS Yorck
During the night of November 3, 1914, the vessels returning from the Yarmouth raid encountered dense fog and all the ships were ordered by Admiral Ingenohl to anchor overnight in Schillig roads. By dawn, the fog was still so dense that the ships could not see each other. The Yorck received permission to proceed to Wilhelmshaven in order to affect repairs to her fresh water tanks.

The Yorck had to proceed through a gap between the double row of mines at the southern end of Schillig roads. The Yorck lost her way in the impenetrable mist an encountered a shift in the current which took her to the wrong side of an anchored mine sweeper marking the channel. With in two minutes, she struck two mines and immediately capsized with the loss of 235 men.

Source: "Castles of Steel" by Robert K. Massie, copyright 2003, Random House, New York, pp. 312 - 313. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.172.172.45 (talk) 15:33, 21 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Massie is wrong, as he sometimes is. The Yorck did not actively participate in the bombardment of Yarmouth, and hence could not have been returning from it; the ship was stationed in the Jade, ready to render support if needed. The ship left without authorization, and through navigation errors, ran into a German minefield off Wilhelmshaven. As a result, the captain of Yorck was later court-martialled and convicted of "disobedience of orders and negligence" and "homicide through negligence", and given a 2-year prison term. Parsecboy (talk) 17:19, 21 October 2008 (UTC)