WWI – Naval Defences of the Forth

Rosyth Naval Base and Dockyard

The rise of Germany as a nation-state in 1871, and the subsequent creation of a German Navy raised the spectre of a new threat across the North Sea. This led to the acquisition of land in 1903 to build Rosyth Dockyard creating a new naval base in the Forth.

An initial protective screen

The location was already protected from sea-borne attack by a controlled minefield, operated by the Submarine Mining Service at Port Laing in North Queensferry until March 1905.

This was complemented by gun batteries and searchlights of Carlingnose Battery, on Inchgarvie and at Dalmeny in 1902.

The guns and lights were manned by Royal Engineers and Royal Garrison Artillery men and officers at Carlingnose Barracks in North Queensferry.

Downstream, new batteries were built on top of the 19th century fortifications on Inchkeith, and at Kinghorn.

Firth of Forth Defences in 1902.

Inter-site communications – 1909

Testing the defences June 1905

An “enemy” fleet attempted to sail up-river to attack the Royal Navy Grand Fleet undergoing a refit in St Margaret’s Bay. The enemy managed to evade the gun batteries and defence lights and succeeded in torpedoing two battleships lying upstream of the Forth Bridge.
The attacking force was a number of torpedo boats:

“They came along by the northern shore, and at a great speed, just like an arrow from the bow or a bird on the wing. For a minute or two they were seen, and then they disappeared, having shot through below the bridge. From the time that the first one was observed till the time that the “cease fire” on the forts was sounded would not occupy more than five minutes.”

Ironically the submarine mining service had been disbanded in March 1905. If the minefield had been deployed the torpedo boats would have been confined to the “friendly channel” where they would have been easy targets for the gun batteries, or the observations mines.]

Testing the defences – July 1908

In the second exercise, an enemy fleet was blockading the Firth. The defending fleet in the Forth was in need of reinforcements, so a supply force would have to break through the enemy blockade. Based on observation of ship movements, apparently the supply force successfully out-manoeuvred the blockading fleet, but there was no official communication about the outcome of the exercise.

“The secretary of Vice Admiral Bridgeman let it be known that all officers had been enjoined to observe the utmost secrecy as the extent of the manoeuvres, the scheme, and the result.”

Although aviation was still in its infancy, the first Military Air Station in Scotland was created in 1912 for what became the Royal Naval Air Service at Port Laing, North Queensferry. It moved to Dundee in 1914.

The first use of aeroplanes was for reconnaissance and observation. On the battle field for the army, and in coastal waters, especially to spot submarines, which could creep into an anchorage or estuary and wreak havoc on a fleet at anchor.

Bypassing the defences – August 1913

Fife Free Press of Saturday August 30th 1913
“The efficiency of the submarine as a fighting unit was amply demonstrated in the Forth of Forth the other day.
One of that type of vessel left Dundee with the object of testing the coast defences on the way to Rosyth.
Not only did it manage to steer stealthily past the Inchkeith batteries, but it was not even noticed by the battleships which were anchored in the vicinity of the Forth Bridge.
It reached Rosyth Dockyard, which would have proved a very easy object of attack.
Nothing was said of the surprise visit until the submarine had returned safely to its base at Dundee, when intimation was sent to the warships as to what had taken place.”

Testing the defences – October 1913

The Courier, Saturday 11th October 1913

As in the 1905 exercise the objective was for enemy forces to attempt to outrun the gun batteries and defence lights. Carlingnose Battery was an early casualty of the attack.

“The first move of the attackers was made shortly after nightfall. It resulted in the Carlingnose Forts being captured in the easiest possible fashion. A body of blue-jackets landed in Burntisland from a torpedo boat and journeyed by train to Inverkeithing.
Arriving there, the “tars,” heavily armed and accoutred, skirted the main streets and succeeded in attracting but little attention. They avoided the main highway to North Queensferry, and, scrambling over dykes and palings, made their approach to Carlingnose by the Ferry Hills.
Between the land and sea forces there was a pre-arranged scheme, and when the guns began to belch forth their message of war the bluejackets, taking the garrisons in the rear, surprised them.”

[This echoes Cromwell’s invasion of 1651 when his troops landed behind the guns and seized them.]

Deeper defences

Antisubmarine-nets and booms were created across the Forth, and an integrated command system controlled the movements of ships and managed the guns and searchlights.

Forth Coast Defences in 1914

In 1915 HMS Tarlair, an experimental station to test the use of aircraft to spot submarines opened at Hawkcraig Point in Aberdour.

When Rosyth Dockyard opened in 1916, the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet gradually became based in the Firth of Forth, initially with Admiral Beatty’s Battle Cruisers and their supporting anti-submarine Destroyers which were housed in the new Destroyer Pens at Port Edgar. The Grand Fleet was involved in a number of Naval Battles especially the massive engagement at the Battle of Jutland.

After the Battle of Jutland, Kite balloons were flown from warships; they carried observers who acted as long-range spotters for the fleet. The balloons were maintained and filled at shore stations. The fleet in the Forth was serviced from Ferrybarns Kite Balloon Station at North Queensferry.

The guns from Carlingnose Battery were removed and installed at the new battery at Pettycur in December 1916.

A third extension

By 1918, antisubmarine defences were strengthened with underwater detectors and controlled minefields. This expanded the area where the fleet could be moored downstream of the Forth Bridge. The Battleships which had been based in Scapa Flow under Admiral Jellicoe were transferred to the Forth, with Beatty in command of the entire Grand Fleet.

Forth Coast Defences in 1918

The signing of the Armistice ended the fighting of WWI and was followed by the Surrender of Germany’s High Seas Fleet in the Forth in November 1918.

Fortifications of the Firth of Forth by Ron Morris and Gordon Barclay tells the story of the evolution of the defences of the Forth to accommodate the Grand Fleet in World War I, and the re-armament in 1939 at the outbreak of WWII.