The action off Lerwick (/ˈlɛrɪk/, "Lerrick") was a naval engagement on 17 October 1917 fought in the North Sea during the First World War. The German light, minelaying cruisers SMS Brummer and Bremse attacked a westbound convoy of twelve colliers and other merchant ships and their escorts, part of the regular Scandinavian convoy. The two escorting destroyers and nine neutral Scandinavian ships were sunk off Shetland, Scotland.
Admiralty code breakers had uncovered the call signs of Bremse and Brummer and by direction finding knew that they had sailed from Wilhelmshaven to Lister Tief (Lister Deep) north of Sylt but an operation as far north as the Scandinavian convoy collier route was not anticipated by the British naval commanders because the Admiralty failed promptly to pass on the information.
Both of the British destroyer commanders were commended for their bravery, though some members of the Admiralty felt that by leaving the convoy to engage a superior enemy force, they had left the merchant ships open to attack. Other British ships did not receive reports of the attack until late afternoon, were not in a position to intercept and the German cruisers returned safely to port. The British called the attack on neutral vessels, giving no time for the crews to abandon ship, an outrage.
The Germans denied allegations that their ships had fired on survivors in the water, despite the evidence of gunshot wounds to some crewmembers. Admiral David Beatty, the commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet, severely criticised the Admiralty for failing to pass on information derived from the code-breakers of Room 40.
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The actionoffLerwick (/ˈlɛrɪk/, "Lerrick") was a naval engagement on 17 October 1917 fought in the North Sea during the First World War. The German light...
the German Brummer-class cruisers SMS Brummer and SMS Bremse (the actionoffLerwick) against the Scandinavian Convoy. (During 1917, six U-boats were sunk...
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SMS Bremse about 70 nautical miles (130 km) east of Lerwick in the Shetland Islands in the ActionoffLerwick. Narva United Kingdom 22 December 1957 A cargo...
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Uboat.net. Retrieved 19 October 2012. "British Merchant Ships Lost to Enemy Action Part 3 of 3 - September 1917-November 1918 in date order". Naval History...
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southeast England. U-boats could also depart from Bruges at night, cutting a day off the journey to the Western Approaches, more easily avoiding the North Sea...
for instance the island of Bressay for "Bres", and Danaberg sound near Lerwick for "Damberc". Zichmni then builds a fort on Bres and leaves Nicolò in...
kilometres (567 sq mi) and its coastline is 2,702 kilometres (1,679 mi) long. Lerwick, the capital and largest settlement, has a population of around 7,500....
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United Kingdom
German Empire
Charles Fox †
Max Leonhardi 
