Battle of Moon Sound

1917 naval battle in the Baltic Sea
the naval operation

The Battle of Moon Sound was a naval battle fought between the forces of the German Empire, and the then Russian Republic (and three British submarines) in the Baltic Sea during Operation Albion from 16 October 1917 until 3 November 1917 during World War I. The German intention was to destroy the Russian forces and occupy the West Estonian Archipelago. The Imperial German Navy had ten battleships, one battlecruiser, nine light cruisers, one mine cruiser, fifty destroyers and six submarines while the Russians had only two pre dreadnoughts, three cruisers, three gunboats, twenty one destroyers, and three British submarines.

It was the Germans' intention to destroy the Russian Army and occupy the West Estonian Archipelago (Moonsund Archipelago). The Germans captured the archipelago, with its main islands of Saaremaa (Ösel), Hiiumaa (Dagö), and Muhu (Moon) during Operation Albion in September 1917. This left a Russian squadron consisting of the old Russo Japanese War era pre dreadnought battleships Grazhdanin (formally Russian battleship Tsesarevich), and Russian battleship Slava, together with cruisers and destroyers, stranded in the Gulf of Riga. Following the battle, the squadron escaped on 17 October 1917 by way of the Suur Strait separating the island of Muhu from the Estonian mainland. It was thought in the West at the time that the Russian naval force could have been stronger if newer and larger ships had been sent from Petrograd and that indiscipline in the navy had prevented this. This was reported in the London newspaper The Times soon afterwards. Many of the sailors fighting for Russia organised themselves democratically and in the preceding months, these organisations had passed numerous motions denouncing the war and calling for an immediate peace. Nevertheless, they also did not want Petrograd, as the centre of the revolution, to fall into the hands of the German military. Many suspected that sections of the government, which would soon be overthrown in the October Revolution, now wanted to abandon Petrograd so the revolution could be pacified. This train of thought can be seen in the radio message that many of the Russian ships broadcast during the battle; "Attacked by superior German forces our fleet will go down in unequal battle. Not one of our ships will decline the fight. The slandered and maligned fleet will do its duty but not at the command of a miserable Russian Bonaparte, ruling by the long suffering patience of the revolution not in the name of the treaties of our rulers with the Allies, binding in chains the hands of Russian freedom In the hour when the waves of the Baltic are stained with the blood of our brothers we raise our voice: Oppressed people of the whole world! Lift the banner of revolt!"

At the start of the Battle of Moon Sound there were two British submarines in the Gulf of Riga. They were C 27 (Lt. Sealy) and C 32 (Lt. Satow). When the Germans got there, Captain Francis Cromie sent out another submarine, C 26 (Lt. Downie). On the night of 16 October, Lt. Sealy fired two torpedoes at two German ships but missed. Two further torpedoes struck their targets. C 27 returned to Hanko when it was no longer needed. C 32 attempted to attack a German ship but was spotted and bombed. In the afternoon of 16 October, Gruppe Behncke travelled to the south exit of the Suur Strait and dropped anchor around 8:30 pm. All German ships were anchored in a close line with a torpedo boat at each end. The Germans made significant progress onshore on 16 October, taking 120 officers and 400 men prisoner and capturing 49 guns. By the end of the day, German forces were prepared to capture the West Estonian Archipelago and the navy was ready to attack in the Matsalu Bay and the Suur Strait.

According to Leon Trotsky, the loss of the Moon Sound archipelago was used by the provisional government as a pretext to begin preparations to move the capital from Petrograd to Moscow. The Bolsheviks accused the provisional government of refusing to defend the revolutionary capital and attempting to abandon it to Imperialist forces. Pressure from below forced the government to abandon these plans. The Russian losses were minor, the destroyer Grom was sunk and Slava scuttled as a blockship at the archipelago entrance, with most of the crews rescued. The other ships suffered damages, but none major. On the 19th of October, the rest of the Russian fleet was able to escape the archipelago to Lapvik, Finland, after bad weather and minefields prevented the German fleet from intercepting it. The Germans suffered more casualties, 156 were killed and another 60 were wounded. They lost more craft, though mostly small torpedo boats, S 64 hit a mine and sank. Additionally, before the operation, 2 ships were sunk and 2 damaged by mines, while during the operation, multiple ships were sunk by mines, the battleships Bayern and Grosser Kurfürst were both damaged by mines and Kronprinz ran aground while returning to Kiel, which took months to repair, the transport Corsica was damaged by a mine and ran aground, the minesweeper tender Indianola was damaged by a torpedo from a British submarine, and seven minesweepers were sunk in anti mine operations. Operation Albion meanwhile was a tremendous German success, with the Russian forces on the islands destroyed, and the islands and coastal batteries firmly in German hands. The Russian defeat prompted the Russian military to refuse further operations and on the 7th of November, the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government.