This was a 'refight' of the famous WW1 Naval action, Dogger Bank. It was fought on the floor of Nelson Street Community Centre Hall, using 1/600th ships, scratchbuilt by Paul and using a variant of the old 'Fletcher Pratt' Naval Rules.

Here, is an ever so slightly biased account of the battle....

There has been a major clash between British and German warships in the North Sea.

Reports are coming in of a battle between the opposing Battlecruiser Fleets. At Rosyth, this morning Admiral Beatme's flagship, Lion arrived with numerous large dents along her port side. Tiger also appeared to have suffered from a lot of unwelcome attention. New Zealand and Indomitable seem to be undamaged.

There was concern amongst those liable to get concerned over the non-appearance of the Queen Mary.

A statement released later, on behalf of Admiral Beatme explained her non-appearance. It would seem she was badly damaged and had to be scuttled by her crew, after misreading a signal and turning in to the midst of Admiral Kippers fleet, where she was severely mauled. Despite heroic efforts from her dice rolling party, she began to settle by the stern. Her forward guns kept firing, until all power was lost. Her final salvo crippled the German battlecruiser Derfflinger.

Of the other German ships, Blucher was quickly silenced by accurate shooting from Lion and Tiger, rolling over to starboard and going sinking quickly

With the demise of the Blucher, British attention switched to the other three German ships, who seemed rattled by the loss of Blucher. Crossing the Germans T, Seydlitz soaked up most of the damage, before confusion hit the British battleline. It would appear, that as Admiral Beatme nipped off for a well earned leak, Captain Codswallop, his flag captain hoisted the signal 'Turn to Port', which, if obeyed would result in the British ships passing between the remaining German warships.

Despite thinking Beatme had gone batty, Queen Mary's captain obeyed the ridiculous order and exposed his ship to the concentrated fire of Derflinger, Moltke and Seydlitz.

Indomitables captain, Allonby Jr, decided to ignore the dubious order and kept going straight ahead, Tiger and New Zealand followed her example. This manoeuvre exposed the Derfflinger to the attentions of the three battlecruisers, which led to her mortal wounding.

With Derfflinger and Blucher out of action, British fire was concentrated on the Moltke and Seydlitz. As these two began to suffer mounting damage, Admiral Kipper decided to abandon the action and make for home.

after action report

first battlecruiser squadron, grand fleet

	hms lion. british flagship of admiral beatme-allonby (rtd). hit ratio 31%. received17 hits, but still able to steam. second in the british line. her guns where instrumental in the sinking of the blucher, inflicting the coup de grace on the unfortunate armoured cruiser.
	hms tiger.hit ratio 37%, received11 heavy and 7 medium calibre hits. still fully operational at end of the action. the only british ship to score hits on all german vessels.
	hms queen mary.hit ratio 28%. received 26 hits and sank stern first at 21:50. led the british line until a confusion of signals resulted in her turning to port towards the german line, where she received the full wrath of three enemy ships 5000 yards range.
	hms indomitable.hit ratio 44%. emerged totally unscathed from the action. inflicted heavy damage on the derfflinger and hit seydlitz several times.
	hms new zealand. hit ratio 43%. received1 hit from heavy calibre shell. virtually undamaged. her guns helped complete the destruction of the derfflinger.

first scouting squadron, german high seas fleet

	sms seydlitz. flagship of admiral kipper von thornton. hit ratio 44%, received 16 heavy calibre hits. substantial damage to aft end which resulted in loss of steering gear and speed being reduced to 16 knots. inflicted heavy damage to hms lion in return.
	sms moltke.hit ratio 25%, received 18 hits resulting in damage to stern. gunnery rather poor, until the range had fallen, when she managed to inflict serious damage on the queen mary.
	sms derfflinger.kaptn zur unterzee, von bourne. hit ratio 41%. received 11 heavy hits, unfortunately, nearly all in bad places. substantial flooding led to a severe list which required counterflooding. this, along with further damage resulted in the stern becoming awash. further damage to watertight bulkheads resulted in further flooding of already damaged areas. with her rudders jammed to starboard, she slowly circled until she slipped beneath the waves.
	sms blucher. hit ratio 50%. received 10 heavy hits, which caused massive damage. hits from lions 13.5" guns aggrevated by her light construction untimately led to her loss. she was not designed to fight in a capital ship action and paid the price.