Battle of Dover Strait (1917)

The Battle of Dover Strait was a naval battle of World War I, fought in the Dover Strait on the night of 21 April 1917.

On 20 April 1917 two groups of destroyers of the Kaiserliche Marine raided the Dover Strait to bombard Allied positions on shore and to engage warships patrolling the Dover Barrage — the field of floating mines that prevented German ships from getting into the English Channel. Six destroyers bombarded Calais and another six bombarded Dover just before midnight.

Two flotilla leaders of the Royal Navy, Broke (Commander Edward Evans) and Swift, were on patrol near Dover and engaged the German ships early on 21 April 1917 near the Goodwin Sands. In a confusing action Swift torpedoed G-85. Broke rammed G-42, and the two ships became locked together. For a while there was close-quarters fighting between the crews, before Broke got free and G-42 sank.

Broke was damaged and had to be towed back to port. The other ten German destroyers made it back to port without loss.