Admiral Beez
Major
In June 1914, a British squadron of dreadnought battleships and cruisers visited Kiel, Germany for the annual fleet week event.
http://www.richthofen.com/scheer/scheer01.htm
The English ships comprised a division of four battleships under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir George Warrender, who was flying his flag in the battleship King George V., which was accompanied by Audacious, Ajax, and Centurion, and a squadron of light cruisers, Southampton, Birmingham, and Nottingham, under Commodore Goodenough.
This account of the time describes the suspicion the German press and military felt of the British visit Full text of "Kiel and Jutland"
Three years later in July 1917, the dreadnought battleship HMS Vanguard is lost in a magazine explosion while in port at Scapa.
Now I'm going to mess with history…. HMS Vanguard accompanies the June 1914 squadron to Kiel. Vice-Admiral Warrender is not pleased, as he wants to show off the newer KGV class dreadnoughts, but Vanguard is sent as an indication of how far British design has come, a sort of nudge in the German ribs that even the RN's older dreadnoughts have guns equal (at least in diameter) to the latest German guns.
June 26, 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II is visiting the flagship KGV, when Vanguard, at anchor nearby explodes due to a coal fire being near a magazine. Wilhelm is killed, along with Vice-Admiral Warrender and many others. Two days later, Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated in Serbia. German press are outraged, and suggest the older Vanguard was intended to blow up the Kiel Canal in time for the coming war over the Archduke's killing.
What now?
http://www.richthofen.com/scheer/scheer01.htm
The English ships comprised a division of four battleships under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir George Warrender, who was flying his flag in the battleship King George V., which was accompanied by Audacious, Ajax, and Centurion, and a squadron of light cruisers, Southampton, Birmingham, and Nottingham, under Commodore Goodenough.
This account of the time describes the suspicion the German press and military felt of the British visit Full text of "Kiel and Jutland"
Three years later in July 1917, the dreadnought battleship HMS Vanguard is lost in a magazine explosion while in port at Scapa.
Now I'm going to mess with history…. HMS Vanguard accompanies the June 1914 squadron to Kiel. Vice-Admiral Warrender is not pleased, as he wants to show off the newer KGV class dreadnoughts, but Vanguard is sent as an indication of how far British design has come, a sort of nudge in the German ribs that even the RN's older dreadnoughts have guns equal (at least in diameter) to the latest German guns.
June 26, 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II is visiting the flagship KGV, when Vanguard, at anchor nearby explodes due to a coal fire being near a magazine. Wilhelm is killed, along with Vice-Admiral Warrender and many others. Two days later, Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated in Serbia. German press are outraged, and suggest the older Vanguard was intended to blow up the Kiel Canal in time for the coming war over the Archduke's killing.
What now?
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