Second Battle of Heligoland Bight - Definition and Overview

The Second Battle of Heligoland Bight was a naval battle of World War I. On 17 November 1917, German minesweepers clearing a path through the British minefield in the Heligoland Bight of the North Sea near the coast of Germany was intercepted by two Royal Navy cruisers Calypso and Caledon performing counter-minesweeping duties. The German ships fled south toward the protection of the battleships Kaiser and Kaiserin commanded by Admiral Ludwig von Reuter. The two cruisers bravely engaged the German battleships while their own screening force of the battlecruisers Tiger and Renown, Courageous, and Glorious of the First Battlecruiser Squadron commanded by Admiral Sir Charles Napier were coming up to assist.

All personnel on the bridge of Calypso, including her captain, were killed by an 11-inch shell. Repulse briefly engaged the German battleships but the Germans made it back to the safety of their own minefields with the loss of only a torpedo boat.