ORDER OF BATTLE // April 23, 1918
Zeebrugge Raid
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
1 sides catalogued · combined 1,700 estimated
United Kingdom
1,700
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Zeebrugge Raid of April 23, 1918 was a Royal Navy attempt to neutralize Bruges-Zeebrugge as a German naval base by sinking obsolete vessels in the canal entrance and blocking German access to the port. The port served as the primary base for Imperial German Navy Flanders U-boat flotillas and light shipping, forces that posed a direct threat to Allied control of the English Channel and southern North Sea. Prior efforts to neutralize the Flanders ports through naval bombardment had failed, and Operation Hush, a 1917 plan to advance up the Belgian coast, had proven abortive. Rising Allied ship losses to U-boats gave the operation its urgency and prompted the Admiralty to accept the risks of a direct raid. The British committed approximately 1,700 personnel and suffered between 200 and 300 casualties in the action.
‹ Full battle dossier