Battle of Dover Strait ( 1916 ) The Battle of Dover Strait that occurred on 26 – 27 October 1916 was a naval battle of the First World War between Great Britain and the German Empire . Two and a half flotilla s of German torpedo boat s from the Flanders Flotilla launched a raid into the Dover Strait in an attempt to disrupt the Dover Barrage and destroy whatever Allied shipping could be found in the strait . Upon approaching the barrage , the German torpedo boats were challenged by the British destroyer and an engagement broke out . The Germans were able to destroy " Flirt " and successfully assault the barrage ′ s drifter s , but were once more engaged when a flotilla of British destroyers was sent to repel them . The Germans were able to fight off the additional British units before successfully withdrawing . By the end of the night , the British had lost one destroyer , a transport , and several drifters while the Germans themselves suffered only minor damage to a single torpedo boat . Background . In October 1916 , the Flanders Flotilla was finally reinforced by the German Admiralty with two full torpedo boat flotilla s . The transfer of the 3rd and 9th Torpedo Boat Flotilla s to Flanders had immediate consequences to the balance of power in the Dover Strait . Whereas before , the Flanders Flotilla had only been equipped with three large torpedo boats and several of the smaller inferior A - class torpedo boat s , they now possessed 23 large torpedo boats capable of meeting the British Dover Patrol in combat . Due to the lack of large torpedo boats , the Flanders Flotilla had not sortied against the Dover Patrol in several months and as a result British defences were quite lax in the area . With his newly acquired flotillas , the Flanders Flotilla ′ s commander — Ludwig von Schroeder — decided to launch a raid in the Dover Strait against the Dover Barrage as well as any Allied shipping that could be found in the Channel . Although the British had prohibited transports from being in the Channel at night in anticipation of a German raid , the Dover Barrage was not prepared to meet such an attack . Facing Schroeder ′ s 23 boats , the Dover Barrage was only guarded by the old destroyer , the yacht " Ombra " , and the naval trawler " H . E . Straud " . The four divisions of drifters manning the barrage ′ s anti - submarine net s were only armed with a single rifle each for defence . In addition to the forces guarding the Barrage , there were six " Tribal " - class destroyer s at Dover that could be called upon in the event of a raid as well as several units of Harwich Force dispersed at the Downs . Battle . The German torpedo boats split off into five groups with each attacking a different section of the shipping in the channel . The German 5th Half Flotilla sailed into the Dover Barrage and soon came into contact with five drifters of the 10th Drifter Division tending the anti - submarine net s and began attacking them . After hearing gunfire , " Flirt " — the drifters ′ escort — approached the as yet unidentified vessels and challenged them . The unidentified boats responded to the British signal with a similar signal . Confused , " Flirt " s commander decided that the approaching vessels were Allied destroyers and that drifters had been attacked by a submarine . An open boat was also launched from " Flirt " to rescue survivors from the sinking drifters . The German boats then turned their attention from the drifters to the destroyer and attacked her , completely by surprise . Heavily outnumbered , " Flirt " unsuccessfully attempted to ram one of the German boats and after a brief engagement was sunk by combined gunfire and torpedoes . After sinking " Flirt " , the Germans continued to attack the barrage , sinking two drifters each from the 8th and 16th Drifter Divisions . In all , a total of six drifters and damaged three others , as well as the trawler " H . E . Straud " , before the Fifth Half - Flotilla withdrew . When British authorities received word of the German raid , they then sent six " Tribal " - class destroyers — , , , , and — as reinforcements to attempt to repel the Germans . Due to a misinterpretation of his orders , the British commander of the dispatched destroyer division — Commander Henry Oliphant of the " Viking " — failed to keep his force compact as a single unit . Instead , he deployed his destroyers in two loose groups , one consisting of " Viking " , " Mohawk " , and " Tartar " and the other " Nubian " , " Amazon " and " Cossack " . The destroyer " Nubian " soon steamed far ahead of her group , and was the first of the dispatched vessels to reach the scene of " Flirt " s sinking . Meanwhile another half flotilla of German boats had caught the empty British transport " Queen " off Goodwin Sands as it returned from the French coast . The Germans boarded " Queen " and removed her crew before sinking her . Upon " Nubian " s contact with the German 17th Half Flotilla , she made the same error as " Flirt " and mistook the German boats for Allied vessels . Surprised with a hail of gunfire , " Nubian " unsuccessfully attempted to ram the last boat in the German line of battle but was struck by a torpedo that blew off her bow and reduced her to a drifting hulk . " Amazon " and " Cossack " soon arrived to aid " Nubian " , and began engaging the German boats . The Germans scored several hits on " Amazon " , knocking out two of her boilers before withdrawing . " Viking " s division of boats also clashed with " Kaiserliche Marine " torpedo boats . The German 18th Half Flotilla was heading back to Zeebrugge when it sailed into Oliphant ′ s group of destroyers , engaging them as they passed . Although " Viking " escaped unscathed , " Mohawk " suffered several hits before the Germans were able to break away to the safety of the coast . Near the end of the action , Reginald Bacon — the commander of the Dover Patrol — dispatched the Dunkirk Division to intercept the German torpedo boats before they could return to Flanders , but the Germans were able to successfully withdraw before being caught by these further reinforcements . Aftermath . The British had failed to stop the raiders from destroying the drifters and six of them were sunk in addition to " Flirt " and the transport " Queen " . Besides those vessels that were sunk , several British vessels were damaged , including three destroyers , three drifters , and a naval trawler . The loss of life was also heavy with the British suffering 45 men killed , four wounded , and 10 taken prisoner . Of the German torpedo boats , only suffered any damage and no German vessel suffered any casualties . The success of the raid would spur further German sorties into the English Channel and the raids continued until the Flanders Flotilla ′ s 3rd and 9th Torpedo Boat Flotillas were redeployed to the High Seas Fleet in November 1916 .