Bad weather postponed the operation from 21 to 22 August 1915. Ten destroyers, nine minesweepers, the seaplane carrier Riviera, and the monitors took position about ten miles off Zeebrugge during the night. Lord Clive opened fire at 05:36 on the canal locks connecting Zeebrugge with the German naval base at Bruges. After firing 31 shells at the locks over roughly an hour and a half, she shifted to a nearby factory and fired another 11 rounds. Turret failures on Sir John Moore and Prince Rupert helped prompt Vice-Admiral Reginald Bacon to stop the action after two hours and cancel the planned bombardment of Ostend. The locks were unharmed and only two barges sank, but the British treated the poor result as a first trial to repeat after repairs.
Notable Point · 16:19-17:35
The 1915 Zeebrugge canal bombardment
Lord Clive's first Belgian-coast operation fired on the Zeebrugge-Bruges canal locks, but turret failures and poor results ended the bombardment early.