Zeebrugge Raid
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The Zeebrugge Raid on 23 April 1918, was an attempt by the Royal Navy to block the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge. The British intended to sink obsolete ships in the canal entrance, to prevent Germa
Graphic depiction of the raid from Popular Science magazine, July 1918
Bruges docks and the approaches from Ostend and Zeebrugge
Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk, Ostend
7.5-inch howitzer (19 cm) fitted to HMS Vindictive for the raid
Blockship
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A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used as a waterway. It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking
Zeebrugge Raid
…and made it impossible to lay a smokescreen to cover the ships. Another attempt was made on 23 April, with a concurrent attack on Ostend. Two of three blockships were scuttled in the narrowest part of the Bruges–Ostend Canal and one of two submarines rammed the viaduct linking the shore and the mole, to trap the…
The wreck of SS Reginald, a blockship sunk in Weddell Bay in the Orkney Islands, Scotland in 1915
Cruiser Reina Mercedes, sunk by its own crew in the Spanish-American War, blocking access to the port of Santiago de Cuba.