With the conquest of Belgium, the German navy acquired the important and strategically sited bases of Ostend and Zeebrugge. From here the Germans could send out their destroyers to harry British coastal trade and, more important, transports carrying supplies and reinforcements to the BEF in France. To guard against this threat, the British had to keep many cruisers and destroyers in the area, but it was a hopeless task to try to halt every lightning hit and run raid. All they could expect to do was inflict sufficient damage on the German destroyers to deter them from pressing their luck too often.

This article is located in the History of the First World War Volume 4 (REF D522 .H58 1969 V.4).