midnight
This was the beginning of the greatest and most decisive sea-fight that had been fought since Trafalgar . The sailors of Britain knew that they were fighting not only for the honour of their King and country , but , as British sailors had not done for a hundred and four years , for the very existence of England and the Empire . On the other hand , the Allies knew that this battle meant the loss or the keeping of the command of the sea , and therefore the possibility or otherwise of starving the United Kingdom into submission after the landing had been effected . So from midnight until dawn battleship thundered against battleship , and cruiser engaged cruiser , while the torpedo craft darted with flaming funnels in and out among the wrestling giants , and the submarines did their deadly work in silence . Miracles of valour and devotion were achieved on both sides . From admiral and commodore and captain in the conning-towers to officers and men in barbettes and casemates , and the sweating stokers and engineers in their steel prisons -- which might well become their tombs -- every man risked and gave his life as cheerfully as the most reckless commander or seaman on the torpedo flotillas . It was a fight to the death , and every man knew it , and accepted the fact with the grim joy of the true fighting man .