'The last of Blücher' RMG PW1765, William Lionel Wyllie

This shows the sinking of the German armoured cruiser 'Blücher' at the Battle of Dogger Bank, 24 January 1915. The 'Blücher' is shown capsizing to port ,with the British battlecruiser 'Tiger' of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron in the right background. Incorrectly, the main armament of the 'Tiger ' is shown trained fore and aft. The British destroyer on the left is much too close to the Blücher at this stage, a case of artistic licence on Wyllie's part for compositional effect. The gunnery action commenced at 09.00 and the Blücher capsized at 12.07, having sustained many shell hits and a reported seven torpedoes: 189 crew members were rescued by British destroyers. This drawing was reproduced in colour, with the title as given here, in 'Sea Fights of the Great War' (1918), the book which Wyllie wrote with M. F. Wren, and for which Wyllie provided drawings and watercolours for the 24 colour and 26 black and white illustrations. It is fairly clear that not all were done specifically for the book, though this one may have been given that it (unusually) bears a close execution date.
'The last of Blücher'