had come up in support of Reuter's ships; was struck by a shell, which damaged a gun turret; shortly afterwards, the British ships gave up the chase as they reached the edge of more minefields. A shell went through the upper conning tower of the light cruiser , killing the conning tower crew and mortally wounding the Captain, Herbert Edwards, on the bridge and knocking unconscious the navigator, Lieutenant-Commander M. F. F. Wilson. All personnel on the lower bridge were killed and the gunner officer, Lieutenant H. C. C. Clarke took command, which was made more difficult because the shell also cut all electrical communications and reduced the rate of fire. The battlecruiser Repulse briefly engaged the German ships at about achieving a hit on the light cruiser that started a serious fire. Aftermath Analysis In 1984, Patrick Beesly wrote that the British operation was daring but that Napier was unjustly blamed for its failure to pursue the German ships with sufficient vigour. Room 40 was well informed about the positions of German minefields and the British fields which the Germans were trying to clear. The information had been added to Room 40's naval charts but the information was denied to Napier who made decisions based on the charts he did have. Admiralty reluctance to disclose that their information was derived from the decoding of wireless intercepts had led to the naval commander being ill-informed. The Admiralty did at least supply operational intelligence to the Naval commanders, after Beatty had made an emergency request when he was at sea. Napier was informed in ninety minutes, by the Admiralty that German capital ships had sailed at and the location of German cruisers, leading to Königsberg receiving severe damage. At the least, Room 40 had prevented the British operation degenerating from fiasco to disaster. Casualties In 1920, Admiral Reinhard Scheer wrote that the Germans suffered casualties of killed, ten seriously wounded and thirty men slightly wounded. An Admiralty communiqué listed British casualties as one officer and killed, four officers and wounded; were taken. Victoria Cross Able Seaman John Carless of Walsall, aboard Commodore Cowan’s flag-ship , was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery in continuing to load and fire his gun despite receiving mortal shrapnel wounds that opened his abdomen. Orders of battle British forces 1st Cruiser Squadron Vice Admiral Trevylyan Napier CB, MVO (flag; Capt Arthur Bromley) (Capt Charles