The Battle of Dover Strait that occurred on 26–27 October 1916 was a naval battle of the First World War between Great Britain and the German Empire. Two and a half flotillas of German torpedo boats from the Flanders Flotilla launched a raid into the Dover Strait in an attempt to disrupt the Dover Barrage and destroy whatever Allied shipping could be found in the strait. Upon approaching the barrage, the German torpedo boats were challenged by the British destroyer and an engagement broke out. The Germans were able to destroy Flirt and successfully assault the barrage's drifters, but were once more engaged when a flotilla of British destroyers was sent to repel them. The Germans were able to fight off the additional British units before successfully withdrawing. By the end of the night, the British had lost one destroyer, a transport, and several drifters while the Germans themselves suffered only minor damage to a single torpedo boat. Background In October 1916, the Flanders Flotilla was finally reinforced by the German Admiralty with two full torpedo boat flotillas. The transfer of the 3rd and 9th Torpedo Boat Flotillas to Flanders had immediate consequences to the balance of power in the Dover Strait. Whereas before, the Flanders Flotilla had been equipped with only three large torpedo boats and several of the smaller inferior s, they now possessed 23 large torpedo boats capable of meeting the British Dover Patrol in combat. Due to the lack of large torpedo boats, the Flanders Flotilla had not sortied against the Dover Patrol in several months and as a result British defences were quite lax in the area. With his newly acquired flotillas, the Flanders Flotilla's commander - Admiral Ludwig von Schröder - decided to launch a raid in the Dover Strait against the Dover Barrage as well as any Allied shipping that could be found in the Channel. Although the British had prohibited transports from being in the Channel at night in anticipation of a German raid, the Dover Barrage was not prepared to meet such an attack. Facing Schröder's 23 boats, the Dover Barrage was guarded by only the old destroyer , the yacht Ombra, and the naval trawler H. E. Straud. The four divisions of drifters manning the barrage's anti-submarine nets were armed with only a single rifle each for defence. In addition to the forces guarding the Barrage, there were six s