German raid on Scarborough

On 15 December 1914, German battlecruisers, supported by the battleships of the main German High Seas Fleet set out on a raid against the coastal towns of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool, with the intent of drawing out units of the British Grand Fleet, where they could be engaged by the battleships of the High Seas Fleet. The British, aware from radio intercepts that the Germans were planning a raid with their battlecruisers (but not that they were supported by the whole of the High Seas Fleet), sent out the battlecruiser squadron under Vice Admiral David Beatty with four battlecruisers and the Second Battle Squadron, commanded by Vice Admiral Sir George Warrender, with six battleships, to oppose the raid.^[13] Shark was one of seven destroyers that sailed in support of the British battlecruiser squadron.^[14][15] At 05:15 on 16 December, the lead ship of the British destroyers, Lynx, spotted a German destroyer, V155 (part of the screen of the High Seas Fleet) and set off with the other destroyers in pursuit of the German ship. In a brief exchange of fire, V155 hit both Lynx and Ambuscade, forcing both to break off.^[16] Soon afterwards, Shark and Hardy encountered the German light cruiser Hamburg. After Hardy was badly damaged by shells from Hamburg, Shark and the remaining British destroyers resumed station screening the British battlecruisers.^[17] They encountered five German destroyers at about 06:03, which they chased away,^[18] and at about 06:50 encountered the German cruiser Roon, screened by destroyers, and shadowed them, while reporting their position by radio, but when Shark attempted to lead her division in a torpedo attack against the German cruiser, the appearance of two more German cruisers, Stuttgart and Hamburg, and were forced to break off the attack with the German cruisers in pursuit, before losing contact with the Germans due to poor visibility.^[19][20]

The Battle of Jutland

During the Battle of Jutland, Shark was one of four destroyers from the 4th Flotilla assigned to cover the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron.^[21] During the battle, at around 6 pm, Shark led an unsuccessful torpedo attack by the four destroyers on the German 2nd Scouting Group, with Shark firing two torpedoes. The other three destroyers escaped with little damage, but Shark was crippled by gunfire, having her fuel pipes and steering gear wrecked.^[22] The forecastle gun was completely blown away with most of its gun crew shortly before the captain, Commander Loftus Jones, declined an offer of assistance from the destroyer Acasta, as it would put Acasta in too much danger.^[23]

Soon afterwards the aft 4-inch gun was also destroyed and the bridge wrecked. Jones and three seamen continued working the midship gun, engaging nearby German destroyers and leading to the sinking of V48.^[24] The German destroyers closed on the ship and returned heavy fire, during which Jones lost a leg. Shortly before 7 pm he ordered the ship to be abandoned and around thirty of the crew got onto the rafts. Only seven were picked up six hours later by a Danish ship, but one died soon afterwards. Although there are reports that Jones went down with the ship,^[25] survivors told his wife that he was put onto a raft.^[26] In total, 86 men out of a crew of 92 were killed.^[27]