History of the North Sea intense diplomatic crisis. The crisis was defused when Russia was defeated by the Japanese and agreed to pay compensation to the fishermen. During the First World War, Great Britain's Grand Fleet based at Scapa Flow and Germany's Kaiserliche Marine faced each other across the North Sea. Due to its numerical advantage in dreadnoughts, the Grand Fleet obtained Naval superiority and was able to establish a sea blockade of Germany's coast. The goal of the blockade was to deny Germany access to maritime trade including war materials and to guarantee the undisturbed ferrying of British troops. Because of the strong defensive
Naval warfare of World War I included those at Heligoland Bight (two of them), Dogger Bank, and Jutland. Though British tactical success remains a subject of historical debate, Britain accomplished its strategic objective of maintaining the blockade and keeping the main body of the High Seas Fleet in port for the vast majority of the war. The High Seas Fleet remained a threat as a fleet in being that forced Britain to retain a majority of its capital ships in the North Sea. The set-piece battles and maneuvering have drawn historians' attention; however, it was the naval blockade of food and raw material imports into Germany