High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Battle off Texel, also known as the Action off Texel or the Action of 17 October 1914, was a naval battle off the coast of the Dutch island of Texel during the First World War where a British squadron consisting of one light cruiser and four destroyers on a routine patrol encountered the remnants of the German 7th Half Flotilla of torpedo-boats, which was en route to the British coast on a mission to lay minefields. The British forces attacked and sank the entire German flotilla of four torpedo-boats. Heavily outgunned, the German force attempted to flee and then fought a desperate and ineffective action against the British force.