'''Dogger Bank''' is an extensive [[sandbank]], around 17,610 sq km<sup>2</sup>, in the central North Sea between Great Britain and Denmark.<ref>See [http://encarta.msn.com/map_701512115/Dogger_Bank.html|This map of the Dogger Bank] for the geographical location and some of the more interesting features.</ref> Important fisheries are located there, notably for [[cod]] and [[red herring]].<ref>Source: http://www.bartleby.com/65/do/DoggerBa.html (Columbia Encyclopaedia)</ref>
It is also notable for the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915, where an important battle was fought in [[World War I]]. On the 23 January 1915 Rear-Admiral Hipper of the German Fleet sailed from the Jade with the 1st and 2nd Scouting Groups of three battlecruisers, the large armored cruiser ''[[Blucher (ship)|Blücher]]'', and four light cruisers intending to invade the Dogger Bank and attack any British light forces in the region. On the British side, the battle initially involved the light cruiser ''Aurora'', one of the first [[Royal Navy]] cruisers to operate an aircraft with a runway being fitted over the forecastle. The hope at the time was was to use the aircraft to intercept [[zeppelin]]s, which had been invading the Dogger Bank. However, as was shown in the battle, the aircraft could not climb fast enough, and later on the runway was removed. The ''Aurora'' was joined later in the battle by the a small fleet consisting of the ''Lion'', the ''Tiger'', the ''Princess Royal'', the ''New Zealand'' and the ''Indomitable''. In the end the British fleet prevailed, and the Dogger Bank was retaken.<ref>for a full account of the battle, see: http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/dogger-bank.html</ref>
A second, but far less important "Battle of Dogger Bank" involving [[Greenpeace]] activists occurred in August 2004<ref>see Greenpeace's account on: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/node/1332</ref>
On 21 October 1904 ships of the Russian Baltic Fleet, steaming from [[Kronstadt]] to the [[Pacific Ocean]] to support Russian forces in the [[Russo-Japanese War]], opened fire on a fleet of thirty or so British trawlers (fishing boats) at Dogger Bank, having mistaken the vessels for Japanese torpedo-boats. Three fishermen were killed, and the blunder provoked a dangerous diplomaticc diplomatic dispute between the [[United Kingdom]] and [[Russia]]. In the same incident, Russian ships also fired on each other.<ref>http://www.hullwebs.co.uk/content/l-20c/disaster/dogger-bank/voyage-of-dammed.htm</ref>
It is a part of modern British popular culture, forming part of the daily rhythmic radio shipping forecast: "Fisher, Dogger, German Bight..."