Single German ship was able to fire 55 shells in total on her target and then left without any encounter of the British forces, causing minimal damage on the facility and death of local dog.

Operational capabilities of the U-boats created a new thread for the western coast of Britain till then almost untouched by the direct military actions, especially compared to the south-eastern banks of England.

This area experienced the first massive coastal bombardment, primarily targeting non-military sites, on 16 December 1914 during the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby with the resuilt of 136 people killed and 443 wounded,[3] having a huge psychological impact on British public, following two another similar German operations until August 1915.

To target British strategical and military coastal facilities would be a new tactics for the German Imperial Navy, a newly opened warfare gave the opportunity to prove an original plan.

U-24 submarine under the command of Capitain Rudolf Schneider[4] was tasked to attack by the gunfire of its deck cannon the Harrington Coke factory owned by Workington Iron and Steel Company, producing toluen out of benzene used in production of TNT explosive.

Later the information spreaded that a quick thinking workers of the plant opened a relief valve which sent up an impressive plume of burning gas simullating an explosion fire, so the submariners thought they had damaged their target enough.

Possible relation between Mrs Burnyeat origin, place of residence and the U-boat attack were put together by the British intelligence which led to her arrest and charge of an espionage for the German Empire.