User:GW-Xion

Great naval battles of the Twentieth Century

Jutland

The Battle of Jutland in May 1916 was the last major two-dimensional fleet action. Submarines played no role and the contributions made by airships were negligible.

The Battle of Jutland was the stupendous clash of 111 German warships manned by 45,000 officers and men against 150 British vessels with crews totaling 60,000.

Neither the British commander, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, nor his adversary, Admiral Reinhard Scheer, could really see what he was doing. In the fog and haze of a late summer afternoon, it was a game of blind man’s bluff.

From the outset of the First World War in Germany as well as in England, there was a general expectation that in the earliest stage of the war the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet would meet in full force and cleared action in the North Sea. But nearly two years went by before this trail of strength came. For the German Admiralty the main body of the fleet was to be kept at its bases behind the minefields of the Frisian coast. It was not till 1916 that a more enterprising policy adopted in the North sea upon Scheer's taking over command of the fleet. Scheer's policy was to engage, if opportunity offered, not in a great battle fought out to the end, but in an engagement in which he might be able to bring a superior force into against a detachment of Jellicoe's huge Armada.

In May he planned an operation in the North Sea for the whole fleet. They were to watch any British movements, and seize any opportunity of attacking British ships as they came out. The German squadron of battle cruisers under Admiral Hipper was to start for the entrance of the Skagerrak in sight of the Norwegian coast, capturing any British shipping on the route. Scheer would follow with the main body of the fleet, keeping some 40 miles south of his cruisers. Hipper's appearance was expected to lure out some large detachment of the British fleet and Scheer counted on bringing off an encounter with his line of retreat clear, in case he met superior forces. Thanks to the capture of German coded messages the Admiralty picked up enough to be sure that the enemy was preparing for some exceptional activity.

Admiral David Beatty's battle-cruiser squadron, reinforced with Thomas's 5th Battle Squadron (Dreadnoughts), was already in the Forth. The main body of the Grand Fleet was still at Scapa Flow. On May 30 orders were sent to Jellicoe to take the Grand Fleet out to sea to a point north of the Dogger Bank and west of the opening the Skagerrak. Beatty's force from the Forth was to steam eastward northwest of the Dogger Bank, and then join the Grand Fleet early on May 31st.

The British and German fleets were thus converging on the Skargerrak, and the result was the great battle of the naval war.

On both sides there was a main fighting force of battleship squadrons with their proportion of lighter craft, and to serve as its advanced guard less numerous, but still exceptionally powerful, fleet of battle cruisers and their auxiliaries.

The British battle fleet was made was made up of 24 Dreadnought. Two squadrons each of four armour cruisers, a squadron of 3 battle cruisers, a light cruiser squadron, three flotillas of destroyers, and a mine-layer. Jellicoe, flew his flag on the Iron Duke.

The advance guard, battle-cruiser fleet was under the command of Vice Admiral Beattty in the battle cruiser Lion. There were six battle cruisers in two squadrons. A supporting force was Rear Admiral Evan-Thomas's squadron of four battle-ships. There were also 3 squadrons of light cruisers, 13 ships in all, 3 flotillas of destroyers.

150 ships in all, 28 battleships, 9 cruisers, 8 armoured cruisers, 22 light cruisers, 81 destroyers, a mine layer and a seaplane carrier.

The German High Sea Fleet for its main force 21 battleships, Scheer's flagship the Friedrich der Grosse, a squadron of 8 ships, two others of 6 each. Only 15 were Dreadnoughts. The 3rd Squadron was made up of the newest ships, the Konig class, the largest and most heavily armed in the whole fleet.

There were three cruiser squadrons. The first of these was made up of 5 battle cruisers manned by Vice Admiral Hipper on the Lutzow, a squadron of light cruisers(11 in all), 2 other light cruisers as leaders of the destroyers.

In all three were 111 ships : 22 battleships, 5 battle-cruisers, 11 light cruisers, 73 destroyers.

When the British fleet put to sea few of its officers expected anything to happen. It was a dull cloudy night. Jellicoe was leading the main fleet eastwards.Further south Beatty, with the battle-cruiser squadron, and Evan-Thomas with the 5th Battle Squadronwere on from the forth to their first post north of the Dogger Bank. The night passed without incident.The German fleet came out that morning with Hipper's battle cruisers, which had gone out at 2 A.M., some 50 miles or more in advance. By10 A.M..

At 3 P.M. the united battle fleet was close to the appointed rendezvous west of the Skaggerak. But by this time, further south, Beatty was already in touch with the enemy, believed at this stage to be only Hipper's cruiser force.

Until after 2 A.M. Beatty's battle-cruiser fleet has steaming westward light cruisers some miles in advance. The four battle cruisers followed him. Beatty now altered his course northward to Jellicoe.

Further east the Galatea reported a German torpedo boat. On board the cruiser Action Stations of the 6-inch gun fired at the German. This proved to be the first shot fired at 2:20 P.M.

as the enemy destroyer raced away eastward there came in sight in that direction light cruisers and torpedo craft, obviously the covering of a fleet.

The Galatea's warning that the enemy was in sight had been radioed to Beatty and Jellicoe. At 2:40 the main fleet was ordered to raise full steam. Beatty had put his cruisers and Evan-Thomas's battleships on a south-southeast course between the enemy and their line of retreat southwards.

The force facing the British was Hipper's squadron of five battle cruisers, with its vanguard escort of light cruisers and torpedo craft.

This preliminary skirmish ended towards 3:30 P.M., when Hipper, having discovered that British were steaming southeast, promptly swung around to the southward to parry the menace to his line of retreat and to join Scheer who was some 60 miles away.

Neither the Germans nor the British knew that their opponents' main fleet was at sea. Beatty was preparing to engage Hipper until Jellicoe could come up,then the German cruiser squadron would be crushed by overwhelming force. Hipper was expecting this would be the fate of Beatty if he could hold his own against him until Scheer would come into action. The two battle-cruiser fleets, Beatty and Hipper's fleets, were both running south on parallel courses 6 or 7 miles apart. With both the battle cruisers were in line, their light cruisers and torpedo craft out ahead right and left of leading ships. Beatty was leading his battle line in the Lion, followed by the Princess Royal, Queen Mary, Tiger, New Zealand, and Indefatigable. Fives miles away were Evan-Thomas's four battleships.

At 3:48 the Lion opened fire, and the fight between the battle-cruiser squadrons began. The British cruisers were easier targets against the bright western sky. In this first action there were few hits on Hipper's big ships but there were some deadly hits on Beatty's cruisers. Hipper's leading ship, the Lutzow put a shell burst inside one of the Lion's turrets, blew off the roof, killed or wounded most of those at the guns, and started a fire. The commander of the turret, Major Harvey, with only a few minutes of life left, gave the order to flood the forward magazine, and thus saving Beatty's flagship from the fate that soon befell other ships of his squadron.

Just after 4 P.M., the Indefatigable. A salvo of shells hit her steering gear, she swung out of the line. Then two shells burst on her forecastle in a tremendous explosion. As the smoke cleared not a vestige of the great ship was to be seen. More than a thousand lost their lives and only five survived. Twenty minutes later another battle cruiser was destroyed- The Queen Mary.

Beatty had now only four cruisers left against Hipper's five, but Evan-Thomas had begun long-range from his leading ships. The enemy sent his destroyer flotilla to attack. This was countered by Beatty's destroyers. On each side two were lost. British destroyers also hit the Seydlitz, tearing a rent 13 feet long near the waterline.

Toward the close of this fight a new phase of the battle began. Four miles ahead the British 2nd Light Squadron sent back the unexpected report that the enemy's main fleet was coming. Steaming north in a line of big ships. Beatty ordered (at 4:46) a retirement northwards to close on the Grand Fleet, still about 40 miles away.

As the British battle cruisers swung around Hipper turned to hold on to them. Evan-Thomas joined up with Beatty engaging the German battle cruisers with effect. The two advanced fleets moved northwards on parallel lines, their guns kept in action.

The light cruisers held on to get a good look at Scheer's main fleet. Sixteen or seventeen battleships, big Dreadnought squadron of the Konig class leading, the older pre-Dreadnoughts next to them. Presently the enemy's leading battleships came under fire of Evan-Thomas's squadron.

At this stage-between 5 and 6 P.M.- Scheer did not yet know that the Grand Fleet was out and thinking only of helping Hipper against Beatty. Only when he say the flashes of guns far off to the northwards that he rightly judged that Jellicoe was coming.

The main fleets were now joining up with their advanced forces, the general engagement was about to begin. The general situation about 5:20 P.M. may be thus summed up: Scheer was in touch with Hipper, and his leading division had come into action against Beatty and Evan-Thomas's battleships.

Jellicoe had detached Hood's squadron of battle cruisers to the Jutland coast and bar any attempt of Hipper to escape into the Skagerrak. Jellicoe's battleships were some miles away, with force of cruisers, 10 miles in advance, not yet in sight of Beatty's and Hipper's squadrons. The rest of the evening visibility was often limited and sometimes nothing could be made out beyond some three miles.

At 5:30 Hood turned to engage the enemy, Hipper's light cruisers. Events now developed rapidly, soon the main battle was beginning. At the start a fierce fight between British advanced squadrons and the German van. It seemed almost a confused melee.

Action extending over hundreds of square miles of sea, every squadron and unit in rapid movement, limited field of vision.

The critical half hour was the 15 minutes before and after 6 P.M. Scheer still did not realise that the British main battle fleet was so near. His leading battleships were helping Hipper reply to Evan-Thomas's squadron. Hipper's light cruisers had to engage the British light cruiser Chester, she was soon suffering serious loss, damage in a fight of four against one. Hood was hurrying to her aid, his escort destroyers in advance, the enemy squadron was driven off with the Wiesbaden, ablaze. Hood then engaged Hipper's battle cruisers and presently Beatty regained touch. Hipper's flagship, the Lutzow, was seen with much damage to her upper works. Scheer was now bringing division after division of his battleships into action, holding the northwest with his fleet in line ahead.

The first reinforcement squad was supplied by Arbuthnot. His four big armoured cruiser to the west of Jellicoe was pushing on towards the fight. His flag flew in the Defence, the Warrior was close up with him, the Black Panther still far astern. With the Warrior and Defence he flung himself into the battle, firing on Hipper's battle cruisers passing ahead of Beatty's squadron. His two ships came under a storm of fire. At 6:16 the Defence blew up. The Warrior narrowly escaped the same fate. Badly holed, she drifted out of the fight. When the Black Prince came into action she was soon crippled like the Warrior, and was unseen for hours.

At 6:14 Jellicoe was close enough up to make out the situation and gave the order to his six divisions to form a line of battle. A line of giant Dreadnought battleships some seven miles long. Beatty's battle cruisers now took position nearly two miles in front of the leading battleship, Hood's battle cruisers immediately in front of them, engaging Hipper's squadron took its station at the rear of the battle line.

Jellicoe's battleships their course was altered east of southeast to bring them to landward of the enemy menace his line of retreat. Fire was opened then all along the line. Scheer realized the terrible odds against him. As they opened fire the whole north horizon seemed ablaze. He altered his course to engage his enemy, line against line.

Soon after Hood's flagship, leading the battle-cruiser line, was destroyed, only six escaped. Scheer's van divisions were suffering seriously from the converging fire of the British line curving around their line of advance. The German commander-in-chief now realized that his best hope lay in retreat. He sent some torpedo craft forward to mask his movements behind a huge smokescreen. Scheer's ships turned simultaneously, steaming away at full speed. For nearly half an hour the battle ceased.

The enemy had vanished. Somewhere to the west, Jellicoe held steadily southwards. Every mile brought his fleet between the Germans and their fortified bases. About 7 P.M. his flanking cruisers radioed that the enemy was closing in again.

Scheer decided to make a sudden attack to throw the British line into confusion.. His battleships came rushing out of the mist to attack the British center and rear the battle cruisers kept the van occupied. But the concentrated fire of the British line told heavily on the enemy. Once more Scheer broke off the fight.

Beatty at 7:40, ten minutes after the enemy disappeared, he signaled that he had sighted them to the northwest. Jellicoe gave the order to follow, the sun was setting. The main battle was practically over.

Between 8 and 9 P.M. there were a few brief exchanges. Beatty, as he had fired the first shots of the day, fired the last near 9 P.M. Jellicoe ordered his fleet to take up cruising order for the night. He had decided not to risk the confusion of a battle in the darkness. Dawn would come early and he counted on bringing the enemy again to action at the first light of day. He considered that it was most probable that they would try to reach the western channels leading to their bases.

Until 9 P.M. the two fleets had been steaming on nearly parallel lines. Scheer reduced speed after dark, and might well expect that Jellicoe, manoeuvring to cut off his retreat along the German coast, would be soon further to the southward than the High Sea Fleet. He made a bold stroke to escape by attempting to cut across the wake of his enemy, and about 10 P.M. turned to the eastward.

About 10:30 P.M. his light cruisers met some British light craft. In the brief fight the cruiser Frauenlob was sunk. Though fighting his way through the British light squadrons might bring the Grand Fleet back to attack him, he had a chance of making good his retreat by steering southeast whence there would be a clear run southward to Wilhelmshaven.

From 11:30 till after 1 A.M. there was a series of desperate fights at close quarters. British destroyers suddenly found themselves in conflict with enemies that suddenly loomed up in the darkness. It is impossible to exaggerate the reckless courage and self-sacrifice with which destroyers, with gun and torpedo, met their opponents, not only small craft but light and heavy cruisers and battleships. Amongst their successes were sinking of the Rostock and the battleship Pommern. Another battleship. British destroyers were sunk and the crippled cruiser Black Prince, which had been drifting for hours came under the close fire of several heavy German ships.

And a few minutes later the explosion blew her up.

Jellicoe never received the information that enemy battleships and cruisers were passing astern of his course.

Soon after 2 A.M. the dawn was coming. The light increased but there was no sign of the enemy. Scheer had by this time passed well to the northeastward of the British fleet. The Elbing. The Lutzow sunk at 3 A.M. The course was set southwards. Scheers fleet by noon was safe in its base ports, and Berlin was sending out by wireless its claim to a victory.

The British fleet had held on its southerly course till 2:45. Then the fleet turned north, making a wide sweep. About 3:30. Scheer, 40 miles away, received from news that his enemy was departing. It was not till 11 A.M. that the British fleet ended its search of the North Sea and began its homeward voyage.

Like many other great battles the battle of Jutland had not been fought out to a finish with immediately decisive results. But it was the enemy who, by a daring manoeuvre and favourable chance, had broken off the fight. The ultimate result was that the German admirals abandoned all hope of successfully challenging Grand Fleet of Britain.

British losses had been heavy, but the enemy also had suffered serious loss, and the British margin of superiority remained unaffected. Many of the most powerful German ships received such sever injuries that they were out of action for months. Soon after the battle Admiral Scheer wrote to the kaiser that henceforth the only hope of success on sea depended on the submarine warfare against commerce.

On both sides officers and men showed a magnificent courage and unfailing devotion to their country's. This tremendous sea fight proved to be the last of purely naval battles, decided by the skill and courage of seaman and the fighting efficiency of the warship. A new element came into naval war. The seaplane and the airship were heralds of a new development that would become decisive in sea fights of the future.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

INTRODUCTION

Winston Churchill had said Jellicoe was ‘the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon’. The only clash between the British and German battle fleets during the First World War was the biggest battleship action of all time. It was the last fleet engagement to be decided by surface action alone.

ORIGINS OF THE CAMPAIGN

In 1888 Wilhelm II became King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, an autocrat at the head of a nation in the throes of its industrial revolution. Within two years Wilhelm had dismissed the highly experienced Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck, describing himself as ‘Officer of the Watch of the Ship of State’. He argued that colonies were the key to world power, providing both natural resources and markets. Kaiser Wilhelm demanded the construction of an ocean-going fleet, to provide worldwide diplomatic leverage in a way the German army could not. His determination to construct a battle fleet that challenged the Royal Navy poisoned Anglo-German relations. The naval race was masterminded by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. He authorized the creation of a massive fleet. When von Tirpitz’s programme was complete, Germany would have a fleet so formidable that even the world’s premier naval power (Britain) would shrink from an engagement. The British economy depended on the import of raw materials and their export as finished goods by sea. The nation was dependent on freedom of navigation: were it to be curtailed political capitulation would follow.

In 1906 the British launched HMS Dreadnought, a revolutionary battleship. Dreadnought’s armament consisted of ten 12-in. caliber guns. Dreadnought’s broadside was more than twice as heavy as the then standard battleships and, driven by turbines. She was several knots faster and more capable of sustained high speed. Dreadnought was hailed as a landmark warship design by all naval authorities. Dreadnought’s rendered all other battleships obsolete. From 1906 the index of naval power was measured ‘Dreadnoughts’. For Admiral Sir Jackie Fisher the completion of Dreadnought was the crowning glory.

By summer 1914 the British battle fleet was substantially stronger than Germany’s. The murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand then triggered a crisis that political leaders had neither the skill, nor desire, to defuse. Within weeks all the major continental powers were at war.

The Anglo-German naval race had helped the minority ‘war party’ in the British cabinet bounce their colleagues into declaring war. The Royal Navy was already assembled. As the European crisis worsened, Admiral Prince Louis of Battenberg countermanded the order for the fleet to disperse. The Royal Navy enjoyed a comfortable margin of superiority. Germany had constructed 13 Dreadnoughts and had seven building. The British had completed 20 Dreadnoughts with another 12 building.

THE OPPOSING FLEETS

Based on Scapa Flow in the Orkneys, the grand Fleet presided over the naval blockade of Germany tightening restrictions to prevent cargo of any sort going to Germany. Neither of the main battle fleets at Jutland had ever fired a shot in anger before. No senior commander had commanded a squadron of Dreadnoughts in battle. British tactics at Jutland were load down in Grand Fleet Battle Orders. The ideal was the maneuver known as ‘crossing the T’ placing the battle line sideways to the enemy’s line of advance. Battleships in such a position could bring their full broadsides to bear against an enemy who could only fire back with the forward armament of his leading ships. New weapons had to be taken into account. The torpedo represented a potent threat. Submarines, making a terrifying debut in 1914, were an even greater mystery. Both sides planned to draw the enemy battle squadrons over concentration of submarines as a preliminary to a fleet action. The Grand Fleet pioneered the use of aircraft at sea. The Grand Fleet enjoyed one priceless advantage at Jutland: British listening stations ashore could decipher German radio messages.

On 31 May 1916 Admiral Scheer planned to entice the British battle by appearing off the Norwegian coast. The Great Fleet left harbour four hours before the High Sea Fleet. The 5th Battle Squadron had departed Rosyth and the Grand Fleet was steaming down from the Orkneys. 28 battleships, 9 battle cruisers, eight armoured cruisers, 26 light cruisers, 78 destroyers, 1 seaplane carrier and a minelayer: 151 warships and over 60,000 men.

The Hochseeflotte Only two fleets were larger: the United States Navy, the British Royal Navy. However, the German battle fleet was weaker the numbers suggest. ‘big gun revolution’ rendered ships obsolete. German sailors were mostly conscripts, recruited for three years. German officers were divided into the executive and engineering branches, the gap between them unbridgeable. Its morale was high. Tactics and training of the High Sea Fleet were very similar to that of the Royal Navy. The High Sea Fleet practiced a maneuver whereby the line reversed course. The Gefechtskehrtwendung would be its salvation at Jutland.