Reprinted from Naval History with permission; Copyright © 2016 U.S. Naval Institute / www.usni.org Charting the Battle of Jutland’s Course
ension between the British and German navies had been building since Kaiser Wilhelm II Scapa Tlaunched a naval arms race in 1898, and in Flow NORWAY the early afternoon of 31 May 1916 a climactic battle Moray Firth seemingly was at hand. JELLICOE Skagerrak The German High Seas Fleet (99 total warships) intended to ambush and destroy a portion of the British SCOTLAND HIPPER Grand Fleet off the Norwegian coast. Having learned of BEATTY an imminent enemy operation through radio intelligence, DENMARK the Grand Fleet and Battlecruiser Fleet (151 warships) Edinburgh SCHEER Dogger set sail before the Germans. But miscommunication later Bank led Royal Navy commanders to assume that at most the Sunderland
German I Reconnaissance Group battlecruisers—but not ENGLAND Kiel the enemy’s battle fleet—had sortied. Hull Hamburg The following maps illustrate the movements of the Wilhelmshaven Bremerhaven opposing forces’ capital ships during the subsequent battle.
Vice Admiral Franz Hipper I Reconnaissance Group 5 battlecruisers Rear Admiral Hugh 2 Evan-Thomas 5th Battle Squadron 1 4 dreadnoughts 1 The 2 Battlecruiser Action Vice Admiral David Beatty 2 Battlecruiser Fleet 6 battlecruisers 1 3 3
Beatty
Indefatigable 3
Evan- 4 Thomas
Destroyer Queen Mary Hipper Number Time Action Attacks 1 1531 Beatty sights Hipper, who is prepared 4 5 to engage the British on a northerly 6 course. Hipper reverses course minutes later when it appears the British 5 battlecruisers are deploying southward. 6 2 1548 Battlecruisers engage. 3 1606 HMS Indefatigable is sunk. 4 1626 HMS Queen Mary is sunk. 6 6 Vice Admiral 5 1642 Beatty sights the High Seas Fleet, turns north. Reinhard Scheer 5 6 1657 Evan-Thomas turns north. High Seas Fleet 16 dreadnoughts 6 predreadnoughts 22 5 Reprinted from Naval History with permission; Copyright © 2016 U.S. Naval Institute / www.usni.org
The Main 7 Engagement
Admiral John Jellicoe Grand Fleet 24 dreadnoughts 10
9 9 Invincible Defence, 10 9 Warrior, Black Prince Rear Admiral Warspite Horace Hood 7 Wiesbaden 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron 11 Destroyer 7 Attacks 3 battlecruisers Beatty 10 7 8 10 Evan- Thomas Hipper 12 12 7
12 Scheer 13 7 Results by the Numbers Ships Lost British German 13 Predreadnoughts 0 1 Battlecruisers 3 1 Armored Cruisers 3 0 14 Light Cruisers 0 4 Destroyer Leaders 1 0 Destroyers 7 5
Ship Hits Received From heavy guns 120 100 Scheer 14 From secondary guns 107* 42
Casualties Jellicoe Killed 6,094 2,551 Wounded 674 507 Beatty 14 *approximate
Number Time Action 7 1740 Beatty turns east in search of the Grand 11 1855 Scheer makes second ships-right-about. Fleet; Hipper turns to close on Scheer. 12 1917 As German destroyers attack, Scheer 8 1802 German fleet turns to port to assist the makes third ships-right-about; disabled light cruiser Wiesbaden. Jellicoe turns away to avoid torpedoes. 9 1816 Jellicoe signals the Grand Fleet to deploy 13 2020 Last clash of heavy ships. on port wing column; British armored 14 2100 British move southward, breaking off cruisers Defence, Warrior, and Black Prince action; Germans pass across the wake of and dreadnought Warspite are out of action. the British in the night. 10 1834 HMS Invincible is sunk; a minute later, Scheer executes first ships-right-about; British battlecruisers are out of control on turn.
SOURCE: CAPT. THOMAS G. FROTHINGHAM, “THE TEST OF FACT AGAINST FICTION IN THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND,” U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE PROCEEDINGS, VOL. 54, NO. 3 (MARCH 1928); V. E. TARRANT, JUTLAND: THE GERMAN PERSPECTIVE
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