Battle of
Jutland
From
The Notebook of Charles Symons
Temeraire was at Jutland and this is
from the notebook of Charles written at the time the article
below is from an encyclopaedia.
Major naval
engagement between the British and German fleets during World
War I. The British Grand Fleet was under the command of Admiral
John Rushworth Jellicoe, and the German High Seas Fleet was commanded
by Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer. The action took place about
121 km (75 mi) off the Danish coast of Jutland in the Skagerrak
on May 31 and June 1, 1916. The first phase of the battle began
when, at 3:48 p.m. on May 31, the battle cruisers and destroyers
of Vice Admiral David Beatty made contact with a squadron of
German battle cruisers. Both sides opened fire simultaneously,
and the action lasted for 55 minutes. At 4:43 p.m., the German
squadron was joined by the remainder of the High Seas Fleet.
Beatty, who was still waiting for Jellicoe to bring up the rest
of the Grand Fleet, fought a delaying action until the British
supporting force could reach the scene.
With the arrival of the Grand Fleet, a contest of high naval
strategy began between Jellicoe and Scheer. Jellicoe manoeuvred
the German fleet into a V formed by British ships. Elements of
the two fleets engaged each other intermittently throughout the
late evening and early morning. Due to a series of British blunders,
including confused orders and poor intelligence reports, and
thanks to a brilliant retreat manoeuvre by Scheer, the German
fleet escaped under cover of darkness, bringing the battle to
an end. Out of a total of 110 German vessels engaged in the battle,
Scheer lost 11. German casualties totaled 1,545 men; the British
lost 14 of 149 ships and 6,274 men. Although the material and
human losses of the British were the greater, the German fleet
made no further attempts to break the Allied blockade of the
German coast. Allied supremacy on the North Sea remained unchallenged
for the duration of the war.
