© Lindy and Martin Lovegrove 2012
The Battle
of Jutland
Battle of Jutland - 31st May 1916
Battle of Jutland, the Naval Battle which took place on the west coast of Jutland, was fought in the North Sea between the 31st May and the 1st of June 1916. The British Fleet consisted of Admiral Jellicoe's fleet of 28 Dreadnaught battleships and 3 battle cruisers and Admiral Beatty's force of 6 battle cruisers and 4 fast battleships and the German main fleet consisted of 16 Dreadnaught Battleships and 6 pre dreadnaught battleships, 11 Light Cruisers and 72 destroyers.
The Germans had planned to sail from the Baltic to the north sea with the plan to
engage the British Battle Cruisers in Norwegian waters, but due to German radio messages
being intercepted by the British, the British Grand Fleet were alerted.
The British
Grand Fleet had been virtually unopposed for nearly a century but now there was a
challenger to the throne; the German Navy. Although smaller, it had caught up fast,
and by the time of Jutland, had some telling advantages over the British Fleet. The
plan for the battle was to lure the British Grand Fleet into a lethal trap in German
waters. In the event although desperately fought by both sides, the battle was a
stale mate, with the confused conflict hampered on both sides by bad luck, bad weather
and poor communications. At the end of the battle, both sides claimed victory, the
Royal Navy had suffered higher losses in men and ships, but the German Fleet would
never venture out of harbour to seek battle again.
The Battle of Jutland proved to
be the last capital ship big fleet battle of the twentieth century.
British Battleships
and Cruisers at The Battle of Jutland:
1st Battle Squadron. HMS Iron Duke (Flagship),
HMS Agincourt, HMS Colossus, HMS Hercules, HMS Marlborough, HMS Neptune, HMS Revenge,
HMS St. Vincent.
2nd Battle Squadron. HMS King George V, HMS Ajax, HMS Centurion,
HMS Conqueror, HMS Erin, HMS Monarch, HMS Orion, HMS Thunderer.
4th Battle Squadron,
HMS Royal Oak, HMS Bellerophon, HMS Benbow, HMS Canada, HMS Superb, HMS Temeraire,
HMS Vanguard
5th battle Squadron, HMS Valiant, HMS Barham, HMS Malaya, HMS Warspite
1st Battle-Cruiser Squadron, HMS Lion (Flagship), HMS Princess Royal, HMS Queen Mary
(Sunk) HMS Tiger
2nd battle-Cruiser Squadron. HMS Indefatigable (Sunk) HMS New Zealand,
3rd battle-Cruiser Squadron, HMS Indomitable, HMS Inflexible, HMS Invincible (Sunk)
1st Cruiser Squadron, HMS Black Prince (Sunk), HMS Defence (Sunk) HMS Duke of Edinburgh,
HMS Warrior (Sunk)
2nd Cruiser Squadron, HMS Cochrane, HMS Hampshire, HMS Minotaur,
HMS Shannon,
Light Cruisers. Active, Bellona, Birmingham, Birkenhead, Boadicea, Calliope,
Canturbury, Caroline, Castor, Champion, Chester, Comus, Constance, Cordelia, Dublin,
Falmouth, Fearless, Galatea, Gloucester, Inconstant, Nottingham, Phaeton, Royalist,
Southampton, Yarmouth
7 destroyers were lost from the Flotillas, of 1st, 4th, 9th,
10th, 11th, 12th , and 13th Flotillas.
GERMAN FLEET:
1st battle Squadron. Friedrich
der Grosse (Flagship) Heligoland, Nassau, Oldenburg, Ostfriesland, Posen, Rheinland,
Thuringen, Westfalen.
2nd Battle Squadron, Deutschland, Hannover, Hessen Pommern
(sunk), Schlesen, Schleswig-Holstein
3rd Battle Squadron, Konig, Grosser Kurfurst,
Kaiser, Kaiserin, Kronprince William, Markgraf, Prinzregent Luitpold
Battle-Cruiser
Squadron. Derflinger, Lutzow (sunk) Moltke, Seydlitz, Von der Tan.
Light Cruisers,
Elbing (Sunk) Frankfurt, Frauenlob (sunk), Hamburg, Muenchen, Pillau, Regensburg,
Rostock (sunk) Stettin, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden (Sunk)
2 Destroyers were lost from the
1st,2,d,3rd,5th,6th,7th and 9th Flotillas
Related Links:
Admiral Jellicoe
Admiral Beatty
Grand Fleet
HMS Iron Duke
HMS Colossus
HMS Conqueror
HMS Tiger
HMS Lion
HMS Indomitable
HMS Revenge
HMS Royal Oak
HMS King George V
SMS Heligoland
SMS Moltke
SMS Seydlitz
Thuringen
Westfalen
Deutschland
