The Battle of Jutland was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916, in the waters of the North Sea, between forces of the Royal Navy Grand Fleet and Imperial German Navy High Seas Fleet. The battle involved 250 warships, and, in terms of combined tonnage of vessels engaged, was the largest naval battle in history.
The Royal Navy had established a blockade of the North Sea at the start of the war and the German Hochseeflotte could not match the larger Grand Fleet. The German plan was to use the threat of an attack by their battlecruisers on British ports to lure the British battlecruisers into a trap where they could be defeated by a superior force of battleships without encountering the rest of the Grand Fleet. Aware of all German naval movements, the British fleet sortied to support their battlecruisers and bring the German fleet to battle.
In the event, although more British ships were sunk or damaged, the overall strategic situation was unchanged.
| Royal Navy | Imperial German Navy | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Dreadnoughts | 28 in total 8 × 15-inch
10 × 14-inch
10 × 13.5-inch
14 × 12-inch (28,750 tons, 22 kn.)10 × 12-inch
8 × 12-inch
| 16 in total 10 × 12-in. 4 × (25,420 tons, 21 kn.) 4 × (25,389 tons, 21 kn.)8 × 12-in. 4 × (22,448 tons, 20.5 kn.)8 × 11-in. 4 × (18,575 tons, 19 kn.) | |
| Pre-dreadnought battleships | 6 total' 4 × 11-in.
| ||
| Battlecruisers | 9 total 8 × 13.5-in.
8 × 12-in.
| 5 total 8 × 12-in (30.5 cm)
10 × 11-in.
8 × 11-in.
| |
| Armoured cruisers | 8 total 4 × 9.2-in., 5 × 7.5-in.
4 × 9.2-in., 2 × 7.5-in.
4 × 9.2-in., 5 × 6-in.
3 × 7.5-in., 3 × 6-in.
| ||
| Smaller ships | 26 × light cruisers 79 × destroyers (including one destroyer-minelayer) | 11 × light cruisers 61 × torpedo boats |
British capital ships carried a larger weight of broadside—332360lb compared to 134216lb—than the German ones.[1]
The German Navy's torpedo boats were of similar size and function to the destroyers in the Royal Navy, and are often referred to as such.
| Pre-dreadnought battleships | Battlecruisers | Armoured cruisers | Light cruisers | Destroyers / Torpedo boats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Navy | (31 May) (31st) (31 May) | (31 May) (1 June) (1 June) | 3 (31 May) 5 (1 June) | |||
| Imperial German Navy | (1 June) | (1 June) | (31 May) (1 June) (1 June) (1 June) | 3 (31 May) 2 (1 June) |
Officers killed in action are indicated thus:
Abbreviations for officers’ ranks (German ranks translated according to current NATO practice):
Adm / Admiral
VAdm / Vice-admiral : Vizeadmiral / VAdm
RAdm / Rear-admiral : Konteradmiral / KAdm
Cdre / Commodore : Kommodore / Kom
Capt / Captain : Kapitän zur See / KptzS
Cdr / Commander : Fregattenkapitän / FKpt
Lt Cdr / Lieutenant-commander : Korvettenkapitän / KKpt
Lt / Lieutenant : Kapitänleutnant / KptLt
SLt / Sub-lieutenant : Oberleutnant zur See / OLtzSOther abbreviations
Frhr:Freiherr / title in the Prussian nobility equivalent to Baron)
SMS: Seiner Majestät Schiff / German; translation: His Majesty's Ship)
the Hon.: The Honourable
Began sortie from Scapa Flow 9.30pm 28 May
The Grand Fleet[2] [3] was the main body of the British Home Fleets in 1916, based at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands and Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth in Scotland.
Commander-in-chief, Grand Fleet: Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, in HMS Iron Duke
Second in Command, Grand Fleet: Vice-Admiral Sir Cecil Burney, in HMS Marlborough
Chief of Staff: Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Madden,
Captain of the Fleet: Commodore Lionel Halsey, C.B., C.M.G., AdC.
Master of the Fleet: Captain Oliver Elles Leggett
2nd Battle Squadron (battleships)
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Martyn Jerram
Sortied from Cromarty Firth; rendezvoused with Jellicoe's force around noon 31 May
1st Division: Vice-Admiral Jerram
(flagship): Capt Frederick Field
: Capt George Henry Baird
: Capt Michael Culme-Seymour
: Capt the Hon. Victor Stanley
2nd Division: Rear Admiral Arthur Leveson
(flagship): Capt Oliver Backhouse
: Capt George Borrett
: Capt Hugh Tothill
: Capt James Fergusson
Fleet Flagship (at head of 3rd Division but not part of 4th Battle Squadron)
: Capt Frederic Charles Dreyer
4th Battle Squadron (battleships)
Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, 1st Baronet
3rd Division: RAdm Alexander Duff
: Capt Crawford Maclachlan
(flagship): Capt Edmond Hyde Parker
: Capt William Nicholson
4th Division: VAdm Sturdee
(flagship): Capt Henry Wise Parker
: Capt Edward Francis Bruen
: Capt Edwin Veale Underhill
: Capt James Douglas Dick
1st Battle Squadron (battleships)
Admiral Sir Cecil Burney
Chief of Staff: Commodore Percy Grant
5th Division: Rear Admiral Ernest Gaunt
(flagship): Capt Dudley Pound
: Capt James Clement Ley
: Capt William Wordsworth Fisher
Capt Vivian Bernard
6th Division: VAdm Burney
(flagship): Capt George Parish Ross
Capt Edward Buxton Kiddle
: Capt Lewis Clinton-Baker
: Capt Henry Montagu Doughty
: Capt Vincent Barkly Molteno
: Capt Henry Blackett
: Capt Thomas Parry Bonham
2nd Cruiser Squadron (armoured cruisers)
Rear-Admiral Herbert Heath
: Capt Herbert John Savill
: Capt John Saumarez Dumaresq
: Capt Eustace La Trobe Leatham
Commodore Charles Edward Le Mesurier
: Commodore Le Mesurier
: Capt Cyril Samuel Townsend
: Capt Alan Hotham
: Capt Henry Crooke
: Capt the Hon. Herbert Meade
Light cruisers attached for repeating visual signals
: Capt Louis Charles Stirling Woollcombe (attached to 2nd B.S.)
: Capt Percy Withers (attached to Fleet Flagship)
: Capt John Casement (attached to 4th B.S.)
: Capt Arthur Brandreth Scott Dutton (attached to 1st B.S.)
Other ships under direct command of the Commander-in-Chief
: Cdr Berwick Curtis (destroyer-minelayer)
: Lt Cdr Douglas Faviell (destroyer)
(Faulknor-class flotilla leader, sunk 1 June) : Capt Wintour
Lt Cdr Reginald Stannus Goff
Lt Cdr Ernald Gilbert Hoskins Master
Group 8 / 4th D.F.
: Cdr Robert Gerald Hamond
: Cdr Richard Anthony Aston Plowden
: Lt Cdr the Hon. Cyril Augustus Ward (from 12th D.F.)
: Lt Cdr James Robert Carnegie Cavendish
Cdr Hugh Davenport Colville
Cdr Reginald Becher Caldwell Hutchinson, D.S.C.
Commanded by Commodore Hawksley in, a light cruiser
(Marksman-class flotilla leader): Cdr Harold Ernest Sulivan
Lt Cdr Hugh Undecimus Fletcher
Captain Anselan John Buchanan Stirling
(Faulknor-class flotilla leader): Capt Stirling
This squadron, temporarily attached to the Grand Fleet from the Battle Cruiser Fleet, was stationed ahead of the main body, with the intention that it join Beatty when the action began.
Rear-Admiral The Hon. Horace Hood,
Capt Edward Heaton-Ellis
This force of high-speed ships was subordinate to the Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet, but operated independently as an advanced guard, intended to reconnoiter the enemy fleet and to engage enemy scouting forces. At its core were six battlecruisers, accompanied by 13 light cruisers, and escorted by 18 destroyers and an early aircraft carrier.
Sortied from Firth of Forth soon after 6.00pm 30 May
Vice-Admiral Sir David Richard Beatty in HMS Lion
Chief of Staff: Capt Rudolph Bentinck
(flagship) Captain Ernle Chatfield
Rear Admiral William Pakenham,
Attached to the light cruisers was the seaplane tender (Lt Cdr Charles Gwillim Robinson) carrying two Short Type 184 reconnaissance seaplanes and two Sopwith Baby fighter seaplanes.
13th Destroyer Flotilla
Captain James Uchtred Farie
(light cruiser): Capt Farie
1st Division / 13th D.F.
: Lt Cdr Cecil Henry Hulton Sams
: Lt Cdr Montague George Bentinck Legge
: Lt Cdr Cuthbert Patrick Blake (attached from 10th D.F., Harwich Force)
: Lt Cdr Roger Vincent Alison (detached to escort HMS Engadine)
2nd Division / 13th D.F.[5]
(sunk 31 May): Cdr the Hon. Edward Bingham
(sunk 31 May): Lt Cdr Paul Whitfield
: Lt Jack Ernest Albert Mocatta
: Lt Cdr John Tovey (detached to escort HMS Engadine)
3rd Division / 13th D.F.[6]
: Lt Cdr Geoffrey Corlett
: Lt Cdr Kenneth Adair Beattie
: Lt Cdr Evelyn Thomson
(sunk 1 June): Lt Cdr Dudley Stuart
Attached Harwich Destroyers (9th Destroyer Flotilla): Cdr Malcolm Lennon Goldsmith
1st division / 9th D.F.
: Cdr Goldsmith
: Lt Cdr Philip Wilfred Sidney King
: Lt Cdr Francis Edward Henry Graham Hobart
2nd division / 9th D.F.
: Cdr John Coombe Hodgson (from 10th D.F.)
: Lt Henry Dawson Crawford Stanistreet
: Lt Cdr Edward Sidney Graham (from 10th D.F.)
The 5th Battle Squadron was a special unit of fast s, intended to act as the vanguard of the main battle line. At the Battle of Jutland, it operated with the Battlecruiser Fleet, and was escorted by the 1st Destroyer Flotilla.
Rear-Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas
Sortied from Firth of Forth with the Battle Cruiser Fleet soon after 6.00pm 30 May
Battleships
(flagship): Capt Arthur William Craig
: Capt Maurice Woollcombe
: Capt Edward Montgomery Phillpotts
: Capt the Hon. Algernon Boyle
1st Destroyer Flotilla [7] [8]
(light cruiser): Capt Charles Donnison Roper
: Lt Cdr Laurence Reynolds Palmer
1st Division / 1st D.F.
: Cdr Charles Ramsey
: Lt Cdr Arthur Grendon Tippet
: Lt Cdr Charles Herbert Neill James
: Lt Francis George Glossop
2nd Division / 1st D.F.
: Cdr Charles Albert Fremantle
: Lt Cdr Edward Brooke
: Cdr Dashwood Fowler Moir
: Lt Cdr Alexander Hugh Gye
The High Seas Fleet was the main body of the German surface navy, principally based at Wilhelmshaven, on the Jade River in North-West Germany.[9] [10]
Commander-in-Chief (Chef der Hochseeflotte): Vizeadmiral Reinhard Scheer in SMS Friedrich der Grosse
Chief of Staff: KptzS Adolf von Trotha
Chief of Operations: KptzS Magnus von Levetzow
3rd Battle Squadron (III. Geschwader) (battleships)
Konteradmrial Paul Behncke
Flag lieutenant: Korvettenkapitän Frhr Ernst von Gagern
5th Division: KAdm Behncke
(flagship): KptzS Friedrich Brüninghaus
: KptzS Ernst Goette
: KptzS Constanz Feldt
: KptzS Karl Seiferling
6th Division: KAdm Hermann Nordmann
(flagship): KptzS
: KptzS Karl Heuser
: KptzS Karl Sievers
Fleet Flagship (Flaggschiff der Hochseeflotte)
: KptzS Theodor Fuchs
1st Battle Squadron (I. Geschwader) (battleships)
Vizeadmiral Ehrhard Schmidt
Flag lieutenant: Korvettenkapitän Wolfgang Wegener
1st Division: VAdm Schmidt
(flagship): KptzS Ernst-Oldwig von Natzmer
: KptzS Hans Küsel
: KptzS Friedrich von Kameke
: KptzS Wilhelm Höpfner
2nd Division: KAdm Walter Engelhardt
(flagship): KptzS Richard Lange
: KptzS Heinrich Rohardt
: KptzS Robert Kühne
: KptzS Johannes Redlich
2nd Battle Squadron (II. Geschwader) (battleships)
Konteradmrial
Flag lieutenant: Korvettenkapitän Willy Kahlert
3rd Division: KAdm Mauve
(flagship): KptzS Hugo Meurer
: KptzS Rudolf Bartels
: KptzS Siegfried Bölken
4th Division: KAdm Frhr Gottfried von Dalwigk zu Lichtenfels
(flagship): KptzS Wilhlem Heine
: KptzS Friedrich Behncke
: KptzS Eduard Varrentrapp
IV. Aufklärungsgruppe ("4th Scouting Group", light cruisers)
Kommodore Ludwig von Reuter
Flag lieutenant: Korvettenkapitän Heinrich Weber
(flagship): FKpt Friedrich Rebensburg
: KKpt Oscar Böcker
(sunk 31st May): FKpt Georg Hoffman
: FKpt Max Hagedorn
: KKpt Gerhard von Gaudecker
German Große Torpedoboote ("large torpedoboats") were the equivalent of British destroyers .
First Leader of Torpedo-Boats
Kommodore Andreas Michelsen
(light cruiser; flagship 1st Leader of Torpedo-Boats): FKpt Otto Feldmann
1st Torpedo-Boat Flotilla (I. Torpedoboots-Flottille)
1st Half-Flotilla (1. Halbflottille): KptLt Conrad Albrecht
(lead boat, half-flotilla): OLtzS Franz-Ferdinand von Loefen
: KptLt Richard Beitzen
: KptLt Hermann Metger
: KptLt Hermann Froelich
3rd Torpedo-Boat Flotilla (III. Torpedoboots-Flottille)
Korvettenkapitän Wilhelm Hollmann
(lead boat, flotilla): KptLt Friedrich Götting
5th Half-Flotilla (5. Halbflottille) : KptLt Theophil Gautier
(lead boat, half-flotilla): OLtzS Friedrich Ulrich
: KptLt Martin Delbrück
: KptLt Hans Scabell
: KptLt Otto Karlowa
: KptLt Bernd von Arnim
5th Torpedo-Boat Flotilla (V. Torpedoboots-Flottille)
Korvettenkapitän Oskar Heinecke
(lead boat, flotilla): KptLt Adolf Müller
9th Half-Flotilla (9. Halbflottille): KptLt Gerhard Hoefer
(lead boat, half-flotilla): KptLt Gerhard Hoefer
: KptLt Armin Barop
: OLtzS Hans Behrendt
: OLtzS Hans Röthig
: KptLt Manfred von Killinger
10th Half-Flotilla (10. Halbflottille): KptLt Friedrich Klein
(lead boat, half-flotilla): OLtzS Ernst Rodenberg
: OLtzS Paul Tils
: KptLt Johannes Weinecke
: KptLt Hans Anschütz
: OLtzS Waldemar Haumann
7th Torpedo-Boat Flotilla (VII. Torpedoboots-Flottille)
Korvettenkapitän Gottlieb von Koch
(lead boat, flotilla): KptLt Max Fink
13th Half-Flotilla (13. Halbflottille): KptLt Georg von Zitzewitz
(lead boat, half-flotilla): OLtzS Christian Schmidt
: KptLt Hans-Joachim von Puttkammer
: KptLt Albert Benecke
: KptLt Walter Loeffler
: KptLt Bruno Haushalter
14th Half-Flotilla (14. Halbflottille): Korvettenkapitän Hermann Cordes
(lead boat, half-flotilla): OLtzS Georg Reimer
: KptLt Arthur von Killinger
: OLtzS Wilhelm Keil
Commander, Scouting Forces (Befehlshaber die Aufklärungsstreitkräfte): Vizeadmiral Franz Hipper
Flag lieutenant: Korvettenkapitän Erich Raeder
1st Scouting Group (I. Aufklärungsgruppe)
Vizeadmiral Hipper
2nd Scouting Group (II. Aufklärungsgruppe)
Konteradmiral Friedrich Boedicker
(flagship): KptzS Thilo von Trotha
(scuttled 1 June): KFpt Rudolf Madlung
: KFpt
(sunk 1 June): KFpt Fritz Reiß
Second Leader of Torpedo-Boats
Kommodore Paul Heinrich
(light cruiser; flagship Second Leader of Torpedo-Boats): KFpt Bruno Heuberer
II. Torpedoboots-Flottille (2nd Torpedo-Boat Flotilla)
Commander Heinrich Schuur
(lead boat, flotilla): KptLt Theodor Hengstenberg
KptLt August Vollheim
VI. Torpedoboots-Flottille (6th Torpedo-Boat Flotilla)
Lieut. Commander Max Schultz
(lead boat, flotilla): KptLt Hermann Boehm
IX. Torpedoboots-Flottille (9th Torpedo-Boat Flotilla)
Lieut. Commander Herbert Goehle
(lead boat, flotilla): KptLt Otto Lenssen
Führer der Unterseeboote ("Leader of the U-boats") in the North Sea Fregattenkapitän Hermann Bauer in SMS Hamburg
The following submarines were deployed to attack the Grand Fleet in the North Sea during the period of the Battle of Jutland
OLtzS Bernhard Putzier
KptLt Heinrich Metzger
During the battle the Germans used the Zeppelin airships of the Naval Airship Section (Marine Luftschiff Abteilung) for scouting, although in the prevailing overcast conditions they were not particularly successful.The commander of the Naval Airship Section was Korvettenkapitän Peter Strasser, and they flew from bases at Nordholz and Hage in north-west Germany and Tondern (then part of Schleswig; the town became part of Denmark in 1920).
Sortied on 31 May
L.9: KptzS August Stelling (Army Officer, on the inactive list)
L.14: KptLt Alois Böcker
L.16: KptLt Erich Sommerfeldt
L.21: KptLt Max Dietrich
L.23: KptLt Otto von SchubertSortied on 1 June
L.11: KptLt Victor Schultze
L.17: KptLt Herbert Ehrlich
L.22: KptLt Martin Dietrich
L.24: KptLt Robert KochDid not sortie during the Battle of Jutland
L.13: KptLt Eduard Prölß
L.30: OLtzS Horst Treusch von Buttlar-Brandenfels
. Julian Corbett . Naval Operations, Volume III . 1923 . Longmans, Green and Company . London . .