Page 59 - Phonebox Magazine May 2016

HMS Dreadnought
guns available. The German plan was to lure Beatty’s ships onto the main German Fleet using their own battlecruisers as bait.
On the afternoon of the 31st, Beatty and Hipper’s fleets had missed each other until at 14:28 an escorting cruiser from each sighted a Danish merchant vessel and decided to investigate. It was soon apparent to both Admirals that they had stumbled across small sections of each other’s fleet.
Hipper turned south to find Admiral Sheer who commanded the main fleet chased by Beatty. Unfortunately poor signalling left the Fifth Battle Squadron behind. The engagement procedure also failed to work leaving one of the German ships, Derflfinger, unengaged while the Moltke was fired on by two of the British ships. The German firing was far better than the British; after just 14 minutes the Von Der Tann hit HMS Indefatigable, and she blew up leaving just two survivors from a crew of 1000! Beatty’s ship HMS Lion had already suffered serious damage when a shell penetrated its midship turret and only an order to flood the magazine by a mortally wounded Major of Marines saved the ship from catastrophic destruction.
Hipper’s fleet soon came under intense fire as the Fifth Battle Squadron caught up but just before 16:30 another catastrophe hit the British as HMS Queen Mary, coming under fire from two of the enemy, blew up with only nine survivors from a crew of 1200.
It was at this point that Admiral Sheer with the main German Fleet sighted the battlecruiser action. Commodore Goodenough, leading the Second Cruiser Squadron also sighted the main German Fleet and sent an urgent message to Beatty. The German Fleet consisted of 16 battleships and six pre Dreadnoughts. Goodenough’s signal was the first indication that the main German Fleet was at sea; Beatty turned his fleet around and headed north to the safety of the Grand Fleet. Again his signalling procedures failed to inform the Fifth Battle Squadron and actually passed Beatty as he headed north! Beatty then compounded his error by ordering the Fifth to turn in succession instead of turning together which meant the battleships all turned at the same spot allowing all the Germans to fire at this spot; for a moment, the Fifth went through hell until the turn was completed. The Fifth then acted as Beatty’s rearguard taking and giving heavy punishment. Jellicoe, Admiral of the Grand Fleet was aware of the fighting going on but Beatty’s information to him was poor. Jellicoe sent Rear Admiral Hood ahead to find and assist Beatty. The Third Battlecruiser squadron consisted of the three oldest battlecruisers and the First Cruiser Squadron which came upon the the British heading north at 17:33
100 Years On – 31st May 1916 Mike Totton
and immediately afterwards the German forward cruisers. Aided by the Hood’s battlecruisers the Wiesbaden was pounded to near destruction and this was followed by a long destroyer action.
The Fifth Battle Squadron now began to pound the German battlecruisers so much that Hipper sought refuge with the main fleet. Through Beatty’s lack of information, Jellicoe needed to know the position of the German Fleet so that he could make his dispositions for his fleet. He needed to ensure that his ship would cross the “T” of the German – this meant his ship could bring all their guns to bear on the enemy while he could only fire his forward guns. At this moment, Jellicoe made his vital decision to deploy to the east which allowed him to cut off Sheer from his home base and have the enemy in the sun as it went down. Sheer at this point still did not know that he was about to face the whole of the Grand Fleet!
Hood’s battlecruisers now did damage to their opposite numbers but again disaster struck the British as HMS Invincible blew up. From a crew of over 1000, there were six survivors.
At 18:30, Sheer was taken completely by surprise as the horizon ahead of him became a blaze of gun flashes as the Grand Fleet opened fire. He ordered that every battleship turned 180 degrees together. Jellicoe did not chase but moved south-east to keep the Grand Fleet between Sheer and his base as well as keeping the enemy in the sun although by now the fleets could not see each other. Goodenough in HMS Southampton regained contact with Sheer sending signals to Jellicoe who manoeuvred to cross Sheer’s “T” again doing severe damage to the Germans and were forced to do a second 180 degree turn to the west. Sheer now ordered a torpedo attack and sent the damaged battlecruisers towards the Grand Fleet which came under fire causing severe damage. The torpedo attack by the German destroyers forced the British away; Sheer ordered the battle cruises back to the main fleet.
Night was fast approaching and in a final engagement between the fleets the Germans took heavy punishment.
Jellicoe, ordering his cruisers and destroyers behind him, headed south to cut off the Germans’ escape. Unfortunately on seven separate occasions these ships failed to inform their admiral of encounters with the main German Fleet. The Fifth Battle Squadron actually saw German battleships passing astern of them and did not open fire! There was considerable contact between the fleets and a number of ships were sunk. Lutzow, the most modern German battlecruiser, was scuttled as she was so badly damaged. Jellicoe was not helped by the admiralty who knew the actual position of the High Sea Fleet during the night. By 04:00am, the Germans had escaped.
The Royal Navy was now to lose the PR battle. The Kreigsmarine issued a communique on 2nd June claiming a victory and distorting the figures of ships sunk and crewmen lost. It is true that the Grand Fleet lost more ships and more men but strategically the Germans were still holding up in their bases while the Royal Navy sailed the seas and the blockade went on and was a contributory factor in winning the war by starving the German population.
The Royal Navy learnt some hard lessons at Jutland; its Admirals were lacking initiative, material deficiencies caused shells not to explode, and safety procedures were poor and resulted in the loss of three battlecruisers.
The German fleet only ventured out three more times in WW1, knowing that another encounter with the Grand Fleet would probably mean its destruction.
The men of the Royal Navy gained their reward in November 1918 as the Grand Fleet sailed out to escort the High Sea Fleet to its base in Scapa Flow and internment. In June the following year the Germans scuttled its fleet!
May 2016 | Phonebox Magazine 59