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 and Imperial German Navy. The battle involved 250 warships, and, in terms of combined tonnage of vessels engaged, was the largest naval battle in history.
The engagement was the result of the high commands of the two nations' eagerness to give their publics a victory in contrast to the stalemate on the ground in Western Europe (the Battle of Verdun had been underway for three months at the time the opposing fleets sortied). Both navies had plans to lure the other's battlecruisers into a trap where they could be defeated by a superior force of battleships.
In the event, the battle had no impact on the course of the war and victory was claimed by both sides.
| Royal Navy | Imperial German Navy | ||
|---|---|---|---|
8 × 15-in. main-battery broadside 2 × (28,000 tons, 21 kn.) 4 × (27,500 tons, 24 kn.) HMS Canada (28,622 tons, 23 kn.) 3 × (25,420 tons, 21 kn.) 3 × (25,000 tons, 21.5 kn.) (22,780 tons, 21 kn.) 4 × (21,922 tons, 21 kn.) (28,750 tons, 22 kn.) 2 × (20,030 tons, 21 kn.) (19,680 tons, 21 kn.) 3 × (19,700 tons, 21 kn.) 3 × (18,596 tons, 21 kn.) | 10 × 12-in. main-battery broadside 4 × (25,420 tons, 21 kn.) 4 × (25,389 tons, 21 kn.) 4 × (22,448 tons, 20.5 kn.) 4 × (18,575 tons, 19 kn.) | ||
4 × 11-in. main-battery broadside (12,999 tons, 18 kn.) 5 × (12,983 tons, 19 kn.) | |||
8 × 13.5-in. main-battery broadside (28,500 tons, 28 kn.) (26,770 tons, 28 kn.) 2 × (26,270 tons, 27.5 kn.) 2 × (18,500 tons, 25.8 kn.) 3 × (17,250 tons, 25 kn.) | 8 × 12-in. main-battery broadside 2 × (26,200 tons, 26.5 kn.) (24,593 tons, 26.5 kn.) (22,216 tons, 25.5 kn.) (19,060 tons, 24.8 kn.) | ||
4 × 9.2-in., 5 × 7.5-in. main-battery broadside 3 × (14,600 tons, 23 kn.) 2 × (12,590 tons, 23 kn.) 2 × (12,590 tons, 23 kn.) (10,850 tons, 22 kn.) | |||
| 26 × light cruisers 79 × destroyers (including one destroyer-minelayer) | 11 × light cruisers 61 × torpedo boats |
| Dreadnoughts | Pre-dreadnought battleships | Battlecruisers | Armoured cruisers | Light cruisers | Destroyers / Torpedo boats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Navy | | | 3 5 | ||||
| Imperial German Navy | | 3 2 |
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 Rushworth Jellicoe, in HMS Iron Duke
Second in Command, Grand Fleet: Vice-Admiral Sir Cecil Burney, in HMS Marlborough
Chief of Staff: VAdm Sir Charles Edward Madden,
Captain of the Fleet: Cdre Lionel Halsey, C.B., C.M.G., AdC.
Master of the Fleet: Capt Oliver Elles Leggett
2nd Battle Squadron (battleships)
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Henry Martyn Jerram
Sortied from Cromarty Firth; rendezvoused with Jellicoe's force around noon 31 May
1st Division: VAdm Jerram
(flagship): Capt Frederick Field
: Capt George Henry Baird
: Capt Michael Culme-Seymour
: Capt the Hon. Victor Stanley
2nd Division: RAdm 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: Cdre Percy Grant
5th Division: RAdm Ernest Frederick Augustus 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
1st Cruiser Squadron (armoured cruisers)
Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Keith Arbuthnot, 4th Baronet
: Capt Vincent Barkly Molteno
: Capt Henry Blackett
: Capt Thomas Parry Bonham
2nd Cruiser Squadron (armoured cruisers)
Rear-Admiral Herbert Leopold Heath
: Capt Herbert John Savill
: Capt John Saumarez Dumaresq
: Capt Eustace La Trobe Leatham
Commodore Charles Edward Le Mesurier
: Cdre Le Mesurier
: Capt Cyril Samuel Townsend
: Capt Alan Geoffrey Hotham
: Capt Henry Ralph 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 Moore 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)
Captain Charles John Wintour
(flotilla leader): Capt Wintour
First half-flotilla / 4th D.F.
: Lt Cdr Sydney Hopkins
: 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
Second half-flotilla / 4th D.F.
(flotilla leader): Cdr Walter Lingen Allen
3rd Division / 4th D.F.
: Cdr Hugh Davenport Colville
: Lt Cdr Arthur Macaulay Lecky
4th Division / 4th D.F.
: Cdr Reginald Becher Caldwell Hutchinson, D.S.C.
: Lt Cdr Gordon Alston Coles
: Lt Cdr Frank Goodrich Terry
Commodore Hawksley
(light cruiser)
First half-flotilla / 11th D.F.
1st Division / 11th D.F.
: Cdr Harold Victor Dundas
: Lt Cdr Julian Harrison
: Lt Cdr Gerald Charles Wynter
: Lt Cdr Henry Clive Rawlings
2nd Division / 11th D.F.
: Cdr Claud Finlinson Allsup
: Lt Cdr Robert Makin
: Lt Cdr Edward McConnell Wyndham Lawrie
: Lt Cdr Claude Lindsay Bate
Second half-flotilla/11th D.F.
(flotilla leader): Cdr Harold Ernest Sulivan
3rd Division / 11th D.F.
: Lt Cdr George Bibby Hartford
: Lt Charles Granville Naylor
4th Division / 11th D.F.
: Cdr (Acting) William Dion Irvin
: Lt Cdr Ralph Vincent Eyre
: Lt Cdr Hugh Undecimus Fletcher
Captain Anselan John Buchanan Stirling
(flotilla leader): Capt Stirling
First half-flotilla / 12th D.F.
1st Division / 12th D.F.[4]
: Cdr George William McOran Campbell
: Lt Cdr John Jackson Cuthbert Ridley
: Lt Cdr Reginald Watkins Grubb
: Lt Cdr Arthur Gerald Onslow
2nd Division / 12th D.F.
: Cdr John Pelham Champion
: Lt Cdr Henry Victor Hudson
: Lt Cdr Eric Quentin Carter
: Lt Cdr Henry Percy Boxer
Second half-flotilla / 12th D.F.: Cdr Norton Allen Sulivan
(flotilla leader): Cdr Norton Allen Sulivan
: Cdr Charles Geoffrey Coleridge Sumner
: Lt Cdr Herbert Inglis Nigel Lyon
: Lt Cdr Charles Astley Poignand
: Lt Cdr Spencer Francis Russell
: Lt Cdr Edwin Anderson Homan
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 Lambert Alexander Hood
Battlecruisers
: Capt Edward Henry Fitzhardinge Heaton-Ellis
: Capt Francis William Kennedy
Accompanying cruisers
: Capt Percy Molyneux Rawson Royds
: Capt Robert Neale Lawson
Attached destroyers
: Cdr Lewis Gonne Eyre Crabbe (Admiralty M class)
: Lt Cdr Fairfax Moresby Kerr
: Lt Cdr John Ouchterlony Barron
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 Rudolf Walter Bentinck
: (flagship) Capt Alfred Chatfield
1st Battlecruiser Squadron: RAdm Osmond Brock,
(flagship): Capt Walter Henry Cowan,
: Capt Henry Bertram Pelly.
2nd Battlecruiser Squadron: RAdm. William Pakenham,.
(flagship): Capt John Green
: Capt Charles Fitzgerald Sowerby
1st Light Cruiser Squadron: Cdre Edwyn Alexander-Sinclair
Cdre Alexander-Sinclair
: Capt John Cameron
: Capt Bertram Thesiger
: Capt Tufton Beamish
2nd Light Cruiser Squadron: Cdre William Goodenough
: Cdre Goodenough
: Capt Arthur Duff
: Capt Charles Blois Miller
: Capt Albert Charles Scott
3rd Light Cruiser Squadron: RAdm Trevylyan Napier
(flagship): Capt John Douglas Edwards
: Capt Thomas Drummond Pratt
: Capt Edward Reeves
: Capt William Frederick Blunt
Attached vessel
seaplane tender : Lt Cdr Charles Gwillim Robinson
aircraft: 2 Short Type 184 reconnaissance seaplanes, 2 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]
: Cdr the Hon. Edward Bingham
: 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
: 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 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
4th Scouting Group (IV. Aufklärungsgruppe) (light cruisers)
Kommodore Ludwig von Reuter
Flag lieutenant: Korvettenkapitän Heinrich Weber
(flagship): FKpt Friedrich Rebensburg
: KKpt Oscar Böcker
: 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
(flagship) : KptzS Victor Harder
: KptzS Johannes Hartog
: KptzS Moritz von Egidy
: KptzS Johannes von Karpf
: KptzS Hans Zenker
2nd Scouting Group (II. Aufklärungsgruppe)
Konteradmiral Friedrich Boedicker
(flagship): KptzS Thilo von Trotha
: KFpt Rudolf Madlung
: KFpt
: KFpt Fritz Reiß
Second Leader of Torpedo-Boats
Kommodore Paul Heinrich
(light cruiser; flagship Second Leader of Torpedo-Boats): KFpt Bruno Heuberer
2nd Torpedo-Boat Flotilla (II. Torpedoboots-Flottille)
Commander Heinrich Schuur
(lead boat, flotilla): KptLt Theodor Hengstenberg
3rd Half-Flotilla (3. Halbflottille): KKpt Heinrich Boest
(lead boat, half-flotilla): KptLt Rudolf Schulte
: KptLt von Barendorff
: KptLt
: KptLt Leo Riedel
4th Half-Flotilla (4. Halbflottille): KKpt Adolf Dithmar
(lead boat, half-flotilla): KptLt Victor Hahndorff
: KptLt August Vollheim
: KptLt Heinrich Schickhardt
: KptLt Fritz Spiess
: KptLt Georg von Bartenwerffer
6th Torpedo-Boat Flotilla (VI. Torpedoboots-Flottille)
Lieut. Commander Max Schultz
(lead boat, flotilla): KptLt Hermann Boehm
11th Half-Flotilla (11. Halbflottille) : KptLt Wilhelm Rüman
(lead boat, half-flotilla): KptLt Karl von Holleuffer
: KptLt Siegfried Karstens
: KptLt Kurt Grimm
12th Half-Flotilla (12. Halbflottille): KptLt Rudolf Lahs
(lead boat, half-flotilla): KptLt Robert Stecher
: KptLt Martin Laßmann
: KptLt Bruno Krumhaar
: KptLt Philipp Recke
: KptLt Wolf von Trotha
9th Torpedo-Boat Flotilla (IX. Torpedoboots-Flottille)
Lieut. Commander Herbert Goehle
(lead boat, flotilla): KptLt Otto Lenssen
17th Half-Flotilla (17. Halbflottille): KptLt Hermann Ehrhardt
(lead boat, half-flotilla): OLtzS Hartmut Buddecke
: KptLt Hans Köhler
: KptLt Franz Fischer
: KptLt Werner Dette
: KptLt Wilhelm Ehrentraut
18th Half-Flotilla (17. Halbflottille): Korvettenkapitän
(lead boat, half-flotilla): OLtzS' Ernst Wolf
: KptLt Otto Andersen
: KptLt Waldemar von Münch
: KptLt Friedrich Ihn
Leader of Submarines (Führer der Unterseeboote) : KptzS 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
Off Terschelling:
: KptLt Leo Hillebrand
: KptLt Hans Nieland
Off the Humber Estuary:
: KptLt Ernst Hashagen
Off Flamborough Head, Yorkshire:
: OLtzS Bernhard Putzier
Off the Firth of Forth, Scotland:
: KptLt Hans Walter
: KptLt Rudolf Schneider
: KptLt Otto Wünsche
: KptLt Fahr Edgar von Spiegel von und zu Peckelsheim
: KptLt Walter Rumpfel
: KptLt Otto Schultze
: KptLt Thorwald von Bothmer
Off Peterhead, Scotland:
: KptLt Heinrich Metzger
Off the Pentland Firth (between the Orkneys and the Scottish mainland):
: KptLt Paul Wagenführ
: KptLt Helmuth Jürst
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