The First World War - The Battle Of Jutland

100 years ago today, a huge battle at sea was about to begin. A battle which would unfortunately be overshadowed than the Battle Of The Somme that would take place one month later. The Battle Of Jutland would change the course of the war, with 36 hours of fighting. It would become known as the only major sea battle of the first world war.

German officials had a plan put in place, to attack Britain's Grand Fleet. The plan was to entice vessels away from the main fleet, trap them, and destroy them, a role that the German High Seas fleet would undertake. It was to take place near the coast of Denmark's Jutland peninsula. Whilst Germany was preparing for this, Britain meanwhile, through its excellent code breakers, had been forewarned of such an imminent attack. Both the Battlecruiser Force led by Admiral Sir David Beatty and the Grand Fleet led by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe had been ordered to set sail much earlier than planned. It was hoped that they would arrive much earlier than first anticipated and thus take the German High Seas Fleet by surprise. This did have the desired effect, however, after a hard and tiresome battle, the losses were high.

On the 1st June 1916, 36 hours after the fighting began, it ended. Of the 250 vessels and 100,000 men, some of them just boys, the losses were huge. Britain alone lost 6,784 sailors as well as Battlecruisers Indefatigable, Queen Mary, Invincible; Armoured cruisers Black Prince, Warrior, Defence; Flotilla Leader Tipperary & Destroyers Shark, Sparrowhawk, Turbulent, Ardent, Fortune, Nomad & Nestor. The total loss of British vessels amounted to a staggering 113,300 tons.

But it wasn't just that British that suffered, 3,039 German sailors were killed during the battle. Not only that, they also lost Battlecruiser Lutzow, Pre-Dreadnought Pommern, Light cruisers Frauenlob, Elbing, Rostock, Wiesbaden and Destroyers V48, S35, V27, V4 & V29.

Considering the amount of men, vessels and weapons that were lost, no decisive victory was made. Both countries celebrated what they thought of as victories in terms of the type of vessels that were sunk. However it was Britain that was really able to celebrate - which their naval dominance confirmed, the shipping lanes  in the area were kept relatively free from trouble and would aid the blockade to be put in place that would help defeat Germany in 1918 and bring the war to an end.