The War at Sea

T H E WA R AT S E A

part 1 - above the waves

The last Great Sea Battle

THE BAT T L E O F J U T L AND

n 1916 came another opportunity – the chance to defeat the entire German navy.

By the early summer of 1916, the Naval Base at Rosyth had been completed and

Vice Admiral Beatty’s fleet had almost doubled in size. He had been given temporary

command of five Queen Elizabeth class battleships. Four knots faster than their

predecessors,and with 15 inch guns,they were the pride of the fleet.

The first intelligence reports that the pugnacious new Commander in Chief of the

German High Seas Fleet –Admiral Scheer – was taking his ships to sea were received by

Jellicoe on 28th May. Two days later Beatty left the Forth to rendezvous with Jellicoe.

His task was to engage the Germans and lure them on to the big guns of the Grand Fleet.

Jellicoe’s force of 99 warships included 24 battleships and three battlecruisers.Beatty’s

force of 52 warships included six battlecruisers and four Queen Elizabeths.

31ST MAY 1916

2.28 pm

– HMS Galatea, a light cruiser in Beatty’s fleet, fired the first shots of the

Battle of Jutland.The two battlecruiser fleets – commanded by Beatty

and Hipper – were face to face again. Hipper had five battlecruisers.

Beatty had six,plus his four Queen Elizabeths.

3.28pm

– Hipper turned his ships through 180 degrees attempting to lure Beatty’s

ships towards the south. Lying in wait, 50 miles to the south,was Admiral

Scheer’s High Seas Fleet. Unaware of Scheer’s position, Beatty signalled

for his ships to followHipper’s.But once again,his signals didn’t work.And

the Queen Elizabeths were left behind.The battleships stationed five miles

north west of Beatty for various reasons did not understand the signal,

which in any case was not specifically addressed to them.Finally when the

two components of Beatty’s command turned round to the south east they

were actually ten miles apart instead of five miles apart.

3.45pm

–At a range of nine miles, the captain of Beatty’s flagship, HMS Lion,

gave the order to fire. A gunnery duel ensued with Hipper gaining the

upper hand.

4.40pm

– Beatty ordered the battlecruiser fleet to turn about,so as to lure the

German High Seas Fleet onto the Ground Fleet as it came down

from the north.