Battles & Incidents

31st May 1916

The Battle of Jutland was the long-awaited clash in the North Sea between the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet.

Sir John Jellicoe's Grand Fleet consisted of 151 warships, including 28 battleships and nine battle cruisers, commanded by 13 admirals. The German High Seas Fleet comprised over 90 ships, including 22 battleships, five battle cruisers, six light cruisers, plus further cruisers, torpedo boats and other vessels.

Several ships, including the battle cruiser HMS Invincible (Walter Abbott's ship) and the cruiser HMS Defence, with three Beer men aboard, sank as a result of huge explosions. On the British ships a concentration on attaining a high rate of fire led meant that everything was done to feed ammunition to the guns as quickly as possible. This led to the bags of cordite which were used as a propellant for shells being held at points between the magazines and the gun turrets, where they were exposed to fire and 'flash' if the ships were hit by enemy fire. When ships were hit, cordite being held at these 'unofficial' sites is believed to have exploded, literally tearing ships apart.

After such an explosion HMS Invincible sank in around 15 seconds, and there were only six survivors out of a crew of 1,031. HMS Defence, with a crew of 779, blew up and sank with all hands.

The British losses were significantly heavier than the German. The Royal Navy lost three battle cruisers, three cruisers and eight destroyers. The Germans lost one battleship, one battle cruiser, four light cruisers and five destroyers. The British lost 6,097 killed, while the Germans lost 2,552. However, after Jutland, apart from one or two brief forays the German High Seas Fleet did not venture out of port again until it came out to surrender in November 1918.