Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland, which also called the Battle of Skagerrak in Germany, remains a historic event in the history of WWI. The 1916 war was between British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas. It went in history as the largest surface naval fight of the metal ship age. Moreover, it was to be the only major fleet operation of the First World War. Above all, the Battle of Jutland would be the last major fleet encounter between Germany and Britain. The combat also led to the end of repute for battle cruiser in which carrier based aircraft was used for the first time. The world also remembers the Battle of Skagerrak as the most contentious in the long history of the Royal Navy.
In understanding the Battle of Jutland, it is important to note that the Royal Navy had an upper hand in with capital ships as opposed to their opponent. This advantage threatened the Germans, as they were worried of losing full fleet battle to Britain. Following this panic, the underdogs adopted tricks to attain equality with the British fighters. They formed the Grand Fleet, which was composed of smaller warfare teams. Upon forming this grand coalition, the Germans were confident of victory coming their way as they engaged in war with the Royal Navy.
During spring in 1916, there was turn of events as the U-Boat offensive attack against on merchant shipping was limited with stringent rules. This prohibition however favored Germany as they received more submarines than the usual numbers. They were to use the artillery against warships. Scheer, who was Germany Commander in Chief, stationed the submarines off British Naval bases before convincing the Grand Fleet out of the harbor to the U-Boats, which readily stationed.
It is worth noting that the initial plan of Sheer was to attack Sunderland and get the Grand Fleet. Nonetheless, this was dependent on the survey by Zeppelin, which did not work out because of the weather. Following this, there was need to hatch an alterative plan. Scheer dispatched the battle cruisers to the Skagerrak, a move that caused panic among British patrols and merchant ships, which were in the region. The High Seas Fleet sailed to the sea on May 31. Moreover, the British on the previous day had a signal on Germany’s plan put High Seas Fleet on the sea. As a result, the Grand Fleet was at the sea on May 30 at 10:30 PM, two hours earlier than the Germans.
On 31 May, the British Commander in Chief received incorrect intelligence that the German’s Flagship was still in port. This made Jellicoe to make wrong judgment on the opponent, thinking that it would be a cruiser sweep, with distance cover by the High Seas Fleet. The C-in-C was disappointed on learning later that the intelligence was misleading. In the afternoon of May 31, British battle cruisers were on the way under the command of Beatty. At 3.20, the investigator’s signal reached the battle cruiser’s fleet, indicating that the enemy was in sight. This saw the light cruisers open fire eight minutes later.
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