The Battle of Jutland Bank, May 31---June 1, 1916; The Dispatches of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe and Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty

London, England: Oxford University Press, 1916. Second Edition, revised. Wraps. 100 pages. Worn. Black and white maps/battle plans, small diagrams showing positions/directions of ships. Includes Introductory Note, Sir John Jellicoe's Dispatch, June 24, 1916; Sir David Beatty's Report, June 19, 1916; The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to Sir John Jellicoe, July 4, 1916; and an Index. Also includes Diagrams of The Scene of the Battle, and The Chart of the Battle. Also includes a map of the British Battle Fleet, as well as introductory notes, The Battle of Jutland Bank, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe's Dispatch, and Sir David Beatty's Report. Also includes an index. Charles Sanford Terry (24 October 1864, Newport Pagnell – 5 November 1936, Aberdeen) was an English historian and musicologist who published extensively on Scottish and European history as well as the life and works of J. S. Bach. He was appointed Burnett-Fletcher Professor of History and Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen from 1903 until his retirement in 1930. He served as president of the Association of Scottish History. "On May 31, 1916, the German High Sea Fleet was brought to an engagement off Jutland Bank, on the coast of Denmark. Earlier Admirals von Scheer and Hipper had put out from their bases upon 'an enterprise directed northward', in the language of the German Admiralty. The phrase certainly connotes an enterprise other than the engagement of May 31, though the semi-official narrative of the battle, published on June 5, announced Admiral von Scheer to have left port 'to engage portions of the British Fleet, which were repeatedly reported recently to be off the coast of Norway'.[Introductory Note.]. The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, during the First World War. The battle unfolded in extensive manoeuvring and three main engagements (the battlecruiser action, the fleet action and the night action), from 31 May to 1 June 1916, off the North Sea coast of Denmark's Jutland Peninsula. It was the largest naval battle and the only full-scale clash of battleships in that war. Jutland was the third fleet action between steel battleships, following the Battle of the Yellow Sea in 1904 and the decisive Battle of Tsushima in 1905, during the Russo-Japanese War. Jutland was the last major battle in world history fought primarily by battleships.
Germany's High Seas Fleet intended to lure out, trap, and destroy a portion of the Grand Fleet, as the German naval force was insufficient to openly engage the entire British fleet. This formed part of a larger strategy to break the British blockade of Germany and to allow German naval vessels access to the Atlantic. Meanwhile, Great Britain's Royal Navy pursued a strategy of engaging and destroying the High Seas Fleet, thereby keeping German naval forces contained and away from Britain and her shipping lanes. The Germans planned to use Vice-Admiral Franz Hipper's fast scouting group of five modern battlecruisers to lure Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty's battlecruiser squadrons into the path of the main German fleet. They stationed submarines in advance across the likely routes of the British ships. However, the British learned from signal intercepts that a major fleet operation was likely, so on 30 May Jellicoe sailed with the Grand Fleet to rendezvous with Beatty, passing over the locations of the German submarine picket lines while they were unprepared. On the afternoon of 31 May, Beatty encountered Hipper's battlecruiser force long before the Germans had expected. In a running battle, Hipper successfully drew the British vanguard into the path of the High Seas Fleet. By the time Beatty sighted the larger force and turned back towards the British main fleet, he had lost two battlecruisers from a force of six battlecruisers and four powerful battleships—though he had sped ahead of his battleships of 5th Battle Squadron earlier in the day, effectively losing them as an integral component for much of this opening action against the five ships commanded by Hipper. Beatty's withdrawal at the sight of the High Seas Fleet, which the British had not known were in the open sea, would reverse the course of the battle by drawing the German fleet in pursuit towards the British Grand Fleet. Between 18:30, when the sun was lowering on the western horizon, back-lighting the German forces, and nightfall at about 20:30, the two fleets—totalling 250 ships between them—directly engaged twice. Fourteen British and eleven German ships sank, with a total of 9,823 casualties. After sunset, and throughout the night, Jellicoe manoeuvred to cut the Germans off from their base, hoping to continue the battle the next morning, but under the cover of darkness Scheer broke through the British light forces forming the rearguard of the Grand Fleet and returned to port. Both sides claimed victory.
Condition: Fair.

Keywords: John Jellicoe, David Beatty, Battle of Jutland, Jutland Bank, Naval Operations. High Seas Fleet, Grand Fleet, Battlecruisers, Battleships, Franz Hipper, Reinhard von Scheer

[Book #82355]

Price: $125.00

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