The Battle of Jutland ThisisamajornewaccountoftheBattleofJutland,thekeynavalbattleof WorldWarIinwhichtheBritishGrandFleetengagedtheGermanHighSeas FleetoffthecoastofDenmarkin1916.Beginningwiththebuildingofthetwo fleets,JohnBrooksrevealsthekeytechnologiesemployedfromammunition, gunneryandfirecontroltosignallingandtorpedoesaswellastheopposing commanders’tacticalexpectationsandbattleorders.IndescribingJutland’s fivemajorphases,heoffersimportantnewinterpretationsofthebattleitself andhowtheoutcomewasinfluencedbytechnology,aswellasthetacticsand leadership of the principal commanders, with the reliability of their own accountsofthefightingreassessed.Thebookdrawsoncontemporarysources, which have been rarely cited in previous accounts, from the despatches of both the British and German formations to official records, letters and memoirs. Afteracareerincomputingandtelecommunications,JohnBrooksobtained hisdoctoratefromtheDepartmentofWarStudies,King’sCollegeLondon. Nowanindependentscholar,heistheauthorofDreadnoughtGunneryand theBattleofJutland:TheQuestionofFireControl(2005). CambridgeMilitaryHistories Editedby HEWSTRACHAN,ChicheleProfessoroftheHistoryofWar,Universityof OxfordandFellowofAllSoulsCollege,Oxford GEOFFREYWAWRO,ProfessorofMilitaryHistory,andDirectorofthe MilitaryHistoryCenter,UniversityofNorthTexas Theaimofthisseriesistopublishoutstandingworksofresearchon warfarethroughout theagesandthroughouttheworld.Booksinthe seriestakeabroadapproachtomilitaryhistory,examiningwarinall its military, strategic, political and economic aspects. The series complements Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfarebyfocusingonthe‘hard’militaryhistoryofarmies,tactics, strategy and warfare. Books in the series consist mainly of single- author works – academically rigorous and groundbreaking – which areaccessibletobothacademicsandtheinterestedgeneralreader. Afulllistoftitlesintheseriescanbefoundat: www.cambridge.org/militaryhistories The Battle of Jutland John Brooks UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107150140 ©JohnBrooks2016 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2016 PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-Publicationdata Brooks,John,1942–author. TheBattleofJutland/JohnBrooks. Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2016.|Series:Cambridgemilitary histories|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. LCCN2016014668|ISBN9781107150140(hardback) LCSH:Jutland,Battleof,1916.|BISAC:HISTORY/Military/General. LCCD582.J8B762016|DDC940.4/56–dc23 LCrecordavailableathttp://lccn.loc.gov/2016014668 ISBN978-1-107-15014-0Hardback ISBN978-1-316-60450-2Paperback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication, anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. AgainforAnne withoutwhomthisbookwouldnothavebeenpossible withmyloveandthanks Contents Listoffigures pageviii Listoftables ix Map xiii Preface xv Acknowledgements xxi 1 Buildingthebattlefleets 1 2 Technologies 49 3 Ordersforbattle 97 4 Preliminaries 131 5 TheRuntotheSouth 162 6 TheRuntotheNorth 219 7 AroundWindyCorner 252 8 Theremainsoftheday 309 9 Nightandmorning 366 10 Technologyandtactics 451 11 Anunpalatableresult 514 Bibliography 550 IndexofWarshipsandFormations 557 GeneralIndex 564 vii Figures 2.1 Turningpendants page55 2.2 Deploymentpendants 60 3.1 Deploymentdiagram 124 5.1 TheRuntotheSouth 163 6.1 TheRuntotheNorth 220 7.1 WindyCornertotheBCF’s32-pointturn 254 8.1 Theremainsoftheday 310 9.1 Nightandmorning 368 viii Tables 1.1 Lightcruiserprogrammes page36 1.2 Lightcruisercharacteristics 38 1.3 Destroyerprogrammes 40 1.4 Destroyercharacteristics 42 1.5 Dreadnoughtbattleshipprogrammes 44 1.6 Dreadnoughtbattleshipcharacteristics 45 1.7 Battlecruiserprogrammes 46 1.8 Battlecruisercharacteristics 47 1.9 Britishmargins 48 2.1 DreyerTableallocation 67 2.2 Britishprooftestsandpredictedperforationproperties 79 2.3 Torpedocharacteristics 91 4.1 SignalsbetweenAdmiraltyandC-in-C,30May 142 4.2 Britishbattlesquadrons(except5BS)inOrganisationNo.5 144 4.3 Germanbattlesquadrons 146 4.4 Britishbattlecruisersandfastbattleships 147 4.5 Germanbattlecruisers 148 4.6 Comparativebattlefleetbroadsideweightsoffire 149 4.7 Britisharmouredcruisers 150 4.8 Britishlightcruiserswiththebattlefleet 152 4.9 Germanlightcruiserswiththebattlefleet 152 4.10 Germanlightcruiserswiththebattlecruisers 153 4.11 Britishlightcruiserswiththebattlecruisers 153 4.12 Comparativetotalbroadsidesforlightcruisers 154 4.13 Britishflotillaswiththebattlefleet 155 4.14 BritishflotillasintheSouthernNorthSea 156 4.15 BritishflotillaswiththeBCF 156 4.16 Germanflotillaswiththescoutinggroups 158 4.17 Germanflotillaswiththebattlefleet 158 4.18 Comparativetotaldestroyernumbersandarmaments 159 5.1 BCFsignals1.30–2.27pm 168 5.2 BCFsignals2.20–2.40pm 170 ix