On May 31, 1916, an epic battle broke out between the British and German navies in the North Sea off Jutland in Denmark.
In order to complete the battle, both fleets did their best. Battleship to battleship, battlecruiser to battlecruiser.
But the whole battle was full of missed opportunities, and neither side was able to achieve the desired goal.
And the final outcome of the Imperial German Navy is also embarrassing.
At the end of the 19th century, Germany's overall strength surpassed that of Britain and became the world's largest military power and second economic power.
Kaiser Wilhelm II had great ambitions and wanted to dominate the world.
But Germany's geopolitical situation is very weak.
Due to the presence of Denmark, the German coastline is divided into two parts, east and west.
Among them, the eastern coast borders the Baltic Sea and is surrounded by several countries.
Although the western coast has direct access to the ocean, in front of it is the British Empire, which has the largest navy in the world.
This terrible geopolitical environment determined that as long as Britain blockaded the North Outer Perimeter, it could trap Germany's maritime transportation.
The weakness of the Germans, the British knew very well.
Therefore, at the beginning of the outbreak of World War I, Britain took the "First Fleet" and the "Second Fleet" of the "Home Fleet" as the backbone to form a "Grand Fleet" that was specially designed to deal with the German Navy, with 151 surface warships of various sizes and a total displacement of more than 1.25 million tons.
British "Grand Fleet".
On the other hand, in order to break the blockade of Britain, Germany fought hard to catch up under the auspices of Wilhelm II.
On the eve of the outbreak of World War I, the "High Seas Fleet", the main force of the German Navy, had 103 surface warships of various sizes with a total displacement of more than 700,000 tons. It became the second largest navy in the world after the British Navy.
But despite this, the German Navy still has a big gap compared to its opponents.
German "High Seas Fleet".
In August 1914, Germany raided Belgium, and the Anglo-French and German armies fought on the Western Front in Europe.
In the same month, the British Navy made a surprise attack on the Helgoland Bay, sinking 3 German light cruisers and 1 destroyer.
A few months later, the British Navy sank one German armored cruiser and severely damaged two of its light cruisers at the Battle of Dogger Sandbank.
After successive defeats, in order to preserve his strength, Wilhelm II ordered that the High Seas Fleet should not sail without his own consent.
And through these two naval battles, the British Grand Fleet was like a watchdog, locking the German High Seas Fleet's path to the Atlantic.
The huge navy was blocked into a "presence fleet", which was obviously fatal for Germany.
Because if the blockade could not be broken, Germany would not be able to obtain strategic resources from the sea, and it would be difficult to support a costly and protracted war.
For example, steel is needed for war, and Germany is short of iron ore.
The Americans have iron ore in their hands, and the United States has also declared neutrality, as long as they pay cash and transport it themselves, any country can buy what they want from the United States.
This set of "cash and self-transport" policy seems fair, but after the British army blockaded the North Sea, not to mention iron ore, not even a grain of grain could be transported to Germany.
Britain, on the other hand, was able to bring in all kinds of supplies such as arms, food, and cloth from the colonies and the United States by ship.
Since ancient times, wars have been fought as resources.
In World War I, in particular, the resources of the countries involved in the war were extremely depleted.
It can be said that whoever has more war resources will have the initiative.
Therefore, Wilhelm II's policy of avoiding war and protecting ships was destined to be unsustainable.
In February 1916, the Battle of Verdun broke out in the Western European theater of unprecedented tragedy.
With resources tight, Wilhelm II could not sit still and had to shift his strategic focus to the sea.
Soon after, the commander of the German Ocean Fleet, Admiral Reinhardt Schell, on the instructions of the High Command, developed a bold plan full of offensive elements:
That is, first of all, a small number of battleships and cruisers attacked the British coastal areas, hit and run, and lured a British naval detachment to pursue.
Then, the high seas fleet swarmed up and ate this detachment at a very low cost, closing the gap between the British and German fleets.
Objectively speaking, Scheer's plan is feasible.
If this tactic is successful, a few more games will close the gap and allow the German army to gain sea supremacy.
But Scheer didn't know that as early as September 1914, **divers were on a stranded German ** ship and found the German telegraph cipher index.
Subsequently, the ** person gave a code book to the United Kingdom.
The British Navy mastered the code, which was equivalent to mastering the movements of the German Navy.
The previous Battle of Dogle Sandbank was because the British deciphered the cipher and successfully thwarted the German attack.
The Magdeburg, it was on this ship that the Navy found the German codebook.
On May 30, 1916, Scheer decided to formally implement the plan.
But in the afternoon of the same day, a deciphered telegram was placed on the desk of Admiral John Jericho, commander of the British Navy's main fleet.
Intelligence indicates that the German High Seas Fleet will set sail the next day.
Interestingly, Jellico's battle plan was exactly the same as Scheer's.
Something like this: Vice Admiral David Betty led more than 40 warships of the LinkedIn avant-garde fleet to intercept the German high seas fleet in the waters off Jutland in Norway.
At the same time, Jericho personally led the main fleet to set up an ambush in the sea area 60 nautical miles northwest of Betty's fleet.
After the German army enters the encirclement, encircle and annihilate it!
John Jellico.
At 21:30 on the evening of May 30, the 151 warships of the British Grand Fleet were divided into two groups and sailed to the target sea area.
At 2 a.m. on May 31, Vice Admiral Hipper, Germany, led a reconnaissance fleet consisting of five battle cruisers and more than 30 other fast ships.
Half an hour later, Schell sailed out of Wilhelmshaven with more than 60 ships of the main fleet.
In order to lure the British detachment into attacking, Scheer ordered the main fleet to implement radio silence and light control, and at the same time asked Hipper to make a big splash and deliberately let the British listening system detect his whereabouts.
Reinhardt Schell.
At half past six in the morning, German submarines spotted Betty's fleet, but did not spot the main fleet led by Jericho.
At the same time, the British navy relied on communication stations off the coast of Norway to keep a close watch on the Hipper fleet, but failed to detect the main fleet led by Scher.
Since they both thought that the other side was trapped, the two luring enemy fleets rushed to the battlefield in a hurry.
But for some reason, Betty's fleet deviated by 20 nautical miles.
With this deviation, he and Hipper's fleet could not meet.
Seeing that the two were about to pass by, at this time, a Danish freighter miraculously appeared in the middle of the two fleets.
When the commanders of the two sides saw the freighter, they could not figure out the truth and the truth, so for the sake of insurance, they each sent a light cruiser to reconnoitre.
Ten minutes later, as the two ** got closer and closer, the British first realized that the situation was wrong, sounded the alarm, and headed to the German ship**. The Germans then returned fire.
The Battle of Jutland officially began.
When Hipper heard the sound of artillery, he immediately realized that he had encountered the British.
Immediately, Hipper ordered the entire fleet to turn to the southeast, fighting and retreating, luring the British into his own ambush circle.
As soon as the Germans exchanged fire and retreated, Betty was confused.
His task is to lure the enemy, and the enemy runs away first, how can he complete the task?
Therefore, Betty did not care whether there would be an ambush ahead, and ordered the ships to turn to the southeast and chase fiercely.
Originally, Betty's fleet had twice as many forces.
The main forces of the British army were 4 battleships and 6 battle cruisers, while the Germans had only 5 battle cruisers.
But after chasing, the 4 battleships in the fleet fell behind because of their slow speed. It was 10 nautical miles away from the six battle cruisers commanded by Betty.
At 15:49 p.m., with the advantage of speed, Betty caught up with Hipper. The two fleets formed an iso-side, about 15,000 yards away, within the range of the shells.
Immediately, Betty ordered**.
Almost at the same time, Hipper also ordered**.
After an exchange of fire between the two sides, the Hipper fleet quickly gained the upper hand.
The German "Lützov" opened fire and hit the British "Lion".
"Moltke" hit the "Tiger" twice.
The British "Royal Princess" hit the "Lutzov".
The counterattack of the "Tiger" was all 2,000 meters away and landed near the German light cruiser "Regensburg", which was on guard on the flanks.
The officers and men of the ship were puzzled - were the British blind? If you don't fight a 20,000-ton battle patrol, why do you always take care of a light patrol?
British Lion-class battlecruiser.
In a sense, the British army was indeed "blind".
In fact, in terms of artillery training, the British army was stronger than the German army.
The British also had a slight advantage in firepower. Its naval guns had a caliber of 305 mm (12 inches) and 343 mm (13.).5 inches).
The Germans were only 283 mm (11 inches) and 305 mm (12 inches). The caliber of the naval guns was noticeably smaller.
But this time, Tianshi was on the side of the Germans.
Betty's fleet was in a sunny position.
The afternoon sun, shining directly on the British troops, dazzled the eyes of the British gunners.
And the German gunners, with their backs to the sun, could rain bullets with impunity.
In addition to this, the North Atlantic breeze came to the Germans' aid.
Betty's fleet was downwind, and the gunners' view was obscured by the blowing soot and gunsmoke, and the Hipper's fleet had no problem at all.
With the help of the time, the German "von der Tann" hit the starboard side of the British "Indefatigable" three times in a row with 11-inch guns.
The "Intreplent" was seriously injured and had a big **. Of the 1,026 officers and men on board, only a few survived.
At 16:25 p.m., the British "Queen Mary" was simultaneously hit by shells fired by the German "De Fringer" and "Seydlitz" at the same time.
In just one minute, the "Queen Mary" quickly turned into a fireball, and only 9 of the 1,275 officers and men on board were rescued.
The Queen Mary sank.
6 to 5, but was sunk by the opponent two battle cruisers, Betty looked at the corpses and hull wreckage floating on the sea, still gritted his teeth and persisted, he was convinced that as long as he dragged Hipper, waiting for the 4 battleships left behind to catch up, he could tear apart the 6 battle cruisers of the German army in minutes.
In a short time, the four battleships that had fallen behind arrived, and the situation of the naval battle was immediately reversed.
The 15-inch guns of the British battleships were amazingly powerful, and they hit hard and accurately.
The German "Moltke" and "von der Tann" were shot one after another, and the latter's main turret was scrapped and incapacitated.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Hipper ordered the ships to retreat in the direction of the main forces.
Betty was overwhelmed and ordered to chase after her.
If Betty's fleet just collided headlong with Scheer's main fleet, it would probably be a **.
It was at this moment that a British light cruiser discovered the Scheer fleet.
At 16:38 p.m., Betty received a telegram: 22 enemy battleships have been discovered!
The British army was the first to discover the main German army, and the battlefield was one-sided and transparent.
At 16:40, Betty gave the order to retreat, but due to a malfunction in the communication system, the four battleships did not receive orders and were beaten by the main German fleet.
The British "Barham" superstructure was shot; The secondary gun on one side of the "Malaya" was destroyed; The "War Wey" rudder failed, was seriously injured, and was forced to turn back.
However, the protection of these new battleships was superb, and although they were heavily damaged, none of them were sunk.
The battered battleship "War-weary".
With the entry of the main forces of the German army, the situation on the battlefield was reversed again.
As soon as Scheer saw that Betty was about to run, he ordered the fleet to pursue it on all lines.
Hipper was even more vengeful, commanding his warships to rush to the front.
At around 18 o'clock in the evening, Betty joined up with the main British fleet led by Jericho.
Under the command of Jericho, 24 British battleships and 7 battlecruisers, lined up in a 14-kilometer-long column, pounced on the German team like tigers.
At this point, Jutland has entered a new stage, the main fleets of both sides are all on the scene, and the largest battleship duel in human history is about to begin.
At 18:15, the Jellicoe fleet spotted the German Schell fleet.
Due to poor intelligence, Scheer was not aware of the existence of the main British fleet at this time.
It wasn't until a row of British battleships flying the St. George's Cross flag appeared in front of him that Scheer realized that he had fallen into the trap.
In naval warfare in the era of big ships and cannons, the most important thing is to occupy the T-prefix.
That is to say, when two fleets meet, whoever first lines up in a horizontal line and strives to make the enemy line up in a column will be able to open full firepower and use the front main gun, rear main gun, and string gun to the enemy fleet.
And the enemy can only return fire with the front main gun.
The British had an intelligence advantage and seized the T-head 7 minutes ahead of schedule.
After the Germans entered the firing range, the main guns of the 24 British battleships were **, and the shells were like hailstones, smashing their heads and heads into the German fleet.
For a time, the German ships were shot one after another, and Hipper's flagship "Lützov" was blown open on the side deck.
The bridge of the von der Tann was knocked off, and the deck was littered with dead and wounded sailors.
Scheer's flagship battleship "Frederick the Great" also ate a few heavy shells.
But Scheer is no slouch either.
In an extremely unfavorable situation, he commanded the fleet to turn in place, and the rear team changed to the front team, turned around and ran back.
During the retreat, Betty's fleet went around the flanks and rear, intending to cut off the German retreat.
Scheer reacted quickly and immediately directed the fleet to turn southwest.
These continuous turns are not easy, and they generally cannot be completed in half an hour. But the German Navy moved like a dragon, and it only took a few minutes to complete it.
At the same time as the continuous turn, the German "De Fringer" also killed a return pistol, and hit the ammunition depot of the British "Invincible" with one shot, triggering **.
Rear Admiral Hood, captain of the "Invincible" and 1,011 officers and men on board, were killed, and only 6 survived.
It is worth mentioning that after the war, the British Navy named a newly built battle cruiser "Hood" in honor of the sacrifice of Hood.
However, in the Battle of the Danish Strait in May 1941, the "Hood" was hit by the German Bismarck in the ammunition compartment, resulting in the rupture of the ship's hull, and 1,418 people, including the commander of the formation, Vice Admiral Horan, were killed, and only 3 survived.
Battlecruiser USS Hood.
However, although the Germans got rid of the British fire, they ran in a southwesterly direction, farther and farther away from home.
Jericho saw the scene and ordered the pursuit to be suspended.
He thought that the German team always had to go home, so he planned to wait for the Germans on the route back.
Scheer looked back and saw that Jericho was no longer chasing. Immediately understood, the old boy must be planning to ambush himself.
Thinking about it, Scheer again ordered a turn and decided to fight his way out of the tail of the British fleet and return to Germany.
At about 19 o'clock in the evening, the two fleets met again.
But the course of the Germans deviated, and instead of rushing to the tail of the British troops, they plunged headlong into the ** of the fleet.
That is, the British took the T head again in a daze.
This makes Jericho very happy, there is a way in heaven that you don't take, and there is no door to hell for you to come.
Immediately, the British ships opened fire, and German ships were constantly shot.
Seeing this, Scheer knew that he couldn't hide. On the one hand, he ordered the torpedo boats to release the torpedoes, and on the other hand, he ordered the Hipper fleet to launch a suicidal attack in an effort to tear a hole.
Hipper, too, was unambiguous and faithfully carried out the order.
Franz von Hipper.
Under the cover of night and the Hipper's fleet, the main German fleet temporarily got out of the crisis.
But the Hipper's fleet was not so lucky, the "Seydlitz" received 5 shells, and more than 5000 tons of water were loaded.
The "De Fringer" received 7 shells, ** more than 500 people.
The worst was the flagship "Lützov", which was beaten into a sieve, and Hipper was forced to transfer to the Mauzy to continue commanding.
If the British had fired a few more volleys at this time, the Hipper's fleet would have been wiped out.
However, Jericho was frightened by the German torpedoes and ordered the British to retreat eastward, and Hipper was able to escape death.
At about 20 o'clock in the evening, Jericho organized the British ** team into multiple columns and turned to the southwest to sail.
His plan remained unchanged, and he remained determined to wait for the Germans on their way back.
Scheer also knew that Jericho must be catty somewhere, just waiting for him to come up.
But time waits for no one, and if it is spent until dawn, it will be more than lucky.
After some analysis and calculation, Schell ordered the Germans to turn to the southeast and send out all the torpedo boats to release torpedoes to cover the main force to break through.
During World War I, there was no radar. In the dark, the guns of battleships were useless, while the torpedoes of destroyers and torpedo boats were terrible and could easily sink a battleship. This is also the reason why Jellico was afraid of German torpedoes before.
At the command of Scheer, the German torpedo boats attacked from different directions like wolves.
Jericho was blinded and could not figure out the movements of the German army.
It was not until 23:10 in the middle of the night that he received a telegram from the British Admiralty Intelligence that the main German fleet was retreating in a quarter-degree direction east-southeast.
However, it is too late to deploy at this time. Jericho had to inform the squadrons of British destroyers that were dragging behind to intercept the main German forces in detachments.
Prior to this, there had been a number of skirmishes between the two sides, with mutual losses.
At 23:30 in the middle of the night, the last encounter between the German fleet rearguard and the 12th detachment of the British 4th destroyer fleet took place.
With the help of flares and searchlights, the two sides fired at each other.
In the melee, four British destroyers were sunk, and the Germans lost one of the old ironclad ships "Pomerania".
The already badly damaged "Seydlitz" and "De Fringer" were hit by several shells during the battle.
But fortunately, the power system of these two unlucky people was not paralyzed, and they trembled and kept up with the large army.
Badly damaged "Seydlitz".
After a scuffle of bayonets in World War I, the main German fleet finally returned to Wilhelmshaven at 3:30 a.m. on June 1 after a bloody battle from the British blockade.
Since the outbreak of World War I, the German Navy has laid numerous mines in the Gulf of Helgoland.
The mine array is like a labyrinth, and only a few high-level officials, such as Scheer, know about the waterways that pass through the minefield.
Therefore, the British troops who followed could only "look at the thunder and sigh" and go home scolding.
At half past five in the morning, the Battle of Jutland officially ended as the British ** team returned to base.
After the war, both Britain and Germany declared themselves victors.
In terms of results, the British suffered greater losses, and the Germans seemed to have the upper hand.
But judging from the process, the British army took the initiative throughout the whole process, and the German army could only flee in embarrassment for most of the time.
What is even more humiliating is that since then, the main forces of the German navy have been nested in the harbor and no longer face to head with the British navy.
So on a strategic level, Britain is definitely a clear winner.
The Germans, with all their might, failed to break the blockade imposed on themselves by the British Navy.
At that time, the American newspapers had a visual analogy for this naval battle: the prisoner rushed out of the cell and beat the jailer violently, but he was still locked in the cell.
In November 1918, Germany surrendered.
More than 70 ships of the High Seas Fleet were detained in Scapa Bay, England, under the escort of Entente ships.
Disarmed German sailors.
In order to divide up these ships, the Entente quarreled all over the world.
France and Italy believe they deserve a quarter. In order to maintain naval superiority, Britain wants to dismantle and scrap all of these **.
In June 1919, after half a year of quarrels, the Treaty of Versailles was officially released.
According to the terms of the peace treaty, the German High Seas Fleet would be divided among the Entente powers as spoils of war.
The officers and men of the German ships were unwilling to be humiliated, and took advantage of the caretaker's inattention, opened the sea valve, and sank all the ships in the port of Scapafolo. Among them were 10 battleships and 6 battlecruisers.
A German soldier looks at the sunken **.
Once ranked first in the world.
Second, the High Seas Fleet, which had exhausted the efforts of three generations of Germany, was in vain.