Battle of Jutland.

[123everton]

Who won the Battle Of Jutland (Skagerrak to some) and why?

[Pigletion]

From my GSCE History.. I seem to remember that the Germans won in the loss stakes, i.e. Allied troops lost more ships/people, but the Allies reckon they won strategically,as after the battle nothing had changed, i.e. we still controlled the North Sea.

I'm sure the internet has lots on this

[123everton]

Thanks Pigletion, I think the word stalemate springs to mind, a bit like most of the battles of the Great War.
I'm 3/4s of my way through my 3rd book on the subject.
Attritionally the Germans achieved more, materially their ships were better, but, they did'nt achieve any of their strategic intentions.
They did'nt isolate Beattie's squadron and destroy it, they did'nt break the blockade of Germany, they did'nt increase the blockade of Britain and they did'nt retain the seas come the morning.
So was it a strategic victory for Britain?
I feel Jellicoe was wrong not to follow the High Seas Fleet in the final actions of the daylight encounter, wheen he was attacked by a destroyer and then a torpedo squadron, but, as Churchill said later (perhaps kindly) that Jellicoe "was the only man in the country who had the ability to lose the war in one day."
Please don't post long internet links, I'm loathe to read any of them, I only want a discussion on it.

[Pigletion]

oh I see. Hmm, I'm not sure, as hindsight is a wonderful thing. I think Jellicoe was probably right not to risk further losses or possibly being drawn into a trap by the enemy. If he had gone for it and won,then he'd be a hero, but if we'd suffered further losses and lost control of the area, it wouldn't just be him who was in trouble.Our navy was also still able to fight on, but the German navy was smaller anyway, so came off comparatively worse. Also the British had to maintain the reputation of the best navy in the world (particularly when under threat), which surely would have been dented had we completely lost.

I think the fact that the Germans didn't succeed in their plan meant they failed, rather than we won.

I guess it's just so hard to comprehend being in such a high pressure situation with so much riding on the outcome.

That's why I like the study of history as you can look at things from both (all) sides..

[123everton]

The High Seas fleet never took to sea again in such force and the coastal raids stopped.
Strategically we still held the initiative, but, we did'nt strike the crushing blow to claim victory even though we had the opportunity a few times.

[flicrat]

Are you Ok with a little discussion on where to put the apostrophe in the shortened form of didnot?
Golden rule : put it where you take out the letter i.e. didn't, as it replaces the 'o'.
Hasnot = hasn't, isnot=isn't, etc Hope that helps..

[123everton]

Thanks very much.
But what's that got to do with Jellicoe and Beatty and Scheer and Hipper?

[grannie39]

I was always given to understand the my Uncle John won this battle single handed.

[123everton]

He probably did!
God bless him.