Battle of Jutland

Battle of Jutland
Part of World War I
The Battle of Jutland, 1916
Date 31 May – 1 June 1916 Location North Sea, near Denmark 56°42′N 5°52′E / 56.700°N 5.867°E / 56.700; 5.867Coordinates: 56°42′N 5°52′E / 56.700°N 5.867°E / 56.700; 5.867 Result See Outcome section
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Sir John Jellicoe Sir David Beatty	Reinhard Scheer Franz Hipper
Strength
Total: 151 combat ships 28 battleships 9 battlecruisers 8 armoured cruisers 26 light cruisers 78 destroyers 1 minelayer 1 seaplane carrier	Total: 99 combat ships 16 battleships 5 battlecruisers 6 pre-dreadnoughts 11 light cruisers 61 torpedo-boats
Casualties and losses
6,094 killed 674 wounded 177 captured 3 battlecruisers 3 armoured cruisers 8 destroyers (113,300 tons sunk)	2,551 killed 507 wounded 1 battlecruiser 1 pre-dreadnought 4 light cruisers 5 torpedo-boats (62,300 tons sunk)

The Battle of Jutland (German: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought by the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet under Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, against the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer during the First World War. The battle unfolded in extensive maneuvering 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 in that war and the only full-scale clash of battleships. Jutland was the third fleet action between steel battleships, following the smaller but more decisive battles of the Yellow Sea (1904) and Tsushima (1905) during the Russo-Japanese War. Jutland was the last major battle fought primarily by battleships in world history.

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. The German plan had been delayed, causing further problems for their submarines, which had reached the limit of their endurance at sea.

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