World War I - 9 Book Collection: Nelson's History of the War, The Battle of Jutland & The Battle of the Somme. Buchan John
ships of the Queen Elizabeth class, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Light Cruiser Squadrons, and the 1st, 9th, 10th and 13th Destroyer Flotillas. It will be noticed that the two divisions of the Grand Fleet were not sharply defined by battleships and battle cruisers, for Sir John Jellicoe had with him one squadron of battle cruisers, and Sir David Beatty had one squadron of the largest battleships.
On the morning of the last day of May the German High Sea Fleet also put to sea and sailed north a hundred miles or so from the Jutland coast. First went Admiral von Hipper's Battle Cruisers, five in number, with the usujI complement of cruisers and destroyers. Following them came the Battle Fleet under Admiral von Scheer. With a few exceptions all the capital ships of the Geiman Navy were present in this expedition What the purpose of von Scheer was we can only guess. Warned of the British sailing, he may have hoped to engage and destroy a portion of the British Fleet before the remainder came to its aid. He may have contemplated a raid upon some part of the British coast. He may have been escorting cruisers which were to make a dash for open sea and act as commerce destroyers. Or there may have been some far-reaching design associated with the sea war against Russia. It is idle to speculate on the precise reason which brought out von Scheer, but it seems probable that it was no mere practice cruise. German public opinion was beginning to demand some proof of naval activity since the submarine campaign had languished. It may be that von Scheer's enterprise was a gamble forced upon him by the state of popular feeling at home.
The last week of May had been hot and bright on shore, with low winds and clear heavens, but on the North Sea there lay a light summer haze, and on the last day of May loose grey clouds were beginning to overspread the sky. Sir David Beatty, having completed his sweep to the south, had turned north about mid-day to rejoin Sir John Jellicoe. The sea was dead calm, like a sheet of glass. His Light Cruiser Squadrons formed a screen in front of him from east to west.
At 2.20 p.m. Galatea (Commodore Alexander-Sinclair), the flagship of the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron, signalled enemy vessels to the east. Sir David Beatty at once altered course to south-south-east, the direction of the Horn Reef, in order to get between the enemy and his base. Five minutes later Galatea signalled again that the enemy was in force and no mere handful of light cruisers. At 2.35 the watchers on Lion saw a heavy pall of smoke to the eastward, and the course was accordingly altered to that direction, and presently to the N.E. The 1st and 3rd Light Cruiser Squadrons spread in a screen before the battle cruisers. A seaplane was sent up from Engadine (once the Cunard Liner Campania) at 3.8, and at 3.30 its first report was received. Flying at a height of 900 feet, within two miles of hostile light cruisers, it was able to identify the enemy. Sir David Beatty promptly formed line of battle, and a minute later came in sight of von Hipper's five battle cruisers.
The First Stage, 3.48 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Of all human contests a naval battle makes the greatest demands upon the resolution and gallantry of the men and the skill and coolness of the commanders. In a land fight the General may be thirty miles behind the line of battle, but the Admiral is in the thick of it. He takes the same risk as the ordinary sailor, and, as often as not, his flagship leads the fleet. For three hundred years it had been the special pride of Britain that her ships were ready to meet any enemy at any time on any sea. If this proud boast were no longer hers, then her glory would indeed have departed.
At 3.30 that afternoon Sir David Beatty had to make a momentous decision. The enemy was clearly falling back upon his main Battle Fleet, and every mile the British Admiral moved forward brought him nearer to an unequal combat.
VICE-ADMIRAL SIR DAVID BEATTY, K.C.B., K.C.V.O.. D.S.O.
For the moment the odds were in his favour, since he had six battle cruisers against von Hippers five, as well as the 5th Battle Squadron, but presently the odds would be enormously against him. He was faced .with the alternative of conducting a half-hearted running fight with von Hipper, to be broken off before the German Battle Fleet was reached, or of engaging closely and hanging on even after the junction with von Scheer had been made. In such a fight the atmospheric conditions would compel him to close the range and so lose the advantage of his heavier guns ; and his own battle cruisers were less stoutly protected than those of the enemy, which had the armour of a first-class battleship. Sir David Beatty was never for a moment in doubt. He chose the course which was not only heroic, but right on every ground of strategy. Naval battles are not won by playing for safety. Hawke pursued Conflans in a stormy dusk into Quiberon Bay, and Nelson before the battle of the Nile risked in the darkness the shoals and reefs of an uncharted sea. Twice already by a narrow margin Beatty had missed bringing the German capital ships to action. He was resolved that now he would forego no chance which the fates might send.
Von Hipper was steering E.S.E. in the direction of his base. Beatty changed his course to conform and the fleets were now some 23,000 yards apart. The 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron took station ahead with the destroyers of the 9th and 13th Flotillas ; then came the 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron led by Lion ; then the 2nd, and then Evan-Thomas with the 5th Battle Squadron. Beatty formed his ships on a line of bearing to clear the smoke—that is, each ship took station on a compass bearing from the flagship, of which they were diagonally astern. At 3.48 the action began, both sides opening fire at the same moment. The range was 18,500 yards, the direction was generally S.S.E., and both fleets were moving at full speed, an average perhaps of 25 knots. The wind was from the S.E., the visibility for the British was good, and the sun was behind them. They had ten capital ships to the German five. The omens seemed propitious for victory.
In all battles there is a large element of sheer luck and naked caprice. In the first stage, when Beatty had the odds in his favour, he was destined to suffer his chief losses. A fortunate shot struck Indefatigable (Captain Sowerby) in a vital place and she immediately blew up. The German gunnery at the start was uncommonly good; it was only later when things went ill with them that their shooting became wild. Meantime the 5th Battle Squadron had come into action at a range of 20,000 yards and engaged the rear enemy ships. From 4.15 onward for half-an-hour the duel between the battle cruisers was intense, and the enemy fire gradually grew less rapid as ours increased. At 4.18 the German battle cruiser third in the line was seen to be on fire. Presently Queen Mary (Captain Prowse) was hit and blew up. She had been at the battle of the Bight of Heligoland, she was perhaps the best gunnery ship in the fleet, and her loss left Beatty with only four battle cruisers. Happily she did not go down before her superb marksmanship had taken heavy toll of the enemy. The haze was now settling on the waters and all that we could see of the foe was a blurred outline. The sea was full of submarines, but by singular good fortune the British ships passed through them without mishap.
Meantime, as the great vescels raced southward, the lighter craft were fighting a battle of their own. Eight destroyers of the 13th Flotilla— Nestor, Nomad, Nicator, Narborough, Pelican, Petard, Obdurate and Nerissa, together with Moorsom and Morris, of the 10th, and Turbulent and Termagant, of the 9th, moved out at 4.15 for a torpedo attack, at the same time as the enemy destroyers came forward for the same purpose. The British Flotilla at once came into action at close quarters with 15 destroyers and a light cruiser of the enemy, and beat them back with the loss of two destroyers. This combat had made some of them drop astern, so a full torpedo attack was impossible. Nestor, Nomad and Nicator, under Commander the Honourable E. B. S. Bingham, fired two torpedoes at the German battle cruisers and were sorely battered themselves by the German secondary armament. They clung to their task till the turning movement came which we shall presently record, and the result of it was to bring them within close range of many enemy battle ships. Both Nestor and Nomad were badly hit, and only Nicator regained the Flotilla. Some of the others fired their torpedoes, and apparently the rear German ship was struck. The gallantry of these smaller craft cannot be overpraised. That subsidiary battle, fought under the canopy of the duel of the greater ships, was one of the most heroic episodes of the action.
We have seen that the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron was scouting ahead of the battle cruisers. At 4.38 Southampton (Commodore Goodeaough) reported the German Battle Fleet ahead. Instantly Beatty recalled the destroyers, and at 4.42 von Scheer was sighted