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Weisman
Post subject: The Battle of Jutland (German side)Posted: May 31st, 2016, 3:49 pm
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I run this topic on behalf of DG_Alpha due to failure on his part at that time. Nice review! :)
The Battle of Jutland, May 31st to June 1st, 1916
One hundred years ago, the greatest clash between battleships in the history of mankind occurred in one of the greatest fleet encounters, the Battle of Jutland. The German High Seas Fleet under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer and the British Grand Fleet under Sir John Jellicoe forces clashed near the Jutland peninsula off the coast of Denmark.

The prelude to this encounter was the arms race of battleships that came before the Great War, when every great nation of the world scrambled to assemble as many dreadnought battleships as possible. For the Germans in their ambitious fleet building programs under Kaiser Wilhelm II., it became obvious from the start that they could not out build their main rival, the British Empire.

When the war broke out, the German fleet commanders focused their efforts on isolating small segments of the larger British fleet and ambushing them with their whole fleet, thus gradually establishing parity, if not superiority with their opponent. Key component to this strategy became the fast battlecruisers of the German fleet, which would act as a bait to draw the British elements into the awaiting German battleships. The British early on in the war established a naval blockade of the North Sea, thus trapping the German fleet and cutting the shipping import lines. Breaking this blockade also became an objective for the German fleet.

Several sorties with this objective had happened since the start of the war in 1914, including the bombardment raids against the British coastal cities, but until Jutland, a big encounter was avoided. This was also thanks to the fact that the German Navy was under strict orders to preserve its own ships at any cost and thus would rather retreat than face an opponent of unknown strength.

The German plan for what would end in the famous battle was to use the battlecruisers lure out British ships out of their harbour with and into waiting pickets of u-boats, which would lay in waiting at prepared locations. Originally the operation was planned on May 17th, but technical difficulties, especially with the recently damaged and just repaired battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz delayed the departure until May 29th. This put the waiting u-boats, which had departed at the original planned date, at the edge of their operational limit. Originally, the plan also included several Zeppelins as an aerial reconnaissance force, but the weather was so bad that their departure was delayed until noon of Ma 31st, with visibility remaining bad. On the other hand, the British deployed the seaplane tender HMS Engadine, giving them an advantage with her less affected planes.

The British had long cracked the German codes and were well aware of the departure and location of the German battlecruiser fleet and the pickets, but missed the departure of main battleship fleet. When moving to engage the German fleet, the British moved on a zig-zag course, avoiding most of the German submarines. Only U-32 and U-66 found elements of the British fleet at different times and on different courses, thus giving the German command the impression that the British fleet had split up, moving in different directions. When the Germans met the British fleet on May 31st, it was much earlier than they had expected.

Overall, in pure numbers, the opposing sides fielded the following forces:

Great Britain:
  • 28 battleships
  • 9 battlecruisers
  • 8 armoured cruisers
  • 26 light cruisers
  • 79 destroyers
  • 1 seaplane tender
Germany:
  • 22 battleships (incl. 6 pre-dreadnoughts)
  • 5 battlecruisers
  • 11 light cruisers
  • 61 destroyers

The battle began between the fleets picket forces when both sides went to investigate a Danish steamer and the British cruiser HMS Galatea fired the first shots at 14:28. The Germans, however scored the first hit when SMS Elbing hit Galatea back at 14:36. The main body of the scouting forces, the battlecruisers und the command of Vice-Admirals Beatty and Hipper respectively, made contact at around 15:30. Due to confusing communication, the British scouting forces had been split up between the battlecruisers and the fast battleships, resulting in the loss of superiority for the British forces. Hipper on the German side followed the battle plan and turned south, drawing his opponent into the approaching main fleet. The first shots were fired at 15:48 by the German forces, beginning the ‘run to the south’.

For over an hour both fleets exchanged fire, with conditions favouring the Germans. HMS Lion was almost destroyed by a magazine hit from SMS Lützow at 16:00. HMS Indefatigable as hit in the magazines, exploded and sunk by shells from SMS Von der Tann at 16:02. The British fast battleships rejoined the action at 16:15, combining their firepower on the Germans, but at 16:25 HMS Queen Mary exploded by a combined salvo of SMS Derfflinger and SMS Seydlitz. Between the capital ships, the Germans scored 44 hits, compared to only 17 by the British. The light cruisers and destroyers of each scouting force engaged each other as well, with the Germans receiving a torpedo hit on SMS Seydlitz as well as losing torpedo boats SMS V27 and SMS V29 and the British losing destroyers HMS Nomad and HMS Nestor.

At 16:30 the main German Fleet made contact with the fighting forces, alerting the British commanders Jellicoe at Beatty to fact that the German fleet was in fact at sea at all. Now reversing the situations, resulting the ‘the run to the north’, the British scouts lured the German fleet towards the British main body, Jellicoe’s battleships. Once again due to confusing orders, the British fast battleships found themselves as a rear guard, taking the brunt of the German firepower. However, as they had better armour and bigger guns, they took less damage but managed to score several critical hits.

The two British elements made contact at around 17:33 and soon a fierce battle ensued between the smaller ships of both sides. Several ships were damaged, but only the German cruiser SMS Wiesbaden was sunk at 17:56 when it found itself under the concentrated fire of almost the entire British fleet.

The German battlecruisers and battleships made contact with each other at 18:00 and moved into position to engage the British fleet. So far the Germans were only aware of the presence of the additional three battlecruisers under Rear-Admiral Hood, not the fact that the entire British fleet was waiting for them. The British re-organized their fleet as well, resulting in confused traffic, which led the cruisers HMS Defence and HMS Warrior and the battleships HMS Warspite turning accidently into the concentrated firing arc of the German fleet. HMS Defence was sunk while both HMS Warrior and HMS Warspite were heavily damaged and effectively out of the battle.

The German fleet engaged Hood’s battlecruisers at 18:19 with visibility favouring the British, resulting in several critical hits on Hipper’s flagship, SMS Lützow. However, in a small moment of clear sight, both SMS Lützow and SMS Derfflinger fired on Hood’s flagship, HMS Invincible, hit the magazines and sunk the battlecruiser, taking the admiral with her. Shortly afterwards, Hipper had to abandon SMS Lützow to the destroyer SMS G39, due to the damage done to the communication equipment.

At 18:30, the entirety of the British fleet came into view, completely surprising the German fleet and in a perfect position to ‘cross the T’. Vice-Admiral Scheer reacted immediately and ordered his fleet to turn at 18:33, a quick reaction, as only 10 of the 24 British battleships had a chance to shoot. However, the darkness of the night was yet too far away and Scheer made the decision to turn again, hoping to confuse the enemy and win enough time. In the fight between the cruisers and destroyers the previously damaged HMS Shark was torpedoed and sunk.

The German fleet once again had its T crossed, this time at a much closer range. Several battleships took numerous hits, especially those of the 3rd squadron, but in return, only HMS Colossus was hit twice. Scheer once again ordered a turn and to cover his escape, also ordered a torpedo attack by his battlecruisers against the British fleet.

With Hipper still on SMS G39, the command of the battlecruisers fell to Captain Hartog of SMS Derfflinger to lead the charge. While the German destroyer forces launched their torpedo attacks, from 19:05 to 19:30 the battlecruisers ran straight into the concentrated firepower of 18 British battleships. The crews of the ships suffered heavy casualties from the 37 high calibre hits; SMS Derfflinger alone was hit 14 times, losing both of her forward turrets. Only SMS Moltke escaped unscathed. Despite the heavy fire all German battlecruisers survived, having been built with a focus on armour instead of range and firepower. The destroyers meanwhile managed to launch their torpedoes and drove the British battlecruisers away, so the German Fleet could escape, but in return both SMS S35 and SMS V48 were sunk.

In the fading light of the day the last action took place as the British battlecruisers caught up with their retreating counterparts, but relieve came from the obsolete pre-dreadnoughts of the German fleet which so far had only hindered the German mobility with their low top speed. The last shots of the day were exchanged between HMS King George V and SMS Westfalen at around 20:35.

What followed was the night action of the Battle of Jutland as the German fleet made its way home to port. Jellicoe had hoped to intercept Scheer on his projected way home to German ports, but Scheer took a different route than expected. The German forces came extremely close to the British main fleet, but the British battleships never opened fire or reacted to the German fleet due to a combination of missed or misinterpreted reports and radio jamming. Instead most of the fighting was done by the British destroyers and cruisers in extreme close range almost from the onset of the night to the early morning hours June 1st.

At around 22:23 the cruiser HMS Southampton came under heavy fire but managed to sink cruiser SMS Frauenlob. The British cruiser HMS Black Prince had become lost and mistook the German fleet for British ships and joined the enemy’s formation. The German battleship SMS Thüringen recognized the newcomer and destroyed the cruiser at point blank range shortly after midnight. German battlecruisers SMS Seydlitz and SMS Moltke almost shared the same fate. The cruiser SMS Rostock was shelled and torpedoed at around 1:30 and had to be scuttled several hours later. Battlecruiser SMS Lützow, heavily damaged from before, had to be scuttled at around 1:45. Half an hour later, at around 2:15 torpedo boat SMS V4 was lost due to unknown causes. Destroyer HMS Onslaught torpedoed the German pre-dreadnought SMS Pommern, which sunk at 3:10. In the darkness, several British destroyers collided with each other and HMS Spitfire was rammed by the German battleship SMS Nassau. While in this instance both ships survived this collision despite the damage, the German battleship SMS Posen rammed the friendly cruiser SMS Elbing, resulting in the scuttling of the smaller ship. In addition to HMS Black Prince, the British also lost the destroyers HMS Tipperary, HMS Ardent, HMS Fortune, HMS Sparrowhawk and HMS Turbulent during the night.

The last action of the battle was when SMS Ostfriesland hit a British mine at 5:02. Although damaged, the ship survived.

The battle had ended and as soon as reports came out, both sides claimed victory: The Germans had sunk more ships, inflicted more losses, but had failed their main objective, breaking the blockade or ending the British dominance at sea; both points in which the British could claim victory.

Overall the losses were:

Great Britain:
  • 3 Battlecruisers (Indefatigable, Queen Mary, Invincible)
  • 3 Armoured cruisers (Black Prince, Warrior, Defence)
  • 8 Destroyers (Tipperary, Shark, Sparrowhawk, Turbulent, Ardent, Fortune, Nomad, Nestor)
  • 6,784 men killed in action
Germany:
  • 1 Battlecruiser (Lützow)
  • 1 Battleship (Pommern)
  • 4 Light cruisers (Frauenlob, Elbing, Rostock, Wiesbaden)
  • 5 Destroyers (V48, S35, V27, V4, V29)
  • 3,039 men killed in action
To honour the anniversary of one of the greatest battles in history a little project was initiated two years ago between several members of the shipbucket community, to represent both fleets as they faced each other in these fateful hours. There were two teams, one working on the British side and one for the German side. This post, as you might have guessed from the title, will show the German side of the fleet. So big thank you goes out for all the artists who contributed to this project over the years and of course to bombhead for coming up with this idea in the first place.



German Order of Battle during the Battle of Jutland

Battleship fleet

Commander in chief: Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer
Fleet flagship: SMS Friedrich der Große (3rd Squadron, 6th division)

Third Battle Squadron
Flag 5th Division: Rear-Admiral Behnke (SMS König)
Flag 6th Division Rear-Admiral Nordmann (SMS Kaiser)
[ img ]

First Battle Suqadron
Flag 1st Division: Vice-Admiral Schmidt (SMS Ostfriesland)
Flag 2nd Division: Rear-Admiral Engelhardt (SMS Posen)
[ img ]

Second Battle Squadron
Flag 3rd Division: Rear-Admiral Mauve (SMS Deutschland)
Flag 4th Divsion: Rear-Admiral Gottfried von Dalwigk zu Lichtenfels (SMS Hannover)
[ img ]

Fourth Scouting Group
Flag: Commodore von Reuter (SMS Stettin)

and

Flagship of the torpedo boat flotillas SMS Rostock
Flag: Commodore Michelsen
[ img ]

1st Torpedo Boat Flotilla
Flag 1st Half-Flotilla: Lieutenant Albrecht (SMS G39)
[ img ]

3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla
Flag: Lieutenant-Commander Hollmann (SMS S53)
Flag 5th Half-Flotilla: Lieutenant Gautier (SMS V71)
Flag 6th Half-Flotilla: Lieutenant-Commander Riedel (SMS V48)
[ img ]

5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla
Flag: Lieutenant-Commander Heinecke (SMS G11)
Flag 9th Half-Flotilla: Lieutenant Hoefer (SMS V2)
Flag 10th Half-Flotilla: Lieutenant Klein (SMS G8)
[ img ]

7th Torpedo Boat Flotilla
Flag: Lieutenant-Commander von Koch (SMS S24)
Flag 13th Half-Flotilla: Lieutenant von Zitzewitz (SMS S15)
Flag 14th Half-Flotilla: Lieutenant-Commander Cordes (SMS S19)
[ img ]

Scouting Fleet

First Scouting Group
Flag: Vice-Admiral von Hipper (SMS Lützow)
[ img ]

Second Scouting Group
Flag: Rear-Admiral Bödicker (SMS Frankfurt)

and

Flagship of the torpedo boat flotillas (Scouting Forces) SMS Regensburg
Flag: Commodore Heinrich
[ img ]

2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla
Flag: Commander Schuur (SMS B98)
Flag 3rd Half-Flotilla: Lieutenant-Commander Boest (SMS G101)
Flag 4th Half-Flotilla: Lieutenant-Commander Dithmar (SMS G109)
[ img ]

6th Torpedo Boat Flotilla
Flag: Lieutenant-Commander Schultz(SMS G41)
Flag 11th Half-Flotilla: Lieutenant Rüman (SMS V44)
Flag 12th Half-Flotilla: Lieutenant Lahs (SMS V69)
[ img ]

9th Torpedo Boat Flotilla
Flag: Lieutenant-Commander Goehle (SMS V28)
Flag 17th Half-Flotilla: Lieutenant Buddecke (SMS V27)
Flag 18th Half-Flotilla: Lieutenant-Commander Tillessen (SMS V30)
[ img ]


Last edited by Weisman on May 31st, 2016, 5:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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DG_Alpha
Post subject: Re: The Battle of Jutland (German side)Posted: May 31st, 2016, 4:26 pm
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Joined: January 1st, 2012, 7:01 pm
Location: Germany
Thank you for posting this.

I'm out of town and away from my computer at the moment, so unfortunately I could not post this comprehensive post myself and I could not aide in the last-minute-mingling.

Once again I would like to thank all of the contributing artists who made this one possible and who worked literally until the last second. You are great guys with a far better work ethic than myself and should we ever meet the drinks are on me.

Also thanks again to Bombhead who approached me roughly two years ago with the idea for this project, without him nothing like this would have ever happened.

So I hope you enjoy the fruits of our labor and now let us all remember one of the great dates in naval history together.

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bezobrazov
Post subject: Re: The Battle of Jutland (German side)Posted: May 31st, 2016, 4:35 pm
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Joined: July 29th, 2010, 2:20 pm
Very nice, but...why did you remove the ensigns on the updated Seydlitz?

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Weisman
Post subject: Re: The Battle of Jutland (German side)Posted: May 31st, 2016, 4:39 pm
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However Tempest managed to time with Moltke and knows what to do. Come on Tempest, do it. ;)


PS- OK, I try to help.





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http://www.shipbucket.com/forums/viewto ... 504#p72223


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Garlicdesign
Post subject: Re: The Battle of Jutland (German side)Posted: May 31st, 2016, 4:54 pm
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Joined: December 26th, 2012, 9:36 am
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Hello everyone!

Thanks Weisman for posting, I just came home couple of minutes ago.

@ Bezobrazov: I didn't. The sheet with the five battlecruisers was ready (except for Moltke) for some time, and I just pasted your bridge on the Seydlitz on the sheet. Please let's not get into a row about flags again... especially ones which are semi-outlawed in Germany.

Greetings
GD


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adenandy
Post subject: Re: The Battle of Jutland (German side)Posted: May 31st, 2016, 4:57 pm
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Joined: July 23rd, 2011, 1:46 am
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

By Laurence Binyon

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Charybdis
Post subject: Re: The Battle of Jutland (German side)Posted: May 31st, 2016, 5:14 pm
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:o :shock: :o Spectacular work!! It's a real treat and well done to all those involved.


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bezobrazov
Post subject: Re: The Battle of Jutland (German side)Posted: May 31st, 2016, 5:21 pm
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No, GD, I'm not going to. was just wondering..then Isaw some other differences, anyway, so...no biggie

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KHT
Post subject: Re: The Battle of Jutland (German side)Posted: May 31st, 2016, 5:26 pm
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Astounding work. I just love these shipbucket 'fleet reviews'.

And god, I can't get over how bloody handsome the Derfflinger class was. That sweeping deckline and low profile just looks to damn good.


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reytuerto
Post subject: Re: The Battle of Jutland (German side)Posted: May 31st, 2016, 5:33 pm
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Joined: February 21st, 2015, 12:03 am
Excellent work, nice drawings, astonishing quality, the best tribute of SB to the men that fought 100 ago.


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