The British fleet now had given up pursuit of the fleeing Germans and Vice-Admiral Beatty paused to take stock of his losses; and they were enormous.
Three great battle cruisers had gone to the bottom—the Queen Mary, of 27,000 tons; the Indefatigable, of 18,750 tons, and the Invincible, of 17,250 tons. Cruisers lost included the Defense, of 14,600 tons; the Black Prince; of 13,550 tons, and the Warrior, of 13,550 tons. The giant battle cruiser Marlborough, of 27,500 tons, had been badly damaged, as had the Lion and other vessels. The destroyers Tipperary, Turbulent, Nestore, Alcaster, Fortune, Sparrow Hawk, Ardent and Shark had been sunk. Total losses ran high into the millions and in the number of men above 7,000.
The German losses had been less, but nevertheless, taking into consideration damage done to the effectiveness of the two fleets as a whole, the enemy had sustained the harder blow. The British fleet still maintained control of the North Sea, while the Germans, because of their losses, had been deprived of a large part of the fighting strength of their fleet. The British, in spite of their heavier losses, would recover more quickly than could the enemy.
The dreadnaught Westphalen was the largest ship lost by the Germans. It was of 18,600 tons. The three German battleships lost, the Pommern, the Freiderich and the Frauenlob, were each of 13,350 tons. Four battle cruisers had been sent to the bottom. They were the Elbing, the Essen, the Lutzow and the Hindenburg, each of 14,400 tons. The German losses in torpedo destroyers had been particularly heavy, an even dozen having been sent to the bottom. Besides this, the enemy had lost three submarines and two Zeppelin airships, besides a number of smaller aircraft. In men the Germans had lost slightly less than the British.
And so both British and Germans counted the battle a victory; the
Germans because in total tonnage sunk they had the best of it; the
British, because they held the scene of battle when the fighting was
over and because the enemy had retired.
But, no matter with which side rested the victory, there was no gainsaying the fact that the battle of Jutland was the greatest naval struggle of all time.
After giving up pursuit of the enemy, the British withdrew. Damage to the various vessels was repaired as well as could be done at sea and the ships in need of a more thorough overhauling steamed for England, where they would go into dry-dock. The bulk of the British fleet, however, still in perfect fighting trim, again took up the task of patrolling the North Sea, that no German vessels might make their escape from the fortress of Heligoland, for which point the enemy headed immediately after the battle.
In spite of the severe losses of the Germans, the return of the high sea fleet to Heligoland was marked by a grand ovation by the civil population. Various reports were circulated on the island, and all through Germany for that matter. One report had it that the entire British fleet had been sent to the bottom; and Berlin, and all Germany, rejoiced.
But as time passed and the German fleet still remained secure behind its fortifications, the German people began to realize that the victory had not been so great as they had been led to believe. They knew they had been fooled; and they vented their anger in many ways.
Street riots occurred in Berlin and in others of the large cities. The people demanded to be told the facts. Later they were told, in a measure, but even then they were denied the whole truth. So conditions in the central empires grew from bad to worse.