The Grand Fleet, 1914-1916

by John Rushworth Jellicoe

(d) Considerations of moral effect will force the stronger fleet to follow the weaker, and play into the hands of the enemy.

We were so certain that the enemy would adopt these tactics that in all the many exercises carried out by the Fleet during the War, it was the invariable rule to indicate beforehand an assumed position of Heligoland, and the Flag officer, representing the Commander-in-Chief of the High Sea Fleet in these exercises, always deployed his Fleet in the direction of Heligoland and adopted retiring tactics. The difficulties resulting from the employment of these retiring tactics and the best method to adopt in the circumstances were, therefore, the subject of constant thought, both by myself and by all the senior officers in the Fleet, and the subject was very frequently discussed and worked out on the tactical board.

The difficulty is, to a certain extent, insuperable if retiring tactics are employed in conjunction with a free and skilful use of under-water weapons.

When, therefore, the two Fleets met on May 31st, 1916, these thoughts were in my mind, and were no doubt present in the minds of all Flag officers in the British Fleet. It has been mentioned that the circumstances of the meeting made it very difficult to ascertain with any degree of certainty the disposition of the enemy’s Battle Fleet, and the deployment of our own Fleet took place under these conditions. Even so, however, the course on deployment (that is, south-east by east) was to a certain extent governed by the idea of getting between the enemy and his base on the supposition that he would be making towards it by the shortest route, namely, the Horn Reef Channel.

The arrival of the 3rd Battle Cruiser Squadron in a commanding position on the bow of the enemy caused the enemy to make a large turn to starboard, largely because this squadron—Rear-Admiral Hood’s—was mistaken for the British Battle Fleet. The German account, as I have already mentioned, bears out this view, as it is stated that at about 5.45 P.M. “dim shapes of enemy battleships are discerned in a north-easterly direction.” These shapes were undoubtedly the 3rd Battle Cruiser Squadron. The German account states that their battle cruisers turned away on sighting these ships. This gave the British Battle Fleet the chance of placing itself between the enemy and his base. Advantage was taken of this opportunity, and the enemy was then forced to pursue his retiring tactics in a westerly direction. In making the large turns required to effect our object, we were inevitably placed in a position of tactical disadvantage owing to the British Fleet working round on a wide circle outside the enemy.

A careful study of the movements of the two Fleets will show this at once.[R] The course of the British Fleet on deployment was south-east by east. Successive turns to starboard brought the course through south by west to south-west and finally to west, a total alteration of 13 points on the outer of two similar arcs, some 12,000 yards apart, the German Fleet moving on the inner of these two circles.

[R] Cf. diagram in the pocket at the end.

The result was that the “overlap,” which the Germans erroneously thought was in favour of the British Battle Fleet, but which was always with the enemy, was accentuated, and the Grand Fleet was gradually brought farther and farther abaft the beam of the High Sea Fleet, placing the latter in a position of tactical advantage in regard to torpedo attack. This advantage was increased by the low visibility, which rendered it difficult to see flotillas approaching to attack until they were at fairly short range.

When the first attack by German destroyers took place and the first of the enemy’s flotillas was seen to be approaching on a bearing 30 degrees before the beam of the Iron Duke, and had reached a distance of 9,000 yards or less, the “counter” of a turn “towards” or “away” was essential. Our own flotillas had been using every endeavour to get to the van, but the frequent turns to starboard and the movement of our battle cruisers across the bows of the Battle Fleet had delayed their movement, and it was evident that neither they nor the light cruisers could prevent the attack from developing.

The moment of discharge of torpedoes could not be determined with sufficient accuracy for a turn “towards” and therefore the Battle Fleet was “turned away,” in subdivisions.