Distant Victory: The Battle of Jutland and the Allied Triumph in the First World War

267 Pages·2006·0.8 MB·English

by  Daniel Allen Butler

Distant Victory: The Battle
of Jutland and the Allied
Triumph in the First
World War
Daniel Allen Butler
PRAEGER SECURITY
INTERNATIONAL
Distant Victory
Praeger Security International Advisory Board
Board Cochairs
Loch K. Johnson, Regents Professor of Public and International Affairs,
School ofPublicand InternationalAffairs,UniversityofGeorgia (U.S.A.)
Paul Wilkinson, Professor of International Relations and Chairman of the
Advisory Board, Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence,
UniversityofSt. Andrews(U.K.)
Members
EliotA.Cohen,RobertE.OsgoodProfessorofStrategicStudiesandDirector,
PhilipMerrillCenterforStrategicStudies,PaulH.NitzeSchoolofAdvanced
InternationalStudies, TheJohnsHopkinsUniversity (U.S.A.)
AnthonyH.Cordesman,ArleighA.BurkeChairinStrategy,CenterforStra-
tegic andInternationalStudies (U.S.A.)
The´re`se Delpech, Senior Research Fellow, CERI (Atomic Energy Commis-
sion), Paris (France)
SirMichaelHoward,formerProfessorofHistoryofWar,OxfordUniversity,
and Professorof Military and Naval History,YaleUniversity (U.K.)
Lieutenant GeneralClaudia J. Kennedy, USA (Ret.), formerDeputy Chiefof
StaffforIntelligence,Headquarters, DepartmentoftheArmy (U.S.A.)
Paul M. Kennedy, J. RichardsonDilworthProfessorof History and Director,
InternationalSecurity Studies, YaleUniversity (U.S.A.)
RobertJ.O’Neill,formerChicheleProfessoroftheHistoryof War,AllSouls
College,Oxford University (Australia)
ShibleyTelhami,AnwarSadatChairforPeaceandDevelopment,Department
of Governmentand Politics, UniversityofMaryland(U.S.A.)
JusufWanandi,co-founderandmember,Board of Trustees,CentreforStra-
tegic andInternationalStudies (Indonesia)
FareedZakaria, Editor,NewsweekInternational(U.S.A.)
Distant Victory
The Battle of Jutland and the Allied
Triumph in the First World War
Daniel Allen Butler
Praeger Security International
Westport, Connecticut (cid:127) London
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Butler,DanielAllen.
Distantvictory:theBattleofJutlandandtheAlliedtriumphintheFirst
WorldWar/DanielAllenButler.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0–275–99073–7(alk.paper)
1.Jutland,Battleof,1916.I.Title.
D582.J8B952006
940.4’56—dc22 2006015110
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable.
Copyright©2006byDanielAllenButler
Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe
reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,withoutthe
expresswrittenconsentofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:2006015110
ISBN: 0–275–99073–7
Firstpublishedin2006
PraegerSecurityInternational,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881
AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc.
www.praeger.com
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe
PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational
InformationStandardsOrganization(Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedicated
to the
Memory
of
IvanHarris
ChiefPetty Officer, Royal Navy (Ret.)
1944–2004
“For all that, hewas a man—
we’ll not seehis likeagain.”

Contents
Author’s Note ix
ANote to the ReaderRegarding TimeandDistance xiii
Prologue: Trafalgar 1
1 The GreatWar 7
2 Dreadnoughts,Battleships, andBattlecruisers 29
3 Strategies andStratagems 53
4 The Price ofAdmiralty 73
5 Twisting theLion’s Tail 97
6 Gambit 125
7 “There’sSomethingWrongwithOurBloodyShipsToday!” 143
8 The Thunderofthe Guns 155
9 Steel Maelstrom 173
10 TheReckoning 185
11 TheFatal Blunder 199
12 Distant Victory 213
viii Contents
Epilogue: ScapaFlow 225
AppendixI:RoyalNavy OrderofBattle—theGrandFleetat Jutland 231
AppendixII:ImperialNavy OrderofBattle—theHighSeasFleet 239
at Jutland
Sources 243
Index 247
Author’s Note
DistantVictoryisaworkthatIfeltcompelledtocreate.Myinterestinthe
Battle of Jutland dates back more than 30 years, and Iwas never completely
satisfied with the accounts and explanations of who “won” the battle and
why. As my own personal historical perspective developed, particularly my
understanding that events do not happen in a temporal vacuum, but rather
resultfromamyriadofprecedinginfluencesandproduceanimmensenum-
berofconsequences,Icameto understandthereasonformydissatisfaction.
It was the limited perspectives of those historians who attempted to reduce
Jutlandto a simplefunctionofarithmetic,totaling up andcomparing losses
and declaring awinnersolelyon that basis, rather than taking a longer view
toward understandingwhathappenedasa consequenceofthe battle.
Ittookmesometimetorealizeit,butwhatIhaddonewasrunupagainst
the ghost of Winston Churchill. The problem was that Churchill, with his
exceptional gift for turning a phrase, was sometimes too subtle for the vast
majorityof laterhistorians to fullycomprehend.Whenhesaid that Admiral
SirJohnJellicoe,theCommander-in-ChiefoftheGrandFleet,was“theonly
man who could lose the war in an afternoon,” he meant just that, nothing
more.Butforninedecades,lesserhistorianshavemisunderstoodhisepigram
andtookittoimplythatifJellicoehadthecapacitytolosethewarinanafter-
noon,healsohadthecapacitytowinitinthesametimespan.Unfortunately
for them, their readers, and history in general, this simply was not true—
Churchill meant nothing more than what he actually said. The defeat, even
the annihilation, of the High Seas Fleet would not have been sufficient to
compel Germany to seek peace with the Allies. It would have been a severe
blowtoGermanmorale,true,butGermany’sabilitytowagewarwouldhave