From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, Volume 03: Jutland and After, May 1916 - December 1916

335 Pages·1965·24.68 MB·English

by  Arthur J. Marder

FROM THE
READN UG I
,j!f
• , TO,
··. . SCAPA
MAY '191 - 1916 .
ADMIRAL SIR JOHN JELLICOE
Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet, 1914-16
[Photograph: Radio Times Hulton Picture Library
Preface
The main theme in this penultimate volume is the Jutland story.
II has been told often. My version of necessity emphasizes the role
"I' the British fleet in the battle. It omits many of the minor
,Ollcounters and much other detail and focuses on the salient
li:atures, especially on those which have given rise to conflicting
illterpretations and partisan warfare.
There has been altogether too much passion and bias in the
'01 utland Controversy', more particularly as regards the two British
principals. Montagus and Capulets still abound. I am myself
either. Throughout I have made a conscientious attempt to be
II
dispassionate and to eschew 'the lucid view afforded by hindsight',
\ino, as Homer put it, 'Mter the event even a fool is wise.' Through
(lllt I have also borne in mind how little those concerned in the
hattle really knew what was going on. To judge their actions from
I he comfort of an armchair, with the dispatches, a mass of
elaborate and accurate diagrams, and descriptions of the battle
lioom both sides-none of which material, of course, was available
to the commanding officers at Jutland-spread out before one,
and with an utter disregard of the effects of smoke and mist and
of what the C.-in-C. and squadron admirals knew at the time of
the High Seas Fleet's strength, position, and formation, would be
unjust to those officers and make a mockery of Clio, the Muse of
History. The historian needs also to remember that ship-to-ship
directional wireless telegraphy was then in its infancy, that air
reconnaissance did not, practically speaking, exist, and that there
was no radar. Where possible, I have also endeavoured to soften
my criticism by charity for human frailty and by the knowledge
that, as Captain John Creswell has so well put it in another con
text, 'in the stresses of a great war the Fates are often stronger than
man, even man at his best: that an enterprise may fail, and fail
disastrously, without the officer responsible for it necessarily
deserving castigation.'
'Some day no doubt Jutland will be understood', Jellicoe
remarked in 192 I . I would like to think that this volume will make
a modest contribution to that understanding; but I am under no
illusion that I have written the 'definitive' history of the battle.
vii
PREFACE
The controversial points will be debated as long as history is
studied and written, for Jutland is incontrovertible proof of the
Dutch historian Pieter Geyl's dictum concerning historical inter
pretation: 'History is indeed an argument without end.'
The post-Jutland narrative, to December 1916, which con
stitutes the latter part of this volume, is in some important ways
an integral part of the Jutland story. The highlights of the period
arc the fleet reformation in materiel, tactics, and strategy, the action
(or ncar action) of 19 August, the resumption of U-boat warfare
ill accordance with prize rules, and the change in the high com
mand of the Navy, at Whitehall and in the Grand Fleet. Directly
or indirectly, they are all related to Jutland, and they mark the
end of a phase in the war at sea.
As for materials used, I have consulted all published writings of
allY value. It has been my good fortune to have had access to an
appreciable quantity of restricted or unpublished Jutland material.
1 would single out here the many fine articles in the privately
circulated Naval Review; Vice-Admiral K. G. B. Dewar's trenchant
wrilings (three restricted articles of 1959-60, in particular),
which, though uncomplimentary to nearly everybody afloat and
ashore who had any connection with the battle, Jellicoe above all,
nevertluJess have merit; the series offiveJutland lectures delivered
at the Naval War College in 1929 by Captain (afterwards Admiral
Sir) Bertram H. Ramsay (Jellicoe MSS.); the seven equally
moderale and unbiased Jutland lectures, a revision of Ramsay's,
given at the Naval Staff College in 1929-30 by the Deputy
Director, Captain (now Admiral) John H. Godfrey (Naval
Hislorical Branch, Ministry of Defence, formerly the Naval
Hislorical Section of the Admiralty); and the further revised set
of seven, delivered at the Naval Staff College in 1932 by Com
mander (afterwards Admiral Sir) William G. Tennant (Lady
'rellu an t ). The Staff College lectures were pretty well standardized
by 19:12.
To these sources I would add the Naval Staff Monograph,
Naval Staff Appreciation oj Jutland (1922), by the Dewar brothers,
A. C. and K. G. B. (then captains), which is highly critical of
J ellicoe's tactics. Although it must be used with caution (Je llicoe
correctly described it as 'a purely B.C.F. [Battle Cruiser Fleet]
account, looked at with B.C.F. eyes'), it does have material not
to be found elsewhere and some valuable insights. Beatty, then
vw
PREFACE
First Sea Lord, had told the Dewars 'to bring out the battle's
lessons'. About 300 copies were printed, but the Appreciation was
never issued. There is good reason to believe that Beatty intended
to issue it to the Naval Staff College and certain senior officers,
but that he was dissuaded from doing so by the remainder of the
Board of Admiralty, on the ground that it would arouse con
troversy-which is what the Dewars had intended it to do. In
1928, soon after succeeding Beatty, Admiral Sir Charles Madden
solved the problem by consigning all available copies to the
incinerator. A few, however, have survived.
Unpublished primary source material (for the use of which I
am grateful to the owners or custodians noted parenthetically
in each case) yielded new material of value for both Jutland and
after, viz.:
Admiralry MSS. (the Admiralty; in custody ofthe Public Record
Office). (On 1 April 1964 the Admiralty became Ministry of
Defence, Navy Department.)
Balfour MSS. (British Museum). Official correspondence of
Arthur Balfour, First Lord of the Admiralty, May 191s-December
1916.
Beatry MSS. (second Earl Beatty). Papers and correspondence of
the Vice-Admiral Commanding Battle Cruiser Fleet, March
1913-November 1916.
Cowan MSS. (National Maritime Museum). The papers of
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Walter Cowan, Bt., which contain a few
letters of interest.
Duff MSS. (Lady Duff). Grand Fleet diary of A. L. Duff, Rear
Admiral, 4th Battle Squadron, at Jutland.
Evan-Thomas MSS. (Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Barnard and
Mr. Mervyn Bourdillon). Correspondence of Hugh Evan-Thomas,
Rear-Admiral CommandinKsth Battle Squadron at Jutland. The
papers have since been deposited in the British Museum.
Frewen MSS. (post-war J ellicoe correspondence, British
Museum; wartime and post-war diaries, Mrs. Lena Frewen).
Lieutenant Oswald Frewen joined Captain Harper in 1919 as a
navigation expert to assist him in preparing the official Admiralty
account of Jutland.
German Ministry of Marine MSS. (Naval Historical Branch,
Ministry of Defence; now with the Militargeschichtliches For
schungsamt in Freiburg im Breisgau); the papers of Admiral
IX
PREFACE
Magnus von Levetzow, who was (as a captain) the Chief of the
Operations Section on Scheer's staff at the time of Jutland,
include some interesting post-war material on the battle. The
Milit~irgeschichtliches Forschungsamt kindly made available all
the post-Jutland reports of Admirals Scheer and Hipper.
Go(ifny MSS. (Admiral John H. Godfrey). Papers supplement
ing his Jutland lectures at the Naval Staff College.
Hamilton MSS. (National Maritime Museum). 1915-16 diary
and correspondence of the Second Sea Lord of 1913-17, Vice
Admiral Sir Frederick Hamilton.
IImper MSS. (Royal United Service Institution). Correspon
dence of Captain (afterwards Vice-Admiral) J. E. T. Harper
pertaining to his preparation of the official Admiralty 'Record'
of Jutland.
Jackson MSS. (Naval Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence).
Oflicial correspondence of Admiral Sir Henry Jackson, First Sea
Lord, May 1915-December 1916.
Jellicoe MSS. (British Museum). Assorted material, notably the
Admiral's recently (August 1963) de-reserved critiques of the
Admiralty Narrative of the Battle of Jutland (supplementary to his
criticisms in Appendix G of the Narrative) and of Sir Winston
Churchill's Jutland account in Volume iii of his The World Crisis.
ROil:,\" MSS. (the Dowager Lady Keyes). The papers of Admiral
of tll(~ Fleet Lord Keyes (Roger Keyes), which include Jutland
oclclIlH~1I1s.
/,t:1IlIoxlove MSS. (the Duke of Hamilton). The Fisher papers,
which include a few sidelights on Jutland and after.
Roskill MSS. (Captain S. W. Roskill). Valuable unpublished
papers of, and correspondence with, officers who were at the
Adlllirally or with the Grand Fleet during Jutland.
Strmke MSS. (Commander W. D. M. Staveley). Correspondence
and miscellaneous papers of Sir Doveton Sturdee, Vice-Admiral
COlllmanding 4th Battle Squadron at Jutland.
1)rwltitt MSS. (Lady Tyrwhitt). Family correspondence of
Comlllodore Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt, who commanded the
llal'wich Force throughout the war.
Wi1Ul.l"Or MSS. (Royal Archives, Windsor Castle). The papers
of KiIlg George V contain correspondence with senior admirals
and other naval material.
Various officers favoured me with unrecorded facts and personal
x
PREFACE
(:xperiences and impressions: on Jutland-Vice-Admiral Sir
(;eoffrey Barnard, a nephew of Admiral Sir Hugh Evan-Thomas;
Rear-Admiral H. E. Dannreuther, Gunnery Officer of the battle
cruiser Invincible; and Captain H. C. B. Pipon, who was in the
Iemeraire (4th Battle Squadron) at Jutland and served as an
assistant to Captain Harper in 1919-20, when the latter was
preparing the official record of the battle; on the 19 August
operation-Vice-Admiral Bertram C. Watson, who was Tyrwhitt's
Navigating Officer; and, on Jutland and after, the officers men
tioned below who read the manuscript.
Those who read the manuscript in its entirety were Admiral
Sir William James, who was Sturdee's Flag-Commander in the
1th Battle Squadron, Admiral Sir Reginald Plunkett-Ernle-Erle
Drax, Beatty's Flag-Commander and responsible for the opera
tional staff work in the Lion; Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Blake,
Gunnery Officer of J ellicoe's flagship, the Iron Duke; Rear
Admiral W. S. Chalmers, Beatty's official biographer and a
member of his staff from August 1915 until after the war; Captain
John Creswell, one-time Director of the Tactical School (who also
loaned me his fine Naval Staff College lecture of 1931, 'The
Operations of 19th August, 1916'); the Official Naval Historian,
Captain S. W. Roskill; Lieutenant-Commander P. K. Kemp,
Head of Naval Historical Branch and Naval Librarian, Ministry
of Defence; and Commander M. G. Saunders, formerly of the
Naval Historical Branch. Admiral of the Fleet Lord Chatfield,
Beatty's Flag-Captain, and Vice-Admiral Sir James A. G. Troup,
Director of the Tactical School after the war, when the final
Jutland demonstrations were being prepared, read Chapters
I-VI. Admiral Sir Arthur Peters, who was Goodenough's Signal
Officer in the Southampton, read Chapters VII-IX, and was also
helpful on certain tactical problems elsewhere. To all these
gentlemen, for their constructive comments and interesting side
lights, my warm thanks-and absolution for all the errors, whether
of fact or interpretation, that remain in this volume.
To Captain Creswell I am particularly grateful also for his
detailed work in the planning and oversight of the charts in this
volume; the charting of the Battle of Jutland called for a critical
study of the numerous charts in both the British and the German
official histories, together with other material, and the production
of newly-compiled charts in which clarity would be balanced
Xl
PREFACE
against the need to provide all relevant information for the reader.
For the finished drawings (including the diagrams in the text) I
am grateful, as before, to Mr. N. Atherton, formerly of the Hydro
graphic Department, Ministry of Defence, and Miss G. Savage
and colleagues, of that Department.
I am also grateful to the University of Hawaii and to the
University of California, Irvine, for financial assistance and
teaching-load reductions; the American Philosophical Society,
for financial assistance; Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Gretton, late
Deputy Chief of Naval Staff and Fifth Sea Lord, for assistance in
a myriad of ways; the Dowager Countess J ellicoe, for permitting
me to see post-Jutland letters from the Admiral, also those from
Admiral Sir Charles Madden (alas, little of Jellicoe's family
correspondence has survived) ; Dr. Carl Stroven, Librarian of the
University of Hawaii, and Mr. John Smith, Librarian of the
University of California, Irvine, and their most competent staffs,
for handling countless requests with dispatch; Commander Kemp
and that valiant, undermanned band in the Naval Historical
Branch and the Naval Library, for so patiently putting up with
my constant harassment; Admiral Sir Geoffrey Oliver, Vice
Admirals Sir Francis Pridham and J. C. W. Henley, Captain
L. E. H. Llewellyn, Gunnery Officer of the Queen Mary at Jutland,
and Commander R. T. Young, for clarifying various points con
cerned with British gunnery and naval ordnance; Vice-Admiral
Sir Aubrey Mansergh, the same re torpedoes; Commander W. B.
Rowbotham, for help with a number of problems; Lieutenant
Commander D. W. Waters, of the National Maritime Museum,
for helping to keep me straight on U-boat and trade-defence
matters; Mr. L. J. Gorton, Deputy Keeper of the Department of
Manuscripts, British Museum, for solving some puzzles in the
Jellicoe MSS.; Mr. Peter Fellows and the rest of the magnificent
staff of the Long Room at the Public Record Office, for co
operation well beyond the call of duty; and, finally and indis
pensably, Mrs. Violet Borges and Mrs. Judith Tokunaga, of the
University of Hawaii, for their incomparable secretarial work.
I wish to thank the following publishers for their kind permission
to quote from the copyright material indicated:
Cassell & Co., Ltd. (and, for the first title, Curtis Brown, Ltd.,
and, for the second, Putnam's & Coward-McCann, Inc.), from
Admiral of the Fleet Lord Jellicoe's The Grand Fleet, I914-I6,
X1l
PREFACE
Langhorne Gibson and Vice-Admiral J. E. T. Harper's Riddle of
]utland, and Admiral Sir Reginald Bacon's The Life of John
Rushworth, Earl Jellicoe; Christy & Moore, Ltd., from Admiral Sir
William Goodenough's A Rough Record; the Executors of the
estate of Admiral Sir Frederic Dreyer, from the latter's The Sea
f/eritage; Victor Gollancz, Ltd. and Vice-Admiral K. G. B.
Dewar, from the latter's The Navy from Within; William Heine
mann, Ltd., from Admiral of the Fleet Lord Chatfield's The Navy
and Defence; Her Majesty's Stationery Office, from Sir Julian
Corbett and Sir Henry Newbolt's History of the Great War. Naval
Operations; Hodder & Stoughton, Ltd. and Rear-Admiral W. S.
Chalmers, from the latter's The Life and Letters ofD avid, Earl Beatty ;
Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd., from Captain John Cres
well's Naval Warfare; E. S. Mittler & Sohn, from Captain Otto
Groos's Der Krieg zur See, I9I4-I9I8. Der Krieg in der Nordsee;
John Murray (Publishers) Ltd., from C. Ernest Fayle's History oj
tlte Great War. Seaborne Trade; Frederick Muller, Ltd., from
Admiral Sir Reginald Bacon and Francis McMurtrie's Modem
Naval Strategy; Odhams Press Ltd. and Charles Scribner's Sons,
from Sir Winston Churchill's The World Crisis; the Royal United
Service Institution, from Vice-Admiral Craig Waller's article,
'The Fifth Battle Squadron at Jutland', in the November 1935
Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. Unpublished Crown
copyright material in the Public Record Office is published by
permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
I would also like to express my appreciation of the privilege which
lowe to Vice-Admiral Sir Francis Pridham and the late Vice
Admiral K. G. B. Dewar of quoting from certain of their restricted
writings.
In conclusion, a list of the abbreviations (official or unofficial)
that occur in the text follows:
A.C.N.S. Assistant Chief of Naval Staff
A.P. shell Armour-piercing shell
B.C. Battle Cruiser
B.C.F. Battle Cruiser Fleet
B.C.S. Battle Cruiser Squadron
B.F. Battle Fleet
B.S. Battle Squadron
C.O.S. Chief of the Admiralty War Staff (also Chief of
Staff to a Flag Officer Commanding)
X1l1
PREFACE
C.S. Cruiser Squadron
D.C.N.S. Deputy Chief of Naval Staff
D.N.C. Director of Naval Construction
D.N.I. Director of Naval Intelligence*
D.N.O. Director of Naval Ordnance
D.O.D. Director of the Operations Division, Admiralty
War Staff'
G.F. Grand Fleet
G.F.B.O.s Grand Fleet Battle Orders
L.C.S. Light Cruiser Squadron
N.I.D. Naval Intelligence Division, Admiralty
R.N.A.S. Royal Naval Air Servicet
S.G. (German) Scouting Group
S.M. Submarine
T.B.D. [Torpedo Boat] Destroyer
WIT Wireless telegraphy
Irvine, California ARTHUR J. MARDER
January I965
"'The title of pre-War Starr days (-1912), revived in T9T(l. A. in Volume ii, I use
this in place of'D.I.!).' (Director of the Intelligence Division of tllC War Stall"), which
was thc olliciaI tilk, 1912-IB.
t Merged with the R.F.C. (Royal Flying Corps) to b,·come the H..A.F. on
I April 1910.
XIV