Ultimate Admiral Dreadnoughts Patch

[Graziana Getz]

May31, 2016 marked the 100th anniversary of the largest naval engagement of World War I. In the North Sea off the coast of Denmark, the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet, 250 ships and 105,000 men, fought in poor visibility through the night and into the wee hours of June 1. At the end of the twelve-hour battle, the Royal Navy had lost 14 ships and 6,000 men (including three admirals), the German Imperial Navy 11 ships and 2,500 men. Both sides claimed victory, as neither fleet had vanquished its foe. The Germans escaped to their base at Wilhelmshaven and the British retained their supremacy on the high seas.

As dusk fell, the German fleet vanished. There were several encounters throughout the night between British destroyer flotillas and light cruiser squadrons and portions of the German fleet, but Scheer was able to get past Jellicoe in the dark and return to his base at Wilhelmshaven. Never again during the war did the High Seas Fleet venture forth to challenge the Grand Fleet. The failure, however, of the British Navy to crush its enemy led to questions about the conduct of the battle and criticism of the commanding officers, controversy which has continued into the present century.

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