102 years ago today: The Battle of Jutland

World War I was going into it’s second year. Trenches stretched from the Belgian coast to the Swiss frontier. Millions had died already. But up to this point other than minor scirmishes, the war at sea had been uneventful comparatively speaking. This despite both Great Britian and the German Empire both having massive fleets of the, at that time, most powerful weapon of war the world had ever seen, the dreadnaught. Germany was already feeling the effects at home of the blockade by the British Grand Fleet. But up until now, the Kiaser has been loathe to risk his prized High Seas Fleet in a general action against the British. All that changed on May 31, 1916.

It was on this day, 102 years ago that the German High Seas Fleet with 16 battleships, 5 battlecruisers, 6 pre-dreadnaughts, 11 light cruisers, and 61 torpedo boats sortied to meet the 28 battleships, 9 battlecruisers, 8 armored cruisers, 26 light cruisers, 78 destroyers, and 1 mine layer of the British Grand Fleet in what would go down in history as the last major naval fleet engagememt fought primarily with battleships. Today, we know this engagement as The Battle of Jutland.

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