Beatty's Force

Admiral Beatty’s management of the Battlecruisers force at Jutland remains a subject of controversy, more than a century after the battle. The truth of the matter, however, seems to be less a lack of protection than defective ammunition procedures, compounded by a rash decision to rush at Hipper’s throat, cancelling the advantage awarded by his bigger guns’ longer range.

Under Beatty’s command, on that fateful 31st May 1916, were 6 battlecruisers and the 4 superdreadnoughts Admiral  Evan-Thomas’  5th Battle Squadron, the biggest, best armored, heaviest gunned ships (15’’ caliber guns !)  of the line at the time. Confused signals kept them too far away at the start of  the engagement, compounding Beatty’s tactical error. Under his command only the 6 ships of the 1st & 2^nd Battlecruiser Squadrons rushed at Hipper’s force.

British Battlecruisers design evolution, illustrated with this top-down picture : the apparition of superfiring turrets gave the Lion & Tiger class improved arcs of fire. The most notable improvement, though, can’t be made out on the picture : instead of 12’’ caliber guns like the Invincible & Indefatigable classes, they sported 13’’ guns

HMS New Zealand and Indefatigable

Barely improved versions of the original Invincible class battlecruisers, the class comported 3 ships in all, alongside HMAS Australia that was accidentally damaged days before the battle and so missed the engagement. Indefatigable was the 1st RN ship lost at Jutland. New Zealand survived the battle without even being hit.Tradition has it that her captain wore the traditional Maori garb & amulets he’d been offered by a Maori chieftain for the protection of the ship.

The Lion Class

The « Splendid Cats » as they were collectively known, were the joy and pride of Admiral Fisher. They  were better gunned, 13’’ caliber guns instead of their predecessors’ 12 ‘’, moreover sporting superfiring turrets forward, giving overall better arcs of fire. They were fast, and better armored (though not as  well as their German counterparts). Lion was Beatty’s flagship, and took part at the Dogger Bank battle where i ts propulsion was knocked out, ruining Beatty’s ability to pass orders efficiently, and hit again at Jutland, where she was saved from Indefatigable’s & Queen Mary’s fate by the quick thinking and sacrifice of Royal Marines Major Francis Harvey who managed to get the magazines flooded. Queen Mary was the 2^nd Battlecruiser exploding during the battle. From Lion’s bridge, a bitter Beatty commented « There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today ».

HMS Tiger

The last of the « Splendid Cats », Tiger was an improved version of the Lion class. Launched & commissioned in 1914, she took part in the Dogger Bank engagement. She was moderately damaged at Jutland, but her gunnery was deemed to be the poorest of the Battlecruiser Force, that was itself inferior to that of Jellicoe’s Battle Squadrons.

5th Battle Squadron

HMS Warspite

HMS Barham

HMS Valiant

HMS Malaya

Attached to Beatty’s Battlecruiser Force, they were left behind at the start of the battle due to bungled signals from HMS Lion, and the strict adherence to received orders, traditional among British admirals of the Victorian era ; Admiral Evan-Thomas, the 5th BS commander, was no exception. He nonetheless managed to get back in time to pull Beatty’s squadron from its predicament, inflicting Grievous damage on Hipper’s ships and the 1st Battle squadron of  the High Seas fleet, getting hammered in return. With the exception of Warpite that was badly damaged, the British Queen Elizabeth suffered no combat efficiency loss for the treatment, dishing out more than they got.

British Destroyers

A few L class Destroyers, as some of those that were with Beatty’s force at Jutland.