Jutland 1916: Clash of the Dreadnoughts (Campaign) [Paperback]

Charles London (Author), Howard Gerrard (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Campaign | Publication Date: August 18, 2000

The only major fleet engagement of World War I (1914-1918), the Battle of Jutland (1916) has been surrounded by controversy ever since. The British public felt Admiral Jellicoe had failed – a reaction rooted in a hundred years of the 'Nelson cult', a conviction that anything short of a Trafalgar-style annihilation was letting the side down. True, the German Fleet had sunk more ships and suffered fewer casualties, but the British had forced them to disengage and run for port and were still cruising off Denmark spoiling for a fight. This title recounts in detail how on an early summer's evening in 1916, the two fleets clashed head to head: the events that followed would spark a polemic that still rages today.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Highly visual guides to history's greatest conflicts, detailing the command strategies, tactics, and experiences of the opposing forces throughout each campaign, and concluding with a guide to the battlefields today.

About the Author

Charles London is a military writer of long-standing, with a particular interest in the Royal Navy in the Great War. He has published a number of books and articles on nineteenth and twentieth century military history. He has contributed to a number of publications on twentieth century naval warfare, amongst other books on naval history and has made a particular study of the Battle of Jutland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (August 18, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1855329921
• ISBN-13: 978-1855329928
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.2 x 9.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,135,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best of the Osprey Campaign Series, September 11, 2000

By 

R. A Forczyk (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jutland 1916: Clash of the Dreadnoughts (Campaign) (Paperback)

Author Charles London has set himself a difficult task: to write a 96-page campaign summary of the controversial Battle of Jutland in 1916. This was the only major clash of dreadnought battleships before aircraft changed naval warfare, but its uniqueness and inconclusive results provide ample fodder for competing interpretations.

On the whole, this volume repesents one of the very best of the Osprey Campaign series. The maps are excellent, and provide much better depictions of the action than the sketch maps usually provided in much lengthier works. The strategic level map on page 32 which depicts the opening moves is one of the best I have seen, including locations of all U-Boats and British submarines (unfortunately he did leave out Zeppelin patrol areas). Both the photographs and artwork are of excellent quality. This volume is a valuable visual companion to John Campbell's technical Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting, which lacks photos and decent maps.

On the negative side, the author is rather blatantly biased toward the British. There is little or no mention of significant damage to British dreadnoughts, including the seven hits on HMS Malaya, the six hits on HMS Barham and the torpedo hit on HMS Marlborough (all three of which had close calls with sinking). On the other hand, damage to German ships is sometimes exaggerated; such as when the author claims that three German pre-dreadnoughts were hit when in fact, two were hit by one shell each (minor damage) and the third suffered one sailor killed from a shell splinter. The author alludes to the German advantage in night fighting but fails to mention that they had starshells, while the British did not.

The author makes selective use of the vast technical data available on Jutland. He notes that both sides gunnery was about the same - 3% probability of hits and that the various advantages and defects of their ship designs canceled each other out. In fact, the British obtained 2.75% hits of rounds fired versus 3.39% for the Germans. In the initial battlecruiser action, the German edge was even more lop-sided: the Germans scored 44 hits versus only 17 hits for the numerically-superior British.

Organizationally, this volume would have done better to provide strict time delimiters, to break the action into phases. Instead, the author uses the "flow" style, which gets very confusing after the initial battlecruiser action. The maps help to sort out the battle, but the text does not. One wonders also why the author included photographs of the Goeben, and ships sunk in the Falklands Battle two years prior to Jutland, but no photos of several major ships such as the Lutzow and Pommerm which were sunk there.

Finally, the author seems somewhat unsatisfied with the indecisive conclusion of Jutland, as everyone always seems to be, except perhaps the Germans. The author uses the fact that the Grand Fleet "remained on the battlefield" the next morning to claim a victory for sea control and assert that Jellicoe would have won any follow-up engagement off the Horn Reef. Here the author's bias ignores the fact that the Grand Fleet had lost all cohesion after twelve hours of fighting; most of the destroyers were separated in the night action and three dreadnoughts had wandered off 45 miles away from the main body. Certainly Jellicoe had the strength to finish off any German cripples, but any renewed battle would have witnessed a thoroughly-spread out Grand Fleet fighting in minimal visibility conditions. Any action on 1 June would likely have been a scaled-down repeat of the previous day: ships blundering into each other in the haze and quick, furtive exchanges of gun fire. More ships might have been sunk, but without radar, air support, better navigation and improved communications, the clash of dreadnoughts could not be decisive in 1916.

Despite the author's bias and certain errors, this volume is still a valuable adjunct to any Jutland collection. Just remember to keep other works handy to sort out the omissions.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great background, clear story, November 7, 2000

By 

William C. Roege, Jr. (East Lansing, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jutland 1916: Clash of the Dreadnoughts (Campaign) (Paperback)

I found this book very informative and enjoyable. It reflects the British point of view, containing many facts, details and anecdotes, just what I had hoped for. The battle itself is somewhat confusing, but the excellent maps the book provides are a big help in following that portion of the story. I did note an apparent color coding error on the first battle map, but the editing is nowhere near the sloppy job done on one of the other books in the series.

As to bias, this is what an intelligent reader expects in such an endeavor. One seeks it when it does not adversely affect the inclusion of all of the facts. The reader easily copes with biased conclusions and the excessive of biased adjectives when they appear. One expects a British author to conclude that Britain won the battle. Probably her population as accepts this as fact, as the Germans also believe that they won the battle. Victory is often controversial, especially to the non-professional reader. Again the experienced reader, with the facts in hand, will draw his own (biased?) conclusion. That is part of the fun!

As to Jutland, one may award the victory according to his personal judgment. Historically, of course, it is generally considered that the tactical victor is the side that retains the battlefield.

Here, I think the world has agreed, the strategic victory belongs to Britain, as she obtained her major objectives, while Germany's surface fleet remained merely a psychological threat restricting, to some extent the use of the British home fleet.

I recommend this book as enjoyable reading to anyone with an interest in the subject.

3.0 out of 5 stars Primer on Jutland!, December 8, 2008

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Michael OConnor "Wordsmith" (Wausau, WI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jutland 1916: Clash of the Dreadnoughts (Campaign) (Paperback)

There have been countless books on the 1916 naval battle of Jutland, the only major fleet engagement of WWI, a battle that continues to be controversial to this day. Jutland was one of those 'what-if' battles where changes could have tipped the scales. Charles London's 2000 Osprey book offers up a capsule guide to this epic battle.

Reading London's book, it's hard not to characterize as Jutland as a naval brawl with almost-blinded adversaries stumbling upon each other and then savagely pummeling each other before plowing off into the darkness only to repeat the process. The Grand Fleet, which lost more ships than Germany but still claimed victory, did not cover itself in glory at Jutland with numerous gaffes, goofs and other missed opportunities undercutting the victory. The High Seas Fleet had its shares of blunders as well.

At 96 pages, London's book isn't exhaustive but does a fair job of summarizing the pre-battle build-up, the actual conflict and events following. You do have to pay attention when battle commences and devolves into to-ing and fro-ing. Having clear breaks in the narrative, in conjunction with the 2D and 3D maps, would have made it easier to follow what was a very confusing battle. And I would have liked more on the postwar controversies regarding British and German actions during the battle.

The book includes a nice selection of photographs including rare battle scenes and four atmospheric battle scene artworks.

All in all, a fairly good summary of one hellaciously confusing brawl in the North Sea. Recommended.