Jutland, 1916

By André Geraque Kiffer

Jutland was the largest naval battle in World War I and the third historic action between battleships (steel-armored battleships) following the battles of the Yellow Sea (1904) and Tsushima in 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War. It was also the last major battle in which two squadrons exchanged direct fire between their line ships. In the analysis we will study whether it would have been possible for this battle to have been more decisive, such as the naval battle of Trafalgar in 1805, as well as that which established an undisputed British dominance of the sea for the remainder of the war on the European continent. We will understand why the Great Fleet lost the opportunity to decisively defeat the High Seas Fleetn at the Battle of Jutland. For this, we will follow the hypotheses: what if the principle of naval warfare of the Concentration of Forces had been more pursued; and if better Communications had been obtained; and if better Coordination had been achieved between the preparatory and main maneuvers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clube de Autores
• Release date: Feb 2, 2024

Book preview

ANDRÉ  GERAQUE  KIFFER

Jutland,  1916.

A  historical  simulation  of  the last  great  clash  between

battleships

Author’s  Edition

Resende

2019

---  Kiffer,  André  Geraque.

Jutland,  1916.  A  historical  simulation  of  the  last  great clash  between  battleships.  André  Geraque  Kiffer.

Author’s  Edition,  Resende,  2019.

Bibliography:  152  p.  89  im.  21  cm..

1.  History.  2.  Art  of  War.  3.  War  Science.  4.  Wargames.  I. Author.  II.  Title.

ISBN  978-85-65853-44-6

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My  story  will  be  less  certain  than  history;  but  whoever  wants to  relive  the  past  to  study  the  similarities  and  analogies between  human  conflicts  in  the  present  is  enough  for  me  to find  it  useful.  This  War  History  of  mine  is  a  definite achievement  and  not  an  ostentatious  work  for  a  current audience.

(André  Geraque  Kiffer)

4 PROLOGUE

I  was  inspired  to  build  this  work  by  reading  Arnold Toynbee's  book,  A  Study  of  History,  and  Trevor  N. Dupuy's  Future  Wars.  Between  2005  and  2007  I acquired  a  collection  of  board  wargames  in  New York,  and  reading  the  book  Wargame  Design published  by  Strategy  &  Tactics  Magazine consolidated  a  Matrix  for  A  Study  of  Military History.  Thus,  from  2008,  I  was  able  to  begin  an analysis  of  the  wars,  campaigns,  and  battles  of history  of  a  particular  time  and  /  or  civilization described  in  the  Smithsonian  Institute's  Atlas  of Military  History.  So  far  I  have  published  the  following series:  I.  Historical  Simulation  of  the  First  Empire Wars  in  2010;  VIII.  World  War  I  Historical Simulation  in  2011;  II.  Historical  Simulation  of  the Wars  in  Classical  Greece  in  2012;  III.  Historical Simulation  of  the  Roman  Wars  in  2016;  and  IV. Historical  Simulation  of  Wars  in  the  Medieval  Era  in 2018.  In  2014,  to  continue  my  work"  A  Study  of

Military  History  ,  I  read  the  book  Japanese  and

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Chinese  Chess  -  The  Science  and  Art  of  War  and added  a  new  book  The  Study  of  Wars  and  Chess Games  to  my  planned  study,  associating  the foundations  of  chess  games  with  the  principles  of Art  and  Science  of  War.  In  each  book  of  the  work  a selected  war,  campaign,  or  battle  is  studied  at  any of  the  applicable  decision  levels,  namely  the Political,  Strategic,  Operational,  Tactical,  and Technical.  Based  on  a  summary  of  the  historical  fact I  seek  to  highlight  the  decisive  fact  (s)  causing  the negative  result  (s)  before  playing  the  simulation through  a  board  wargame  -  the  actions  on  the  other side  of  the  hill  (from  the  enemy)  are  studied through  a  parallel  electronic  war  game.  In  the simulation  all  the  possibilities  of  the  purpose  of  the study  are  completed  when  the  past  of  history  is analyzed  on  the  basis  of  present  theory  and projected  into  the  future  or  revived  as  a  what  if schematic  case.  When  we  play  we  will  follow  the maxim  WIN  ALWAYS  BUT  WITH  THE  LOWEST

POSSIBLE  COST".

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Keywords:  History.  Art  of  War.  War  science.

Wargames.

7 SUMMARY

ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………..8 CHAPTER  1  –  BATTLE  OF  JUTLAND,  1916…..….9 CHAPTER  2  –  ANALYSIS..……............................24 CHAPTER  3  –  SIMULATION.................................44

REFERENCES...........…......................................149

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ABBREVIATIONS

Alc  =  range

APC  =  Armor-Piercing Capped  shell

Az  =  azimuth Bat  =  batery

BHE  =  Base-Fuzed  HE shell

BL  =  breech-loading

C  =  hull  (protection  =  P)  Can  =  cannon  Com  =  comunications CP  =  Common  shell

CPC  =  Common  Capped (lyddite)

d  =  destroyed

DAv  =  damage  on  target  DD  =  destroyer  EB  =  battleship  squadron EC  =  cruiser  squadron

ECL  =  light  cruiser squadron

ECP  =  heavy  cruiser squadron

FB  =  search  beacon  FD  =  destroyer  flotilla  Gr  =  grenade

h  =  hour  HE  =  High  Explosive  shell  hex  =  hexagon HMS  =  His/Her  Majesty Ship

in  =  inches  Inc  =  burning

Inund  =  flooding  LiD  =  damage  limit  Máx  =  maximum min  =  minute  Mot  =  motor

NHE  =  Nose-Fuzed  HE shell

Pcp  =  main  PD  =  damage  points  pdr  =  pounder QF  =  quick-firing  S  =  submerged  (protection)  s/  =  without SMS  =  Seiner  Majestät Schiff

Sobr  =  survivers  T  =  poop  (protection) Ton  =  tonnage  Tor  =  tower  (or  pillbox)  Trip  =  crew

TT  =  torpedo  U  =  unit  V(el)  =  velocity

9 CHAPTER  1

BATTLE  OF  JUTLAND,  1916

We  advise  you  to  read  our  book  North  Sea Campaign,  1916.  A  German  Historical Simulation  ,  published  in  the  Clube  de  Autores (www.clubedeautores.com.br),  for  those  who  want  a broader  view  of  the  scenery.

Note:  names  of  people  and  places  have  been kept  in  their  original  languages  unless  there  is  a well-known  English  form.  Titles  or  technical  terms  in other  languages,  when  there  is  no  better  English translation,  are  written  in  italics  and  explained  (the first  time  they  appear).

The  naval  battle  of  Jutland  (German: Skagerrakschlacht,  or  Schlacht  von  Skagerrak)  was

fought  between  the  British  Navy  Grand  Fleet  under

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admiral  John  Jellicoe  and  the  German  Navy  High Seas  Fleet  under  vice  admiral  Reinhard  Scheer.

Im  1:  The  area  of  operations.

The  battle  took  place  in  extensive  maneuvers, with  three  main  phases  (fighting  between  cover forces,  battle  lines,  and  night  actions)  on  May  31 and  June  1,  1916,  in  the  North  Sea  west  of  the Jutland  peninsula  in  Denmark.

Jutland  was  the  largest  naval  battle  in  World War  I  and  the  third  historic  action  between battleships  (steel-armored  battleships)  following  the battles  of  the  Yellow  Sea  (1904)  and  Tsushima  in

1905  during  the  Russo-Japanese  War.  It  was  also

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the  last  major  battle  in  which  two  squadrons exchanged  direct  fire  between  their  line  ships.

Im  2:  Order  of  Battle.

The  German  Imperial  Navy  intended  to  attract and  destroy  part  of  the  opponent,  as  its  naval  power was  insufficient  to  openly  confront  all  British  naval power.

This  operational  strategy  was  part  of  a  broader military  strategy  to  break  the  British  naval  blockade

of  Germany  and  allow  its  vessels  access  to  the

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Atlantic  Ocean.  On  the  other  hand,  the  British  Royal Navy  followed  a  strategy  of  containing  the  German Navy,  keeping  it  away  from  Britain  and  its  shipping lanes.

Im  3:  Battle  map.

The  Germans  positioned  advanced  submarines on  the  most  likely  routes  of  British  ships.  However, they  learned  from  interception  of  communications that  a  major  operation  of  the  German  fleet  was likely.

In  addition,  due  to  surface  force  preparation

problems,  the  original  German  planning  had  been