The Battle of Jutland: History's Greatest Sea Battle Told Through Newspaper Reports, Official Documents and the Accounts of Those Who Were There by Richard Osborne

Author:Richard Osborne [Osborne, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / World War I
ISBN: 9781848324558
Publisher: Frontline Books
Published: 2016-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

In another article entitled ‘The Naval Battle’, the newspaper commented on such hard information as it had received while at the same time reminding its concerned readers that the Royal Navy had been the nation’s sure shield for more than 300 years and would continue to perform this role regardless of the sacrifices involved:

The British Empire will receive the news of the important naval action in the North Sea off the coast of Jutland with traditional calmness and a steadfast resolution that are in themselves as inherent qualities of sea power as are battleships and guns. In the statement issued by the Secretary of the Admiralty we learn that on the afternoon of May 31 a naval battle took place in which that portion of the British Fleet winch was engaged sustained serious losses. The brunt of the fighting fell upon our battle cruiser fleet, supported some cruisers and light cruisers. Of these the battle cruisers Queen Mary, Indefatigable, Invincible and the cruisers Defence and Black Prince were sunk with a number of destroyers.

The appearance of our battleships upon the scene the enemy returned port, having suffered severe losses, of which at the present moment the evidence must of necessity be of a fragmentary nature. This is the sum total of the news in regard to the naval battle as revealed in the British official communication. It would be idle to deny that the news of these heavy naval losses will be read with very grave feelings throughout the country.

The Navy is the Briton’s favourite branch of the Service. We love the sea and those heroic souls who rule the seas for Great Britain. We cherish their valour deeply, and we shall feel the losses which they have incurred with a peculiar keenness. A generation bred up in naval peace has become so inured to the tradition of British supremacy on the seas that some few souls may well be pardoned to-day if they realise this tradition can only be bought and secured by great sacrifices with something of the shock of surprise. From the days the great Armada to the days of Nelson the British race was establishing the tradition of British sea supremacy by an endless vigil and by incessant sacrifice. Some of us who live in these later days may have been prone to accept the heritage of sea power as something bequeathed to us by right without a just realisation of the fact that it is a heritage which can only be maintained the price of sacrifice such as our forefathers so gladly made endow us with an inheritance of freedom. Such losses as were incurred by our battle-cruiser squadron off the coast of Jutland on the 31st of last month must serve to remind us all that victory on the sea in this greatest of all wars will only be purchased, as victory on the land, by a grievously heavy toll.

The Empire will unite as one man in mourning the loss of those valiant sons of Britain who have given up their lives for England in battle on the high seas.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.