The Battle of Jutland

The Battlecruiser Action

Admiral Franz von Hipper's battlecruisers lure Admiral Sir David Beatty's Royal Navy battlecruisers toward the main German High Seas Fleet. 15.30
Beatty sights Hipper's leading battlecruisers. Hipper turns towards the South East, hoping to lure Beatty in the direction of Scheer's main battle fleet which is 50 miles to the South and rapidly closing. At this point, Scheer and Hipper must have thought that their plan of detaching Beatty from the British Grand Fleet was working.
Photograph of HMS Indefatigable which sunk at the Battle of Jutland, 31st May 1916. 15.48
Both sides open fire. Almost immediately, HMS Indefatigable is blown up and sunk with the loss of all but two of her 900 crew.
Photograph of HMS Queen Mary as her magazine explodes at the Battle of Jutland, 31st May 1916. 16.26
HMS Queen Mary receives a direct hit on her magazine, she explodes spectacularly and sinks. From a crew of 2,000 only twenty survive.
Admiral Sir David Beatty lures the German High Seas Fleet toward the British Grand Fleet. 16.40
Beatty sights the German High Seas Fleet in the distance and turns his battlecruisers Northwards to avoid the German trap. He sets his own by drawing Scheer and Hipper towards Jellicoe and the British Grand Fleet which is rapidly approaching from the North West.
The German High Seas Fleet enters the trap set by Admiral Sir David Beatty and is about to be engaged by the British Grand Fleet. 17.35
Whilst escaping to the North West, Beatty continues to engage Hipper's cruisers, forcing them further to the East. Unable to see the approaching British Grand Fleet, the whole German fleet is about to enter the trap Jellicoe and Beatty have prepared.

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