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We now saw that the enemy battle cruisers had made another turn so that we were brought 45 degrees on their port bow at only about 11,000 yards from them – an ideal position for a torpedo attack – so the Captain closed the enemy, and when 8,000 yards from the leading enemy battle cruiser gave the signal to the torpedo tubes to fire and turned the ship to port to bring the sights on. Unfortunately, just at this moment the ship was struck amidships by a heavy shell, and was enveloped in clouds of escaping steam. |
This is from “Destroyers at Jutland” in Sea Warfare Cdr. Alastair Wilson writes: The Battle of Jutland took place in the afternoon of 31st May 1916 and the night following. The result was best summarised by an American reporter who said ‘The German fleet has assaulted its gaoler, and remains in gaol’. For the British, it was a tale of heavy losses, due to material deficiencies in the battle-cruisers, and of a missed opportunity in the night, due to lack of imagination on the part of one or two captains. The German fleet took a battering, but their losses were smaller, in ships and men, and they returned to their base the next day, scarcely the action of a victorious fleet. This extract is from a series of articles by Kipling, based on interviews with officers who had fought in the battle, first published between October 19 and October 31, 1916 in the Daily Telegraph. |
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