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I have my Great Uncle's pocket bible that was given to him by my grandmother in 1902.
While in Malta on the HMS Defence, he sent this bible to his father in Cornwall who gave it to my father in 1921.
My Great Uncle was Richard H, Jose, Petty Officer 236246 on the HMS Defence at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916 where all 54 officers and 849 men diedhttps://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...5/t06vit-1.jpg
Figures from memory is that 5,000+ British sailors perished in that sea battle it was said of Jellicoes commanding of the affair that he was the only person who could lose WWI in an afternoon.
Oh, I don't know.......Haig gave it a pretty damn good try the first day of the Somme. Still the single biggest defeat suffered by the British Army. It was just damned lucky the Germans didn't exploit the gap.
Ed
Watched the documentary on the battle. Caused in part by the new morse key communication system which the "old school" didn't want to use, which was fitted and working in each of the ships.
Instead they wanted to use the flag system but in the distances involved and the smoke of the coal engines being used by both sides, noone could read any flags, and positioning of ships so vital to the battle never happened, very interesting, when you now consider the hoops and fire you have to jump thrugh on courses today when a new piece of comms kit comes in!!!!!
A terrible and sad loss of life RIP to all hands who died that day.
Yep and battleships that did not make it in time mis-understanding of the German fleets about turn not to mention the good unstable ol' cordite on it goes but nothing could have been worse than being entombed in a ship going down until the compartment you were in flooded or was crushed from pressure.
One fact that is a little humorous and not well known is at a crucial point of the battle the battleship Warspite's steering gear malfunctioned jamming the rudders so she steamed in circles for a good span of time the Germans seeing this laid all guns on to her and to the spectators on the other ships it was a sure thing she would be sunk such was the volume of fire.
Eventually the gear was sorted and she resumed her place but not before they coined the phrase that she had been in a "Windy corner"........and that is a fact.
And I am not going down the line of other inept battles but the size of these ships and to just blow up like the Q E and Indefatigable would be gut churning to witness as when you consider the types of ships and crews they would have known each other in some way unlike the divisions in an army the guys on those battleships were a very small number.
I watched this recent new video the other night and I thought it was fascinating.. :thup:
Regards,
Doug
Update: The original video posted in the thread above was a YouTube video and it was sourced directly from there, not our server ..
Because it was a Channel 4 UK production, any member who lives in the UK was blocked from viewing it because of their location as indicated by their IP address. :ugh:
So, we downloaded and put the video on our server, so ALL our members can view it, regardless of location. :thup:
Excellent program and worth watching if you're into naval history ... :cheers:
Regards,
Doug
Certainly going to be reviewed and although the men will never come home vindication for one may happen who can tell thanks Badger as usual great pick up. :clap::super: