Alternate Jutland

A little known aspect of the Battle of Jutland is that the whole operation was a British trap which came close to succeeding. Specifically, having acquired the German codes and aware that the High Seas Fleet's dream was to face a portion of the British Grand Fleet with all of Germany's strength the British sent a contingent out to bait the trap and then sent the RN's entire strength to trap the trappers.

However, as soon as this was realized the High Seas Fleet correctly turned and ran back to port, never to present a challenge again.

What if it had been a complete success, with the back of the German navy broken in a single engagement, bearing in mind the reminder that Jellicoe was correctly described as the man who could lose the war in a single afternoon but, alas, could not win the war in such an engagement?
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
Hmmm, I think that it could influence the German Revolution as the sailors wouldn't be ordered to fight a last battle against the British because well... the fleet would be sunk and the sailors would have died.
 
What if it had been a complete success, with the back of the German navy broken in a single engagement, bearing in mind the reminder that Jellicoe was correctly described as the man who could lose the war in a single afternoon but, alas, could not win the war in such an engagement?

Jellicoe could close the war in a single afternoon if he had allowed the Grand Fleet to have been defeated. He could not have won the war in an afternoon since the war was being decided on land.

With the defeat of the surface fleet the Germans would probably still adopt unrestricted submarine warfare. The Allied blockade will remain in place even without the High Seas Fleet. Hindenburg and Ludendorff are not going to be influenced by naval events.
 
If Jellicoe were to crush the Germans at Jutland, it would probably have meant exposing his fleet to the risk of German torpedoes. It could have also depended on the Germans not noticing that Jellicoe had "crossed the 'T'" when the main battle fleet entered the fray.
 
If Jellicoe were to crush the Germans at Jutland, it would probably have meant exposing his fleet to the risk of German torpedoes. It could have also depended on the Germans not noticing that Jellicoe had "crossed the 'T'" when the main battle fleet entered the fray.

The nuts and bolts of how the High Seas Fleet is destroyed aren't the issue it is more what would be the effects of that be if it had happened.
 
Early in the war, the Royal Navy had plans for an amphibious assualt on the North German coast, which were delayed and eventually abandoned because the Royal Navy couldn't protect the landing ships and the supply lines while the High Seas Fleet remained a viable force.

I doubt the British would have revived those plans after a more successful Jutland even though the prerequisite of destroying the High Seas Fleet was met, as Jutland happened after the Gallipoli Campaign, which convinced the British that big strategic amphibious assaults were much more difficult than they'd thought. But I wonder if they might try a more modest amphibious assault, perhaps landing a few divisions behind German lines in Flanders in support of a major ground offensive replacing the Battle of the Somme (the timing is a little tight for this, since Jutland was only a month before the Somme).

The other major possibility opened up by destroying the HSF would be to start running convoys through the Baltic to help prop up Russia (a sea route to resupply Russia being the major objective of the Dardanelles/Gallipoli Campaign). The question here is how well would Germany be able to attack the convoys with the U-boats, torpedo boats, mines, and destroyers they'd have remaining. Without capital ships, they're hopelessly outclassed by the Royal Navy in open waters, but they could conceivably do some real damage in the straights around Denmark, especially considering that their original mission was to inflict attrition on a British fleet during a close blockade.
 
With the HSF gone the GF would be able to attempt to control the straits into the Baltic, even in the face of losses. The big ships could cover the minesweeping and anti uboat efforts in the forward area. It could have had a major impact.

However perhaps the Germans would have invaded Denmark to close the straits in these circumstances.
 
Wasn't Denmark pretty much a de facto German vassal at the time? In that case it might not be the Germans who would have to invade...
 
I don't think they were vassal enough to turn any coastal guns on the Grand Fleet. That would require outright, open alliance, with all the downsides that an alliance would entail.
 
The defeat would have been at a cost and probably not complete. However the High Seas Fleet never effectively rallied anyway after Jutland then there wouldn't have been much difference other than releasing British ships but for what given that submarines ruled out a close blockade of Germany although more risks could have been taken with battleships
 
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