An Alternate Somme: The Path To Defeat

It was 2 July 1916, and news of an offensive intended to relieve pressure on Verdun was discouraging to Britain. The 4th British Army was suffering heavy casualties in a battlefield of places to be taken when the offensive failed and troops were demoralised the previous day. To the north, it was apparent no diversionary offensive would occur and German troops were moving south. The French had better luck, but their attacks stalled temporarily and it would be days before the British could provide some useful assistance. It was noted that some 30,000 British troops were dead or permanently out of combat from wounds for the month while German reinforcements were moving southwards from Arras.

[German losses remained similar to reality, but better for them, and slightly worse for the French.]

To make matters worse, there were no indications that Verdun would be evacuated. Russia's Brusilov Offensive was also failing against the Germans and there could be no meaningful support for the next few days. Some successes against Austria-Hungary might help, though.
 
A month before [Jutland battlecruiser action and first draft]
[Having some issues with computer history. This should be posted yesterday for the 100th anniversary local time.]

[P.O.D.]
Barely more than a month before the slaughter, the battle of Jutland was fought. At approximately 4:00 p.m., a shell from Lutzow detonated on HMS Lion's Q Turret. In the scenario, every member in the turret made cordite arrangement errors and the fire caused by the shell left everybody dead or crippled. With nobody willing to assist the wounded men after an explosion and fire following, the fires spread and by 4:20 P.M., the Lion had detonated with the loss of Admiral Beatty and virtually every crew member on board, with some 15 barely escaping to become prisoners of the Germans.

After the lost of HMS Lion due to magazine explosions, command of the squadron was hampered by the loss of Admiral Beatty and his staff. Command of Beatty's fleet passed temporarily to Hugh Evan Thomas in HMS Barham. As to make matters worse, HMS Queen Mary and HMS Indefatigable had also blown up with magazine detonations minutes earlier.
The next catastrophe was to occur soon. At 17:30, HMS Malaya was hit on the starboard 6 inch guns. Other ships detected the raging fires but the ship blew up in a few minutes, leaving about 20 survivors. The blow up came as a shock to the other battle cruisers, shocked by how one of the most modern and well armed battleships afloat in the Royal Navy could be destroyed in quick succession to the 4 battle cruisers. Crewmen suspected that an explosion of the 6 inch magazines or guns or penetrations through the weakly armoured deck was responsible. [Close call otl, extra shells make the hit on 6 inch guns fatal in this scenario.] [Posted earlier.]

On HMS Barham, a heavy shell wrecked the auxiliary wireless office and wounded medical and wireless personnel. Another struck the 6 inch gun casement and caused a fire that wounded 2 people. A shell hit the top of the deck. Altogether, the Barham was hit by 6 12 inch shells from the Derrflinger and 2 of them were lucky to exhaust their energy and not to pierce the 6 inch magazine itself, for the explosion would have destroyed the ship half an hour before Malaya and the 5th Battle Squadron would be denied of command after the battlecruisers' destruction. The chief surgeon on Warspite ordered picric acid to be applied on burns and injuries, which only exacerbated the wounds that the bandages applied had to be discarded. The scene in a boiler room was found with real casualties of a devastating war and shattered body parts with lots of bleeding could be found, much to the disgust of the surgeon.
The next tragedy to befall the battle cruisers would occur, with shells from Markgraf landing on HMS Tiger [instead of Princess Royal] and detonating the turrets, sinking the ship with all hands except for 5 thrown overboard. The Derrflinger sank the HMS Invincible and HMS Indomitable with all hands by 18 45 hours. HMS Inflexible would be the only battle cruiser left in the fleet, but the commander chose to engage Derrflinger and although inflicting severe damage, detonated before 19 00 hours with total loss of life. Rear Admiral Evan Thomas proclaimed that there must be something bloody wrong to the battle cruisers when he stopped receiving radio transmissions. The battlecruiser concept had failed to achieve its original purpose and now suffered the consequences. However, the Derrflinger had over 20 12 inch shell hits in the hull, which would prove fatal when combined with another 3 more 15 inch shells from Warspite, which was finally crippled fatally.

Later, Hipper and Scheer linked their fleets and were heading towards Jellicoe. While attempting to accelerate Wiesbaden's demise, both 2 armoured cruisers were sunk with the loss of all hands. HMS Warspite was shelled by SMS Lutzow and was wrecked. Due to further damage to the rudders, the ship was unable to move and after made combat incapable, was scuttled the next day. SMS Lutzow sustained 10 shell hits on the hull, leading to its sinking the next day. Battle cruiser HMS New Zealand had to be sent to assist the battleship under fire, but was lost after landing a few hits on Lutzow.

The gunnery training at Scapa did prove some benefits with the punishment inflicted on Derrflinger, but without armour, the class exploded while the Derrflinger's fate was uncertain, although sinking. In fact, the last words from the only one of the Invincible's crew members to survive after rescue before drowning, gunnery officer Hubert Dannreuther mentioned: "Your firing is excellent! Keep it up!" The lieutenant commander even saw the Inflexible cheering at the dying survivors of the wrecks, assuming the victims were German and included a "Derrflinger class battlecruiser with probably Hipper on board" that they left the survivors to their fate. Eventually, the survivors were taken onto the Derrflinger dead or dying from injuries and only Dannreuther survived before being drowned by the flooding from the bows. He even described the devastating explosion that split the ship into two, the resulting fires and smoke and the parts that remained above shallow waters in a faltering voice.

Also, torpedo boat hits on battleship HMS Marlborough sank it. HMS Agincourt would be sunk the next day by U32 [searching for HMS Marlborough and other returning British ships already damaged after a contact report by U46 following torpedo damage]. Besides battlecruisers [including a more damaged Seydlitz grounded and abandoned after fighting HMS Princess Royal during pursuit] , German and British non-dreadnought losses are similar to reality. The British lost all battlecruisers and 4 dreadnoughts; leading to temporary fears of an invasion. All German dreadnoughts returned home despite a close call with Konig due to a similar hit compared to HMS Malaya's loss after its 6 inch magazines were burnt.

[8 British battlecruiser explosions, 1 British and 3 German fast dreadnoughts shelled with HMS Princess Royal and 3 British dreadnoughts damaged by torpedoes [2 sunk].] Also, HMS Malaya lost its luck. According to a source used, Warspite and Marlborough, limping home, had been attacked by submarines, with HMS Agincourt sunk by submarine torpedoes.] [Castles of Steel, chapter 34.] Bauer, a U-boat leader, ordered U-32 and U-24 to remain on patrol an extra day and change patrols to the Tyne mouth from the Firth of Forth to attack damaged British warships and battlecruisers. U-70 did not receive the order because it was attacked and forced to dive repeatedly and so left on June 1 per its original orders. Thus Beatty was able to return without any trouble, but U-32 [which received the order properly] saw Agincourt and Revenge staggering home from U46's reports and sank HMS Agincourt. All torpedoed battleships belonged to the same division and received torpedoes from the same German torpedo boat division.]

[Sources: Castles of Steel [https://books.google.com.my/booksid=MfiPAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT753&dq=Castles+of+steel+revenge+torpedo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQ2tLW29bNAhUJKo8KHabrCNUQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=Castles of steel revenge torpedo&f=false], http://webpages.charter.net/abacus/news/jutland/CHAPTER 9.htm, http://webpages.charter.net/abacus/news/jutland/CHAPTER 16.htm [,V.E. Tarrant, Jutland: The German Perspective, pg. 244-45] and my Jutland threads, https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/jutland-version-ii.350906/page-2 and https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/mutual-destruction-at-jutland.330039/page-2 . This should be more realistic. ]

[https://books.google.com.my/books?id=MfiPAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT753&dq=Castles+of+steel+revenge+torpedo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQ2tLW29bNAhUJKo8KHabrCNUQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=Castles of steel revenge torpedo&f=false should be entered. https://books.google.com.my/books?id=MfiPAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT753&dq=Castles+of+steel+revenge+torpedo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQ2tLW29bNAhUJKo8KHabrCNUQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=seydlitz princess&f=false is an additional source.]
 
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