Anaxagoras
Banned
Historians recognize the critical command decision of the Battle of Jutland (May 31, 1916) took place at 18.15, when Admiral Jellicoe ordered the Grand Fleet to deploy on a westward facing course rather than an eastward facing course. At that moment, the British battlecrusier squadron had been badly battered and the High Seas Fleet and the Grand Fleet were on a collison couse to the largest battleship encounter in world history.
After the war, Jellicoe said that he made the decision to deploy to the westward because he was worried that if he deployed on an eastward facing course, there would not be be enough time for a decisive encounter with the High Seas Fleet before dusk. But critics of Jellicoe's decision have claimed that had he deployed on an eastward facing course, he would have been able to "cross the T" of the German fleet, gained the advantage of silhouetting the German ships against the setting sun, and positioning the fleet to interpose itself between the German Fleet and its bases.
What if Jellicoe had deployed on an eastward facing course? Would the result of the Battle of Jutland have been any different? And could a different result to the Battle of Jutland have affected the outcome of the Great War?
After the war, Jellicoe said that he made the decision to deploy to the westward because he was worried that if he deployed on an eastward facing course, there would not be be enough time for a decisive encounter with the High Seas Fleet before dusk. But critics of Jellicoe's decision have claimed that had he deployed on an eastward facing course, he would have been able to "cross the T" of the German fleet, gained the advantage of silhouetting the German ships against the setting sun, and positioning the fleet to interpose itself between the German Fleet and its bases.
What if Jellicoe had deployed on an eastward facing course? Would the result of the Battle of Jutland have been any different? And could a different result to the Battle of Jutland have affected the outcome of the Great War?