Room 40's Greatest Triumph

voodoomaster

Room 40’s Greatest Triumph
This time line is a What If scenario, as a student of Military Intelligence, I have spent many a long hour reading up on the origins of MI6 & MI5 founded in a small offices under the leadership of Mansfield Cumming-Smith (C) and Vernon Kell. However, one section of the story of the origins of modern intelligence is from the office of Naval Intelligence. Specifically Room 40, and the success of William (Blinker) Hall the director of naval intelligence.

Room 40 had immense luck in the early days of the war, with the miraculous draft of Fishes, the Magdeburg & the Hobart. All 3 German code books fell into British Hands within the first 6 months of the war and with the severing of German Telegraph lines days into the war Room 40 was able to read all traffic that was coming from the German fleet both military and merchant.
Room 40’s success is seen the most through the Zimmerman telegram which was instrumental in bringing the USA into the First World War. One of their greatest failures however was during the battle of Jutland, specifically during the opening days. Where (as I view it) one officer, Cpt Thomas Jackson badly underestimated Room 40’s cryptographers and stormed into Room 40 and demanded to know what the signal code DK meant, and was told that it was Admiral Sheer’s call sign in Harbour. He then stormed back out without seeking clarification of this; if he had he would have known that when Sheer sailed from the Jade he transferred DK to a signalling station within the Jade.
And Thus DNI reported to Beatty and Jellicoe that the HSF was not at sea but rather still in port and that only the Battlecruisers had gone out on a sortie, so Jellicoe and Beatty got some real shocks when the reports of the HSF was at sea were reported from HMS Southampton during the battlecruiser engagement. This Failure was compounded later on in the battle when DNI accurately reported the HSF’s location and route home and Jellicoe ignored this information due to failures in intelligence earlier in the day.

This timeline is a what if, What if Jackson had turned around and gotten the full picture from the men in Room 40. And the Grand Fleet was fully ready for the battle and was able to engage the HSF for the Night Action of Jutland.
This is my first Alternative history time line, inspired by people like Calbear, Astrodragon & Devolved so please be kind.

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Captain Thomas Jackson was having one of those days, dozens of reports of U-Boat movements and now there had been intelligence for the last few days that the High Seas Fleet was planning a Sortie. The question was when would Sheer sail. The Grand Fleet was at sea, and yet they had nothing to confirm whether the High Seas Fleet was already at sea. Thankfully there were no U-Boats in the vicinity of the Grand Fleet. But now they had something, the signal from the Jade bearing the call sign DK. What did that mean? Pushing the doors to Room 40 OAB open startled the intellectuals and mathematics professors within. Walking up to the desk of the nearest former Oxford Professor he placed the signal upon his desk.

"What does the signal code DK signify?"

The Professor looked up at him blankly as if being asked where the nearest heads were.

"It's Grand Admiral's signal code when he and the flagship are in Harbour."

Jackson sneered and spun around, disappointed bitterly the High Seas Fleet was still in harbour, only Hipper’s Battlecruisers were at sea, if that. Walking from the room though he paused in the doorway and shuddered for a moment He remembered a comment, written snidely in a report by one of those tweed wearing pipe smoking insubordinate civilians. Turning he called back to the professor who was turning to his colleagues and shrugging his shoulders.

"Is there anything else to the signal code?"

The professor looked surprised at actually being spoken too with a genuine question rather than a demand.

"Of course, when Sheer and the flagship have gone out on a sortie he transfers the call sign DK to a signalling station within the Jade River."

Jackson‘s eyebrows raised, had he understood that correctly. DK was simply a signalling station within the Jade River right now, not the Flagship of the High Seas Fleet?

"So the High Seas Fleet is at Sea?"

"Yes"

Jackson spun around and ran out of the doors, he had to tell Blinker this, the High Seas Fleet was at sea, the great battle between Dreadnoughts was going to happen at last.

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Dawn the North Sea, HMS Iron Duke

Admiral John Jellicoe looked at the scrap of paper in his hands that had just been handed to him, he already felt the weight of the world upon his shoulders as he looked up and around at the massive forms of the largest fleet ever assembled by an Empire. And now he had a chance to use it in battle. He handed the piece of paper across to Cpt Dryer who took the scrap and read it to himself.
To Adm Commanding Grand Fleet
To Adm Commanding Battlecruisers
Latest Intelligence reports that the HSF sailed from port late yesterday evening.
From Director of Naval Intelligence.
 

sharlin

Banned
Ooh a proper night action at Jutland after the battle before...could be risky for both forces. The Grand Fleet was a better shot than the BCF but that wasnt that much better and the RN was stricken with dodgey ammo but at close range which a night battle would have to entail at the time could cover that.

Then again the germans are well built and they did train more for a night engagement than the RN.
 

voodoomaster

Room 40 Old Admiralty Building; 31st May 1916, 15:00-16:15

Beatty and Jellicoe knew that the High Seas Fleet was out as did the Admiralty, most likely with the Hipper’s Battlecruiser Squadron out as well. The key question was where? Currently Room 40 and the Office of Naval Intelligence were right now blind as although they knew the fleet was out. They were currently operating under radio silence apart from a couple of reports coming in from U-Boats further north. The Standing orders of the British Fleet was that any radio messages that were to be broadcast between ships were to be sent using as low power as possible. The Germans however, did not have those orders they broadcast any radio messages between ships at full power which made it much easier for Marconi’s transmitters in Britain to pick up the signals.

Then suddenly at 3:30pm the transmitters picked up several messages from a series of transmissions from the German Battlecruisers, furiously the cartographers and translators worked upon the dozens of messages that were now being thrown onto their desks. It was not however, until 16:10 that the first messages from Room 40 were passed to Cpt “Blinker” Hall the DNI and the other senior officers at the Admiralty who were currently waiting around the plotting chart waiting for reports to come in from fleet and from Room 40.

The Following message was sent to Jellicoe and Beatty from the admiralty at 16:07.

High Seas Fleet Currently estimated to be 40 NMI South, South, East of Battlecruisers based on radio intelligence.

This was already too late for Beatty whom had already engaged Hipper with shocking results but for Jellicoe he now ordered the Grand Fleet to full battle stations.

North Sea; Battlecruisers, 31st May 1916, 15:00-16:15 (The Run South)

Hipper’s Battlecruisers had been sighted by the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron earlier in the day, but it was at 15:22 that Hipper sighted the British Battlecruisers but due to the direction of the prevailing winds Beatty did not identify Hipper until 15:30. Beatty continued to advance towards Hipper and eight minutes later the Lutzow opened fire on HMS Lion following a sharp turn to the south within a minute Lion and the rest of the Battlecruisers assembled opened fire.

The 5th Battle Squadron however, had not seen Beatty’s orders to turn south and was now well behind the faster moving Battlecruisers but their massive 15 inch Guns and greater range would soon come back into play. The German Battlecruisers had advantage of the weather gauge with their smoke being blown clear while the British had it blowing across their decks towards their targets and within a few minutes HMS’ Lion, Princess Royal and Tiger had all been hit with only crack shot HMS Queen Mary landing a reply on the Germans.

HMS Lion was hit again at 16:00 with her Q Turret being taken out and disaster only being averted by the prompt flooding of the magazine below, HMS Indefatigable was not so lucky when three minutes later she was struck by a Salvo from the Von de Tann and blew up seconds later.

The Captain of the Von de Tann had only minutes to savour his glory however, having shifted his fire to HMS New Zealand he was rewarded by a 15” shell from HMS Barham slammed into her side and penetrated her hull and damaged her Steering causing her to drift out of formation while her crew frantically tried to repair the damage so as not to suffer the same fate as the Bulcher at the battle of Dogger Bank.

By 16:15 Hipper’s situation was fast becoming un-tenable with the 5th Battle Squadron now straddling them from extreme range far too often and with his Battlecruisers Zig-Zaging to attempt to break the range from the 5th Battle Squadron while still keeping up a steady rate of fire on Beatty’s forces to his west.

At 16:15 Beatty was handed a scrap of paper the same piece had sent a few minutes earlier that informed him of the rough location of the High Seas Fleet, 40 NMI to his SSE. At the speed the battle was progressing Beatty estimated he was no more than 25 NMI from Admiral Sheer’s Vanguard at this point, Beatty estimated his forces would make contact in the next half an hour at which point he was to steam hard north and lure the High Seas Fleet straight into the waiting guns of the Grand Fleet.

Provided the Intelligence was correct of course.
 

voodoomaster

Room 40, Old Admiralty Building, 16:15 to 17:00 (Creaking & Straining)

The reports that were now flowing into the Admiralty, so much so that Room 40 was beginning to creak as the reams of signal intercepts were thrown on to the desks of the translators and cryptographers. Thankfully for Room 40, the transmissions from the British Fleet were being handled directly by the Admiralty rather than Room 40. But still the news coming from Beatty to the Admiralty was not good, the loss of HMS Indefatigable was a massive shock especially so soon into the battle.

At 16:40 at transmission was intercepted from the High Seas Fleet that informed Room 40 that the High Seas Fleet was engaging a British Light Cruiser force. Followed by a report from Commodore Goodenough to Jellicoe, Beatty and the Admiralty of the location of the High Seas Fleet, it also confirmed for the first time the intelligence coming from Room 40 was accurate.

North Sea, Battlecruisers, 16:15 to 17:00 (There is something wrong with our Bloody ships today)

The 5th Battle Squadron was making the lives of the German Battlecruisers a real challenge the Moltke was struck by a shell from HMS Valiant that caused major damage to her secondary armament and a fire in the secondary armament magazine. In spite of this the German Battlecruisers were still keeping up a steady and accurate rate of fire upon the British Battlecruiser forces.

HMS Queen Mary had been the crack shot so far of the British Battlecruisers landing 4 hits upon the Seydlitz more than any other British Battlecruiser. However, she was now having the focused firepower of both the Seydlitz and the Derfflinger and at 16:25 a shell struck the forward turrets detonating the magazine blowing HMS Queen Mary to pieces. HMS Tiger was forced to turn and dodge the wreckage from her former Half Sister. Tiger so far had been struck by 17 shells, the most of any of the British ships so far.

With the Queen Mary gone, Seydlitz shifted her fire to HMS Princess Royal and soon straddled the Battlecruiser, obscuring her from the flagship and causing a member of her bridge crew to report that the Princess Royal had blown up.

Beatty was by now not in a good mood, turning to his flag captain and remarking that “There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today” it was at this time that Commodore Goodenough’s spotted the High Seas Fleet for the first time and issued his report to the Admiralty, Beatty & Jellicoe. It was not until 16:40 though that Beatty himself spotted the High Seas Fleet and immediately ordered his Battlecruisers to turn 180 degrees to the north and lead the High Seas fleet north while at the same point ordering a torpedo attack on the Germans.

It was also the first time in the battle that confirmed the intelligence from Room 40 was accurate.

The 5th Battle Squadron however, missed the order to turn north and instead continued to steam towards the high seas fleet and the Battlecruisers. And at 16:48 the High Seas Fleet opened fire upon the 5th Battle Squadron while Beatty and his Battlecruisers began to open the range to gain some respite.
Until the Battlecruisers lured the High Seas Fleet and the Battlecruisers towards the waiting guns of the Grand Fleet it would fall on the most powerful Battleships in the world to hold the entire High Seas Fleet at Bay. Fortunately for the British the 5th Battle Squadron was capable of withstanding such a punishment.

With the Run north and Beatty easing out of range at a steady rate, the British suffered 44 hits and lost two Battlecruisers while the Germans had only suffered 17 hits, unfortunately for the Germans a third of those hits were from the 5th Battle Squadron and their accuracy would be telling later in the battle.
 

voodoomaster

A/N: My apologies for the delay, a busy week this week, the joys of being elected to a public office in the beginning of the week budgets are always so much fun.
Sharlin: thanks for comments and support, i have a draft worked out for the night action, it will be interesting.
On Coming Storm: Thanks, yep having done so much research into room 40 (i wish i still had my old professors books)

Room 40, Old Admiralty Building, 17:00-18:30
At the Admiralty there was growing confidence about the situation. The 5th Battle Squadron was now back in range of Hipper’s Battlecruisers, but then came the news of the loss of HMS Queen Mary and the mood turned to sour almost immediately. But following the information of the location of the High Seas Fleet being proved that the intelligence from Room 40 was correct and accurate.

North Sea, Grand Fleet, 17:00-17:30
Jellicoe now had the information that he needed, the Grand Fleet was fully battle ready and Beatty was leading the High Seas Fleet to him, now he just needed to wait until he established contact with Beatty. In order to get into contact sooner with Beatty he ordered the 3rd Battlecruiser squadron under Admiral Hood to advance ahead of the Grand Fleet and establish contact with Beatty. Jellicoe also informed the Admiralty of his intentions.

Throughout the Grand Fleet the crews of the dozens of Dreadnoughts, Super Dreadnoughts, Cruisers & Destroyers waited at their battle stations for the largest naval battle to begin.

North Sea, Battlecruisers & 5th Battle Squadron, 17:00-18:00
Beatty had now taken his Battlecruisers following a series of hits from Hipper’s Squadron shortly after his turn north back towards Jellicoe, with the 5th Battle Squadron now taking the brunt of the fire from both the German Vanguard and Hippers Battlecruisers. Their own rate of Fire however was proving to be accurate and heavy inflicting half a dozen hits on Seydlitz and 4 on Hippers Flagship the Lutzow with additional hits on the German Vanguard of the four Konig class Dreadnoughts.

The Run north was now a slugging match between the 4 Super Dreadnoughts of the 5th Battlesquadron and the Vanguard of the German Battlefleet plus Hipper’s Battlecruiser squadron.

North Sea, Grand Fleet & 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron 17:30-18:15
At 17:33 the Grand Fleet and the scouting forces of Beatty’s Battlecruisers made initial contact at the same time the German scouting division under Rear Admiral Bödicker’s engaged the scouting cruiser HMS Chester, heavily outnumbered the Chester fought valiantly before Bodicker’s forces got a shock when the three Invincible class Battlecruisers of Hood’s squadron came out of the mist and smoke with all guns blazing and his 4 light cruisers leaving cruiser Wiesbaden immobilised and easy target.

This action however, led to an unfortunate assumption from Bodickers forces that Admiral Hood was in fact leading a much larger squadron and a massed torpedo attack was launched against them that did nothing but cause the three Battlecruisers to dodge the torpedoes that were launched against them.

Beatty by this point (18:00) had fully joined the Grand Fleet and was moving across the van of the grand fleet to take up position where Hood’s Battlecruisers were. Jellicoe’s requests for information from Beatty were ignored until 18:14 and Beatty’s response was not helpful in the slightest. Knowing the High Seas Fleet was only minutes away he ordered a turn to port and the formation of his battle line.

One the southernmost edge of the Grand Fleet however things were about to get confusing.

North Sea, Grand Fleet, 5th Battle Squadron 17:30–18:30 (Windy Corner)
The Convergence of Beatty’s forces and that of the Grand Fleet was at best organised chaos at worst it was a near disaster. The Armoured cruisers from the grand fleet were cutting in between the Beatty’s forces in order to reach their station at the van of the grand fleet. HMS’ Warrior and Defence both charged across the bows of HMS Lion and straight into the waiting guns of the High Seas Fleet.

HMS Defence was soon struck by numerous heavily calibre shells and exploded when her magazines detonated. HMS Warrior too was soon struck several times by heavy shells from the High Seas fleet only to be saved by HMS Warspite steaming straight across her at full speed her massive guns blazing at the High Seas Fleet. The Warspite had not done this act out of the desire to save the Defence; it was done to save herself. The damage sustained during the battle and the high speed of both the chase and the flight of the 5th Battle Squadron had taken its toll on the massive battleships steering gear which had overheated and locked in place forcing her to steam in circles at high speed until the damage was repaired, and until then Warspite would face the full brunt of the High Seas fleet while her Sisters advanced to join the rear of Jellicoe’s battle line.

Beatty’s Battlecruisers meanwhile had joined up with the 3rd Battlecruiser squadron and were busy trading fire with Hipper’s Battlecruisers. HMS Invincible however landed a series of hits on Hipper’s flagship that tore through her armour, ripped open her hull and smashed her radio antenna. The German Battlecruisers were now without an effective Commander.
Invincible’s luck however, ran out when at 18:30 as the smoke and mist cleared allowing Hipper’s forces a clear line of sight to the leading Battlecruiser. Two Salvos’s slammed into the world’s first Battlecruiser ripping through her armour and causing a massive explosion in her midships magazine breaking her in two.

Admiral Sheer had been able to see the destruction of the Invincible from the Friedrich der Große and for a brief second thought that today was going to be a good day. When mere seconds later the skyline ahead of him lit up with gun flashes from horizon to horizon, from where the Battlecruiser had gone down to where a cruiser had blown up earlier. Sheer Realised with shock that he had sailed right into a trap as the first shells of the Grand Fleet landed amongst his ships.
 

voodoomaster

A/N: my apologies for the delay, been a busy week at work again.

North Sea, Grand Fleet & High Seas Fleet 18:30 to 19:00

The Grand fleet had opened fire mear seconds earlier and already Sheer had realised that he was in a tactical no hope situtation. if he contiuned on his present course then he was steaming straight into oblivion. Outnumbered and outgunned he could not cause the damage he desired with an engagement with the grandfleet without being wiped out here. His decison was made when he saw the SMS Markgraf was hit by a heavy caliber shell. Sheer ordered a full battleturn of 180 degrees reversing his course.

Sheer would turn about and then come back to engage the grand fleet by crossing their own T shortly later, that was his plan anyway. As his fleet began its turn he ordered his destroyers to attack the Grand Fleet.

Jellicoe meanwhile watched from the bridge of HMS Iron Duke as she landed several hits on the SMS Konig with a grim satisfaction. She was now making heavy smoke and turning to starboard, it was then that from beyond the smoke he spotted the rushing of destroyers & torpedo ships. at 18:40 Jellicoe ordered his fleet due south.

The massive battleships of the rear and middle echilons of the grand fleet were now dodging torpedo's for some however, this was not enough HMS Marlborough was struck by a single torpedo a midships and was forced to reduce her speed to 16kts. The Largest ships in the fleet the Queen Elizabeth class were at the rear of the line with one less of their number as HMS Warspite was ordered to make port on her own having taken 15 large caliber hits.

The Turn south rather than turning away following the torpedo attack was going to give Jellicoe something in battle that rarely happens, a second chance. For at 18:55 Sheer ordered his fleet back east to re-engage the Grand Fleet as they were turning away from his torpedo attack. Sheer however, was going to be proved wrong.

Room 40 and Admiralty, 18:30 to 19:00

During this period Room 40 was busy decoding intelligence that was coming in from the High Seas fleet at this point though there was not much they could do. The Two fleets were engaged and right now all they could do was try and shift through the information that was coming in.

Jutland Overview From First Full Fleet Action

Total Hits on German Capital Ships in Battle Line: 23
Total Hits on British Capital Ships in Battle Line: 2
 

voodoomaster

@Oncoming Storm: Cheers, What I have planned for the Night Engagement will be short and bloody, in the original timeline several battleships at the rear of the grand fleet spotted the HSF and did not report it as they did not want to give their position away, this time however a certain battleship will not have a choice.
The HSF is better equipped for Night Engagement but they are battered and bent so this will be interesting.
The Germans in the OTL were badly battered but didn't sink, both sides will come off worse than OTL here though.

North Sea, Grand Fleet & High Seas Fleet 19:00 to 21:00

Admiral Sheer was now steaming due east, he was now confident. Half an hour earlier he had been steaming towards certain death now if his planned attack by his Torpedo boats and Destroyers had gone to plan he would steaming across the British Van at a distance of about 5 miles. He was however, to be proved wrong.

Commodore Goodenough's Cruiser devision regained contact a few minutes following Sheer's turn back towards the Grand Fleet and like he had done already during so many times during the battle so far his squadron was dodging heavy shells from the High Seas Fleet. Fifteen minutes the rear of the Grand Fleet sighted Sheer's advancing fleet and opened fire once again.
This time Sheer's fleet suffered even further as the fire arc from the Grand Fleet was much tighter and deadlier than the previous engagement. Within 2 minutes of the Grand Fleet opening fire the SMS Kaiser was struck by two shells. Sheer his confidence now shattered from his plan to strike a blow against the Grand Fleet ordered a second full battle turn away. His best hope now was slip away again in the gathering dusk and lose Jellicoe in the dark.
Sheer also knew that he needed time and so ordered the four surviving battlecruisers of Hipper's squadron to attempt to Ram the Grand Fleet at the same time for a mass torpedo attack from his destroyers. Hipper, having left the crippled and sinking Lutzow was still in the process of swapping his flag and so was unable to command his ruined squadron.

With the High Seas Fleet taking a pounding Jellicoe was now confident that he could inflict even greater damage. Suddenly the look out spotted what he thought was a periscope off the port bow of the Flagship. And Jellicoe's confidence was broken again and rather than turning into the incoming Torpedo attack as was his original attempt, he ordered his fleet to turn away from the High Seas Fleet rather than towards it.

During this period the High Seas Fleet had suffered terribly taking 37 large caliber hits to the Grand Fleet only suffering 2 Hits in return on their capital ships.

Beatty however, at the lead of the Grand Fleet remained in contact with the High Seas Fleet and was now racing back into range. While Jellicoe and Sheer had turned under smole at 19:17 while Jellicoe and the Grand Fleet turned away from the German at around 19:30 The British Battlecruisers had been out of range and had seen Sheer's turn and were now racing ahead closing the range and began trading fire with the German Battlecruisers and the pre dreadnought battleships of the 2nd Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet at about 20:20.

The Germans suffered a series of hits before finally turning away with the final action of the twilight hours being HMS King George V trading a few salvo's with the SMS Westfalen. The First stages of the battle that would become known as Jutland were now complete. The badly battered High Seas Fleet was suffering and Admiral Hipper knew that his Battlecruisers were now useless as a fighting force Admiral Sheer was determined to return back to dock as fast as possible. His Route of Choice would be Horn Reef, and he requested Zepplin Air cover to scout out the Reef before he arrived. This Signal would be the message that would doom him.

From 19:00 to sunset at about 20:40 the High Seas Fleet suffered 45 Hits on their Capital ships and the British only suffered 4 in return, now with the Sunset Jellicoe was getting ready to take up his Night Cruising formation, he would not engage at night his fleet was not as well equipped for it as the High Seas Fleet.

Room 40 Admiralty 19:00 to 21:00

The Admiralty was getting increasingly frustrated with Jellicoe's tactics during the battle so far he was not being aggresive enough they felt, he could have caused the total rout of the High Seas Fleet if he had turned into the torpedo attack rather than turned against. There was also some great concern with the performance of the Battlecruisers with the loss of 3 for so far only some cruisers lost on the side of the Germans.

Room 40 however, intercepted the message for the request of the air search of Horn's Reach together with a miss placed plot by the Germans of their current location, course and speed, these would be passed onto Jellicoe just 45 minutes after they were intercepted, decoded and translated, Jellicoe with the intelligence ordered a change in his course and speed to match where the German's were going to be headed and just meanwhile would only have 15 minutes to ponder them when HMS Erin's 3 Search Lights would shine upon the bow of the SMS Westfalen just 1 mile distant off her Stern and 4 13.5" Shells would slam into the German Battleship.

The Confusing and messy night battle of Jutland was about to begin, and it was to have bloody results for both sides.
 
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voodoomaster

North Sea, Grand Fleet & High Seas Fleet 21:00 to 23:00

Jellicoe's standing orders for the night were simple, avoid engagement with the High Seas Fleet unless they had no other choice. The Grand Fleet was less adept at fighting at night, they had only an average of 6 search lights per ship and had no Star shells. At 21:40 Jellicoe ordered night steaming positions, with the 2nd Battle Squadron taking the Western Most Flank, the 4th Battle Squadron the centre and the 1st Battle Squadron the eastern most flank with the Queen Elizabeth Class at their rear. The three light cruisers squadrons were positioned to the north, east and south of the fleet while Beatty's forces were stationed to the south west while the Destroyers were positioned at the rear of the fleet.

The intelligence that Jellicoe recieved at about 21:45 from the admiralty indicated that Sheer was planning to return via Horns Reef which was SSE from Jellicoe's current location. Jellicoe's plan was simple, attempt to avoid the HSF fleet in the dark and keep west of them. Sunrise was due at about 03:30GMT and if the Grand Fleet was west of the High Seas Fleet then the Grand Fleet would have an hour to engage the High Seas Fleet in the twilight hours before sunrise proper. This Latest intelligence however, prompted by good intelligence from the Admiralty earlier in the day caused Jellicoe to turn his Fleet to a bearing of 120 degrees as opposed to 170 degrees that they hd been sailing and reduce speed to 12kts. 20 minutes later Jellicoe ordered a turn back to 170 degrees and speed back up to 15kts.

Sheer's plans however, were more critical his plan was to steam across the rear of the Grand Fleet which according to his own intelligence of the British Deployment should just consist of light cruisers and destroyers. The Best speed of his damaged Battleships was about 12kts Hipper's Battlecruisers were in an even worse state. His Forces were headed by the SMS Westfalen with his more battered vanguard earlier in the day towards the centre of his long line of ships. His light cruisers were positioned to port and starboard of his line but also cruicially there was one squadron ahead, the battered 2nd Scouting cruisers whom had lost one of their number earlier in the day.

Hipper meanwhile had borded the Moltke and upon taking a moment to take stock of the situtation ordered his battlecruisers ahead of the Fleet, only the Moltke and Seydlitz could follow his orders as Defflinger and Von de Tann were too badly damaged to get up to speed, they did try and catch up with their speeding commander who was off to join the 2nd Scouting Cruisers but once they came abrest of Sheer's Flagship he ordered them back to the rear.
As Hipper Joined the 2nd Scouting cruisers the SMS Westfalen had now unknown to her captain steered straight into the lines of the 2nd Battle Squadron Captain Stanley of HMS Erin could see the dark shapes of the High Seas Fleet just 1 mile to his North West. If he did not act then this leading ship was going to cut into the Grandfleet somewhere in the middle of the second devision. He did not however see the ships of the 2nd Scouting which were now being joined by Hipper's ships.
The time was now 22:27

Finally Cpt Stanley decided he had to take matters into his own hands, already at battlestations he ordered all 10 of his guns to train at distant shape of the leading battleship, and sent a signal to the fleet immediatly. 30 seconds later 4 searchlights lit up the bow of the SMS Westfalen followed by a flash and roar of 10 13.5" guns. Three massive explosions lit up the night sky as the anton turret of the Nassau class dreadnought was blown off its mounting by 2 shells the 3rd shell smashed just below the bridge killing her captain and the 4th entered below the waterline.

The next 3 minutes were utter chaos as the other 8 ships of the 2nd Battlesquadron turned on what search lights they had upon the three leading battleships of the German line. Hipper's two battlecruisers suddenly found themselves less than 200 yards away from the British line and as the crews of the light cruisers now joined by the two larger battlecruisers attempted to load torpedos and dodge the massive battleships. Hipper made an error, he ordered Starshell's fired from the Moltke which although lit up the Grand Fleet enough for everyone to see, also lit himself up and the van of the High Seas Fleet.

The first the Grand Fleet knew of the presense of the light cruisers and battlecruisers was the firing of the starshells, the next was when HMS Ajax rammed the SMS Frankfurt, cutting the light cruiser in two. the Moltke passed behind the Ajax and straight into the waiting guns of HMS Royal Oak. The Revenge Class battleship would prove that the 15" Gun was deadly regardless, be it on the Fast Queens or their Slower Half Sister R's. 8 15" Shells slammed into Hipper's in quick succession together with some 12" and 13.5" from the Iron Duke.

The contiuned fire would also cause several large holes in HMS Ajax.
Sheer realising he had blundered into the Grand Fleet again ordered a full battleturn again together with a torpedo attack. Jellicoe meanwhile ordered the Grand Fleet to turn away as soon as it was evident Sheer was turning and also ordered his destroyers into a torpedo attack from their position at the rear. SMS Seydlitz was now useless with no guns left she did something no one expected least of all her Captain, she rammed HMS Orion and as the burn battlecruiser and battleship were forced out of line HMS Monarch trying to avoid the two burning ships Rammed the stern of the Seydlitz ripping through her after sections and ripping a hole in her own side.

The Remainder of the 2nd Scouting Cruisers were subject to heavy fire from the secondary armaments of the Grand Fleet and pretty soon they were burning wrecks, they did however get off 5 torpedo's and scored two hits. One on HMS Royal Oak that did not cause much damage and the other on HMS Benbow which would force her back home the same as HMS Marlborough.
By this point Beatty was turning back on himself his heavy caliber guns firing at the distant fires and star shells, his guns landing equally amongst the High Seas Fleet and the Grand Fleet.

The Grand Fleet and the High Seas Fleet were now in utter confusion the rear half of Sheer's fleet made the battle turn successfully the forward half did not. The SMS Nassau collided with her Sister Westfalen leaving the pair of them sitting ducks to the combined fire of the Grand Fleet.
it was now 22:43

The Destroyers had finally made contact with both fleets and now both sets of capital ships were fighting for their survival. The Grand Fleet turned as best they could with their damaged ships and increased speed to maximum while the High Seas Fleet rear also escaped. The Light Cruisers and Destroyers on both sides suffered heavy casualties and the British let off a total of 48 torpedos and score 11 Hits on the High Seas Fleet (Although 7 of these were against the immobilised Nassau & Westfalen.) two did strike the engine compartment of the SMS Helgoland reducing her operational speed to just 5kts the others were single strikes on the crippled SMS Rheinland and the damaged SMS Kaiser. One additional torpedo would also strike the HMS Falmouth as she came up with Beatty's forces.

The Germans fired off 27 Torpedos and scored 14 hits in total, however 7 torpedo's struck the dying Moltke and Seydlitz as they were lying in the middle of the Grand Fleet. 3 More struck the immobile HMS Orion with the Seydlitz still immobile nearby. 1 Struck the damaged HMS Monarch. And 2 Struck HMS Vanguard & one on the cruiser Boadacia.

As the two fleets seperated for the last time that night, the 2nd Battle Squadron had suffered 14 hits while had dealt out 34 in return (9 of those were due to accurate early fire from HMS Erin)

The High Seas Fleet had lost 2 Battlecruisers (Admiral Hipper was picked up by a british destroyer wounded but alive) 3 Dreadnoughts (Nassau & Westfalen the Helgoland would be scuttled later that night when it was clear she would be found and caught at a top speed of just 5kts hundreds of miles away from home.) 4 Light Cruisers and 13 Destroyers/Torpedo Boats.

The Grand Fleet had lost 1 Dreadnought (HMS Orion although they did not know it yet but HMS Vanguard badly damaged would not make it back home she would sink just 45 miles from rosyth.) 3 Light Cruisers (all 3 of them to grand fleet fire thanks to Beatty) and 13 Destroyers (again mostly to friendly fire when they moved back to the rear of the Grand fleet)

The Night engagements were over for now, but the Battle of Jutland would move into a second day with their two commanders badly shaken by the nights events.

The Time was now 23:00 and at the Admiralty and Room 40 work was now becoming more frantic than ever
 

voodoomaster

Room 40 Admiralty 22:45 to 22:50

Captain Hall, the Director of Naval Intelligence was sitting around a large map of the North Sea with the locations of the two fleet’s course and speed located upon them. It was obvious to Hall that there was going to be a clash and was about to send a signal to Jellicoe and Beatty when a signalman looked up.

“Sir message from the Erin, engaging German Fleet 2 miles off stern to port.”

“Thank you, go and wake the First Lord and everyone else.”

The messenger by the door ran off to wake the relevant people while the signalman watched in worry as message after message was beginning to buzz in through the wireless. Captain Hall meanwhile felt ill, he had felt ill earlier in the day as his old ship Queen Mary was lost to the Germans. Now he felt ill and old at the same time, in a night engagement all bets were off.

He looked to the door as Vice Admiral Oliver strode in looking alert and looked over the charts and looked at his successor as director of naval intelligence.

“The Fleet has engaged the Germans again? At Night?”

“Yes sir, looks like the Germans ran into Jellicoe, the Erin opened fire first before he broke the 2nd battle squadron’s lines. Excuse me Sir now that you are here i am off to see Room 40 and find out what the Germans are saying.”

Vice Admiral Oliver watched as Hall walked briskly out the room disappearing off to where the intelligence agents and civilian decoders would be working hard.

Room 40 Admiralty 23:00 to 04:00 (June 1st)

The Admiralty was abuzz as officers and men were woken up from their quarters to be put back to work again. The reports that were coming in from the fleet were grim at best, not disastrous but Grim. HMS Orion was sinking fast now torpedoed and rammed by the Seydlitz and the Moltke had also rolled over and sunk. The important fact now had to be established how bad was the fleet battered and could it fight again at light.

So far the Grand Fleet had lost 1 Dreadnought and 3 Battlecruisers with 6 additional dreadnoughts (Warspite, Marlborough, Vanguard, Monarch, Conqueror & Thunderer) crippled and limping home on their own in effect half the entire 2nd Battle Squadron was out of action. In short so far the Grand Fleet had lost a quarter of their ships to damage or sinking.

The intelligence that was coming in from Room 40 however, gave some confidence to the admirals as Cpt Hall walked back in with raw signal intercepts. The High Seas Fleet had lost 2 Dreadnoughts with another ordered to be scuttled and at least 2 battlecruisers possibly 3. With nigh all the Dreadnoughts reporting heavy damage and the battlecruisers were in effect dead weights.

The intelligence also came in that Sheer was determined to still go by Horn’s Reef, believing that he had forced Jellicoe south. His current course was due east at 9kts the best speed of his most damaged ships. Jellicoe was currently steaming south south west at 15kts, 35 miles away based on the German’s last location, course and speed.

If Jellicoe turned east in the next half an hour he would be able to cross the German’s line of retreat once again and this time he could defeat them a blow that could change the war. But what would the cost be to the grand fleet? So far neither the British nor the Germans could claim a victory yet as they had lost roughly the same amount of ships.

At 01:20 the Admiralty sent Jellicoe the location of Sheer his intention to still use Horn’s Reef to return to home and orders to deal as much damage to the High Seas Fleet as possible
.
The Sun would rise in about 3 hours time, with Jellicoe to the west of the High Seas Fleet currently if he moved fast enough he would be able to engage the High Seas Fleet in the dark of night in the west while the lightening sky in the east lit up his foe.
 

voodoomaster

Thanks for the support Guy's i know i am a bit slow but please do bare with me

The North Sea, Grand & High Seas Fleet 00:00 to 04:25

Admiral Sheer had been badly shaken by his mistake earlier in the night, his plan to sneak across the rear of the grand fleet had failed. The faulty intelligence that had been given him of the speed of the grand fleet had caused him to run his van straight into the middle of the grand fleet and his van had taken a pounding as a result. He had lost Hipper, 2 Battlecruisers with the Lutzow now also abandoned and scuttled; 3 Dreadnoughts and an entire scouting division of light cruisers together with 2 destroyer flotillas. These were losses that could not easily be replaced.

Sheer now had two options, the british were obviously going to steam south to try and cut him off from the Jade. He could steam north and around Denmark or turn again south for horns reef and risk another night engagement with the grand fleet.

In order to buy himself time he ordered the fleet to steam due east and ordered a damage report from each of his ships.
At 00:45 he finally had the facts in front of him, of his 13 remaining dreadnaughts only 4 were fully battle operational (Prince Luitpold, Kaiserin, Ostfriesland and his own flagship) the 4 Markgraf’s had taken a battering earlier in the day but their engines were still ok even if they had been shot to bits. The other 2 Helgoland class were battered but again still mostly operational, the Rhineland, Posen & Kaiser were in the worst shape all three of them having fallen back with the two surviving battlecruisers due to numerous torpedo and gunfire damage with a top speed of only around 10kts currently. Of his entire fleet only the Pre Dreadnoughts were still fully operational as a division.

Sheer knew that he could not go north now, he would most likely lose his 5 worst damaged ships by the time it would take him to get back to Kiel. Sheer ordered the his 4 least damaged dreadnoughts to the front of his line, followed by the Markgraf class followed by his most battered ships and then the pre dreadnoughts & the two operational Helgolands covering his rear. He also signalled the admiralty his intention to turn straight to Horn Reef once his redeployment was complete.

At 02:00 he turned south towards the Reef.

Jellicoe meanwhile had a similar problem; since the intelligence from the admiralty arrived he had ordered the fleet east towards the reef, but his question was deployment. The 2nd Battlesquadron was at half strength and was in no position to lead. In the end he ordered the 1st Battle Squadron with the massive HMS Revenge at their head to take the lead of the British Battle line when it was deployed, followed by the 4th Battlesquadron, the remnants of the 2nd and finally the 5th at the rear. Beatty was ordered 10 miles south of Grand Fleet and the 2nd Cruiser squadron took position to the North east by 12 miles.

At 03:45 with light beginning to emerge on the eastern horizon Jellicoe ordered the fleet to be deployed as he continued to steam for 35 miles north of Horn Reef. At 04:00 with the light of the dawn now beginning to completely light the eastern skies, The 2nd Cruiser Squadron sighted the rear lines of the High Seas Fleet. With the leading ship in the German Line, the Ostfriesland being exactly level with the advancing grand fleet battle line.

Jellicoe was in two minds suddenly, he had planned to cross the German’s T but instead he had been crossed himself, for 15 minutes he pondered what to do as the German battle line to be visible and his own advantage of being in the dark began to fade. Finally the 2nd Cruiser squadron were spotted by the pre dreadnought battleships and opened fire on the 4 old armour cruisers.

At 04:25 the decision was taken out of his hands as the massive 15” guns of the Revenge opened up on the Fredric de Grosse at extreme range.

The final phase of what would be called the Battle of Jutland, Horns Reef had begun.
 

sharlin

Banned
Very well written the confusion of the night battle was superbly written and conveyed it perfectly. A terribly bruising experience for the germans but not without losses and quite possibly what would have happened if the two fleets had met properly at night.
 

voodoomaster

Thanks for the support guys again, this last bit of Jutland was the hardest to write as its a challenge writing for a bit that never really happened. I hope i portrayed it as bloody as a WW1 sea battle could be.


North Sea, the Grand Fleet & High Seas Fleet 04:25 to 11:00

Admiral Sheer was now feeling like a broken man as he watched the grand fleet open fire as the dawn broke behind his line. Although this time at least he had crossed the T rather than be crossed himself, his battered fleet though was still heavily outnumbered. This time he would hold back his destroyers until his lines were passed. He ordered his fleet to make best possible speed for home, already his un damaged ships were ahead of the grand fleet.

Jellicoe meanwhile ordered the Grand Fleet to increase speed, and he ordered Beatty to cross through the German lines, already HMS Revenge had found her range and as the grand fleet increased speed the first 15” shell slammed into the bow of Sheer’s flagship just as the German fleet opened fire on the Grand Fleet at extreme range.

The 2nd Cruiser squadron however was under the concentrated fire of the entire line of pre dreadnoughts together with the Thuringen & Oldenburg and they were suffering badly, already HMS Shannon had blown up and HMS Minotaur and Hampshire were all ablaze while HMS Cochrane so far had dodged the fire so far and landed a single 7.5” Shell upon the SMS Hannover with little damage.

At 04:40 The German Fleet began to open fire upon the advancing Grand Fleet, at roughly the same time the guns of the 12” armed Vanguard that followed behind the leading ship HMS Revenge also opened up, targeting the leading 4 Dreadnoughts who were now beginning to pull away from the rest of the damaged High Seas Fleet. Admiral Beatty and his Battlecruiser Squadron was now also firing at the advancing German Van, attempting to punch through the German Lines and launch a torpedo attack, but in order to cause some problems for the German Fleet Beatty ordered a destroyer flotilla forward in advance of the High Seas Fleet to try and turn them back into the advancing Grand Fleet.

The Rear of the High Seas Fleet had now finally finished off the 2nd Cruiser Squadron with HMS Cochrane running at full speed out of range leaving her burning kin to their fate. They now turned their guns at extreme range towards the advancing Grand Fleet and were rewarded with the Guns of the Queen Elizabeth’s who were at the rear of the Grand Fleet returning fire at extreme range as well.

By 04:50 the Battleships of the Grand Fleet had suffered 15 Hits (6 on HMS Revenge taking out her A Turret) and dealt out just 6 in return (4 from Revenge on Fredric de Grosse) The range at this point had closed from about 12 miles to just 7 miles and Sheer was about to unleash his destroyers when the 7th Hit would remove Sheer from the picture.

Fredric De Gross was hit by a 15” shell just under her bridge, killing half the Bridge Crew and knocking out all communication equipment. Admiral Sheer himself was spun around and knocked out, his left arm mangled by shrapnel. The Leading ships of the High Seas Fleet had by now opened up a 2 ½ mile gap between their damaged middle and with their commander out of action the gap continued to open as the grand fleet closed.

Admiral Beatty in his battlecruisers saw the gap developing and went for it, increasing to the best speed he could his forces made straight for the gap in the German lines that had developed from the speed of the leading 8 German Dreadnoughts.

As both sides traded fire it became apparent to Jellicoe at 05:00 that Sheer was simply waiting for him to close and then unleash his destroyers at close range unaware of his counterpart’s wounds he finally made ready to issue the orders to turn North and open his broadsides at the German middle and rear echelons. Seconds later he saw a massive explosion from near Sheer’s fleet, followed by seconds later another explosion from First Battlesquadron.

HMS Princess Royal had blown up, struck by 12” shells on her Q turret by the Koing, the 3rd Ship in his line of battlecruisers, it had become clear to Beatty as he watched the Lion’s sister ship tear herself apart that the Battlecruisers were a dead end development. He ordered his destroyers to make smoke to his south, and ordered them to Torpedo the German Vanguard, he had now all but crossed the T of the rest of the German as his Battlecruisers unleashed their own torpedo’s north towards the advancing Dreadnought Kaiser.

HMS Colossus had also suffered a massive magazine explosion when her P turret was penetrated, she had not disintegrated like her Battlecruiser cousins but a huge hole had been ripped into her side and bottom. The turret itself was hurled into the air, landing upon the unfortunate destroyer HMS Owl sinking her, within 4 minutes the Colossus had capsized and was going to the bottom.

As the following ships turned to avoid the sinking Colossus Jellicoe ordered his turn North as Admiral Behncke took command of the High Seas Fleet.

Admiral Behncke knew that the damaged middle of the High Seas Fleet could not be saved, he had to save as much as the fleet as possible, he ordered a torpedo attack on the Grand Fleet as they began their turn together with a Battleturn for the Pre Dreadnoughts and Thuringen & Oldenburg with orders for them to make for Kiel, he ordered the Battleships Kaiser, Posen & Rheinland together with the battlecruisers Von De Tann & Defflinger to ram the nearest dreadnought.

Beatty had made it through the German lines and was now east of them by a mile, and he had opened fire upon the nearest Dreadnought SMS Kaiser. By 05:10 the pre dreadnoughts had completed their battleturn and were now heading north at their best speed of 16kts, their two Dreadnought cousin’s speeding well ahead at around 20kts.

In sight of the German torpedo attack and that he had already advanced half way up the German line Jellicoe ordered the fleet to turn away from the advancing German destroyers, save for the 5th Battlesquadron who were ordered to pursue the fleeing pre dreadnoughts at best speed.

As Jellicoe turned away to the West at 05:15, the grand fleet had inflicted 79 hits on High Seas Fleet and suffered 51 in return, the number of hits had been reduced dramatically as the German Van and Rear disengaged leaving him fighting only 5 crippled capital ships.

He still had to dodge the torpedos however, and the Iron Duke shook as one plowed into her midships as she made her turn. 4 Slammed into the battered HMS St Vincent and within half an hour she would keel over and sink.

SMS Kaiser however, was still not finished, the newest of the Dreadnoughts that was crippled she was not going down, two turrets were still operational as she fired shells at the Battlecruisers that were now circling her at 22kts plus. The SMS Posen, Rheinland, Defflinger & Von De Tann had taken dozens more hits and were now little more than burning wrecks as British destroyers torpedoed them at leisure barley able to make 7kts. The Captain of the Kaiser knew he was finished, with little ammunition left he ordered scuttling charges set. When at 05:20 one of his 12” shells slammed into HMS Indomitable amidships, followed by thick brown smoke coming from her Q Turret, and then a massive explosion as the battlecruiser exploded, her armour had been penetrated and the magazine had blown.

Satisfied the Captain of the Kaiser ordered his crew to abandon ship as Beatty turned away north to chase the fleeing Pre Dreadnoughts with the 5th Battlesquadron.

The chasing of the Pre Dreadnoughts was to be something different however, Admiral Mauve upon seeing that it was the 5th Battlesquadron together with the battlecruisers and lighter ships that were giving chase knew that he could not out run them or out gun them. Ordering his escorting destroyers and light cruisers to go with the faster dreadnoughts, he ordered his forces to scatter and attempt to make it back to German on their own under the cover of a smoke screen.

The Tactic worked as the 5th Battlesquadron was forced to split up and chase shadows, but in the end only 1 Pre Dreadnought SMS Schlesien would make it home.

SMS Deutschland was found by Beatty with the Lion & Tiger and sunk at 09:25. SMS Hessen was never lost by HMS Barham and she smashed her to bits before turning for home by 07:30. SMS Pommern would escape but be unfortunately lost when she struck a mine when going through a German Mine Field at 14:45 that day. SMS Hannover was sunk by HMS Valiant & HMS Malaya at 08:20. The SMS Schleswig-Holstein ran into the Grand Fleet again at 10:30 and was sunk by destroyers and supporting gun fire from HMS Agincourt, these would be the final shots of the Battle of Jutland.

The Result was a Victory for the British, albeit a bloody one, with over half the Grand Fleet battle damaged moderately or above, some ships would never make it home.

For the High Seas Fleet, although it had landed some heavy punches it had not secured a knockout blow and a full third of the High Seas Fleet had been lost.

But as both fleets pulled away the full grasp of the battle would not become clear to the Germans for some days. To Room 40 however, they knew within hours.

Summary:

German Losses:
6 Dreadnoughts
5 Battlecruisers
5 Pre Dreadnoughts
6 Light Cruisers
23 Destroyers

British Losses:
4 Dreadnoughts
5 Battlecruisers
6 Armoured Cruisers
9 Light Cruisers
22 Destroyers
 

sharlin

Banned
Dear lord, although the odds were roughly even, with the RN and RM suffering horrific casualties due to ships exploding and skinking the RM is a spent force and its a british victory, all be it a horrifically bloody one.
 
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