I attempted to read the thread, but gave up at the end of the first page, so this has probably been said already.Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty's battlecruiser squadrons were sunk at the Battle of Jutland , with only loss on the German side being 1 BattleCruiser and some minor ships .
The Battlecruiser Fleet under David Beatty: six battlecruisers, four fast Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, 14 light cruisers and 27 destroyers was sunk as they ran into the German High sea Fleet and the German Battlecruiser squadrons.
How Bad would this setback be for the British government and the moral of the Royal Navy .
I think the Germans couldn't sink the entire BCF. IIRC Lion had a lucky escape early on in the Battle Cruiser Action. If she had blown up like Indefatigable and Queen Mary I think there's a good chance that New Zealand, Princess Royal and Tiger would have been sunk before Evan-Thomas came to the rescue. Depending upon how quickly that happened Hipper might have had time to pick off some of the cruisers and destroyers as they fled.
However, after that the course of the battle is likely to have changed beyond recognition. There's probably a different Race to the North because Evan-Thomas probably covers the retreat of the BCF's surviving cruisers and destroyers rather than being led by Hipper into the main body of the High Sea's Fleet. If Hipper decides to chase them the HSF will be further behind when he meets the Grand Fleet. Then the GF might be able to concentrate its fire on Hipper's battle cruisers and knock them all out before Scheer arrives. Furthermore as Scheer is further behind and further south he might decide that Hipper is beyond help and turn back while he can. Plus as all the ships are likely to be in different positions he might not find himself trapped between the GF and his escape routes. Though this probably means that the British don't loose the Invincible and 3 armoured cruisers.
However, if Scheer decides to quit while he is ahead and order Hipper to break off the chase then he can return to Germany with no ships sunk and others less badly damaged than OTL, while the British have lost 6 out of 10 battle cruisers (that is including HMAS Australia which didn't take part in the battle) instead of 3 out of 10.
The only way I think that they could have sunk the Queen Elizabeths is if Hindenburg had been completed in time to participate in the battle of Jutland so that Beatty's 6 battle cruisers were wiped out even faster (which would enable Hipper to pick off more cruisers and destroyers too) and the Germans got some lucky hits on the 5th Battle Squadron before Evan-Thomas realised that he was outnumbered.
The Germans had still, "Assaulted their gaoler but were still in gaol," but they were in much better shape for a second assault having no ships sunk and none seriously damaged. While the British had lost more capital ships and still had to rectify the faults that the battle had revealed. I think the Germans would use this temporary advantage for more raids on the British East Coast. IOTL the Germans did attempt a raid on Sunderland on 19th August 1916.
I think it's unlikely that all 27 of the BCF's destroyers would have been sunk. However, if they had been that might effect the U-boat war in 1917. IOTL destroyers were taken from the Grand Fleet to escort convoys. ITTL there may be no destroyers to spare. Edit. It would have been a net loss of 19 destroyers because the Grand Fleet lost 8 destroyers in the OTL battle including 2 during the battle cruiser action.
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