The Basket
Senior Master Sergeant
- 3,712
- Jun 27, 2007
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Oddly they turned to the U-Boat next.
Had the Royal Navy operated in 100% then things could have been different
Beatty should have been keelhauled after Jutland. But no he gets promoted.
Go figure.
Well the battle-cruiser traded protection for speed and paid the bill at Jutland.
The battle of Jutland was a material victory for the German simply because the Germans had better metallurgists and chemists. The German shells had less tendency to break up on impact and their explosives didn't detonate prematurely. More importantly their propellant was far more stable. I can't think of any German warship that blew up at anchor like Vanguard, Bulwak and Natal. At Dogger Bank the aft two turrets of Seydlitz burned out completely without exploding. The upper class twits who ran Britain were more interested in learning Latin and Greek than developing an understanding of science (Charles Rolls was a notable exception). The German educational emphasis on mechanics and science paid off during the war. The fact that the upper class twits gave away the chemical industry to Germany well certainly did help. Giving away vital industries to rival countries never pays.
The battle of Jutland was a material victory for the German simply because the Germans had better metallurgists and chemists. The German shells had less tendency to break up on impact and their explosives didn't detonate prematurely. More importantly their propellant was far more stable. I can't think of any German warship that blew up at anchor like Vanguard, Bulwak and Natal. At Dogger Bank the aft two turrets of Seydlitz burned out completely without exploding. The upper class twits who ran Britain were more interested in learning Latin and Greek than developing an understanding of science (Charles Rolls was a notable exception). The German educational emphasis on mechanics and science paid off during the war. The fact that the upper class twits gave away the chemical industry to Germany well certainly did help. Giving away vital industries to rival countries never pays.
Sir David Beatty was the epitome of upper-class twitdom. He owed his position more to connections rather than merit. His upper-class distain for science and technology manifested itself in his cavalier attitude to gunnery training and safety practices. This attitude was quite pervasive throughout the navy. Engineers were 'Greasers' who never have much of a chance for promotion.I firmly believe that this is flawed in one very important way. The Battlecruisers blew up mainly because of unsafe and poor handling of the charges designed to speed up the rate of fire. Had the safe procedures been in place then most of the battlecruisers would have survived. This is often overlooked.
The German Battlecruisers were more accurate because the British Battlecruisers didn't get the Gunnery practice that the rest of the fleet received. HMS Warspite and her sister ships were only present at the battle because one of the Battlecruiser fleets had been detached for Gunnery practice, and they were the temporary replacements. As Main fleet modern fast battleships (the WW2 Iowa of the time) they were of course much better protected than the average Battlecruiser but also followed the main fleet operating procedures regarding the charges.
I do agree with the comments about Admiral Beatty. When he famously said 'there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships. He should have said there seems to be something wrong with my bloody leadership. His appalling tactics, emphasis on rate of fire, lack of Gunnery practice and dreadful communication skills were evident in the final butchers bill, which had little to do with the design of the ships themselves.
Yes they had extremely talented professionals such as Jellicoe but that was counter balanced by the Beattys, the Arbuthnots , the BeresfordsThe Royal Navy was not a preserve of "upper class twits"; its officer corps had been serious professionals since at least the mid-18th Century. The British Army and Royal Navy (less effectively) also had paths for talented other ranks to progress. One problem was* that political favor and influence were highly important to promotion, leading to people with the right connections and social skills advancing more rapidly than less connected, equally or even more competent peers.
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* Political influence doesn't just mean influence outside the military; being related to a high-ranking officer is likely to help.