Jutland accounts

[L.V.]

What would be good books with first hand accounts from the Battle of Jutland? Everything goes: British, German, officers, men, battleships, torpedo boats.

 

Surely most general works about the battle have first hand accounts in them, but I'm looking for the one's that are either one man's memoirs or solely comprise of accounts written by different individuals.

 

[swerve]

Can't help, I'm afraid.

 

My grandfather's oldest brother was there, but didn't see any of the battle. The view from the stokehold of HMS Agincourt wasn't exactly good. To him, it was unremitting hard work in stifling heat punctuated by the guns being fired, which shook 'em up even down there.

 

He didn't like talking about it.

Edited November 18, 2011 by swerve

[BP]

Can't help, I'm afraid.

 

My grandfather's oldest brother was there, but didn't see any of the battle. The view from the stokehold of HMS Agincourt wasn't exactly good. To him, it was unremitting hard work in stifling heat punctuated by the guns being fired, which shook 'em up even down there.

 

He didn't like talking about it.

 

Wow.

 

That sounds like one of Dante's Circles of Hell. I couldn't even imagine the conditions. My hat's off to him.

[TRYTRY]

battle of jutland, 30th may to 1st june 1916, official despatches with appendices.

[Ken Estes]

Wow.

 

That sounds like one of Dante's Circles of Hell. I couldn't even imagine the conditions. My hat's off to him.

Continues with WWII, although firerooms are not so hellish when oil-fired boilers are in use. On USS Moale, a Sumner class I served on briefly in 1968, the forward fireroom was 110 degress, the after one [sandwiched between the engine rooms], 10 degrees higher. The ground soldier at least has some benefit of seeing what is going on, although being in bunkers under heavy arty fire is a near equivalent. For the enginering gang, working the machinery and not knowing when a shell or torpedo might rip the hull open remains almost unique in sustained combat terror.

 

As for first person Jutland accounts, they would be very limited in scope and most accounts make little mention of any one them as significant. Andrew Gordon's excellent The Rules of the Game : Jutland and British Naval Command contains not only his usual succinct and pithy analysis, but also many individual vignettes, such as where some of the royals served during the battle. I just checked Amazon.com though, and I am horrified as to its cost now that it is out of print. Mine will need to go under lock & chain!

Edited December 2, 2011 by Ken Estes

[swerve]

Wow.

 

That sounds like one of Dante's Circles of Hell. I couldn't even imagine the conditions. My hat's off to him.

Yeah. I'm told he was very pleased to be transferred to a sub chaser for the last year of the war.

 

All this is from his daughters. He died when I was an infant.

[TonyE]

Can't help, I'm afraid.

 

My grandfather's oldest brother was there, but didn't see any of the battle. The view from the stokehold of HMS Agincourt wasn't exactly good. To him, it was unremitting hard work in stifling heat punctuated by the guns being fired, which shook 'em up even down there.

 

He didn't like talking about it.

 

The Gin Palace is one of the meanest looking battleships ever made, atleast in therms of a broadside.

[picton]

What would be good books with first hand accounts from the Battle of Jutland? Everything goes: British, German, officers, men, battleships, torpedo boats.

 

Surely most general works about the battle have first hand accounts in them, but I'm looking for the one's that are either one man's memoirs or solely comprise of accounts written by different individuals.

 

 

 

Here's a list of published primary sources from people who were actually there: they are mostly old, way out of print volumes (hopefully you are on good terms with your librarian!):

 

"The Fighting at Jutland" H. W. Fawcett and G. W. W. Hooper, eds. (London, Macmillan, 1921) -- compendium of first-hand British accounts

 

"Falklands, Jutland and the Bight" by Cdr the Hon Barry Bingham (London, Murray, 1919) -- memoirs of a notable British destroyer captain

 

"A Rough Record" Admiral Sir William Goodenough (London, Hutchinson, 1943) -- memoirs of one of the British Admirals

 

"Kiel and Jutland" Cdr Georg von Hase (London, Skeffington, 1921) -- gunnery officer of SMS Derfflinger

 

"War, Mutiny and the Revolution in the German Navy: The World War I Diary of Seaman Richard Stumpf" (Daniel Horn, Ed.) (Brunswick NJ, Rutgers University Press, 1967)

 

"The Grand Fleet 1914-16" Admiral of the Fleet Earl Jellicoe (London, Cassell, 1919) -- C-in-C of the British Feet

 

"A North Sea Diary 1914-18" Stephen King-Hall (London, Newnes, 1936) -- an officer in HMS Southampton

 

"Jutland" Stuart Legg, ed. (London, Hart-Davis, 1966) -- compendium of eye-witness accounts from both sides

 

"300,000 Sea Miles: An autobiography" Admiral Sir Henry Pelly (London, Chatto & Windus, 1938) -- Captain of HMS Tiger

 

"Mein Leben" Großadmiral Erich Raeder (Tübingen, Schlichtenmayer, 1956-7, 2 vols) -- Hitler's Naval Commander was Hipper's Chief of Staff at the battle

[L.V.]

Thanks

[DB]

I have "Jutland 1916 Death in the Grey Wastes" Nigel Steel & Peter Hart.

 

It comprises a general narrative of the events with extensive quotations from eyewitnesses, from Jellicoe to 1st Class Boy Richard Hogg and everyone in between, from both sides.

 

Its description of the events correlates well with that from "Rules of the Game", but I'm not competent to venture an opinion on its overall historical worth - I enjoyed it.

[L.V.]

What's the approximate ratio between eye-witness accounts and the author's narrative of the events in "Jutland 1916 Death in the Grey Wastes"?

[DB]

There is more quote than narrative. Maybe 60:40, with some parts dipping below 50:50. The book cost me merely £6.99 a number of years ago so, if available still, it shouldn't break the bank.

[L.V.]

Thanks again. It's available over here for €6.25, so yeah, not too bad.

[Unreal John]

The Fighting at Jutland: the Personal Experiences of 45 Sailors of the Royal Navy at the Great Battle at Sea, 1916, During the First World War (H. W. Fawcett and G. W. W. Hooper) is the exact book you asked for. About 90% eyewitness narrative and 10% connective material. Long accounts have been cut up so that the text runs chronologically. Originally published 1921, still in print.

 

Sorry to find the thread so late.

[L.V.]

Very good, thanks. That might be my Christmas present from myself.