Order of battle at Jutland


This is the complete order of battle for the Battle of Jutland fought between 31 May and 1 June 1916. The battle involved 250 warships of the British and German navies, and, in terms of combined tonnage of vessels engaged, was the largest naval battle in history.

Summary

British forces

Grand Fleet

The Grand Fleet was the main body of the British Home Fleets in 1916, based at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands and Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth in Scotland.

Battleships

The Grand Fleet had a total of 32 Dreadnought and Super-Dreadnought battleships available for use by the time of Jutland. Of these, 28 took part, organized into four Battle Squadrons. The 24 vessels of 2nd, 4th and 1st Battle Squadrons formed the main body of Fleet, and are listed below order from van to rear following their deployment to engage the German fleet, 6:30pm 31 May 1916.
2nd Battle Squadron
1st Division: VAdm Jerram
2nd Division: RAdm Arthur Cavenagh Leveson, C.B.
Fleet Flagship
4th Battle Squadron : VAdm Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, 1st Baronet, K.C.B., C.V.O., C.M.G.; flag commander: Cdr William Milbourne James

3rd Division: RAdm Sir Alexander Ludovic Duff, K.C.B., C.V.O., C.M.G.
4th Division: VAdm Sturdee
1st Battle Squadron : VAdm Sir Cecil Burney, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.; Chief of Staff : Cdre Edmund Percy Fenwick George Grant; flag lieutenant: Lt Cdr James Buller Kitson

Fifth Division: RAdm Ernest Frederick Augustus Gaunt, C.M.G.
Sixth Division: VAdm Burney
Two squadrons of Armoured Cruisers and one squadron of Light Cruisers were attached to the main body of the Grand Fleet to act as a scouting force.

1st Cruiser Squadron : RAdm Sir Robert Keith Arbuthnot, 4th Baronet, K.C.B., M.V.O.
2nd Cruiser Squadron : RAdm Herbert Leopold Heath, M.V.O.
4th Light Cruiser Squadron: Cdre Charles Edward Le Mesurier
Light cruisers attached for repeating visual signals
Other ships under direct command of the Commander-in-Chief
The main body of the Grand Fleet was escorted by 46 destroyers and flotilla leaders organized into three flotillas.
4th Destroyer Flotilla : Capt Charles John Wintour
first half-flotilla/4th D.F.
Group 8 /4th D.F.
second half-flotilla/4th D.F.
3rd Division/4th D.F.
4th Division/4th D.F.
11th Destroyer Flotilla
first half-flotilla/11th D.F.
1st Division/11th D.F.
2nd Division/11th D.F.
second half-flotilla/11th D.F.
3rd Division/11th D.F.
4th Division/11th D.F.
12th Destroyer Flotilla: Capt Anselan John Buchanan Stirling
first half-flotilla/12th D.F.

1st Division/12th D.F.
2nd Division/12th D.F.
second half-flotilla/12th D.F.: Cdr Norton Allen Sulivan
This squadron, temporarily attached to the Grand Fleet from the Battle Cruiser Fleet, was stationed ahead of the main body, with the intention that it join Beatty when the action began. The commander of the 3rd Battle Cruiser Squadron was RAdm the Hon. Horace Lambert Alexander Hood K.C.B., D.S.O., M.V.O.
accompanying cruisers
attached destroyers
This force of high-speed ships was subordinate to the Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet, but operated independently as an advanced guard, intended to reconnoiter aggressively the enemy fleet and to engage enemy scouting forces. At its core were six battlecruisers, accompanied by 13 light cruisers, and escorted by 18 destroyers and an early aircraft carrier.

Battlecruisers

Battlecruiser Fleet Flagship
1st Battlecruiser Squadron : RAdm Osmond de Beauvior Brock, C.B.
2nd Battlecruiser Squadron
1st Light Cruiser Squadron: Cdre Edwyn Sinclair Alexander-Sinclair, M.V.O.
2nd Light Cruiser Squadron: Cdre William Edmund Goodenough, M.V.O., AdC.
3rd Light Cruiser Squadron: RAdm Trevylyan Dacres Willes Napier, M.V.O.
Attached vessel
13th Destroyer Flotilla
1st division/13th D.F.
2nd division /13th D.F.
3rd division/13th D.F.
Attached Harwich Destroyers : Cdr Malcolm Lennon Goldsmith
1st division/9th D.F.
2nd division/9th D.F.
This was a special unit of fast s, intended to act as the vanguard of the main battle line. At the Battle of Jutland, it operated with the Battlecruiser Fleet, and was escorted by the 1st Destroyer Flotilla. The commander of the 5th Battle Squadron was RAdm Hugh Evan-Thomas, M.V.O.
1st Destroyer Flotilla
1st Division/1st D.F.
2nd Division/1st D.F.

[High Seas Fleet] ''(Hochseeflotte)''

The High Seas Fleet was the main body of the German surface navy, principally based at Wilhelmshaven, on the Jade River in North-West Germany.

Battleships

3rd Battle Squadron : RAdm Paul Behncke; flag lieutenant: Lt Cdr Frhr Ernst von Gagern
5th Division: RAdm Behncke
6th Division: RAdm Hermann Nordmann
Fleet Flagship '
  • : Capt Theodor Fuchs
1st Battle Squadron '
1st Division: VAdm Schmidt
2nd Division: RAdm Walter Engelhardt
2nd Battle Squadron
3rd Division: RAdm Mauve
4th Division: RAdm Frhr Gottfried von Dalwigk zu Lichtenfels
4th Scouting Group : Kom Ludwig von Reuter; flag lieutenant: Lt Cdr Heinrich Weber
German torpedo boats ' were the equivalent of British destroyers.

First Leader of Torpedo-Boats: Cdre Andreas Michelsen
  • * : Cdr Otto Feldmann
1st Torpedo-Boat Flotilla '


1st Half-Flotilla ': Lt Conrad Albrecht
  • : SLt Franz-Ferdinand von Loefen
  • : Lt Richard Beitzen
  • : Lt Hermann Metger
  • : Lt Hermann Froelich
3rd Torpedo-Boat Flotilla ': Lt Cdr Wilhelm Hollmann
5th Half-Flotilla ' : Lt Theophil Gautier
  • : SLt Friedrich Ulrich
  • : Lt Martin Delbrück
  • : Lt Hans Scabell
6th Half-Flotilla ': Lt Cdr Theodor Riedel
5th Torpedo-Boat Flotilla ': Lt Cdr Oskar Heinecke
  • : Lt Adolf Müller
9th Half-Flotilla ': Lt Gerhard Hoefer
10th Half-Flotilla ': Lt Friedrich Klein
  • : SLt Ernst Rodenberg
  • : SLt Paul Tils
  • : Lt Johannes Weinecke
  • : Lt Hans Anschütz
  • : SLt Waldemar Haumann
7th Torpedo-Boat Flotilla ': Lt Cdr Gottlieb von Koch
13th Half-Flotilla ': Lt Georg von Zitzewitz
  • : SLt Christian Schmidt
  • : Lt Hans-Joachim von Puttkammer
  • : Lt Albert Benecke
  • : Lt Walter Loeffler
  • : Lt Bruno Haushalter
14th Half-Flotilla '

Battle Cruisers

1st Scouting Group : VAdm Hipper
2nd Scouting Group : RAdm Friedrich Boedicker
Second Leader of Torpedo-Boats: Cdre Paul Heinrich
2nd Torpedo-Boat Flotilla ': Cdr Heinrich Schuur
  • : Lt Theodor Hengstenberg
3rd Half-Flotilla ': Lt Cdr Heinrich Boest
4th Half-Flotilla ': Lt Cdr Adolf Dithmar
  • : Lt Victor Hahndorff
  • : Lt August Vollheim
  • : Lt Heinrich Schickhardt
  • : Lt Fritz Spiess
  • : Lt Georg von Bartenwerffer
6th Torpedo-Boat Flotilla ': Lt Cdr Max Schultz
11th Half-Flotilla ' : Lt Wilhelm Rüman
  • : Lt Karl von Holleuffer
  • : Lt Siegfried Karstens
  • : Lt Kurt Grimm
12th Half-Flotilla ': Lt Rudolf Lahs
9th Torpedo-Boat Flotilla ': Lt Cdr Herbert Goehle
  • : Lt Otto Lenssen
17th Half-Flotilla ': Lt Hermann Ehrhardt
18th Half-Flotilla : Lt Cdr Werner Tillessen
The following submarines were deployed to attack the Grand Fleet in the North Sea during the period of the Battle of Jutland

Off Terschelling:
Off the Humber Estuary:
Off Flamborough Head, Yorkshire:
Off the Firth of Forth, Scotland:
Off Peterhead, Scotland:
Off the Pentland Firth :
During the battle the Germans used the Zeppelin airships of the Naval Airship Section for scouting, although in the prevailing overcast conditions they were not particularly successful.
The commander of the Naval Airship Section was Lt Cdr Peter Strasser, and they flew from bases at Nordholz and Hage in north-west Germany and Tondern.
Sortied on 31 May
Sortied on 1 June
Did not sortie during the Battle of Jutland
Abbreviations for Officers’ Ranks :
Other abbreviations

Explanatory notes

Ships sunk during the action are indicated thus: * ; officers killed in action thus: .


British Section
German Section

The German designations of ship types, fleets, squadrons and flotillas are given in brackets after the English designation.