Von der Tann
The first hit on Von der Tann came at 16:09 from Barham. It struck a joint in the belt armour 3 feet above the legend waterline and some 28 feet from the stern, penetrated the armour deck and burst, jamming one of the rudders and bending the number 3 propeller shaft which continued to turn, damaging the shaft gland and flooding the number 3 engine room.
She was hit by Tiger at 16:20 and 16:23. The first hit pierced the 200mm armour of A barbette and burst, destroying much of the rotating mechanism, killing or injuring most of the crew and causing the turret to jam. The second pierced the main deck and exploded inside X barbette causing the turret to burn out. Between 17:06 and 17:55 she received five hits from 15 inch shells that destroyed P turret and wrecked the forward part of the ship causing extensive flooding. [150] Combined with the now serious flooding aft from the 16:09 hit it was estimated by the ships damage control officer that some 7,000 tons of water were inside the hull causing her to settle lower and reducing her speed to 5 knots so that she fell well behind the rest of the German fleet.
Progressive flooding along cable runs and through voice pipes as well as that due to action damage meant that by 20:21 her focsle was awash and her screws were out of the water. The crew struggled for hours to contain the flooding and attempts were made to take her in tow but she foundered at approximately 00:15 on 1st June.
Damage [151]
The battleship Grosser Karfurst sustained extremely heavy damage but survived the action. The former suffered twelve heavy hits, six by 15 inch shell, five by 13.5 inch and one twelve inch. Both her forward turrets and her X turret were burned out, her forward superstructure was severely damaged as was her number 2 turbine room. A 13.5 inch shell from the Lion had burst inside the battery armour underneath the bridge causing heavy casualties and badly injuring Captain Goette. Heroic efforts by her crew saved her and when she finally reached the mouth of the Jade in late afternoon on 1st June she could only manage 5 knots and her forward freeboard was down to 4 feet.
The battleship Westfalen, leading the High Seas Fleet in its headlong dash for home after Scheer’s second battle turnaway, came under fire from Beatty’s battle cruisers during the fifth phase of the action at ranges between 13,000 and 19,000 yards. She was hit four times between 20:24 and 20:30, one of the hits at 20:28 was a 13.5 inch from Princess Royal that caused heavy but localised damage to and in the vicinity of her number 2 boiler room. The other three hits – two 12 inch from New Zealand and another 13.5 inch from Princess Royal, struck aft of X turret, the 13.5 inch penetrating the armour, bending one of her shafts and wrecking her steering gear. Prompt action by the chief engineer in stopping the bent shaft meant that her damage was not as serious as that suffered by the Seydlitz. Nevertheless, her damage took some 13 hours to repair as it involved sending divers into the flooded stern of the ship and she did not limp home until midnight on 1st June.
The battleship Kronprinz suffered a single 15 inch hit from Royal Oak at 19:27. It struck the front of Y turret’s roof and penetrated, bursting on the right hand breech mechanism. The turret was destroyed.
The battleship Markgraf received three 15 inch hits, one 13.5 inch hit and one 12 inch hit. The first two 15 inch hits struck parts of the foremast but the third, at 17:10, penetrated a joint between two pieces of 8 inch armour 71 feet forward of the stern. It glanced off the armour deck and exploded causing flooding and extensive local damage. She was hit again at 18:35 by the 13.5 inch shell which penetrated the 170mm armour of her port number 6 casemate, as well as the 60mm deck and burst in her port aft boiler room destroying it.
The last hit on Markgraf was a 14 inch CPC shell from Agincourt of the old Lyddite filled type that broke up on her side armour causing little damage. Agincourt also hit the battleship Kaiser twice, at 19:23 and again at 19:26. Both hits were ineffective, the first bursting outside the ship, the second failing to explode. She was one of the ships of the Grand Fleet that had not been re-equipped with the new pattern ‘Greenboy’ shell. It is interesting to speculate at this point what the outcome of Jutland might have been had all the British ships been equipped with the defective pattern of shell so recently replaced in most of them.
Table of Losses of ships at The Battle of Jutland
Ship type
Royal Navy
Kaiserlich Marine
Battleships
Konig
Helgoland
Battle Cruisers
Indefatigable
Queen Mary
Invincible
Moltke
Seydlitz
Derrflinger
Lutzow
Von der Tann
Pre-Dreadnought Battleships
Pommern
Armoured Cruisers
Black Prince
Defence
Warrior
Light Cruisers
Elbing
Frauenlob
Rostock
Weisbaden
Destroyers
Ardent
Fortune
Nestor
Nomad
Shark
Sparrowhawk
Tipperary
Turbulent
S35
V4
V27
V29
V48
ANNEX 2: THE WASHINGTON NAVAL TREATY
At the Washington Conference of 1922 the major powers adopted a plan to govern both the proportionate division of their naval strength and also changes in that strength. The resultant treaty’s fundamental principle was a managed building and scrapping programme that would permit the construction of an agreed amount of new warships while overseeing the disposal of obsolete or time expired vessels and maintaining the relative war potential of the navies of the signatory powers. The treaty’s term was 10 years.
The main clauses of the treaty were as follows. All ratios are expressed: UK/US/Japan/France/Italy, it is important to note that the following figures refer to what was allowed under the treaty not what was actually built by the contracting powers.
Capital Ships
1.Capital ship tonnage was divided using a ratio of 5/5/3/1.75/1.75 [152]. The treaty was so written that the differential between the displacement tonnage of capital ship hulls finally retained by each of the signatory powers was maintained over the term of the treaty by the agreed commissioning and disposal clauses.
2.The maximum permissible gun calibre was set at 16 inches.
3.The maximum displacement of a capital ship was set at 35,000 tons with allowances as set out below.
4.a) Upon signature of the treaty the United States was permitted to retain 18 capital ships.
Name: Tonnage
Maryland 32,600
California 32,300
Tennessee32,300
Idaho 32,000
New Mexico 32,000
Mississippi 32,000
Arizona 31,400
Pennsylvania 31,400
Oklahoma27,500
Nevada27,500
New York 27,000
Texas 27,000
Arkansas 26,000
Wyoming 26,000
Florida21,825
Utah 21,825
North Dakota 20,000
Delaware20,000
The total displacement retained by the United States on this date was 500,650 tons. [153]
b) By December 31st 1931 The United States was permitted to retain 20 capital ships. [154]
Name: Tonnage
45,000ton D48,000
45,000ton C48,000
45,000ton B48,000
45,000ton A48,000
Georgia35,600
Colorado35,600
West Virginia35,600
Maryland 35,60
0
California 35,300
Tennessee35,300
Idaho 35,000
New Mexico 35,000
Mississippi 35,000
Arizona 34,400
Pennsylvania 34,400
Oklahoma30,500
Nevada30,500
New York 30,000
Texas 30,000
Arkansas 29,000
The total permissible displacement to be retained by the United States on this date was 729,800 tons.
5.a) Upon signature of the treaty the British Commonwealth was permitted to retain 22 capital ships.
Name: Tonnage
Hood 41,200
Renown26,500
Repulse26,500
Royal Sovereign 25,750
Royal Oak 25,750
Revenge25,750
Resolution 25,750
Ramilies 25,750
Malaya 27,500
Valiant 27,500
Barham 27,500
Queen Elizabeth 27,500
Warspite 27,500
Benbow 25,000
Emperor of India 25,000
Iron Duke 25,000
Marlborough25,000
Tiger 28,500
Canada 28,000
King George V 23,000
Ajax 23,000
Centurion 23,000
The total tonnage retained by the British Commonwealth on this date was 585,950 tons.
b) By December 31st 1931 the British Commonwealth was permitted to retain 20 capital ships.
Name: Tonnage
45,000ton B48,000
45,000ton A48,000
35,000ton D38,000
35,000ton C38,000
35,000ton B38,000
35,000ton A38,000
Endeavour48,000
Hood 45,000
Renown29,500
Repulse29,500
Royal Sovereign 28,750
Royal Oak 28,750
Revenge28,750
Resolution 28,750
Ramilies 28,750
Malaya 30,500
Valiant 30,500
Barham 30,500
Queen Elizabeth 30,500
Warspite 30,500
The total permissible tonnage to be retained by the British Commonwealth on this date was 696,250 tons.
6.a) Upon signature of the treaty, the Empire of Japan was permitted to retain 10 capital ships.
Name:Tonnage (metric tons)
Mutsu 33,800
Nagato33,800
Hyuga 31,260
Ise31,260
Yamashiro 30,600
Fuso30,600
Kirishima 27,500
Haruna 27,500
Hiei 27,500
Kongo 27,500
The total tonnage retained by the Empire of Japan on this date was 301,320 metric tons.
b) By December 31st 1931 the Empire of Japan was permitted to retain 12 capital ships.
Name: Tonnage (metric tons)
45,000ton B48,768
45,000ton A48,768
Tosa43,900
Mutsu 36,800
Nagato36,800
Hyuga 34,260
Ise34,260
Yamashiro 33,600
Fuso33,600
Kirishima 30,500
Haruna 30,500
Kongo 30,500
The total permissible tonnage to be retained by the Empire of Japan on this date was 442,256 metric tons.
7.a) Upon signature of the treaty the Republic of France was permitted to retain 10 capital ships.
Name: Tonnage (metric tons)
Bretagne 23,500
Lorraine 23,500
Provence 23,500
Paris 23,500
France 23,500
Jean Bart23,500
Courbet 23,500
Condorect18,900
Diderot 18,900
Voltaire 18,900
The total tonnage retained by the Republic of France on this date was 221,170 metric tons.
b) By December 31st 1931 the Republic of France was permitted to retain 7 capital ships.
Name: Tonnage (metric tons)
35,000ton D38,608
35,000ton C38,608
35,000ton B38,608
35,000ton A38,608
Bretagne 28,500
Lorraine 28,500
Provence 28,500
The total permissible tonnage to be retained by the Republic of France on this date was 239,932 metric tons.
8.a) Upon signature of the treaty the Kingdom of Italy was permitted to retain 10 capital ships.
Name: Tonnage (metric tons)
Andrea Doria 22,700
Caio Duilio 22,700
Conte Di Cavour 22,500
Giulio Cesare 22,500
Leonardo Da Vinci 22,500
Dante Alighieri 19,500
Roma 12,600
Napoli 12,600
Vittorio Emanuele 12,600
Regina Elena 12,600
The total tonnage retained by the Kingdom of Italy on this date was 182,800 metric tons.
b) By December 31st 1931 the Kingdom of Italy was permitted to retain 7 capital ships.
Name: Tonnage (metric tons)
35,000ton B38,608
35,000ton A38,608
Carracciolo34,400
Andrea Doria 25,700
Caio Duilio 25,700
Conte Di Cavour 25,500
Giulio Cesare 25,500
The total permissible tonnage to be retained by the Kingdom of Italy on this date was 179,616 metric tons.
Aircraft Carriers
1.Aircraft Carriers were permitted on a ratio of 3/3/3/1/1.
2.Displacement limits were set at 27,500 tons with allowances for certain specific ships (The Americans, British and Japanese were each permitted 2 aircraft carriers of up to 33,000 tons.)
Cruisers
1.Cruisers were permitted on a tonnage ratio of 5/5/3/1.75/1.75.
2.Maximum gun calibre was set at 8 inches for heavy cruisers and six inches for light cruisers.
3.Maximum standard displacement for new cruisers was set at 12,000 tons.
4.The United States was permitted to complete or retain a quantity of cruisers not displacing more than 420,000 tons.
5.The British Commonwealth was permitted to complete or retain a quantity of cruisers not displacing more than 420,000 tons.
6.Japan was permitted to complete or retain a quantity of cruisers not displacing more than 252,000 tons.
7.France was permitted to complete or retain a quantity of cruisers not displacing more than 147,000 tons.
8.Italy was permitted to complete or retain a quantity of cruisers not displacing more than 147,000 tons.
Submarines
1.Submarines were permitted on a tonnage ratio of 5/5/3/1.75/1.75
2.The maximum permissible gun ca
libre was not to exceed 6.1 inches.
3.The United States was permitted to complete or retain a quantity of submarines not displacing more than 75,000 tons.
4.The British Commonwealth was permitted to complete or retain a quantity of submarines not displacing more than 75,000 tons.
5.Japan was permitted to complete or retain a quantity of submarines not displacing more than 45,000 tons.
6.France was permitted to complete or retain a quantity of submarines not displacing more than 26,250 tons
7.Italy was permitted to complete or retain a quantity of submarines not displacing more than 26,250 tons
Training and Target Ships
1.Training ships, that were former capital ships, were permitted on a ratio of 3/3/1/1/1.
2.Training ships, that were former capital ships, had to have their side armour and at least 25% of their main armament removed.
3.The United States was permitted to retain Wyoming, Florida and Utah as training ships.
4.The British Commonwealth was permitted to complete or retain Canada, New Zealand and Emperor of India as training ships.
5.Japan was permitted to retain Hiei as a training ship and Settsu as a target ship.
6.France was permitted to retain Paris as a training ship.
7.Italy was permitted to retain Dante Alighieri as a training ship.
Museum Ships
A special clause was written into the treaty permitting Britain to retain HMS Iron Duke as a museum ship, Japan to retain Mikasa as a museum ship and Australia to retain HMAS Australia as a museum ship. All were to be kept in a demilitarised state and had to have their side armour removed and their machinery rendered inoperable.
Mobile Naval Base Ship
A special clause was written into the treaty permitting Britain to retain Agincourt as a mobile naval base. She was to have her side armour and 60% of her armament removed.
The Soviet Union was not a signatory and the strength of the German Navy was set under the Treaty of Versailles. [155]
ANNEX 3: THE LONDON
NAVAL DISARMAMENT CONFERENCES
From ‘The Naval Disarmament Conferences’ by Anthony Radcliffe writing in Man O’War Volume 5
In the First London Naval Conference of 1930, the British delegation sought to prevent the start of the construction of new capital ships other than those agreed to in the Washington Treaty until 1936. It was due to expire at the end of 1931. However, despite the recession, agreement was elusive; France and Italy refused to sign and Japan would only agree to extend the treaty until December 1934. This was agreed, but no new treaty was signed and the time limits on clauses regarding other types of warship were not extended.
The Peace of Amiens Page 29