Volta
Conflict31 May – 1 June 1916

Battle of Jutland

Also called: Battle of the Skagerrak

The largest naval battle of the First World War, fought between the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet in the North Sea off Denmark’s Jutland peninsula. Britain lost more, but kept command of the sea.

The British battlecruiser HMS Lion (on the horizon) after a hit on her “Q” turret from a German battlecruiser — Jutland, 31 May 1916
The British battlecruiser HMS Lion (on the horizon) after a hit on her “Q” turret from a German battlecruiser — Jutland, 31 May 1916

Unknown author · Public domain · Source

On 31 May 1916 the German High Seas Fleet, seeking to break the British blockade, put to sea and ran into the British Grand Fleet. Nearly 250 warships, battleships and battlecruisers among them, fought on into the next day. Britain lost more ships, including three battlecruisers, and over 6,000 men; German dead numbered around 2,500.

Germany claimed victory, but its fleet returned to port and never again challenged the British fleet head-on. With the blockade unbroken, Germany relied all the more on U-boats against merchant shipping, which led to unrestricted submarine warfare and America’s entry into the war.

Show on the map

The map in 1916

Open the full map

OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap contributors

States at the time
Great Britain · belligerent
Germany · belligerent

Before and after

Earlier
1916 Battle of Verdun
Later
1916 Battle of the Somme

Themes that include this event

  • World War I and the Russian Revolution1908 – 1923

    From the Balkan crises to a war of trenches and total mobilization that toppled four empires; the Russian Revolution it unleashed, which created the first socialist state; and the Versailles settlement of national self-determination and the League of Nations