The greatest naval battle of the First World War. Jutland had all the ingredients to be a great British naval victory, but in the event the result was much less clear-cut.
The recently appointed commander of the German High Seas Fleet, Reinhard Scheer, had returned to the policy of making sorties against the British coast, confident that his codes were secure, and thus that the main British battle fleet, at Scapa Flow in the north of Scotland could not intervene. However, the British could read German coded messages, and were aware of Scheer's plan.
At the end of May, Scheer sortied with the entire High Seas Fleet, expected that the only serious threat he would meet was Admiral Beatty's battle cruiser squadron based on the Forth. Unfortunately for his plan, the Royal Navy knew he was coming, and the Grand Fleet sailed only minutes after the High Seas Fleet.
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