This is the anniversary of the start of the Battle of Jutland. The initial encounter was between British and German destroyers and then light cruisers from the Battle Cruiser Fleet and the German Scouting Force. For the British, it was a lost opportunity to end the war at sea. Frank Fox disagrees, and thinks that Jellicoe did just fine. All he had to do was to keep from losing. I still disagree in that winning would have freed up resources and possibly speeded the end of the war.
For the Germans, they found out that sacrificing gunpower for armor was a poor choice. The British found out the hard way that they had problems with unstable propellant for their guns and that their AP shot were ineffective. They also found out that they had timid leadership. The same man who marred the Dreadnought's design by putting the foremast behind the first funnel, as a way to better handle boats, was risk adverse. In the low visibility conditions in the North Sea, seeing what was happening was difficult.
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