Two high-ranking officers defied the British Admiralty to tell the tale of World War I's first naval battle against Germany.
The Royal Navy had ruled the sea unchallenged for one hundred years since Nelson triumphed at Trafalgar. Yet when the Grand Fleet faced the German High Seas Fleet across the grey waters of the North Sea near Jutland, the British battleships and cruisers were battered into a draw, losing far more men and ships than the enemy.
The Grand Fleet far outnumbered and outgunned the German fleet, so something clearly had gone wrong. The public waited for the official histories of the battle to be released to learn the truth, but month after month went by with the Admiralty promising, but failing, to publish an account of Jutland. Questions were raised in Parliament (twenty-two times), yet still no official report was produced, due to objections from Admiral Beatty.
This led to Admiral Bacon producing his own account of the battle, called The Jutland Scandal, in 1925. Two years later the man instructed to write the official report, Rear-Admiral Harper, decided to publish his account independently, under the title The Truth about Jutland.
Together, these two books lay bare the facts about Jutland and reveal the failings of senior officers and the distortions of the early historians. Produced as one volume for the first time, this book tells the truth about the scandal that developed following the largest battle ever fought at sea.
"At last, serious students of the World War I Battle of Jutland have available in a single volume the official but long-suppressed Record of the Battle of Jutland, produced soon after the battle by Captain John Harper, as well as Admiral Reginald Bacon's more judgmental The Jutland Scandal produced in 1925 and revised in 1933. These detailed and controversial accounts illuminate not only the event
Craig L. Symonds, author of The Battle of Midway and Neptune
"These two accounts, both drawn from official files, reveal just what a massive, chaotic, thrilling fight Jutland was: a German bid to lure the Royal Navy to a watery grave, converted to a strategic victory for the British."
Geoffrey Wawro, director, Military History Center, University of North Texas
"[Harper and Bacon's] clear and authoritative accounts emphasize issues such as tactics, technology, command, and seamanship...these accessible works are mandatory for serious students of naval warfare and WWI."
