A Review of Jutland: The Unfinished Battle by Nicholas Jellicoe
Firstly, Jellicoe spends much of the book giving Beatty a serious pounding. Which as a battleship nut, is understandable, considering there are definitely passionate Beatty and Jellicoe camps. In addition, there are many who despise Beatty for his actions at Jutland. While there are also many who love the Admiral. Nicholas Jellicoe is not one.
Battle of Dogger Bank
Jellicoe writes:
“Beatty’s personality. He had a streak of vanity and was very sensitive to criticism or failure. His sense of frustration at not being seen as another Nelson when victory had been snatched from his grasp.” Furthermore, Jellicoe questions Beatty’s ability to have even made it through Jutland alive:
“It is quite possible that BT would not have survived the episode without very courageous support from Evan Thomas’ fifth battle squadron.”
And of course, notes Beatty’s
“Failure to engage with the range advantage…Beatty’s hesitation and opening fire meant that the Germans opening salvos were all well within their operating ranges: Moltke the shortest, at 15,500yds (14,200m), Derfflinger and Seydlitz at 16,400yds (15,000m).”
Battleship Versus Battleship
Since this is Admiral Jellicoe’s grandson, the book addresses very much so Beatty as a man. As frankly, I think it needed to do. But, one fact that I enjoyed learning. As I HAD been confused on this topic was regarding Beatty being a Jellicoe pallbearer. Which was something about Beatty, I had always respected. However, we learn:
“Beatty served as one of the pallbearers. This was deplorable and gave a false impression of the relationship that actually existed between the two men.”
Jellicoe also thoroughly discusses Beatty’s attempt at covering up his mistakes at Jutland.
“It is ironic that Beatty blamed Sir Hugh Evan-Thomas for the mixup over signals, as the latter was always regarded as a signals expert and had commanded the Signals School in Portsmouth. Evan-Thomas tried a second time to get a fair hearing at the Admiralty, but was cut off by Beatty before he could get started. Later the same day Evan Thomas suffered a stroke he retired the following March.”
Obviously, Jellicoe is much softer on assessing his grandfather however speaks to
“Jellicoe’s lack of Nelsonian charisma”. & “Jellicoe could be criticized for many things…”
He even manages to find a way to criticize his grandpa, at Beatty’s expense. Which I had a nice chuckle while reading:
Who was Admiral Sir David Beatty?
“Ironically, Beatty was very clear as to not being able to choose good people was one of Jellicoe’s problems.”
On the subject of the tragic sinking of the Queen Mary and Indefatigable, Jellicoe doesn’t introduce any new or suspect theories. But rather keeps his distance in a sense from the subject. Of course, the true cause of their sinkings remains a hotly debated issue to this day. Jellicoe writes:
“The 1,017 deaths from the sinking of Indefatigable and more than half the deaths at Jutland resulted, in part at least, from this tragic belief and gunnery speed.”
And Jellicoe writes that the two battlecruiser sinkings were not the result of bad design. But possibly:
“The sinking of the two battlecruisers was due in part to possibly, from the over-confidence in British battleship design. “
So, he doesn’t let his grandfather completely off the hook.
Jellicoe’s writing was carefree and easy to read. The book takes very little time to finish and is quite riveting and fun. I highly recommend for the nautical and battleship lovers out there!
