![]() Only six survived to be rescued by a neutral Danish steamer late at night.Ĭommander Jones' body washed ashore in Sweden a few days later. Thirty of Shark's crew were able to board rafts, but many died of wounds or exposure, including Jones. As German destroyers closed in, Jones ordered his men to don lifebelts. Firing on nearby German ships, Jones and his men hit the German destroyer V48, disabling the ship. Leaving the shattered bridge, Shark's wounded captain, Commander Loftus Jones, helped man the only remaining gun. Two of Shark's guns were knocked out, their crews killed. One shell destroyed the ship's bridge and steering gear and another disabled the ship's engines, leaving the ship adrift. During the battle, Shark became entangled in a close-range and chaotic fight between British and German. Using a stokers' bathroom as an operating theatre, the ship's doctor spent the next eleven hours treating the wounded.Īt Jutland, Shark was part of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron, a force of three battlecruisers, the light cruisers Chester and Canterbury, and three other destroyers. In a matter of minutes 89 of the ship's crew were killed or injured, with most of the upper deck crew maimed or burned. ![]() Though sinking a German cruiser with a torpedo, Southampton was set on fire. During the night, the ship fought German cruisers in a chaotic and extremely violent battle at close range. One officer remembered: 'I can truthfully say that I thought each moment would be our last…we seemed to bear a charmed life…how we escaped amazes everyone from downwards'. Dozens of heavy shells fell close to Southampton, but none hit the ship. In range of ten German battleships, the squadron immediately came under heavy fire. Having counted the German ships, noted their formation and course, and relayed this information, Goodenough turned his squadron away. Goodenough knew that up-to-date information on the German fleet was vital. Writing in his memoirs, Goodenough remembered: 'We saw ahead of us first smoke, then masts, then ships…sixteen battleships with destroyers around them on each bow'. Sailing with Beatty's Battle Cruiser Fleet, Southampton was the first British ship to sight the German High Seas Fleet. A further 51 were injured.ĭuring the Battle of Jutland, Southampton was the flagship of Commodore William Goodenough's 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron. Ninety-nine members of her crew were killed, the highest number of fatalities of any British ship that survived the battle and returned to port. Buried at sea after the battle, Harvey was later awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.īy the end of the Battle of Jutland, Lion had been hit by German fire many times. Harvey's quick thinking saved his ship and the lives of hundreds of his shipmates. Despite his injuries Harvey had the presence of mind to order the turret's magazine to be flooded as a safety measure. The fire threatened to spread to the turret's magazine, which held many tons of explosives. When a German shell started a fire in one of the ship's turrets, Major Francis Harvey of the Royal Marines was mortally wounded. On Lion's bridge, Beatty is reported to have remarked to his flag captain 'there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today'. In the first hour of the battle, two of Beatty's battlecruisers – Indefatigableand Queen Mary – were struck by German shells that triggered catastrophic explosions, sinking both ships. In the opening stages of the battle, Beatty's fleet fought German battlecruisers of Admiral Franz von Hipper's I Scouting Group. ![]() During the battle of Jutland, Lion was the flagship of the British Battlecruiser Fleet under Vice-Admiral David Beatty. Three were sunk during the battle, killing 3,320 crew – more than half of Britain’s fatal casualties at Jutland.
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