Castles of The Sea: An Introduction to Battleships

A quiet morning on the coast of Northern Germany.  Near the city of Kiel, it's May 31st.  You walk on the beach, too old to join the war going on in France.  As you stroll the quiet beach, you look towards the harbor and see a warship leaving, under a column of black smoke.  As you gaze, dozens more follow it out, massive and foreboding.  Ships coming steaming out of the harbor in an unending line, heading over the horizon and disappearing into the cold, brutal North Sea.

(Germany had built the 2nd strongest Navy in the world in the years preceding, the heart of which was called the "High Sea's Fleet")

A similar scene would have played out a few hours later in Scotland, home to the Britsh Grand Fleet. These fleets had been built to fight one another, and today was the day that the theorized battle would take place.  The Battle of Jutland would become the largest naval battle of it's time, with almost 250 ships taking part on either side.  

(The British Grand Fleet)

These ships were the result of an Arms race that had been raging between the UK and Germany for the better part of two decades.  The UK had control of the sea, and Germany wanted it.  

The battleships of World War 1 were direct descendants of the old, sailing ships of old.  Variously called "Dreadnoughts", "Battlewagons", or "Ships of the Line" these massive steel ships were the most expensive and powerful things afloat.  They carried massive guns that could fire explosive shells as far out as 10 miles.  

They were symbols of national pride, and the United Kingdom reigned supreme, with 28 battleships.    Millions of pounds were spent constructing these ships, and the trade that sustained the U.K. flowed behind these steel walls.  These ships were enormously expensive, beautiful to look at, and in the end completely ineffective.  

(The British Flagship, HMS Iron Duke)

They could be brought down by ships less than half their size, and were so valuable to their home nations they were almost never risked in open battle.  A single torpedo could sink a battleship, fired from a submarine or a small boat.  

That great battle that we talked about in the beginning?  The Battle of Jutland was completely indecisive.  As soon as each side realized they were heading straight into the middle of the entirety of the enemy fleet, they attempted to retreat, rather than risk losing their ships.  The Germany Navy would remained trapped in Harbor for the rest of the War, and the prestige of the battleship took a serious blow.