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The Jutland Scandal: The Truth about the First World War's Greatest Sea Battle Kindle Edition

by John Harper (Author), Reginald Bacon (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 110 ratings
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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.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
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  1. Print length
    407 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Skyhorse
  5. Publication date
    July 12, 2016
  6. File size
    6247 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“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 events of the battle but also the politics of the Royal Navy in the interwar years.” —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 and author of A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire

“[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.” —Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Vice-Admiral John Harper was born in New Zealand on 29 May 1874, joining the Royal Navy in 1888.
Admiral Reginald Bacon, from Wiggonholt in West Sussex, joined the Royal Navy in 1877, at the age of just fourteen or fifteen.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01HLNC3MG
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Skyhorse (July 12, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 12, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 6247 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 407 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 110 ratings

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Reginald Bacon

Reginald Bacon

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
110 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent supplement to the 100th Anniversary Books
Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2019
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Written in the 30's as commentary on the controversies that arose after the battle by two different British admirals (It is
actually two short books published as one) it reviews other books and articles of the time and tells what the valid and in-valid points of their arguments are as to strategy etc,. An excellent supplement to the more recent books that have narrated the battle itself. It is an excellent aid to seeing the different ideas as to the results and good or bad handling of the actual battle.
2 people found this helpful
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Chuck Keezer
4.0 out of 5 stars Jutland Scandal Review
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2017
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“The Jutland Scandal” by Admiral Sir Reginald Bacon, is a 90 year old look at the Battle of Jutland and has a decidedly different view than that of Admiral David Beatty. Bacon falls more into the Admirals John Jellicoe camp, as far as the history goes.

Admiral Bacon was the first captain of HMS Dreadnought and served in World War I so he is a writer with a great deal of insight.

Rear-Admiral Harper, who was a Captain in 1919, was tasked with producing an official history of the battle using the official reports on the subject without any expressions of opinion and without conducting interviews. When this was never released he decided to publish his account independently, under the title The Truth about Jutland.

These two books together form an excellent view of how a battle fleet was handled, on the battle itself, what could have been done better and what if the battle-cruisers had been commanded by a more experienced and professional admiral.

The writing style is 90 years old and very British. That being said, it is readable and understandable. The charts in the book are okay but are of a 1920’s vintage.
4 people found this helpful
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5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting book about the facts about the battle of ...
Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2017
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Very interesting book about the facts about the battle of Jutland that for a long time was seen as a German victory while in reality it was one ff the final nails in Germany's coffin.
It also shows the work by Churchill and others to reduce the shortcomings of Admiral Beatty. In order to do this they attacked Jellico and others for Beatty's mistakes.
Book is interesting because it was written at the hight of the fight between those who supported Jellico and those who supported Beatty.
2 people found this helpful
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Dr. John F. Gibson
5.0 out of 5 stars Two Top British Admirals BLOW IT.
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2017
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Many new sources of information on this subject. Felt it showed in a most dramatic manner the lack of taking chances by two top British Admirals for fear it would/could harm their reputations at the expense of so many British sailor's lives. German Admirals were much the same, except history has shown they really had no idea of what they were doing and were lucky they didn't lose more ships and men than they did.
5 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars A Long Argument
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2022
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This is a good description of the action at Jutland. Since the two authors' purpose was too correct what they judged as errors in other accounts,It reads as a long argument. Each author sets up the arguments They intend to correct Followed by evidence of the correction needed.While it is still an interesting account, the account becomes tedious at times due to the detail required.
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Andrew G. Bourassa
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2016
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mostly a critique of critic of the way the battle was conducted. Not very interesting
6 people found this helpful
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5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2018
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Best book on the subject!!!
One person found this helpful
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Videochief
5.0 out of 5 stars arrived as stated - -Thanks!
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2017
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arrived as stated - -Thanks!
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Top reviews from other countries

Rob Newman
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Informative
Reviewed in Australia on February 6, 2022
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This tome puts to rest a lot of the fallacies produced regarding the battle of Jutland.
An interesting note is Winstone Churchill's totally amateur, uninformed and conflicting account of the battle.
David Beattie must have held political clout in some high places, as after screwing up two naval battles in a row, he ended up succeeding Jellicoe as C in C of the Grand Fleet. It sort of makes a mockery of the British Admiralty.
I digress,
This book is informative and deals with technical issues in a very readable way.
I highly recommend it.
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JRF
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for students of Jutland
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 5, 2017
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This is actually two books in one: "The Truth about Jutland" and "The Jutland Scandal", both of which were written to set the facts straight in the controversy over this battle that erupted after the war.

As well as vindicating the unfairly attacked reputation of Jellicoe, and highlighting poor tactical decisions by Beatty, these books are notable for being very readable, and explaining in terms understandable by landlubbers such as me how a battlefleet was controlled and manoeuvred in those far-off days. Crucially, the effect of the weather - especially on visibility - is highlighted: this is even more essential to keep in mind today, when radar is taken for granted, than when these books were written.

Other reviewers have written at greater length and with notable erudition, so I will simply say that if you are at all interested in the Battle of Jutland, you need to read this book/books.
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Mr. T. A. Clarke
4.0 out of 5 stars A very interesting assessment of one sea battle
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2016
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The book is really two books on this famous battle which the British lost. Lost because of many circumstances of poor communications, visibility and more particularly the poor judgement during the early stages of the battle. Lord Beatty's failure to inform Admiral Jellicoe of the position of the German Fleet was instrumental in allowing them to escape the superior force of the Grand Fleet. Many ships and thousands of men were lost in this sad episode in the Great War. Jellicoe was vilified by writing from persons in the press who knew little about sea warfare or tactics. The German High Seas fleet never put to sea again and many have said that this in itself was a victory. Nevertheless, the German fleet soundly thrashed the Royal Navy by better seamanship, and the accuracy of their gunnery. Three of our ships just blew up due to the accuracy of the German gunners with the loss of thousands of sailors lives.
History shows that after Nelson at Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, with the exception of the Battle of the River Plate, failed to win a sea battle in the second world war. In 1941 the Bismarck blew HMS Hood, pride of the British Fleet, out of the water in seven minutes. The new battleship HMS Prince of Wales, was so badly damaged she had to break off the action. A few days later it took 14 ships of the line to sink the Bismarck who could not fight properly as her rudders were jammed by a lucky hit from a torpedo. We had the largest navy in the world but when it came down to a fight at sea with the Germans, who possessed better ships, better gunnery etc, they are very evenly matched.
The Jutland Scandal is really the observations of two senior naval officers of the period and well worth a read for anyone interested in sea warfare.
4 people found this helpful
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M. C. Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Resource!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 21, 2021
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Having a keen interest in the history of the RN generally and Jutland in particular, this volume provides another source of information as to why the RN vessels of the day failed so horrendously in the biggest sea battle of World War One.
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DT
5.0 out of 5 stars I've read a lot of books and watched lots of ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2017
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I've read a lot of books and watched lots of documentaries concerning the Battle of Jutland. but this book tells it in a different way. I have always had my own views after reading between the lines of these other books and I've always suspected that the government and the Admiralty were looking for a scapegoat and now I am convinced they were.
It is a very revealing narrative and is well worth a read.
One person found this helpful
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