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warspite1 -> RE: What program/film/documentary are you watching now? (5/30/2016 9:14:13 AM)
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Watched another Jutland documentary last night. The Royal Navy's bloodiest battle. I have to say, bar a few minor gripes, this was very interesting. The program centred around three main things a) Were the British ships badly designed and b) why did five blow up with such catastrophic loss of life and, c) how should Jutland be viewed?
Most interesting was the design section. Every book about the battle that I've read states that the German ships were much better in withstanding punishment - and the number of watertight sections in the German ships is always mentioned.
In the program they compared Queen Mary with Seydlitz. Queen Mary had just one water tight bulkhead less. They then used a computer program and a mock up of the Queen Mary's hull, and subjected the hull to exactly the same damage (including the torpedo) that Seydlitz suffered (the Germans photographed every hit taken by their ships) to see if she would sink. The Queen Mary, like the Seydlitz, did not sink. This was interesting. In the previous Jutland program one of the contributors (Norman Friedman no less) said that had it not been for the explosions, it is likely the British would have lost no battlecruisers that day....
The second part centred on the poor magazine and cordite handling of the British ships. Another test was done. First they ignited cordite in the open air. Result: a lot of smoke and a slow burning fire.
They then mocked up a turret, lift and magazine arrangement with no doors closed between the compartments. A few bags of cordite were placed in the turret and the bulk in the magazine. The bags in the turret were then ignited, replicating a shell hit. The flame then seeks the path of least resistance, travelled down the lift and into the magazine. Unlike in open air, in an enclosed space, the cordite simply explodes with frightening force. Obviously this does not confirm that a direct hit on the magazine was not the cause - and this can probably never be known for certain.
The third part was a mix of the human cost to the RN - and briefly looked at two 16 and 17 year old's that died on the Queen Mary, and also what the battle result meant.
The Germans kept a record of the vital stats of their school children in all the big cities at various ages. It is amazing to see from this alone just how much the blockade - which Jutland reinforced - hurt the Germans and helped bring an end to the war. You see that year on year the average height of the children went down and down. Nick Jellicoe in the book Jutland The Unfinished Battle describes the rations that the German sailors, largely bottled up in port after the battle had to rely upon. Grim.
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