The Battle of Jutland, the largest in history clash of linear steam fleets, will always attract the attention of lovers of maritime history. In this article, we will consider some of the accuracy issues of German and British battleships and battle cruisers.
It is generally accepted that the British fired in the Battle of Jutland significantly worse than the Germans and, if we take into account only the general numbers, this is indeed the case. For example, according to Puzyrevsky, the Germans spent 3,497 large-caliber shells during the battle (including 2,324 with a caliber of 305 mm and 1,173 - 280 mm) and achieved 121 hits, which is 3.46% of the total number of projectiles fired.
The British used up 4,538 heavy shells, including:
1,179 - 381 mm;
42 - 356 mm;
1,533 - 343 mm;
1 784 - 305 mm.
But at the same time they achieved only 100 hits, or 2, 20%.
Undoubtedly, the average values of the fire effect of the fleets are very indicative and important. But we will try to extract from this average the results of the firing of individual detachments or groups of ships: to understand how the battle cruisers Beatty and Hood, the newest British battleships with 381-mm Queen Elizabeth-class guns, fought under the command of Evan-Thomas, dreadnoughts and Jellicoe superdreadnoughts versus German battleships and battlecruisers.
The course of the Battle of Jutland has been described many times in sources, and for a number of ships not only the time of hits of enemy shells is indicated, but also the ships from which these hits were made, as well as where and at whom this ship fired (and hit) itself. Of course, such information cannot be absolutely reliable, because two (or more) enemy ships can shoot at one target, and then how to understand from whom exactly the shell came? Again, if, for example, the British "Queen Mary" survived, then later it would be possible to accurately determine not only the number of hits in it, but also the caliber of the shells that hit it. It is known that Derflinger and Seidlitz fired at this battle cruiser. Since the first was armed with 305-mm guns, and the second 280-mm, it would be possible to accurately assess the effectiveness of the fire of the German battlecruisers. But the Queen Mary exploded and died, so that the number and caliber of the shells hitting it can only be judged from the descriptions made by observers from other British and German ships, which are almost never accurate.
Hardly anyone will dispute that in the Battle of Jutland the German battlecruisers became the real "heroes of the day". It was they who destroyed three battle cruisers of the British, and subsequently, with their heroic attack in all respects, covered the retreat of the dreadnoughts of the high seas fleet. Let's start with them.
According to sources, the champion among the ships of Franz Hipper (he received a knighthood after Jutland) was his flagship "Luttsov".
Having used up 380 305-mm shells, the cruiser achieved 19 hits, including 13 hits on the Beatty flagship Lion, 1 Barham, 2 Invincible and the Defense armored cruiser 3. The percentage of hits was 5, 00 %.
In second place is Derflinger: 385 spent heavy shells (hereinafter, only the main caliber shells are used) and 16 hits, including Princess Royal - 6, Queen Mary - 3, Barham - 4 and "Invincible" - 3. Percentage of hits - 4, 16%.
Third place - Von der Tann: 170 rounds and 7 hits (Indefatigable - 5, New Zealand and Barham - one each) Total - 4, 12%.
But "Moltke" and "Seydlitz" for unclear reasons showed much worse shooting.
There is some ambiguity with the consumption of Moltke's shells - according to Muzhenikov, he used 334 shells, according to Puzyrevsky - 359. At the same time, the battle cruiser achieved 9 hits on the British Tiger. Surprisingly, they all took place during the initial period of the battle (running to the south), and it is likely that at this time the Moltke demonstrated the best accuracy among the German battle cruisers. But for some reason such a brilliant beginning did not receive a continuation: subsequently "Moltke" did not achieve a single hit on enemy ships. If Muzhenikov's data on the consumption of projectiles are correct, then the percentage of hits "Moltke" was 2.69%, if Puzyrevsky is right, then 2.51%. According to the author of this article, Muzhenikov is more accurate.
Approximately the same shot was made by Seidlitz, who used up 376 rounds and achieved 10 hits: Queen Mary - 4, Tiger - 2, Worspeight - 2, Kolos - 2. Percentage of hits - 2, 66%.
In total, the German battlecruisers used up 1645 large-caliber shells (or 1667, if Puzyrevsky was right in terms of the Moltke shells) and achieved 61 hits, which amounted to 3.71% (or 3.69%) of the total number of shells fired.
Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that the percentage of hits by Rear Admiral Hipper's ships was even higher. Here's the thing: After analyzing the hit lists, we see that Queen Mary has only 7 of them (three from Derflinger and four from Seidlitz). But such calculations fundamentally contradict the opinion of eyewitnesses, who claim that from 15 to 20 shells hit "Queen Mary". Puzyrevsky in his calculations indicates 15 hits in "Queen Mary". In the initial phase of the battle, only the battle cruisers of the Germans fired at the British ships, while the Seidlitz and Derflinger fired at the Queen Mary. Accordingly, it can be assumed that these German ships achieved more hits than is commonly believed.
If we assume that from 15 to 20 shells hit the Queen Mary, then the number of hits of the German battlecruisers increases to 4, 19-4, 50% (with the consumption of Moltke shells according to Puzyrevsky - 4, 14-4, 44%).
With their opponents, the British battlecruisers, everything is somewhat more complicated. The best result was demonstrated by the 3rd squadron of battle cruisers consisting of Invincible, Inflexible and Indomitable under the command of Rear Admiral Horace Hood.
The following data are generally accepted. "Invincible" and "Inflexible" used together 176 (according to Puzyrevsky) or 198 shells (according to Muzhenikov). The data of Muzhenikov seem to be the most reliable (110 shells - "Invincible" and 88 - "Inflexible"). Puzyrevsky shows 88 shells for each cruiser, here we can assume a typo or the fact that due to the lack of accurate data on the consumption of Invincible shells (he died), the consumption of shells on it was taken by analogy with the Inflexible. Be that as it may, both of these battlecruisers achieved 8 hits on the Lutz, but it is not known how the successful shots from the Invincible and Inflexible were distributed. Therefore, for these two cruisers, only their combined hit percentage can be calculated, which is 4, 04-4, 54%.
At the same time, the Indomiteable fired slightly worse: having spent 175 rounds, he achieved 5 hits - three in the Derflinger, one in the Seidlitz and one more in the Pommern pre-dreadnought, which gives a hit percentage of 2.86 %.
In general, three British battlecruisers, having spent 351-373 shells, achieved 13 hits, or 3, 49-3, 70% of the total number of shells fired. This is consistent with the "official" data on the accuracy of the German battle cruisers (3, 69-3, 71%). True, we assumed that Rear Admiral Hipper's ships were "missed" by hitting the Queen Mary, taking them into account the percentage of hits of his cruisers is 4, 14-4, 50%. But here we come to an interesting "lacuna" that has somehow been missed by many historians writing about the Battle of Jutland.
The fact is that the 3rd battlecruiser squadron fired not only at the German battlecruisers. Muzhenikov writes:
"At 1750 meters from a distance of 9100 m (room 49), Invincible and Inflexible were the first to open fire on the German light cruisers of the 2nd reconnaissance group, Wiesbaden and Pillau, seriously damaging both. they immediately turned away, covered by a torpedo attack from German destroyers. Nevertheless, on the German light cruiser Wiesbaden, well-aimed salvoes from the Invincible, successfully corrected by senior artillery officer Danreiter, successively disabled both of its vehicles, and for a while it lost its speed and the Frankfurt and Pillau were damaged."
According to eyewitness accounts, Wiesbaden was hit by several heavy shells, and Pillau may have received one hit. But for some reason they are not taken into account in the firing results of the 3rd battle cruiser squadron. Moreover, these hits are not counted in the overall result of hits by the British fleet! Meanwhile, we could reasonably have counted the battlecruisers of Sir Horace Hood 3 or 4 more hits on the German light cruisers.
Taking into account the above, the firing accuracy of "Invincible", "Inflexible" and "Indomitebla" may well be not even 3, 49-3, 70% of the total number of projectiles fired, but 4, 29 - 4, 84%, which even exceeds the calculated ones us "maximum" results of German battle cruisers (4, 19-4, 50%)!
From all of the above, it is quite possible to conclude that the 3rd battle cruiser squadron was in no way inferior to the gunners of German ships of the same class in the quality of artillery training. But, unfortunately, this cannot be said about the rest of the British battle cruisers.
Consider the firing results of the 1st battlecruiser squadron, which included all four British battlecruisers carrying 343mm cannons.
Surprisingly, but, according to available data, among them in the accuracy of shooting "Queen Mary" is in the lead. According to observers' estimates, the battle cruiser managed to fire 150 shells before its death, having achieved four hits on the Seydlitz. Accordingly, the percentage of hits was 2.67%, which roughly corresponds to Moltke. It is noteworthy that the most effective ship of the 1st squadron of British battle cruisers corresponds to the least effective ship of the same class among the Germans.
Next comes Princess Royal with 230 spent shells and 5 hits (three for Lutz and two for Seidlitz). Hit Rate 2, 17%
Admiral Beatty's flagship, the battle cruiser Lion in Jutland, used up 326,343-mm shells, but achieved only 5 hits, including: 4 in the Lutzow and one in the Derflinger. This gives a hit rate of 1.53%. But further riddles begin. So, Muzhenikov points out that at 20.16 the battlecruisers Beatty fired at the battleships Margrave and Kaiser, achieving hits. But according to all the same Muzhenikov, of all the British cruisers with 343-mm guns, only the Lion fired at the German battleships, respectively, if there were hits, it was from the flagship Beatty.
At the same time, according to Muzhenikov's data, one 343-mm projectile did hit the Margrave for the entire battle, but the exact time of the hit is unknown - so it is possible that it could have been a shell from the Lion. On the other hand, there are no exact data on Kaiser in foreign sources either. Here Muzhenikov writes:
"According to Hildebrand [9], the Kaiser in the Jutland battle did not distinguish himself in any way and did not receive any damage; Brayer [5] received two hits, but was again on full alert in August."
In accordance with the above, we can assume that the final score of Lyon was slightly better and that he achieved not 5, but 6, and maybe even 7 hits. In this case, the percentage of hits of this ship can be increased to 1, 84 - 2, 15%, but hardly more. And in any case, Lion is in a rather unremarkable third place.
And, finally, the worst shooting among 343-mm cruisers was demonstrated by the newest "Tiger" - 303 shells and only 3 hits ("Von der Tann" - 2, "Moltke" - 1), the percentage of hits was completely unintelligible 0, 99%.
In total, the 1st battle cruiser squadron in the Battle of Jutland used up 1,009 shells and achieved 17 hits (very reliable) and, possibly, one or two more - in this case (with 17, 18 and 19 hits) the percentage of hits of British ships is 1, 68%, 1.78% or 1.88% In any case, only one thing can be said - Hipper's battlecruisers fired at least twice as accurately as the ships of the 1st squadron of British battlecruisers.
The situation with the 2nd battle cruiser squadron was no better.
"Indefatigable" died in the Battle of Jutland, and before its death managed to use up only 40 305-mm shells. Puzyrevsky gives a different figure (180 shells), but it is extremely doubtful. The fact is that Von der Tann fired at the Indefatigeblu, which he managed to use up 52 shells on the Indefatigeblu before its death. It is also known that the Indefatigable returned fire with a slight delay, so it is absolutely impossible to imagine that he was able to shoot 180 shells in response to 52 German shells. But 40 shells look very reliable.
In any case, if the Indefatigable artillerymen could demonstrate the percentage of hits at least at the level of 2.5%, then, having spent 40 shells, they would have achieved the first hit, but it did not happen. Thus, it can be argued that the "Indefatigable" was unable to show any acceptable shooting accuracy.
The situation with New Zealand is even worse. She used up 420 main battery rounds (more than any other British and German battlecruiser in Jutland) but only got three or four hits. Here, Muzhenikov already has discrepancies - in one case, he claims that there were 4 hits without detailing exactly which enemy ships the shells hit, but describing the damage to the German battlecruisers, he notes only 3 hits by New Zealand in Seidlitz. On the other hand, New Zealand is known to have fired at Moltke and Von der Tann for a significant part of the battle, while Von der Tann was hit by one heavy projectile that could not be identified. Perhaps it was a New Zealand hit?
In any case, even with 4 hits, the New Zealand's firing accuracy does not exceed 0.95%.
What conclusions can be drawn from the above?
It can be stated that the firing accuracy indicators for individual formations and even individual ships within one compound can differ significantly. The 3rd squadron of British battlecruisers showed comparable, and possibly better results than the five famous German battlecruisers of Rear Admiral Hipper. But the 1st squadron of battle cruisers fired at least twice as bad as both.
The same definitions were observed within the compounds. Among the ships of the 1st reconnaissance group, the best accuracy indicators were demonstrated by the battle cruiser "Luttsov" (5%), and the "Moltke", which turned out to be the worst, shot almost twice as bad - 2, 51-2, 69%. The best of the "343-mm" British cruisers, "Queen Mary", gave a hit rate of 2.67%, and the worst "Tiger" - only 0, 99%, that is, almost 2, 7 times worse.
