Jutland 100

So 100 years ago today the great Royal and Imperial German navies met at Jutland. Naval history had been building to this moment for a generation ever since HMS Dreadnought put to sea. The battle of Jutland was an epic clash that....not really. The British lost 16 ships, the Germans 9 in an engagement which decided nothing.

It reminds one of the great stalemate on the western front, where massive armies met on the battlefield...and decided nothing.

Ahhh, the quest for decisive battle. The last great naval battle happened a scant 11 years before at Tsushima, where the Japanese navy annihilated the Russian navy, a battle which made Japan absolute master of the Far East. Before that, one supposes Trafalgar was the last great naval battle. Here the Royal Navy destroyed the combined French and Spanish fleets. Britannia ruled the waves until the USN in WWII.

On the other side of the world, the US and Imperial Japanese navies sought decisive battle., they got one at Midway. The quest for decisive battle is usually elusive, Nimitz and compnay spent the rest of the war looking for a grand stage on which to destroy the rest of the IJN but never found one. Instead they  whittled the IJN down, blow by blow. It can be argued that Guadalcanal was a far worse blow to the IJN than Midway. Over a long campaign the IJN lost 24 ships. So did the USN. The difference is the U.S. could replace its losses while Japan could not.

Bigger losses followed, the great Marianas Turkey Shoot, Leyte Guld, all leading to the virtual destruction of the IJN. It didn't happen i a decisive battle but a series of successful ones.