Battle of Jutland: The Navy’s Bloodiest Day

On May 31 1916, the Royal Navy precipitated an apocalyptic head-to-head battle with the German Imperial fleet. 151 British warships, many the most modern in Britain’s Grand Fleet, confronted 99 German ships. This was supposed to be a walkover – Britain’s second Trafalgar. But it didn’t work out that way. Instead, the Battle of Jutland was the bloodiest day in the history of the Royal Navy. During 12 chaotic hours, 14 British warships sank to the bottom of the North Sea with the loss of more than 6,000 Allied lives. For a century it’s been considered one of the greatest disasters of WWI. Presented by Dan Snow, engineer Shini Somara and naval historian Nick Hewitt, The Navy’s Bloodiest Day will go to the heart of the 12-hour battle at Jutland. With brand-new scientific experiments, they will probe the reasons why so many men died. Through the powerful words of eyewitnesses, read by current Royal Navy personnel; through emotional meetings with relatives of those who died; and on board the only surviving Dreadnought from the era, they come to understand what it was like to fight that day. And as the Royal Navy prepares to commemorate the centenary, they join the first official survey of the battlefield, searching to pinpoint the wrecks of the five giant British warships in which the vast majority of the Allied dead now lie entombed. The programme also features brand new documentary evidence that helps a reassessment of the significance of the battle. Was Jutland a disaster, or in fact the forgotten battle where the First World War was won, and lost? The programme provides amazing visceral and visual detail helping to uncover what went wrong and why the battle unfolded the way it did.