Refuse to Be a Control Freak: The Royal Navy's Failure at Jutland - James Holmes

The Royal Navy faced no serious challenger until the rise of the German Kaiser's High Seas Fleet around the turn of the 20th century. With no potential foe to keep them sharp, British naval commanders fell into all manner of bad habits. In particular, they took to choreographing fleet movements in minute detail—denying ship captains the liberty to act independently in battle. In short, they sapped initiative from the British fleet, leaving it ill-equipped for the chaos of combat at Jutland (1916). No script for military action survives first contact with the enemy, and the Royal Navy forgot that basic fact.

The U.S. Navy has enjoyed a long calm lee of its own, having fought its last major fleet battle at Leyte Gulf in 1944. U.S. naval leaders have succumbed to similar vices. The naval service thus has much to learn from World War I at sea as it returns to great-power strategic competition—competition that could involve future Jutlands.

Dr. James Holmes, J. C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the Naval War College

Lecture given as part of the National WWI Museum and Memorial's 2018 Symposium, 1918: Crucible of War.

Symposium presenting sponsor: Pritzker Military Museum & Library - http://www.pritzkermilitary.org

For more information visit http://theworldwar.org

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