A-hisotrical Notion: "Tra-Frigate"

[David Manley]

I'd agree - Germans better at night fighting (a lesson we learnt VERY well, only force that came close to the RN at night in WW2 was the IJN, at least in the early years), propellant stability, magazine handling (in a few ships only - the "bloody ships" thing only really applied to the battlecruisers that were doing strange things with their ammo handling). British better at command and control (standfast Beatty failing to open fire when he should have at the onset of the battle), situational awareness, cruiser and destroyer design and LFE (new tactics, ship design, shell design etc. all introduced over the following months and years to counter the failings brought home by the action). Other aspects - on a par. There is an oft-held view that German ships were "designed better" but post war analysis of the ships surrendered at Scapa showed this was not the case, they were just designed "differently", which is unsurprising given that the roles, missions and requirements of the two fleets were almost completely different.

[csadn]

British better at command and control (standfast Beatty failing to open fire when he should have at the onset of the battle),

I'd argue this point -- Beatty was off "joyriding" when he tripped over the HSF cruisers; then Hipper suckered him into a confrontation with the HSF battleships; and all the while, Jellicoe is sitting around wondering what's going on, because Beatty can't be bothered to send updates. (And do *NOT* get me started on one Ralph Seymour -- I am convinced that guy was a German agent; *no one* is *that* stupid....)

In fact, from every account I've read, the only commander who did his job properly at Jutland was Hipper: Find the enemy; bring the enemy to the main fleet; cover the fleet as it extracts (to include "Rein in dem Feind! Ran!"). Scheer and Jellicoe were too concerned with Not Losing to consider Winning; and Beatty was doing who-knows-what (and getting slit up a treat for it).

One of the "what-if" scenarios I've run for WW1 is: The Germans hold off on fighting at Jutland until nightfall, then pull a "Savo Island" on the British. The outcome is Not Pleasant for the British. (And realize: Even if both surface fleets are annihilated, the Germans still win -- U-boats, anyone?)