JUTLAND, BATTLE OF

also called Battle of the Skagerrak (May 31June 1, 1916), the only major encounter between the British and German fleets in World War I, fought in the Skagerrak, an arm of the North Sea, about 60 miles (97 km) off the coast of Jutland (Denmark). British naval intelligence had alerted admirals John Jellicoe and David Beatty that Admiral Reinhard Scheer had left port with his German High Seas Fleet. Beatty, in command of a scouting force of battle cruisers, spotted a similar German force under Admiral Franz von Hipper and pursued it toward the main German fleet. At about 4 PM both sides opened fire; the British suffered heavy losses and turned back toward Jellicoe's main British fleet, with the Germans in pursuit. After 6 PM the main fleets encountered each other, and the battle raged again. In the dusk the British had the advantage, and Scheer soon turned away. But when the German fleet turned once more to head for home, it again ran directly into the British fleet, which had maneuvered in such a way that it lay between the German fleet and the German ports. At this second crisis, Scheer ordered his destroyers and other lighter warships to charge the British fleet and thereby cover a second retreat of his battleships. Jellicoe, overestimating the danger of torpedo attacks from the German destroyers, also turned away, and the battle thus came to an indecisive end. Both sides claimed a victoryGermany because it had destroyed and crippled many more ships and men, Britain because it retained control of the North Sea.