Why sea power is vital to our island nation
The Battle of Jutland 100 years ago reminds us that Britain relies on a strong navy to ensure its security
Today, the nation marks the centenary of the Battle of Jutland: the largest, costliest and most significant naval action of the First World War. Long regarded as a tactical failure but a strategic success, Jutland occupies an uncertain place in our naval history. Certainly, Britain lost more ships and men than did Germany. This shocked a public demoralised by the carnage on the Western Front who had hoped, and expected, the Royal Navy to deliver a second Trafalgar.
However, this clash between dreadnoughts off the coast of Denmark can be viewed as perhaps the most consequential 36 hours of the entire war; and one that reveals a powerful truth about the UK’s strength and security that still holds today.
Whereas Nelson was confident and audacious, the commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, was instinctively cautious, and for good reason.
Germany’s High Seas Fleet was the most credible opponent the Royal Navy had faced in over a century, while the advent of torpedoes, mines and submarines presented a new and uncertain threat. The superiority of the Royal Navy had to be protected against these risks at all costs. Without command of the seas, Britain’s maritime trade – the lifeblood of the war effort – would be in danger and the country left open to the risk of starvation or even invasion. The contrast with the grinding, attritional, nature of the war on land was stark – and the stakes couldn’t have been higher. As Winston Churchill famously said, Admiral Jellicoe was “the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon”.
The battle itself revealed serious shortcomings in the tactics of a Royal Navy fleet that had previously enjoyed an aura of invincibility. Losses on both sides were truly terrible, as mighty battlecruisers exploded and sank within seconds, taking thousands with them. But painful as those losses were, in truth, they did little to dent the Navy’s superiority. The morning after, Jellicoe was still at sea and ready to do battle again; yet Germany’s High Seas fleet had already retreated to home waters. And although Germany had lost fewer ships, over time it became clear that they had sustained severe damage, and it would be many weeks before they were able put to sea again.
In repelling the enemy, Jellicoe had done enough to ensure Britain’s continued command of the waves. In the longer term, Jutland also forced Germany to abandon attempts to challenge the Navy and instead switch to a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare against merchant shipping. This would be its undoing, for Germany’s targeting of transatlantic supply routes brought the United States into the war, leading ultimately to the collapse of the German Empire.
Today, as was the case a century ago, navies are a means through which nations compete for regional dominance and demonstrate strategic ambition to a global audience. It’s no coincidence that four of the fastest developing countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – are building aircraft carriers and nuclear-powered submarines, or aspire to do so.
Britain no longer faces an existential threat from across the North Sea: but our security challenges are varied and global in nature, and they frequently confound our assumptions. Few predicted the Russian annexation of Crimea or that the Arab Spring would unleash such discord across North Africa. Meanwhile, instability across the Middle East shows no sign of lessening, and maritime territorial disputes are at play in the High North and the Far East. As an outwardlooking trading nation, with partnerships and alliances throughout the world, all these security challenges have the ability to affect both our economic interests and our national security.
For Britain, the sea is our frontline. In partnership with our allies, we must work to deliver both the soft touch of preventative engagement and the hard punch of military power, wherever in the world our interests are at stake. As we remember those from both sides who perished in the North Sea on May 31 1916, Jutland serves as a necessary reminder of the enduring significance of sea power to the defence and prosperity of our island nation.
Admiral Sir Philip Jones is the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff