Sailors burned to death or were drowned in the icy-cold sea. Fierce battle went on all evening with high explosive shells ripping into thick armour plating. Just before 6pm, the full great fleets of Britain and Germany came into contact. Around 4pm on 31 May, the swift British battle cruisers lured the Germans towards the Grand Fleet, taking heavy losses in the initial fighting. Sheer planned to lure the British Fleet into battle and trap them, but the German plans were intercepted by the British who prepared to trap the German fleet in return.
The German fleet had less than 100 ships compared to the British Grand Fleet of around 150. In January 1916, the Germans had a new Naval Commander, Admiral Scheer, and he was eager for action. Before 1916 there had been no major sea battles between the world’s largest naval powers, Germany and Britain, despite an arms race creating large fleets in anticipation of great sea battles between the new dreadnought warships and more advanced battle cruisers.
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