I think the variant where Seymour messed up and the battle never happened is the more realistic one.

"Florida is being evacuated." That's a sentence I've heard a lot.

Flag Officer Seymour, you are hereby presented the Iron Cross 2nd class.

Fascinating scenario; my granddad was a 16 year old on board HMS Iron Duke (with Jellicoe) at Jutland. He witnessed the surrender of the High Seas Fleet and its scuttling at Scapa Flow. (He gave me a photo of it). He left the navy in 1937, but they called him back, in the Second World War, for Arctic convoys, and a spot of minesweeping for D-Day.

"With the K-class [...] sending about a third of the German fleet to the bottom in a single, massive torpedo strike." I can only imagine what effect _that_ would have on post-war naval thinking.

TFW the description gets to 1130hrs and you imagine the sight of the Grand Fleet steaming in all its fury, led by the Queen Elizabeth class battleships. *RULE BRITANNIA INTENSIFIES* 1350hrs HMS Warspite leads the whole fleet, despising all the hard knocks of war *RULE BRITANNIA INTENSIFIES FURTHER* In all seriousness, this is a pretty fair appraisal. The German sailors by 1918 knew there was no point in wasting their lives in an impossible assault, and the wargaming examplifies why.

Damn! That was some BRILLIANT play-by-play. I was listening to the audio without watching my PC screen. The "graphics" weren't really necessary because the narration was absolutely gripping. BRAVO Sir!

I like how the New Zealand continued to be a lucky ship. The Captain must have been wearing his lucky Maori grass skirt and jade amulet!

I never thought, that it would be possible, to do such a good review of a battle that never happened and that these guys were able to literally play it as real as possible. This certainly is one of your best videos. I‘m not sure if I would have wanted this to happen, because next to this battle jutland would have been nothing else but a little engagement and there would have been a lot of horrible deaths, but it would be one of the most interesting battles in history.

As a Texan I cheered and started laughing when I heard the description of the mast and just knew it would be the Texas, riding hell-bound for leather, to get into a scrap considering how close it had come previously in the war.

30 Seconds ln: "BATTLE OF JUTLAND 2 - ELECTRIC BOOGALO" - FREAKIN' PRICELESS, My Friend, Especially ln That Voice!

9 years ago I was involved in a 2 year long wargame hypothesizing the UK pissing the US off to the point that the US joined Germany in 1914. Involved some highly fascinating battles involving mixed squadrons of BBs and BAs, along with the RN BCs either wrecking coastal patrols or getting used against USN BBs with rather bad effects for the BCs in those cases. By mid-1915, the USN had gone from having 3 fleets to having 2, and those being noticeably weaker. The RN had also lost a lot of ships, really more than the US when you consider that they had far more limited basing options in the Western Hemisphere and Halifax was basically under blockade as much as could be done by the USN, meaning that RN capital ships needing repairs had to limp back to Britain which was dangerous. I was commander of the 3rd Fleet, which fought the war in the Caribbean against a smaller British squadron (secondary theater for them) and the French Navy.....end result was that I had a single BB (Delaware) by the end of a brutal island-hopping campaign, but the Marine Nationale was gone as an effective force and the Royal Navy was pushed out of the Caribbean to South America. The Central Powers managed to pull off a minor victory against the Japanese second line capital ships (not the Kongoes) and Russian ships. Finally, a 1915 Jutland happened, but with the Royal Navy having been weakened from such battles as Halifax, Delaware Bank, and the 1st and 2nd Battles of Martinique, the KM succeeded in a marginal victory that was just enough to bring everyone to the table for a compromise peace in August 1915. That war was a bloody nightmare, and taking the two SC class BBs and a couple of pre-dreads up against the French and British in the Caribbean was.....let's say nerve wracking. Managed to pull it off, but just barely, and with a lot of touch and go moments, especially when the French experimented with dropping lots of little bombs (grenades basically) on my Battleships in an effort to get bombs down the funnels, and the British managed to torpedo my one and only seaplane tender with what amounted to their pre-production first torpedo bomber concept plane. I think total capital ship losses were somewhere on the order of as many as 15-20 BAs, 10 BBs, 5 BCs. The Entire US cruiser force was gone, the entire French Destroyer force was gone, and the USN was using its first 1000 tonner DDs as light cruisers.

30:27 if a battleship explodes but no one rolls high enough to notice does it make a sound?

18:40 Was listening to this in the background, but the captaining of the USS Texas forced me to tab back to like and comment. Only disappointed they didn't manage 22.55 knots by getting the oars out.

Just a quick note, thankful shout-out to the community who provided the voice of Admiral Scheer! EDIT: Additionally, as a few have pointed out, the Dutch coast was NOT occupied in WW1, this came about from a transcription error in my notes as we had designated the Dutch coast 'hostile' for the purposes of denoting that ships that went ashore were not recoverable, but the shorthand used made me think for some reason that meant 'occupied' when recording.

Easily my favorite video you’ve ever produced. I love your description of the USS Texas entering the battle and the participation of the USS Arkansas, my grandfather’s ship from WWII.

Lord i never thought i would get so excited over a hypothetical battle. Even though im not American, when i hear you said that the german look out spotted ships with a strange mast. I cant help but get really excited. Well done m8, this video made my day.

Loved it when Texas was being towed in . I live in Houston and she's right here. Been aboard her many times.

18:16 "over there" starts playing in the distance.

"The BB Texas, perturbed at being overtaken...." if there was ever a sentence of how a Texan captain would ever feel about having his BB, named after his home state, being overtaken by a British BB, the only one more likely would be that sentence, followed by "... the Texas opened fire on the British ship."

Woohoo! Come on Texas! Love that old girl. I got back from morning PT to be greeted by this. You had me laughing so hard when you said that Texas was blowing boilers to take the lead of the squadron. Lol, great video. Keep it up!

Big old smile came to my face as I heard the report of a ship with unusually large masts

The Texas coming thundering out of the Smoke because it was impatient to get Into the fight is such an American move, I love it. Greetings from Boston!

A fascinating video. I know I'm a bit late getting to it, but I thoroughly enjoyed this What-If exercise answering a question I myself have asked in my head many times. A few points that particularly stood out to me: I'm surprised that Derfflinger was able to survive as long as it did with such a spectacular turret fire blazing forward. One would have thought it would have been a matter of seconds, minutes as most, before those flames reached her main magazine, but she kept going long enough to at least contribute a bit more before succumbing. One can only imagine the desperate action below decks of damage control crews with firehoses trying to keep the flames at bay long enough to flood the foreward magazine and save the ship from exploding as the British battlecruisers did at Jutland. Not gonna lie, my heart swelled with pride when the British battlefleet (or at least the American contingent) was being led by the overtaxed piston engines of my home state's flagship, the USS Texas. Historically, she was always the first into the fight and the last to leave during the Second World War, even flooding her own torpedo bulge to get a last few shots in at Normandy, even overstraining her engines similar to this in 1946 during Operation Magic Carpet to ensure that American servicemen from the Pacific would get home in time for Christmas. Some have pointed out that the spark-filled black smoke clouds may be inaccurate as the Texas was oil fired, but I can believe that detail as the engineers forcing the boilers' oil burners open beyond their normal limits to pour on every ounce of fuel, leading to some of it not burning properly and forming an impromptu smokescreen. And later in the battle I can also agree with the Americans accepting the temporary leadership of HMS Warspite, more than likely the only British dreadnought even they would respect. My biggest surprise was the crucial contribution of the K Class submarines. Long derided as next to useless, even by your own good self, I was shocked that they would be the element to turn the tide of this battle, and I must admit somewhat validated; had they been designed stronger with better maneuvering capabilities, the idea of a steam submarine in the First World War era is not as daft as it sounds, especially as the K's boilers were specially designed to be shut down and fired up quite rapidly. That said, historically their crush depth (if memory serves) was less than twice their own length, which they could reach quite easily through uncontrollable dives. As such, it also seems accurate that four of them were lost without a trace during the engagement. But at least they got their moment of glory that was denied them in real life, leaving them an undeserving historical laughing stock.

An enjoyable and plausible scenario, I like the fact you wargamed it out multiple times, True you likely enjoyed it, but wargaming is a valid method of testing out tactics and scenarios that was, and still is used by militaries around the world.

You forgot to mention the erecting of a 100' Statue of Lord Beatty, 1st Baron Texel, erected in Trafalgar Square (Rumour has it that his Lordship paid for the final 90' ) ;)

For those interested, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a long short story about this battle that might have been called "The Death Voyage" collected in UNCOLLECTED STORIES published in 1982. The outcome was the same as Drach's splendid speculation, but the battle considerably different.

Fantastic work. I'll be rewatching/listening a few more times. This battle scenario would be mind boggling made in big budget movie form.

Well, this was a lot of fun watching. Filled with tension as well, I think you presented it very effectively.

Of course us Yanks are going to make sure we do everything to upstage the limeys. I almost died when I heard you say that the Texas was pulling away and leading the formation.

The German capital ships have lower free-board than their British opposite numbers. This lack of free-board results in dangerous situations developing with smaller reserve buoyancy and stability issues with flooding above the armoured deck. Smashed up decks allow large quantities of water to enter high up in the ship's hull: as free-board is reduced by damage; attempt to steam at high speed and or heel as ships carry out rapid course changed; etc. The German ships cannot carry out prolonged full power steaming as the poor quality of their coal required increased raking out of the large build up of ashed from their boilers. This poor quality coal also increased the difficult task for the Germans in keeping funnel smoke to a minimum. The superior British coal made the work of the British crews much easier. The oil fueled British were in a far better situation even still.

Awesome video! Had to laugh at the description of HMS Agincourt's "turret farm" he he :)

Great show, as always! I particularly enjoyed the blooper reel part where the battle starts and immediately goes sideways in spectacular fashion with a German battleship blowing up and getting rammed by 3 other ships. That bit was hilarious!

It's interesting to speculate what the psychological implications of a decisive Trafalgar type victory might have been for the British navy and people. The unsatisfactory victory of Jutland was a massive disappointed. 'The spell of Trafalgar had been broken' leaving the Royal Navy with a feeling it had failed in its task to destroy its enemy rather than to slowly and ingloriously strangle it: perhaps this has been evident ever since, even now. How might such a victory as the Texel have effected the future London and Washington treaties? Might Britain's attitude have been more robust perhaps? Might the unhealthy feeling of Britain being in perpetual decline since the Great War have been averted by such a 'clean' victory. Victory at such a late stage in the war could not have have averting Britain's decline as a first class power, as with the rapid reduction in Royal Navy's strength post WWI, Britain could no longer maintain its previous two power standard. With the new and powerful US fleet now astride Britain's far eastern imperial sea route and a newly powerful Japanese navy ensconced in its heartland the writing for British Imperial power was already on the wall.

When you see the profile view the high seas Fleet and think, "looks a bit small for the page." When you see the Grand Fleet," that's why it's so big"

Q&A - how about the reverse i.e. The High Seas fleet engages the Grand Fleet in Aug or Sept 1914? Thanks again for bringing to life these beautiful beasts of the seas!

HMS New Zealand living up to her lucky ship status

Thank you for educated & intelligent content.

Great combination of historical analysis and modern war gaming. It goes a long way to explain why German sailors refused to come and and die for no good reason. Very pleased to see that HMS New Zealand got a mention.

When the massive smoke & cinders sighting came up at 18:30+ I thought for a moment it would be the Admiral Kuznetsov in a sort of an alternative “The final countdown” movie scenario... :)

Pleased that HMAS Australia got a look in at this battle. It had missed Jutland because it was being repaired after a collision with sister ship of the Indefatigable class, HMS New Zealand. Note that is His Majesty's Australian Ship Australia, as it was the flagship of the Royal Australian Navy. HMS New Zealand was paid for by that Dominion but was gifted to the Royal Navy, intended for the China Station, but was released by the New Zealand government at the request of the Admiralty for service in British waters before the war. HMAS Australia was 'unlucky' in the sense that unlike New Zealand it saw little action. At the start of World War I, Australia was tasked with finding and destroying the German East Asia Squadron, which was prompted to withdraw from the Pacific by the battlecruiser's presence. The commander of the German squadron said that only the presence of Australia prevented him from shelling Australian ports in the early months of the war. So it did solid service for the country in the inglorious role of a deterrent Repeated diversions to support the capture of German colonies in New Guinea and Samoa, as well as an overcautious Admiralty, prevented the battlecruiser from engaging the German squadron before the latter's destruction. Australia was then assigned to North Sea operations, which consisted primarily of patrols and exercises, until the end of the war. Australia only ever fired in anger twice: at a German merchant vessel in January 1915, and at a suspected submarine contact in December 1917. It was sunk outside Sydney heads in 1924 in compliance with the Washington Naval Treaty.

A lovely battle report of the what-if scenario. I am a bit surprised all the K-class submarines didn't have Torpedo duds, hydraulic failures and horrible friendly collision accidents as it would have been more in light of their historical performance

This is great! Thanks from the state of New York.

When I need something to "lift my spirits", I play this video (starting around 18:00).

I could imagine HMS Warspite sending a message saying "will need to revise our list of spares"

I love how New Zealand comes through unscathed again.

Had I known I was going to voice Admiral Scheer, I would've made it even better. I feel cheated.

Thanks for a brilliant and well thought out and researched video. The massive numerical advantage held by the Allies at the end of the war makes any chance of a German victory unlikely, especially as many of the flaws revealed at Jutland had been corrected. Then again a Naval victory wasn't the point of the German plan, it was to get better terms at the peace conference table and to avenge German honour. Points a game cannot truly duplicate is that by late 1918 many ships of the High Seas Fleet were in poor mechanical condition due to low crew morale and falling discipline. Also many of the best officers and crew had been transferred to U-boats reducing efficiency and skills. Another point is that the quality of coal available to the HSF was very poor which would rapidly affect speed,

Did Warspite ram anything in any of your games? my money is one one of the k class subs that went missing.

18:16 Go get'em Texas!!!! (Que the Solder from Team fortress 2's battle cry )

Actually breathtaking especially as each side attempts to do things that might have happened at Jutland with unexpected or absolutely expected outcomes. Thanks. More like history and than history.

"5 minute guide to warships" *34:45* Love the vids btw

I’d love to see this kind of narration on naval battles like Leyte gulf and Jutland or just more war gamed scenarios

I request a part 2 from the Grand fleet's point of View

Absolutely fantastic. I’d love to hear more of these on other battles like Leyte gulf, midway etc. Imagine if Yamato and Musashi had actually engaged. Great channel

The format works well for Texel, as the intention of the HSF is clear: cause as much damage as possible. A speculative post-corollary might be how the heroic performance of 6th Sqdn affected the design of future USN BBs. (They showed well but got shot up good.)

"Agincourt is down to only 3 turrets" With any other battleship that would still be most of its turrets.

Suggestion: Do a "war game" type assessment like this, but for the Austro-Hungarian vs. Italian fleets at different times - 1916, 1917, etc. Sounds like fun!

Fantastic stuff really enjoyed watching this very well researched and very plausible scenario with a sprinkling of wit and banter. Cheers Drachinifel

Just finished "Castles of steel" and wondered how this battle would have turned out if it wasn't for the German mutiny... I can rest somewhat easy now...

I'm a simple American, I hear USS Texas I up vote! Lol

I would love to watch more of these tabletop theory based “battle reports”. Amazing work, thank you.

This was very well presented, nicely done!

So Texel becomes the last time a fleet surrenders at sea instead of Tsushima. The Americans help lead the Van and show they aren't the weak link. Awesome

I find it odd that the U-boats had no effect, but the k-class subs had such consistent success. Were there any scenarios in which German U-boats damaged the Grand Fleet instead?

Excellent episode. I do like the extended hypothetical's with time lapsed diagrams and backed up by war gaming. Thanks Drachinifel, et al.

Thoroughly enjoyable and without the pictures I could well imagine the scenes. A well done to you.

Such a cool scenario , would definitely love to see more of these kinds of video

USS Texas running like hell to keep up with the British-that would be a one hell of a scene, I tell you!

Excellent hypothetical thank you. Really appreciated the summary of outlier events at the end as well.

This is the 3rd time I've watched this now and it's still just as exciting as it was the first time.

Definitely a great video, and I'd love to see more of these in the future (though obviously they take a lot more time and work than most of your others). I'd love to hear how people reacted in that one scenario where Seymour hoisted the wrong signal. The people playing the British commanders must've been *pissed.*

Have to agree with Bufoferata, a gripping and well told encounter. Admiral Scheer can't possibly have hoped to come out of it with any better results. Good to hear Warspite come out of it so well, has to be my favourite ship of that period. Should have become a museum ship instead of being scrapped!

I am not a naval forces interest person. However, you make it so detailed with clarity of narrative and analysis, I think you have drawn me in. Never regret watching your material. Best of all is your satisfying grasp of the subject matter. This piece had be absolutely fascinated. Thanks so very much for the military history. Love your dry sense of humor, especially references to we Americans cramming as much 2A expression on deck as possible, lol. Its in our d.n.a. again, great grasp of the material with understanding of the tech and human interactions with it.

Another absolutely wonderful episode!

the Netherlands were not occupied in WW1. Probably the warships of waring parties would be seized, but NL was not hostile to anybody at the time.

That was fascinating. Thank you. Amazing to hear that the K Class Submarines were likely to be useful :-)

Awesome at its best. Thank you for wonderful videos.

Outstanding! Thank you for this.

Good morning from Detroit. That was a brilliant episode!!! Great job

18:36 The first ever case of rolling coal.

17:37 the USS Texas gets an EPIC introduction.

Very entertaining. Thank you for making this video

"it is the grand fleet" those words enough to make any proud britain weep with joy. this was an amazing war game i loved this video and finally the way jutland should have gone

Something I've noted in the accounts of most large period actions in the north sea is the environmental response to massive amounts of gunfire and hard steaming coal fired vessels operating in a restricted area for a significant period. (Not just the actual Jutland account). Visibility goes to hell after an hour or so. Difficult to wargame.

Fascinating..and very plausible..well done sir..

i commend your outstanding effort ! thankyou.

This is a good story, but the graphics might be Much more useful, by highlighting and identifying individual ships as they are mentioned, along with their visual arcs.

With my lack of proper WW1/WW2 naval history and playing WoWs, when you talked about the Grosser Kerfurst, I was HOLY...the Grand Fleet survived facing that thing?! I was wondering how that could happen, especially cause I thought it was just a paper ship lol.

Outstanding work this.

Binging your clips, interesting enough to keep me clicking... but this one is quite good ! Can only offer my thanks.

Rumor has it Chuck Norris could tow the Texas to a speed of over 50 knots.

Thank you for this terrific video! I really enjoyed it. Have you ever thought of wargaming Jutland if Jellicoe had turned towards Scheer instead of away in the face of the German torpedo attack?

Great video -- thanks for all the work. I was hoping that you could give us a video on the IJN Satsuma class semi-dreadnaught.

Thanks! Love these!

If you want some pronounciation tips for German ship names, I'd gladly help out :)

Poor Lion, always a shell magnet XD

One of the most interesting what if’s - the kind of thing I’d always wanted to read about.

I've read that it was the British preoccupation with rate of fire since the days of sail that led to safety practices being ignored at Jutland, leading to the catastrophic losses as mentioned.

Q&A - Did you say what game/system you used for this war gaming? All manual or computer assisted?