The Dance of the Dreadnoughts - The Battle of Jutland May 31, 1916 – Jun 1, 1916

Here it is, the most significant episode yet, which is fitting considering the topic! We have Dreadnoughts, the Royal Navy, German technical ability, and pretty much anything you'd want to cover on the battle of Jutland. This titanic fistfight between to two most dominant navies of the first half f the 20th century is full of wild little facts and fascinating tales. We also dive a little bit into the reasons the battle happened at all and why it might not have needed to taken place at all. If you like your WWI with a side of the sea and a twist of broadsides, give this a listen!

Even before the Arch Duke was cut down in Sarajevo, the Royal Navy was planning for war. Churchill had sent the Grand Fleet, the colossal home water force, to its Scottish berths at Rosyth and Scapa Flow. The Royal Navy had the right ships in the right place to hold the German Navy in place. The concern now was did it have the will and the men to defeat them.

The century since Nelson commanded the "hearts of oak" had improved the equipment of the Navy and its technical abilities but not it's fighting experience. The great European peace had offered little opportunity for large scale fighting, especially at sea. What little experience was to be gained was mostly done on rivers or in colonial combat. In fact, Admiral Beatty, a critical British commander, cut his teeth in Sudan against the Mahdi. Churchill feared that when the war broke out, "we had more captains of ships than captains of war." Sailing, navigation, exploration, seamanship were the balliwhack of the Royal Navy. Listen for more…

Devastation and Revenge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100694
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

This week’s main source - The Price of Admiralty by John Keegan

Questions or Corrections - https://www.cauldronpodcast.com/sendustheories
To support the show got to https://www.patreon.com/user?u=8278347 and search Cauldron Podcast
For images, videos, and sources check us out on
Facebook
@cauldronpodcast
Instagram
@cauldronpodcast

Spotify

iTunes

GooglePlay
https://play.google.com/music/m/Daq75ucopay5xe2hnyya56d4gka?t=The_Meat_Grinder_-The_Battle_of_Hamburger_Hill_10-20_May_1969-Cauldron-_A_History_Of_The_World_Bat