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Description: | Photocopy of a very interesting and opinionated ms letter (19pp, plus 9pp charts and notes covering the different phases of the battle), dated 5 - 6 June 1916, from a Lieutenant serving as a turret officer in HMS VALIANT (5th Battle Squadron) giving some account of his actions and feelings during the Battle of Jutland the previous week, and in particular expressing his irritation at the pessimistic tone of the Admiralty's first communique after the battle when, in his opinion, only good fortune had saved the German High Seas Fleet from heavy losses, and his annoyance at the newspaper's concentration on the deeds of the battle cruisers though "...we four (the 5th Battle Squadron) were the heroes as we ... fired best & lost none & we were ready to fight on ..."; and also referring to the later chaffing of the ship's company of HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH which had missed the action, the gallantry of the Grand Fleet's destroyers during the battle, his emotions during the subsequent burial ashore of officers and men killed in the action and the survival of his pet cock on board VALIANT even though its cage was destroyed.
Cataloguer RWAS
Catalogue date 2000-05-12 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Piper, F S | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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