BATTLE OF JUTLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18773, 29 July 1924, Page 7

BATTLE OF JUTLAND.

AN official account. LORD "JELLICOE'S COMMENT. DIFFERS ON CERTAIN POINTS. By Telecrapb—Press Association—Copyright. A. and N'.Z. LONDON. July 27. The British Admiralty ha-3 published an official account of the Jutland battle, with diagrams illustrating the positions of the ships during the battle. The narrative is based on despatches from Admirals and on reports from individual ships.

The introduction lays emphasis on the difficulty of attempting to ascertain the movements of individual ships with a clear and definite precision in a battle in which 154 British flags and pennants were flown.

The volume includes comment on the official narrative by Lord _ Jellicoe, then Admiral of the Fleet. He expresses regret that he is compelled to express any dissent, but says he considers it his duty to draw attention to a few important passages with which he is unable to agree. Lord Jellicoe defends Admiral Sir Hugh Evan-Thomas from an imputation that ho was responsible for the delay in the entry into the battle of the fifth battle squadron, of which the latter was in command. Lord Jellicoe points out that ..the signals for the entry of the fifth squadron were made by flags, which were naturally not easily distinguishable. He deals with the difficulty arising from the receipt of various reports, and says that these led him to expect to reach the enemy's battle fleet ahead. This expectation was based on reports from Admiral Beatty's flagship, Lion, and from Southampton. .

Lord Jellicoe gives a lengthy account of the information available regarding the position of the German Fleet on the night after the second engagement. He adds that on many points the official narrative is only partially correct or is misleading. The narrative, he says, fails to give a true idea of the confusion caused by contradictory reports, the effects of which were felt throughout the action.

The Lords of the Admiralty follow Lord Jellicoe's comment with copious footnotes. They express their satisfaction that the compilers of the narrative adhere to facts, and are more in accord with the evidence .available- where it differs from that of Lord Jellicoe.

Commander Sir Walter Windham, in criticising Lord Jellicoe's comment, states that the British did not pursue the Germans southward, where they might have driven the enemy on to a British minefield. He asks why Lord Jellicoe failed to intercept the enemy when he was not handicapped more than the Germans, who steamed 175 miles and crossed the stern of the British during the night.