Winston Churchill Writes the Press Association, Enclosing an Official Statement Saying the Battle of Jutland in World War I Was a British Victory

The Battle of Jutland, fought off of Denmark’s North Sea coast, was the only major naval engagement of World War I. Involving some 250 ships and 100,000 men, the British fleet enjoyed a numerical advantage over the German of 37:27 in heavy units and 113:72 in light support craft. Thus the battle had all the ingredients to be a great British naval victory, but in the event the result was much less clear-cut. By battle’s end, British losses amounted to 14 ships sunk and 6,784 men, and German losses to 11 ships sunk and 3,058 men. The Royal Navy suffered more loses, and the Kaiser quickly claimed a great German victory. By contrast, the battle caused significant disappointment in Britain, where news of a new Trafalgar had been expected. The official statement on the battle was made on June 2 by First Lord of the Admiralty Arthur Balfour, of Balfour Declaration fame. It was short, and factual, lacking in media savvy, giving details on losses and making no claims whatever, least of all of victory. The most it said was “The enemy's losses were serious”. The lack of characterization of the great battle caused an explosion of outrage in Britain, where many people demanded to understand the results. Of course, the war’s supporters desired a positive claim of victory to counter the Kaiser’s and enhance the impression that things were going well.

Winston Churchill had been Lord of the Admiralty before Balfour, and been sacked in May 1915 after the disaster at Gallipoli, for which he was held responsible. Churchill was now asked to step in and draft a second and more positive statement about the results at Jutland. He was somewhat hesitant to get involved, no less make a statement that might appear to contradict Balfour’s. A colleague, Charles Remington, said of a meeting he had with Churchill on June 3: “Winston was full of the naval-fight off Jutland. He had been asked to issue the semi-official communique which appeared in Sunday's papers, June 4, and was not quite sure whether he had done right or not. Balfour's private secretary had made the demand, whereupon Winston had consulted Lloyd George and Rufus Isaacs, who said that he could not refuse, so he returned to the Admiralty, and said he would draft something if Balfour personally asked for it. This Balfour did.” So Churchill was prevailed upon to make an upbeat assessment, and that day a statement was released in his name by the Admiralty giving an optimistic view that the battle had indeed been a British victory.

The press jumped on this statement, demanding to know whether Churchill, the former First Lord, was trying to overshadow or upstage Balfour, the current First Lord, and how it came to pass that a man with no position in the Admiralty came to issue a statement on crucial Admiralty matters like the battle. Churchill felt obliged to respond, and determined to issue his response as an official statement to the Press Association, and thus receive nationwide coverage with one communication. This letter enclosed that statement.

Autograph letter signed, on his letterhead, London, June 20, 1916, to the chief of the Editors of the Press Association, and marked “Private”. “Will you kindly issue the enclosed letter to the press. I have addressed it to you; but I presume each newspaper will address it to itself. Pray do what is convenient in this matter.” This comes with a copy of the statement to which Churchill refers in this letter.

The final assessment of history concurs with Churchill’s. The Battle of Jutland came in time to be seen as a key strategic British victory. It effectively ended any threat from the German fleet, which now knew it could not really contest control of the high seas, and would never again try. Instead, the Germans turned to mere commerce raiding, which brought them into conflict with the United States.