Admiral Sir John Jellicoe
John Jellicoe commanded the Grand Fleet at Jutland and was described as the only man who could lose the war in an afternoon. Born in Southampton in 1859 to a merchant navy captain, he entered the navy at twelve, specialised in gunnery, and was badly wounded in the Boxer Rebellion. He worked closely with Admiral Fisher on the Dreadnought programme and served as Controller and then Second Sea Lord, which gave him a detailed knowledge of the fleet's material. He took command of the Grand Fleet on the day war was declared in 1914. His strategic position was unusual: Britain did not need to destroy the German fleet, only to keep it contained, since the blockade did the work. Losing the Grand Fleet, by contrast, would lose the war outright. That asymmetry governed everything he did, and Churchill's remark about losing the war in an afternoon is a fair statement of it. At Jutland on 31 May and 1 June 1916 he deployed the fleet from cruising columns into a single line twice, crossing the German T on both occasions and inflicting heavy damage. Scheer executed a battle turn away under smoke each time, and Jellicoe declined to pursue into the smoke and the destroyer torpedo attack, judging the risk unacceptable. Britain lost fourteen ships and over six thousand men, Germany eleven and about twenty-five hundred. The German fleet did not seriously challenge again. He was made First Sea Lord, introduced convoys under pressure in 1917, and was dismissed at the end of that year. He died in 1935.
- Lived: 1859 CE – 1935 CE
- Nationality: British
- Roles: admiral
