1916 The First World War at Sea in Photographs

For the navies of Britain and Germany, 1916 would be the defining year of the First World War. Against a background of the evacuation of the Dardanelles, blockades in the North Sea and submarine attacks around the coasts of Europe, the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet would meet in the North Sea on 31 May 1916 and slug it out for supremacy. Which would win, Britain or Germany? With both sides claiming victory, Jutland ended as a draw. Nonetheless, neither fleet would venture out in force again for the duration. Future naval engagements would be skirmishes rather than all-out sea battles.

Outrages against hospital ships and continued submarine warfare against merchant vessels saw numerous high profile sinkings, not least the hospital ship HMHS Britannic, lost in November in the Kea Channel, sunk by an indiscriminate mine.

Phil Carradice takes us through the First World War at sea in photographs, showing us the horror of war and telling the story of the greatest sea battle of the conflict.