As long as history continues to be read there will be dispute as to the real meaning of the Battle of Jutland, and the views of the nationals who were fighting each other at the time will probably never be reconciled. For that reason the correspondence on the subject will row be closed. Nevertheless it may be as, well if readers were acquainted with the views of Capt. Alfred C. Dewar, formerly of the Historical Section, Naval Staff, Admiralty. In the course of a lengthy study of the battle written for the "Encyclopædia Britannica," he writes:
"The battle was not a decisive one, and the British battle-Beet was never seriously under fire...
"Measured in terms of size and serried steel, and of opportunity, the b. tle or Jutland must bulk large in naval histon y, but the actual results at the moment wer small. If a battle is merely an incident or a move in a blockade it may possibly be regarded as won when the enemy retires to harbour. No further fleet action occurred during the war, and eventually the German.fleet surrendered. From one point of view it may be said that fe result was successful But if a battle represents in war the economy of the decisive blow; if the enemy's fleet can still play an important part in the campaign; if, as Foch said, there can be no victory without a battle; and if Nelson's teachings dre sound—then the Battle of Jutland, taken by itself, must rank merely as a great and unique opportunity for the British fleet, of which advantage was not sufficiently taken."
Comparisons of the number of ships lost or men killed are not the best methods of deciding whether a battle has been won or lost. The real test is to be found in what happened after the Battle of Jutland. For the rest of the war the German fleet was immobilized in the. sense that it never came out of harbour again to meet the British fleet; it was just as completely immobilized as if it had been destroyed in action, and that was the only result that mattered.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.