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1. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
31st May 1916: The Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland (German: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought by the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet under Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, against the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer during the First World War. The battle was fought from 31 May to 1 June 1916 in the North Sea, near the coast of Denmark's Jutland Peninsula. It was the largest naval battle and the only full-scale clash of battleships in the war. It was the third fleet action between steel battleships, following the smaller but more decisive battles of the Yellow Sea (1904) and Tsushima (1905) during the Russo-Japanese War.
Germany's High Seas Fleet's intention was to lure out, trap and destroy a portion of the Grand Fleet, as the German naval force was insufficient to openly engage the entire British fleet. This formed part of a larger strategy to break the British blockade of Germany and to allow German naval vessels access to the Atlantic. Meanwhile, Great Britain's Royal Navy pursued a strategy to engage and destroy the High Seas Fleet, or keep the German force contained and away from Britain and her shipping lanes.
The German plan was to use Vice-Admiral Franz Hipper's fast scouting group of five modern battlecruisers to lure Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty's battlecruiser squadrons into the path of the main German fleet. Submarines were stationed in advance across the likely routes of the British ships. However, the British learned from signal intercepts that a major fleet operation was likely, so on 30 May Jellicoe sailed with the Grand Fleet to rendezvous with Beatty, passing over the locations of the German submarine picket lines while they were unprepared. The German plan had been delayed, causing further problems for their submarines which had reached the limit of their endurance at sea.
On the afternoon of 31 May, Beatty encountered Hipper's battlecruiser force long before the Germans had expected. In a running battle, Hipper successfully drew the British vanguard into the path of the High Seas Fleet. By the time Beatty sighted the larger force and turned back towards the British main fleet, he had lost two battlecruisers from a force of six battlecruisers and four battleships, against the five ships commanded by Hipper. The battleships, commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Hugh Evan-Thomas, were the last to turn and formed a rearguard as Beatty withdrew, now drawing the German fleet in pursuit towards the main British positions. Between 18:30, when the sun was lowering on the western horizon, back-lighting the German forces, and nightfall at about 20:30, the two fleets – totaling 250 ships between them – directly engaged twice.
Fourteen British and eleven German ships were sunk, with great loss of life. After sunset, and throughout the night, Jellicoe manoeuvred to cut the Germans off from their base, hoping to continue the battle the next morning, but under the cover of darkness Scheer broke through the British light forces forming the rearguard of the Grand Fleet and returned to port.
Both sides claimed victory. The British lost more ships and twice as many sailors, supporting the German claim to victory. However, the Germans had failed to break the British blockade and depleting German resources were consequently not being replaced. The battle was therefore a British victory, though they had contained rather than destroyed the German navy.
The heavy British losses were due to safety procedures being ignored in order to increase the rate of fire, a disastrously counterproductive strategy. This was compounded by Royal Navy commanders failing to fully embrace the new available radio technology to communicate, and preferring to use an obsolete signal flags system.
Beatty's arrogance, narcissism and lack of caution undoubtedly caused more loss of life. Jellicoe, heavily criticized for overcaution and subsequently demoted, actually saved unnecessary further losses - it was not necessary to destroy the German fleet to achieve the objective, merely deter it - this Jellicoe achieved very successfully. The German fleet never attempted a breakout again, and depleted German resources undoubtedly contributed to Allied victory in 1918.
2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
Local errands
Hedge Trimming
Me Time
Meditation
Missus Time
Twitter Followers = 2,247 (down 1)
Never-followed unfollowers eliminated = 1
@RussellExolta
Followed unfollowers eliminated = 0
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New Followers followed back = 0
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3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION
In between the new experience of periods of zero-libido, and for the last five years not rising to the desired occasion without chemical assistance, I do still get times when I get spontaneously very horny - unfortunately these tend to be at around 3am and are mostly caused by urine in the bladder. I know full-well I would be best urinating and then seeing how I feel, but sometimes, especially with brain on half-power, the urge is indulged solo, while Missus, deeply sedated by Olanzapine, sleeps on none-the-wiser.
This can be a big mistake, making the bed very sweaty and taking 45 minutes getting nowhere, because what was really wanted was a wee. You'd then assume that every small-hours boner requires a wee. But it's not that simple! Occasionally there is a genuine bone fide urge, which can then be relieved quite quickly - it seems a terrible waste not to! I'm beginning to learn to feel the subtle difference. I can now discern when the bladder is reasonably full, so when to wee rather than fap.
This has important implications for sleep. Indulging a urine boner means you usually can't go back to sleep - you're very thirsty, wide awake and the bed is uncomfortably damp. A genuine urge is quickly relieved and you can go back to sleep reasonably easily.
After two very early wakes (NOT because of urine boners - instead it was minor but upsetting incidents on Saturday) today I got up at the relatively reasonable time of 05:30 after hitting the sack at 23:40. A "genuine" urge around 03:00 was quickly relieved and I went back to sleep, despite feeling quite thirsty. I did have a couple of dreams thereafter which I remember being nonsensical, but now I can't remember anything about them at all!
4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
How well is your mind in tune with your body?
5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
In brief
Mainly dry, cool and overcast
Details
Moon
Weathertrack
Air Pressure
1020 millibars and rising
6. TODAY'S ONELINER
You know that tingly little feeling you get when you fancy someone? That's your common sense leaving your body. :D
7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!
Natasha Leggero on hip-hop
8. TRIVIA
On average, flying fish can glide 160 feet (50m), but have been known to glide as far as 660 feet (200 m). And they can reach heights up to 19 feet (6m).
9. ZEN WISDOM
When facing adversity, we may think we’ve reached our limit, but unless we actually die, the more trying the circumstances, the closer we are to making a breakthrough. The darker the night, the nearer the dawn.
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