Study (pencil) of the Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916: 'Iron Duke' leading battleships at about 18.44

(Updated, February 2015) Inscribed with technical notes by the artist, lower right. This sketch is of the situation at Jutland at approximately 18.44 on 31 May 1916. Admiral Jellicoe's flagship 'Iron Duke' is firing to starboard at the German battleship 'König'. She is followed in the line by the 'Royal Oak', 'Superb', 'Canada', 'Colossus', 'Collingwood', 'Neptune' and 'St Vincent'. The vessel listing on the left is probably the destroyer 'Acasta' of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla: she had made an unsuccessful torpedo run against the 'Lutzow' and was hit by an enemy shell in the engine room which killed five men and disabled her. As she drifted into the path of the advancing British battleships her men lined the rails and cheered the 'Iron Duke' as Jellicoe passed: she was later taken under tow into Aberdeen, repaired and eventually scrapped in 1921. The four-funnelled vessel on the right is the flotilla leader 'Kempenfelt', leading the 11th Destroyer Flotilla. This drawing is essentially the same composition as a large oil painting which Wyllie did for Admiral Jellicoe in 1917: it may be a study for an etched version, but if so such a print remains to be identified. See also PAF1818, which is a study of 'Iron Duke' at anchor with her guns trained round specially for Wyllie to make a study for the composition.

Object Details

ID: PAF0934
Collection: Fine art
Type: Drawing
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Wyllie, William Lionel
Events: World War I: Battle of Jutland, 1916; World War I, 1914-1918
Date made: circa 1916
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Collection
Measurements: 287 mm x 444 mm
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