Centenary News lists some of the many Battle of Jutland Centenary commemorations coming up on both sides of the North Sea in this latest preview.
Remembrance services will be held across the UK, from the south coast to Orkney, as well as in Germany and Scandinavia.
Open events will be held at the Royal Naval Memorials in Portsmouth, Chatham and Plymouth on May 31st, as follows.
Plymouth Naval Memorial: 11am-noon
Chatham Naval Memorial: 2-3pm
Portsmouth Naval Memorial: 2-3pm
The three identical monuments were commissioned after the First World War to commemorate members of the Royal Navy from these ports who have no known grave but than the sea.
More than 100 sailors will take part in a parade to the Portsmouth memorial on Southsea Common.
Commander Andy Green, organiser of the event said: “We are hoping that the people of Portsmouth turn out in their numbers to line the route or attend the service and ceremony.”
The Portsmouth, Chatham and Naval Memorials are all in the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Naval battles of the First World War, including Jutland, remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial (Photo Centenary News)
Services are planned too at CWGC cemeteries in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
Germany will remember the Battle of Jutland (Die Skagerrakschlacht in German) with ceremonies at Wilhelmshaven Cemetery on May 29th, where many of its dead dead are buried, and on May 31st at the German Naval Memorial in Laboe, near Kiel.
There will also be German participation at the UK national event in Orkney on May 31st.
Scapa Flow, a vast natural harbour in the Orkney Islands, was the base for Britain’s Grand Fleet in the Great War.
The remembrance services at St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, and CWGC’s Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery on May 31st are ticketed.
The Tower of London poppy installation, Weeping Window, has just gone on display at the cathedral, and will be on view throughout the Jutland commemorations until June 12th.
Among other events, Royal Navy divers plan to visit the wreck of HMS Invincible, sunk during the opening hours of the Battle of Jutland.
They’ll place a White Ensign in memory of the 1,020 officers and men killed when the battle-cruiser blew up.
The 100th anniversary of Jutland is the focus for the Royal Navy’s main Great War Centenary commemoration.
First Sea Lord Admiral Sir George Zambellas said: “World War 1 remains characterised by imagery of the trenches of the Western Front. Yet the sea was Britain’s lifeline and the supremacy of the Royal Navy was crucial to national survival.
“It is right, a century after Jutland – the largest and last clash between dreadnoughts – that we join together to remember those lost from both sides.”
For more information about the Battle of Jutland and 2016 commemorative events, visit the Royal Navy and CWGC websites.
Orkney Islands Council has details of commemorations in Orkney.
The UK’s national commemorative programme for the Battle of Jutland is led by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, DCMS.
Sources: Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Royal Navy, Orkney Islands Council
Images: Centenary News
Posted by: CN Editorial Team