Map of the North and Baltic Seas (labeledNord-See and Ostsee) from a folding postcard of five battlefronts: the Western and Eastern Fronts; North and Baltic Seas, Mediterranean and Black Seas; and the Serbian-Montenegro Front.
Karten sämtl. KriegsschauplätzeÖsterreichisch-serbisch-montenegrinisher Kriegsschauplatz.Deutsch - österreichisch - russischer Kriegsschauplatz.Deutsch - belgisch - französ. Kriegsschauplatz.Deutsch-englisch-russisch. Seekriegsschauplatz.Österreichisch - französisch-englischer Seekriegsschauplatz.Preis 20 HellerBei Änderungen der Kriegsschauplätze erscheint Nachtrag. Nachdruck verboten.Verlag Schöler, Wien-DöblingMaps all of theaters of warAustrian-Serbian-Montenegrin theater of war.German - Austrian - Russian theater of war.German - Belgian - French theater of war.English-German Russian - Sea theater of war.Austro - French-English - Sea theater of war.Price 20 HellerFor changes in the battle fronts, an addendum is shown. Reprinting prohibited.Publisher Schöler, Vienna-Döbling
"It was against this background of raid and counter-raid with both sides baiting traps—Jellicoe to catch the High Sea Fleet away from its coast and Scheer to catch an isolated portion of the Grand Fleet—that the great naval battle of the war occurred almost by accident. At the end of May [1916], Jellicoe decided to send two light cruiser squadrons around the Skaw into the Kattegat on 2 June to sweep as far south as the Great Belt and the Sound. There would be a battle squadron in the Skaggerak in support, and Jellicoe and Beatty would be to the northwest with all their forces ready to intervene if the High Sea Fleet moved north out of the Bight. British submarines would also be off the Dogger Bank and south of the Horns Reef, and the minelayer Abdiel would extend the minefields laid on 3–4 May. The seaplane carrier Engadine, escorted by a light cruiser squadron and destroyers, would be off Horns Reef to watch for Zeppelins."
In May, 1916 Admiral Sir John Jellicoe commanded the British Grand Fleet, Admiral Reinhard Scheer the German High Sea Fleet. With a superior navy, Britain had cleared the high seas of German warships in the first months of the war, and blockaded the North Sea, constraining the activity of the German surface fleet. On April 25, 1916, German warships had shelled the coastal town of Lowestoft, one of the raids our author refers to, destroying 200 houses, killing three and wounding twelve. The Skaggerak and Kattegat are straits between the North and Baltic Seas, north and east of Denmark's Jutland peninsula. Dogger Bank is a fishing ground in the North Sea, and site of the January 24, 1915 Battle of Dogger Bank as well as an encounter on February 10, 1916. Admiral David Beatty commanded a squadron of battleships that would be used as a lure in the coming days.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, pp. 314, 315, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
1916-05-28, May, 1916, Jellicoe, Beatty, Skaggerak, High Sea Fleet, Grand Fleet, Kattegat
