This film is part of Free

British Naval Activities after the Great British Victory of Jutland

Even HMS Victory makes a cameo in a propaganda piece made after the British Navy’s bloodiest day of WWI.

1918 16 mins Silent

Overview

The Admiralty called on its top cameraman FW Engholm to make a bombastic film which set the record straight about who really won the Battle of Jutland. The patriotic sight of a distant HMS Victory features early on. Afterwards, it’s shells being loaded onto ships here, destroyers on manoeuvres there; such is the military swagger on show, a seaplane is even spotted doing a whimsical loop-the-loop.

More than 6000 British sailors were killed in the Battle of Jutland of 1916, making it the bloodiest day of the First World War for the Royal Navy. Germany initially claimed victory, but in time the perception swung the other way, and Jutland was heralded a strategic success for the Allies. Please note that although this was an official Admiralty film, in this version the intertitles are in Greek.