[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by CCIP

I think the trouble, though, is that it was in many ways a foregone conclusion before a shot had even been fired. Everyone involved with the German High Seas Fleet, with the possible exception of the Kaiser, knew that a direct confronation would be futile. Scheer was not seeking a decisive battle against the Grand Fleet at Jutland, and knew to get out as soon as he saw it about to happen. Start to end, the entire thing revolved around trying to trap and destroy a smaller RN unit to improve their balance, and in that sense the Germans almost succeeded at Jutland, with the way Beatty's ships got hit. But it wasn't the first or last time they tried that in the war.

I suppose yes, Jutland proved that German ambitions were and would continue to be futile in open confrontation with the British fleet, but it was basically proving something very self-evident. Putting those dreadnoughts in water was a way of proving that it's wet too, I guess.

On the upside, I still think that Hipper's "death ride" was the single finest action of the dreadnought era

Pretty much concur....the outcome from the link below, a good reference site relating to the battle:

The most far reaching result of Jutland was that it convinced Scheer and the German Naval staff that the only way of gaining naval victory was via unrestricted submarine warfare, and not by defeating the British in battle. The Germans had fought Jutland as well or better than could be expected, whilst the British could be expected to perform better next time, and yet nothing had changed. However it was not the German submarine blockade of Britain but the British blockade of Germany, maintained under the guns of the Grand Fleet, that eventually did most to bring the war to an end.

http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/outcome.html