An exhibition to mark the centenary of the Battle of Jutland, the brutal First World War encounter between the British and German navies, throws new light on the role of Catholic priests at sea. They shared the sailors’ suffering and were never quite treated as officers 

One hundred years ago, on 31 May 1916, one of the largest maritime conflicts in history took place: the Battle of Jutland. Here, the British Grand Fleet encountered the German High Seas Fleet off the Danish peninsula in a brutal encounter that, some claim, decided the outcome of the First World War. There were 250 ships involved, carrying more than 100,000 men – greater than all present-day Europe’s navies put together.

From 1914, the British had taken control of the North Sea, imposing a “distant blockade” and restricting German trade. The German high command decided that they had to engage in full-scale battle with the Grand Fleet in the hope of weakening it. In little more than 36 hours, the British lost 6,094 seamen and the Germans, 2,551: on the face of it, a German victory. Yet at the end of the battle, the British Navy maintained an overwhelming numerical supremacy.

Despite the appalling loss of life and the sinking of several ships (in large part, it has been argued, due to reckless leadership and disregard for basic safety), Britain still had 23 dreadnoughts at the battle’s end, as opposed to the Germans’ 10. An American newspaper commented: “The German fleet has assaulted its jailor but is still in jail.”