Hugh Evan-Thomas - World War I

World War I

Evan-Thomas' next appointment in October 1915 was as commander of the 5th Battle Squadron, which consisted of the five newly completed Queen Elizabeth class fast battleships, arguably the most powerful ships afloat at that time. Barham was chosen as flagship for the admiral. The 15 inch gunned ships capable of 24 knots formed a fast division attached to the Grand Fleet, complimenting the fast battlecruiser squadron which normally served in a detached scouting role. The posting was considered prestigious. It is likely that the choice of Evan-Thomas for the post was influenced by his previous friendship with Admiral Jellicoe commanding the Grand Fleet, but also by Jelicoe's concerns not to appoint an officer to the post who might be too independent of mind. The appointment was likely also to be acceptable to Beatty, commanding the battlecruisers, since he had seniority over Evan-Thomas and would command in any joint operation. Although the Queen Elizabeth's were slightly slower than the battlecruisers, Beatty continued for some time to campaign that they should be permanently attached to his command as the fast division of the fleet.

On 12 May 1916 a meeting took place at Rosyth between Jellicoe, Beatty and First Sea Lord Jackson to discuss the future of the battlecruiser fleet. Australia was out of action following a collision with New Zealand, while it was decided that the three ships of the 3rd Battle Cruiser Squadron should be sent to Scapa Flow to practice gunnery, following reports of poor gunnery for all the battlecruisers, at least partly due to the lack of a practice range at Rosyth. It was decided that the 5th Battle Squadron (BS) would be temporarily attached to the battlecruisers to make up their numbers. Although the battlecruisers used different standing orders to the Grand fleet, Beatty did not meet with Evan-Thomas, nor send him copies of their standing orders. This was to become an issue later, when the ships took part as one unit in the Battle of Jutland.

Intelligence was received by the admiralty in the form of intercepted radio signals that the German High Seas Fleet intended to put to sea on the morning of 30 May. At 5.0 pm on 30 May, Jellicoe was ordered to raise steam, and passed on the command to Beatty. At around 10 pm the battlecruisers left Rosyth to meet the Grand Fleet coming from Scapa Flow at a point in the North Sea some 100 miles from Denmark at 2.0 pm the following day. Such alerts had happened before, and it was not considered likely that a major fleet action was about to take place. The battlecruisers were ordered to travel to a point south of the meeting point, then turn north. Beatty arranged his ships with his own 1st Battlecruiser Squadron (BCS) in the most southerly position (sailing broadly east), with the 2nd BCS on a parallel course two miles north and the 5th BS five miles astern.

The ships reached their scouting position south of the rendezvous and Beatty issued orders to turn to the north. The turn resulted in the 5th Battle Squadron leading the ships in a generally northerly direction, the intention being that it would arrive properly placed to take up its assigned position at the meeting with the Grand Fleet. Outlying cruisers screening the main ships now made contact with a German force to the south east, which meant because of the just completed turn the British ships were heading away from the enemy. Beatty hoisted a flag signal for his ships to turn to a new course SSE, which both battlecruiser squadrons did. Confusion ensued in the 5BS, which could see that a signal had been made but could not read it across the greater distance, and these ships continued north. Before the first northerly turn HMS Tiger, the last ship in Beatty's squadron, had been successfully relaying messages to the 5BS by searchlight, but Tiger was now furthest away from Evan-Thomas and no other ship took on the duty. Eventually it became apparent that the main squadron had turned south and the 5BS followed, but by now the gap between the two groups had grown to ten miles.

Beatty proceeded directly to engage the German ships, which were identified as the squadron of five battlecruisers commanded by Admiral Franz von Hipper. The German ships opened fire first at around 3.45 pm, with more accurate fire than the six British battlecruisers could achieve. Beatty's flagship Lion was struck by a shell on Q turrett, causing a serious explosion but not before the magazines had been flooded, thereby saving the ship. Indefatigable was struck similarly at about 4.02 pm and exploded entirely, leaving only two survivors from her crew of 1,019 officers and men. Evan-Thomas' squadron finally closed the gap to the fighting ships sufficiently to open fire at 4.08 pm at extreme range. The exchange continued, with the British ships now chasing Hipper's squadron which was running to the south, towards the assistance of the High Seas Fleet (HSF) which was heading north to meet it. During this chase, at approximately 4.26 pm another of Beatty's battlecruisers, the Queen Mary, suffered the same fate as the Indefatigable, exploding and sinking with the loss of all but nine of her crew of 1,275 men.

The four remaining British battlecruisers were still ahead of Evan-Thomas' 5th BS when first contact was made with the HSF. Beatty ordered a reversal of course, now attempting to lead the German fleet northwards towards the British Grand Fleet. At this point a second signalling error occurred with flag signals sent to the 5th BS ordering it also to turn about. A signal was raised by Lion and seen by Barham as it steamed past the now retreating Lion in the opposite direction. However, the signal was not lowered (which was the point at which it was supposed to be carried out) until the battleships were dangerously close to the German fleet and under heavy fire, and then the order was to 'turn in succession'. This means each ship turns as it reaches exactly the same spot in the ocean, and in this situation marked out a perfect target area upon which the German fleet could aim as each British ship passed through it in turn. The last ship, Malaya seeing the firefight ahead turned early.

The next phase of the battle ('the run to the north') saw Beatty running ahead in his faster battlecruisers, with the better armoured 5th BS two miles behind. During this period Beatty lost touch with the enemy, but Evan-Thomas' ships continued to exchange fire. The battle continued until the northwards run reached the Grand Fleet, still heading south. Jellicoe had considerable difficulty deploying his fleet to best meet the oncoming German ships, because he had inadequate information as to their position, but succeeded in forming a battle line across their path. The 5th Battle Squadron acquitted itself well during the run, but some ships suffered considerable damage. In particular Warspite suffered damage to her steering gear, which resulted in the helm jamming as the ships turned to take up station at the rear of the British battle line. This resulted in her steaming in circles in the 'killing zone' between the two fleets before steering could be restored. This proved fortuitous for the cruiser Warrior which had been severely damaged at this same spot by German fire, but managed to limp away covered by the circling Warspite. Warspite eventually limped back to port, though Warrior had to be abandoned. The German fleet turned away once it realised the presence of the Grand fleet, and although exchanges continued sporadically, continued to avoid contact with the British until it could make good its withdrawal to Horn's Reef and then to Germany.

John Jellicoe was replaced as commander of the Grand Fleet by Beatty in November 1916, largely as a result of public perceptions that the British had not performed well at Jutland. The change came in the form of promotion, with Jellicoe becoming first Sea Lord. Evan-Thomas commented 'our chief is of course a great loss...Our new chief will be first rate'. One consequence of the change was that Beatty chose to transfer the role of fleet flagship from HMS Iron Duke to Queen Elizabeth, which had been Evan-Thomas' flagship as part of the squadron of the five fastest fleet battleships. The choice was an odd one, because it effectively meant one of the fastest and most powerful ships was no longer available for detached duties with the battlecruisers.

In June 1917, George V visited the fleet and an investiture ceremony was held onboard Queen Elizabeth for sailors who had won awards at Jutland. Beatty interrupted the ceremony just as Evan-Thomas was to receive his knighthood from the King, offering his own sword to be used in the ceremony.

On 1 October 1918, Evan-Thomas was replaced as commander of the 5th Battle Squadron by Rear-Admiral Arthur Leveson. In March 1921 he became Commander-in-Chief, The Nore (a home port command based at Chatham). He received a number of decorations from five countries including the Croix de Guerre with palms, and an honorary doctorate from Prifysgol Cymru at Bangor in 1920. In 1922 he became High Sheriff of Glamorgan.